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Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

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291–300 of 859 posts

Re: Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

#291
post #69

It's time for the butcher's bill over the silly corona restrictions, and none will ever connect the two to together.

It might be argued that this was the preferred outcome as a healthcare collapse would be worse. Of course they are connected but I'm afraid that it's impossible to debate it without getting political and the priests are eager to call heresy when you go against their dogma.

Re: Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

#292

Real wages have been flat since the 1970s ( https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us... ). "Okay, so people's living standards are about the same since 1970?" Not even close. The problem with inflation is that its calculation is fraught with all kinds of selective weighting, bias, and politics. Take a look at the relative differences between the things which have decreased and increased in cost in…

> most Americans are significantly worse off since the 1970s I think this is obviously false and hurts the credibility of the rest of this comment. There are many pitfalls with measuring long-term inflation. How much did an internet connection cost in the 1970s? What about a computer? What about a smartphone? These modern technologies make peoples lives much better and were somewhere between impossible and impossibly…

Yeah, the Internet, computer and smartphone, so you can get addicted and drown in fear and anxiety. Safer cars because you smash yours on the regular. Gas was cheaper. Bigger houses (using worse materials) to store more useless shit. Also they all cost more because of size.

Re: Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

#293
post #40

We had an all-hands meeting recently where we got to submit anonymous questions. One of the questions was 'with inflation rising at 6%, will the company reconsider their 'standard' 2% raise?' The lady answering looks dead in the camera and goes 'Honestly? No' and goes on to talk about how we're reasonably competitive with the local market. Hey, credit where credit is due, at least she was a refreshingly straight shoo…

In my experience HR are never receptive to those types of arguments. If you want a raise the best thing you can do is find a new job.

> If you want a raise the best thing you can do is find a new job.

It is true, but i am not sure it is a good long term strategy, i suspect that too much job hopping doesn't look good on the resume.

Also changing jobs becomes harder with age, i am fifty one years old, and last time around, when forced to look for a new job, I found that it was quite a bit of a challenge (being said that, i need to feed my family, so that i really need a raise :-( )

Re: Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

#294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A work stoppage is more realistic than direct combat. What are they going to do? Force us to work? For example, with the way supply chains are right now, how much leverage do transportation/logistics workers have to force a change?

Strikes are illegal in many industries. So, literally, the answer is yes

Not many industries and not all strikes have to be legal

Re: Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

#295

Real wages have been flat since the 1970s ( https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us... ). "Okay, so people's living standards are about the same since 1970?" Not even close. The problem with inflation is that its calculation is fraught with all kinds of selective weighting, bias, and politics. Take a look at the relative differences between the things which have decreased and increased in cost in…

Things with massive government involvement and heavily regulated like are incredibly more expensive: health care, housing and education.

Meanwhile, things provided by the free market have become incredibly less expensive and more powerful: technology, communication, entertainment.

Nothing to do with your rich vs poor class wars.

Re: Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

#296
post #257

Real wages have been flat since the 1970s ( https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us... ). "Okay, so people's living standards are about the same since 1970?" Not even close. The problem with inflation is that its calculation is fraught with all kinds of selective weighting, bias, and politics. Take a look at the relative differences between the things which have decreased and increased in cost in…

> As a non-American, it's heartbreaking to see efforts to unify the underclass completely derailed by this ridiculous race war. Yeah, well, it's not like things are much better in Europe. Far-right parties are now mainstream in most major EU countries, and their n.1 priority is exactly the same. Signed, a Brexit victim.

The far-right parties in Europe are usually focused on immigration rather than race. Look at the Brexit parties in the UK, the big enemies were the Poles. And the FN/RN in France has always taken pains to show that it is "pro-black" (and anti-brown..)

Re: Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

#297
The purpose of inflation is to increase employment - which happens by cutting wages. If wages followed inflation, then it wouldn't have any effect on employment. Adjusting employment with inflation is a central bank policy. There's nothing surprising here.

Re: Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

#298
post #257

Real wages have been flat since the 1970s ( https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us... ). "Okay, so people's living standards are about the same since 1970?" Not even close. The problem with inflation is that its calculation is fraught with all kinds of selective weighting, bias, and politics. Take a look at the relative differences between the things which have decreased and increased in cost in…

> As a non-American, it's heartbreaking to see efforts to unify the underclass completely derailed by this ridiculous race war. Yeah, well, it's not like things are much better in Europe. Far-right parties are now mainstream in most major EU countries, and their n.1 priority is exactly the same. Signed, a Brexit victim.

That's a country specific problem, not a Europe problem. I don't mean just Brexit for the UK, either.

What does happen in Europe is far-right parties get a platform to speak on. The big continental countries have an election process that lets everyone be heard, and the far-right get heard plenty - allowing the electorate to smell their bullshit.

In the UK we don't have such elections. We have a two horse race, and token efforts given to fringe parties, and state media that are "maintaining balance" by constantly inviting candidates who haven't been elected after 8 attempts to frequently tout their bullshit (and critically without being challenged on any of it).

The far-right thrive here because they are unchecked, unquestioned, and ultimately not properly exposed. They relish in the "underdog", "cancelled", and/or "repressed" argument to win votes.

Also when our leading party receives £160k from the wives of former Russian minsiters to play tennis with the prime minister[0] you have to wonder who is really pulling the strings.

[0]: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28158479

Re: Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

#299
post #295

Real wages have been flat since the 1970s ( https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us... ). "Okay, so people's living standards are about the same since 1970?" Not even close. The problem with inflation is that its calculation is fraught with all kinds of selective weighting, bias, and politics. Take a look at the relative differences between the things which have decreased and increased in cost in…

Things with massive government involvement and heavily regulated like are incredibly more expensive: health care, housing and education. Meanwhile, things provided by the free market have become incredibly less expensive and more powerful: technology, communication, entertainment. Nothing to do with your rich vs poor class wars.

You're completely right.

Yet in 99% of your peers, OECD countries, those regulated domains are generally more regulated, not less. And we're talking about 40 countries or so, many as diverse as the US, big enough to be comparable.

How do these data point for into your narrative?

Re: Worker pay isn’t keeping up with inflation

#300

We had an all-hands meeting recently where we got to submit anonymous questions. One of the questions was 'with inflation rising at 6%, will the company reconsider their 'standard' 2% raise?' The lady answering looks dead in the camera and goes 'Honestly? No' and goes on to talk about how we're reasonably competitive with the local market. Hey, credit where credit is due, at least she was a refreshingly straight shoo…

The principle of inflation is to dynamically adjust: - Available products in the world, - Number of people who can afford them. With Covid, we didn’t produce for 2 months in 2020 and we’ve produced slower in 2021. And all governments distributed free money. So, in theory there is clearly not enough goods produced for everyone in the world. Prices should rise dynamically until 10% fewer people can afford them than in…

> Where are the people who can’t afford buying things?

The already-marginalized? "The Trussell Trust reported a 33 per cent increase in the number of three-day emergency food parcels in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20,"

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-...

> There should be a diminution of 10% global consumption, where is it?

Hospitality and travel.

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