Henry Ford may have been a prick, but even he had the common sense to realize paying your workers enough to buy your products was mutually beneficial. All this wealth hoarding going on serves nobody but the ultra rich that are simply addicted to watching numbers go up.
Which is why I’m hesitant to actually call those greedy fucks “capitalists”, because they’re the very antithesis of capitalism. They literally break the system for their own benefit, and thanks to US politicians to being corrupt enough to allow themselves to be bought out for a few bucks from said greedy fucks, nobody in power is incentivized to actually do something.
Capitalism works with money flowing constantly, and it needs that to work well. When you have some Warren Buffet and Elongated Muskrat kind of people just hoarding wealth… well, you get the shitshow that is the the US today. $300B circulating in the system would be awesome, and I would think that is a good indicator of a healthy economy; but when $300B is pretty much tied to one person, then congrats, we missed the point of capitalism.
The only goal of capitalism is to raise capital. Any method that raises capital is as valid as any other. The working class people are essentially just a bank to draw capital from, nothing more. Not to them anyway.
Anything else they told you about capitalism in school was bullshit. It does one thing. Increase capital through any means.
There is a logical end point where the working class can keep no capital for themselves, and produce it until they die. And what happens when there’s no more shareholder value to extract from the working class I wonder?
That’s why we call it “late stage” capitalism.
No. He did it because turnover was so insane it was cheaper to raise pay.
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It’s a post hoc rationalization of why he paid more. He paid more because he literally couldn’t staff his factory because the assembly line work was so dull.
Wasn’t he the one that wanted to do full factory towns, not sure that money was ever going to leave him.
It doesn’t, actually. You pay all of your workers more so some of them might buy your product, maybe?
The increase in wages for everyone will help, but then capitalists have no choice to attract labor. See: the wages now adjusted vs. the inflation
This chart shows the median wage has gone up since the pandemic, even if using 2023 dollars
So the wages in the US are better than they have ever been, even inflation adjusted. You can go back as long as you want, they were not higher in the 50s, contrary to popular belief
Underpaid employees: Corporations are going to fix this problem they created by paying employees their share of record profits?
Corporations: No, not like that!
Profits are unpaid wages, change my mind.
I agree with this statement but thought I’d have a go at challenging it just for fun. The nature of profits and wages is relative to whether or not a business model requires workers to make profit. For example some companies make money off of owning the result of a worker’s labor (patents, software, creative work etc) rather than their ongoing labor. So while not all profits are necessarily unpaid wages, they are still dependent on the exchange of labor.
Profits can be used to expand the business and hire more employees
No, that’s “capital expenses” and companies write that off on their taxes. Profit is what’s left after all expenses, including capital ones.
They can be used for a lot of things…
Profits can go to cover capitol expenditures on your business as well. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Profit is what’s left of revenue after expenses are covered.
And capital expenditure isn’t necessarily an expense in the accounting sense. CapEx comes from previous profit
It’s an asset charged as a fixed expense, depreciated over time. It is an expense, generally property or equipment, but still is an expense, which is defined as money spent in pursuit of revenue, which is determined before profit.
My boss likes to show us how much money the company is making at our quarterly meetings. I think he thinks it’s morale-building, but I know, in at least the case of me and a co-worker, that all it does is make us think of how low our pay is.
I would just straight up say that next time and make it weird.
Yeah, I want to keep my job. Until I find a better one.
This strikes me as a “you will own nothing and be happy” solution. Instead of paying workers a fair wage so they can put something into savings for a rainy day, you will be at the mercy of your employer for support.
This seems to be the trend. In the future, you will have most of your needs at least met, but not through your own means, because you will have no means whatsoever. You will not be able to take care of yourself without your corporation parent. This is a very coercive situation.
I’m not doing well healthwise right now and my employers told me that they were concerned about my health and I could take as many unpaid sick days as I want.
America’s attitude towards healthcare is completely backasswards
Living as a Service
While wages are obviously a significant factor here, I still wouldn’t be surprised if the primary cause for this is simply the fact that most people aren’t very skilled at managing their personal finances.
I make a pretty decent living, but in discussions with my coworkers who earn as much as I do, and often even more, it becomes apparent that many of them are essentially living from hand to mouth. In contrast, I have a year’s worth of wages invested in stocks and enough cash to purchase two more cars like the one I already own. Finances and saving are subjects I enjoy discussing, but the vast majority of people have zero interest in them, and this has a real impact on their lives.
You’ve been downvoted, but I get what you’re saying. There’s just people who never really got out of the pocket money model of spending whatever you have all the time.
It’s quite possible to do everything right and still end up with not enough, but I definitely work with people who could do better. One guy, between them and their partner earn more than I do, yet are in far worse financial shape, and it’s simply because they see money in their account, and see no reason not to spend it, meaning those little events (that don’t happen all the time, but do happen) like a car failing an MOT, or a boiler breaking in winter, or a roof leak means they have no way to cover it.
I think there’s definitely a market for managed bank accounts, that handle your bills and outgoings, save up an emergency pot for you, put into investments when that fills up, and give you a spuff money pot for takeaways and other frivolous shit.
City life can also be expensive, and too few people move away when it isn’t working for them.
