As a thought experiment, what if companies are made to pay for commute time? How would that change the labour market? Would they hire local? Provide better transportation? Work with cities to reduce congestion? Encourage more remote work? Decide it's too expensive to hire workers and cut hours? Work towards more inclusive housing?
It would mostly lead to distortions between workers with different commutes. The overall average compensation would change much, but you'd change the distribution between workers. Germany has a system a bit like what you are describing, only that it's the government giving you tax rebates for long commutes. It's not a good idea. Ponder the opposite: why not subsidize short commutes instead and give people assistance…
Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules
351–359 of 359 posts
Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
It becomes a little more tricky when it is optional, as in this case. The only thing that gets searched is a bag if you choose to bring it to work. The simple solution for ape is to ban bags at work so nobody gets searched.
The simple solution would be to have a locker room where people can leave their stuff they need, but don't want/can't bring into the shop.
Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules
#353Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules
#354Earlier quoted context omitted.
lets say hypothetically, nearly every farm worker was horribly abused. Would people be hypocrites that shouldn't dare call out that injustice because they need to eat? Acting like participation in a system is some kind of grave strike against protesting terrible aspects of the system is less than helpful, both logically and rhetorically. It is pretty much the definition of tu quoque and a really lazy defence of the s…
>Acting like participation in a system is some kind of grave strike against protesting terrible aspects of the system is less than helpful, both logically and rhetorically. It is that participation that make it impossible for non abusive employers to compete and exist as a business. I know that there is no option in certain businesses, but even the ones where there is an option, it's obvious how price sensitive peopl…
Where is the evidence that cheap goods require worker abuse? Or that the reason people don't oppose it is cheap goods?
Higher wages come out of profits in a competitive market, they don't automatically drive prices up.
I also doubt many people are out in the streets demanding the abolition of minimum wage so they can spend less at walmart.
Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just use cards. They don't tear. -Scandinavia
https://www.wired.com/2010/12/realtime/ https://www.wired.com/2012/07/wikileaks-visa-blockade/ Blanket, universal surveillance as well as zero-burden-of-proof government point-and-click seizure/disablement is the cost. You cannot have a free society without a payment system that the government or a few large banks do not have the ability to arbitrarily censor, even temporarily. You can not communicate or organize ano…
Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google and Microsoft are doing pretty well.
Neither of them are the richest companies in the world.
Judging by eg Enterprise Value is a reasonable way.
But also, you need to specify what you mean by 'company': lots of companies are actually made up of lots of partially or fully owned subsidiaries. There's no monolithic Apple or Google.
Lots of the details of that structure depend on responses to tax incentives.
See https://www.forbes.com/sites/alapshah/2018/08/02/apple-hits-... for some attempt.
Instead of looking at total value, you could also look at something like profit per employee or revenue per employee. But that's also not quite so clear cut.
Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules
#357Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would mostly lead to distortions between workers with different commutes. The overall average compensation would change much, but you'd change the distribution between workers. Germany has a system a bit like what you are describing, only that it's the government giving you tax rebates for long commutes. It's not a good idea. Ponder the opposite: why not subsidize short commutes instead and give people assistance…
Honestly, subsidizing short commmutes is an idea I can get behind, even though I feel all of the gains would be captured by landlords.
Distribute the proceeds equally amongst all citizens. And in effect, anyone who commutes less than the average person gets a net positive payment. (Or technically: anyone who uses less carbon or causes less congestion than the average person.. Someone who commutes 100km by bicycle would still get a net payment. That's fine.)
But yes, these you are right, there's a danger that landholders (landlords and owner occupiers) capture the gains, even in my proposed scheme.
You deal with that via a land value tax.
From the point of view of economics, those ideas are orthodoxy. Good luck getting them past any political process anywhere in the world, though.
Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The only real working way to do that is to ask them to introduce a congestion charge, which I am all for. Works really well where it was pioneered (in Singapore) and also seems to do an OK job in London. I suspect the Brits ain't as ruthless in applying orthodox economics in general, so they don't solve their problems nearly as well including their congestion problems.
There have been multiple other UK cities with proposals for congestion charges which have been rejected. Transport doesn't really work the same way outside of the M25.
The congestion charges in Singapore and London weren't popular when they were introduced either. So not sure what rejection elsewhere tells us?
Re: Apple store workers should be paid for time waiting to be searched, court rules
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://www.wired.com/2010/12/realtime/ https://www.wired.com/2012/07/wikileaks-visa-blockade/ Blanket, universal surveillance as well as zero-burden-of-proof government point-and-click seizure/disablement is the cost. You cannot have a free society without a payment system that the government or a few large banks do not have the ability to arbitrarily censor, even temporarily. You can not communicate or organize ano…
Hyperbole. People will trade freely if they need to. Cash is not what prevents tyrants from coming to power, democratic societal structures do. Elections do. Having an educated population does. Cash didn’t save anyone from tyrannical rule.