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Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks

theguardian.com

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Re: Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks

#51

Post by TeeMassive »

foerbert wrote: post #17
TeeMassive wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The state needs to build a slew of affordable housing. These have never worked and are full of pervert effects. It's at best a band aid. > I think the market has shown quite clearly it's ill-equipped to deal with the problem. > I think the market has shown quite clearly it's ill-equipped to deal with the problem. Housing needs to be built for the purpose of housing people rather than the purpose of making profit. T…

You started by dismissing the proposed solution out of hand and then went on to attack a strawman. You do end with a couple ideas of your own, but overall I find this comment more disingenuous than not.

I merely pointed obvious problems in your argument. Then your reply to my comment make accusations but has no substantive explanations at all, which also means it can be dismissed as such.

Re: Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks

#52

Post by 8note »

Guest42 wrote: post #33
Gustomaximus wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

State housing has a place, but I think they really need to fix the demand side of investors. There should be significant deterant to holding residential property in large scale. While options are varied I think a progressive asset tax of total property owned. Something like 0.5% per million starting on the second million. Maybe some principle place of residence reduction. So most people can have a house even a second…

Agree, and would propose increased property taxes for amount of time a property is empty, I think this would increase liquidity in rental markets.

Even if it's being rented, I think the tax should still be there. We want people to own the places they live in

Re: Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks

#53

Post by dehrmann »

There's something goofy with the labor market right now. The unemployment rate is low, but not Dec. 2019 low, and unlike 2019, there are labor shortages across the labor market driving up labor prices.

What's weird is how did we go from full employment, but not a shortage, to a higher unemployment rate and a labor shortage, even with somewhat depressed economic activity. Where did all these workers go? How are they making ends meet? Did people realize what they actually value and cut back both spending and work?

I ask all this because this is what allows labor unrest. Labor has a lot of leverage right now because there's a shortage.

Re: Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks

#54

Post by 8note »

colordrops wrote: post #24
reducesuffering wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The market has shown it's ill-equiped? I don't know how you came to that conclusion. There are zoning codes everywhere, environmental review, city permits, etc, that the small amount of successful projects will of course be the minimal low hanging fruit. Literally all of this problem is "the state." Let people build buildings on their own land. It will supply far more housing than any state backed affordable housing…

It's a common fallacy to look at a heavily regulated market and blame "the market" in general. What makes it worse is supposed "free market" advocates that instead selectively deregulate in their favor. But the market can be corrected by selectively deregulating in favor of the disadvantaged too. It just doesnt happen very often due to the nature of the of the people in power.

The market will always favour the advantaged. Correcting that out means getting rid of the market

Re: Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks

#55

Post by zapataband1 »

TeeMassive wrote: post #26
conspiracist wrote: post #19

The Bourgeois use the Proletariat as a tool to overtake power from the owners and royal blood. Labor unrest works the other way: the owners, comfortably tucked away in their mansions in places that are guarded and far away from prying eyes (think Zuckerberg, but multiplied further), are egging the proles on to riot and therefore to keep the opposition in check, while they, as always, are out of sight and out of mind.…

> The Bourgeois use the Proletariat as a tool to overtake power from the owners and royal blood. That also goes for every single Marxist revolutionaries including Marx and Engels. Very conformable upper class educated intellectuals obsessed by power dynamics and being seen as enlightened prophets of "the workers", which they know very little of and can barely relate to. > Labor unrest works the other way: the owners,…

There's plenty of examples of marxist revolutionaries that were dirt poor literally all over the world.

Re: Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks

#56

Post by adgjlsfhk1 »

WalterBright wrote: post #37
sandworm101 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Let people build buildings on their own land. All land is owned subject to the laws that govern its potential uses. Land that is open to more uses is more valuable than land that is not. Land that can be subdivided is worth more than land that cannot. Allowing people to build more houses on "their own land" is a wonderful gift to land owners. It increases the value of their property. But that exacerbates the probl…

Um, people building more houses means more supply which means lower prices. Nobody has yet managed to repeal the law of supply and demand.

The problem is that in high demand areas, it can be profitable for people to buy property purely as speculation without ever having people live there.

Re: Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks

#57

Post by zapataband1 »

TeeMassive wrote: post #26
conspiracist wrote: post #19

The Bourgeois use the Proletariat as a tool to overtake power from the owners and royal blood. Labor unrest works the other way: the owners, comfortably tucked away in their mansions in places that are guarded and far away from prying eyes (think Zuckerberg, but multiplied further), are egging the proles on to riot and therefore to keep the opposition in check, while they, as always, are out of sight and out of mind.…

> The Bourgeois use the Proletariat as a tool to overtake power from the owners and royal blood. That also goes for every single Marxist revolutionaries including Marx and Engels. Very conformable upper class educated intellectuals obsessed by power dynamics and being seen as enlightened prophets of "the workers", which they know very little of and can barely relate to. > Labor unrest works the other way: the owners,…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party https://www.city-journal.org/chile-demonstrations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism_in_Vietnam#:~:text=S....

Re: Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks

#58

Post by dehrmann »

silisili wrote: post #11
mjevans wrote: post #2

The price of everything, from my perspective, has gone insane within the last few months. I would __much__ rather the market were satisfied with more houses, apartments, everything such that people could afford to live places and thus inflation / stagflation weren't the natural result of everyone trying to get ahead and increasing just their own wage. All of the other aspects of the jobs, such as safety conditions an…

Housing is the big factor. When it went insane, people who were on the edge of being able to afford housing got forced out. That was a whole lot of people. And when you lose your dream, what's the point of trying anymore?

> When it went insane, people who were on the edge of being able to afford housing got forced out. That was a whole lot of people.

It's the same pool of buyers and the same pool of houses, so no one's really getting forced out. If they were all so close, prices would jump as soon as they start buying. It's only interesting if the increase brings a lot more investors to the market.

Re: Wave of US labor unrest could see tens of thousands on strike within weeks

#59

Post by adgjlsfhk1 »

WalterBright wrote: post #41
sandworm101 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not these days. In hot markets (Vancouver, SF etc) real estate tends to appreciate faster than rent. Having a tenant in a property, along with all the associated rights and obligations, makes a property more difficult to develop or sell. Once upon a time a rental unit with a good tenant was worth more than one without. These days you need to get the tenant out in order to refit and show the property to prospective bu…

> along with all the associated rights and obligations Government regulation (again) exacerbates this problem. In Seattle, landlords have to give 6 months notice for rent increases. They also are obliged to pay the tenant's relocation costs when the tenant leaves. They can't evict tenants who don't pay rent. Seattle will provide free lawyers to tenants who want to sue their landlords. So, yeah, if the real estate mar…

Right because in a "free market" tenants have no rights. Moving costs a minimum of 1 day of work, which is not available to many working people. As such, without laws to prevent it, landlords could arbitrarily raise rents whenever they felt like it.
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