And those of us who have it relatively easy, have to live with the guilt of telling all our family members no all the fucking time.
If you’re family is constantly asking for money then they are shitty.
That’s a pretty big blanket sentiment, I have some family who would absolutely do this but some of them literally have no other options, it sucks but it’s how life is
It depends on why they’re asking. If they’re asking because they’re irresponsible, that’s one thing. If they’re asking because they are legitimately struggling against systemic issues, then it’s another.
Life is a lot more complicated than you’re implying, and family should be there to support each other.
Then again, so should society in general. Life should be challenging, but it shouldn’t be so hard that it’s impossible for so many people just to get by.
May I ask why you think life should be challenging?
Keep in mind that I said “challenging” not “difficult”.
But a challenge gives a person something to strive for. Motivation to be something greater. But I also believe the people should have all the support and encouragement they need to meet that challenge as well as all of the support they need should they fail— even if they fail repeatedly.
Because a system where people can avoid working would be bad for the economy. The government needs people to be able to pay a lot of taxes to afford things like the military. The whole system would collapse if some people could choose to have an easy life with a stable low income and not work
Sometimes that irresponsibility is a systemic issue. Low income home life leads to lack of education, drug addiction, crime, etc.
Some people wouldn’t know what to do with money even if they had it.
That’s right on all points.
And a society as rich and advanced as ours should be there to support people in all cases. In the highest of highs, to help them responsibly manage their money, and the lowest of lows to help put their lives back together when they fail.
Agreed.
This is an ignorant take. It can be correct in some cases, but oversimplifying and making assumptions like that is entirely devoid of rational thinking.
Or dying
Or desperate
Please tell me the TDLR is a pizza party!
this would be very helpful during the times where the $500 emergency is the need for a pizza party
Me, looking at a $500 dentist bill for a crown because teeth are luxury bones: Yeah……fuck.
I had a root canal and crown, $2k. I’m financing a tooth now.
Worse: I had a root canal done years ago. Then I found out, after the tooth broke, that the root canal was done incorrectly and the tooth needed to be removed. I had to pay for the root canal and to fix the tooth and to have it removed. Fucking dentists, man.
I just had to pay a $50 copay to get a gastroenterologist to tell me he wasn’t concerned about my problems, it was because of my ulcer, and to add Mylanta to my medications in the mornings. He literally could have told me that over the phone. American healthcare is a racket.
My dad needed $20,000 worth of dental work. So they took a trip to Costa Rica for maybe $3k-5k and got the dental work done for free. Because Costa Rica gives free healthcare, including dental, to anyone in its borders. And they got a good vacation out of it.
They could afford to do that though. Most people couldn’t.
Your crown was only 500!?!
The first change made it so employees may save up to $2,500 in after-tax money in a separate account alongside their retirement accounts. Workers would potentially be automatically enrolled in the programs, which would defer the money automatically through payroll deductions.
Read: banks lobby to get money automatically deposited into their specific accounts so they can generate interest from it the employees will never see, and make it more difficult for employees to actually get their money
Ah yes, the time proven effective strategy to get the poor back on board the against-their-own-interests train:
"Unchecked Capitalism will save you from the problems that Unchecked Capitalism directly caused!" 🤣
If that sounds reasonable, here’s a solution for climate change: lets double the amount of carbon shit we’re pumping into the air. Fuck it, double or nothing!
Fuck employers, everything is TOO FUCKING EXPENSIVE
Oh, uh, there were hurricanes.
Supply chain.
You understand.
63% of employees are unable to cover a $500 emergency expense, according to a new survey from SecureSave, a provider of a financial technology platform to help employers provide emergency savings benefits.
Well, they wouldn’t have any reason to lie about that, would they?
I’m not so sure they need to given that over 50% of Americans live completely paycheck to paycheck
Yikes. I didn’t know that.
Source? 50% sounds like an awful lot.
https://fortune.com/recommends/banking/more-than-half-of-americans-living-paycheck-to-paycheck/
It’s actually closer to 60.
63% of workers unable to pay a $500 emergency expense, survey finds. How employers may help change that
They will make it 83%
Or they may think that those workers being able to maybe pay < $500 in an emergency is a money-making opportunity…
It’s also pretty hard when the corporations you work for aren’t interested in paying you what you’re worth. People need and deserve better wages
Corporations literally cannot pay you what you’re worth. The very nature of capitalism requires exploitation. For capitalism to function, there must be an inequity between a worker’s true value, i.e. their productive output, and their cost. The system is literally designed to fuck you over from the top down.
It’s the same gall people had to call crypto a scam.
USD isn’t?
Your pay is only relevant to the cost of goods and services.
People used to be rich earning $1,000 a year. Your pay is irrelevant, the costs of things is what’s more important.
And taxes, fucking stop taking everyone’s money
I personally liked paved roads and inspected meat and a fire department, but YMMV.
Of course I know this. It’s me
people will worry so much about this but will elect the same people over and over again to lead based on shirt color just because they change the shirt to red or blue same clothing factory
maybe younger people from a new political party might be able to help or rioting in the streets or something
I’m very fortunate to finally be able to cover a major expense like that. Nothing like going to the hospital, but if I needed new tires I wouldn’t be completely broke.
It’s a strange feeling.
