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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Reading that article, the author is arguing against the trajectory of the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill and he's more in favour of a few good programs that can be made permanent so republicans can't get rid of them when they return to power. He's also blaming both sinema and manchin as well as progressive Democrats for the infrastructure bill being a half-baked mess.
The author is Jordan Weissman. Who is this guy anyway and what's his track record?
Edited by KRider on Oct 23rd 2021 at 4:54:18 AM
Redmess
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Well, they're not doing it on purpose, I think, but that may well be the end result, unfortunately.
"Fewer programs but do them well" is a funny way to describe means testing and slashing funding.
Furthermore that he's acting as if progressives and conservadems have any degree of equivalent responsibility is dishonest nonsense, this is happening because Sinema and Manchin derailed the process. Progressives are the ones who kept it from being immediately butchered. The only people responsible are the conservadems and whatever 'moderates' agree with them.
That guy is a neoliberal hack.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Oct 23rd 2021 at 5:05:15 AM
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
I'm scratching my head on what weissman neant by making those programs permanent. He gave the corporate portion of the republican tax cut as an example but don't Democrats have the power to change them to temporary?
Currently here's a tentative list of what may remain and what may be cut from the final bill. Kinda bummed that free community college is out but oh well.
That Guy
Funnily enough, I thought for a second you guys were talking about one of the Creators of Mech Warrior, Jordan Weisman. Roughly Names The Same, cept with an extra S and an extra N for the dipshit.
Edited by Pendrake on Oct 23rd 2021 at 7:36:13 AM
Semper Fi. Semper Paratus. Vigilo Confido.
Florida Man applies to 60 jobs all claiming they're desperate for workers, but only gets a handful of callbacks and only one interview. And he turned down that last one when he saw that were lying about the wages and hours he'd be getting.
Small sample size, of course, but it does raise the question of just how much of this labor shortage is because employers just don't want to hire people for whatever reason.
They want slaves, not workers, I guess...
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
Maybe it's related to that thing posted a while ago about automated resume scanners rejecting everyone who didn't have some arbitrary absurd qualification, such as coding knowledge for a hospital desk job.
Florida Man made a point of mentioning that he only applied to jobs that he had all the listed qualifications for.
It seems like employers are trying to wait out the people who don't want to work for them until those people can't afford to stay jobless and will come crawling back.
Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.
They want slaves, not workers, I guess...
Oh absolutely. After all, you can't maximize profits if you're 'wasting' money on workers. Defacto wage slavery is the logical consequence of the profit-motive.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Oct 23rd 2021 at 10:17:04 AM
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
Florida Man! Fighting for truth and justice by disproving the labor shortage! [fanfare]
The hero we need and deserve ![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Lost in Space
Minimizing costs is an important function of any business, and it's not just about profits. If a competitor pays less for labor than you do, they can offer their product at a lower price, and thus they will beat you in the market. This is a fundamental economic principle that applies regardless of what system you use. It's not "capitalism"; it's markets.
To suggest that businesses are "evil" for doing this is simply wrong. They are doing what they need to do. They aren't going to pay more than the market rate for labor out of the goodness of their hearts, not unless doing so gains them a competitive advantage.
Consumers seek to pay the lowest prices they can and businesses seek to have the lowest costs that they can. It's axiomatic, without any moral weight.
Prices go up when there is a shortage of supply. The same goes with labor. If businesses can't hire people at their current rates, they have to pay more. This creates a natural upward pressure on wages to counter the downward pressure from competition.
Distortions occur when there is pressure from other systems. In capitalism, this comes from stock markets, but in all systems collusion and monopolies give employers greater power to set wages than they would otherwise have. So government needs to act to disrupt these behaviors and set minimum standards. When it does not do this, we get the current situation where minimum wage workers can't afford living expenses.
"Look at those evil corporations stiffing their workers," is a popular narrative but it is at best incomplete.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
since the subject has arisen, i would like to propose we all take a moment to laugh heartily at ancaps, who think that it's only the evil government regulations keeping corporations from being the savior of us all.
Edited by ChloeJessica on Oct 23rd 2021 at 12:27:31 PM
So, in short, they're not going to pay living wage unless they're forced to?
That's not as morally neutral as you seem to believe.
Edited by djoki996 on Oct 23rd 2021 at 10:33:23 AM
I thought the outrage was more on how the same businesses that were most complaining about the COVID payments making it hard to find applicants were also the ones who didn't seem to actually be hiring at all, evidenced by their lack of callbacks. It's more about how they're talking out of both sides of their metaphorical mouths.
@Fighteer: if extensive government regulation is the only way for corporations to function without fucking over the working class, it still makes more sense to save that time and regulation and replace them with employee-owned cooperatives. you'd still have to regulate them, of course; society doesn't function without law. but given the choice between them, one is inherently less exploitative and would create less work.
e: hit post too soon, one mo
Edited by ChloeJessica on Oct 23rd 2021 at 12:37:14 PM
Lost in Space
Oh, yes, this is definitely a problem. The businesses keep going on about how they can't find any qualified people when qualified people are coming out of the woodwork. Here we need to look at these automated hiring systems, which are again a cost-saving measure, but if history has taught us anything it's that a relentless focus on cost savings without paying attention to the quality of processes is a losing game.
Edited by Fighteer on Oct 23rd 2021 at 1:37:04 PM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
"Look at those evil corporations stiffing their workers," is a popular narrative but it is at best incomplete.
It absolutely is not incomplete.
Even the barest glance at history would show you that the only times that corporations behave decently is when their workers and the state force them to. The drive to maximize profits is inherently amoral, if it wasn't then it wouldn't be profit maximization.
You can talk about market distortion this and consumer demand that but it's just obfuscating the system's nature, capitalism is a profit-maximizing machine that has no place for higher values. It is not benign and it's in no way bloodless.
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
Lost in Space
You just said it: amoral, not immoral. It is on us to impose morality on a system that does not inherently care about it. However, we all benefit from capitalist systems. The fact that you have a computer to communicate with me and the leisure to spend your time on a forum while living in a climate-controlled home with plenty to eat is proof of that.
Absolute standards of living have increased immeasurably over the past several hundred years; They do not rise for everyone equally, but that's been true of every system since the beginning of time, including communist ones.
Edited by Fighteer on Oct 23rd 2021 at 1:41:08 PM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Amorality is immorality when we're talking about humans.
Furthermore, your conflation of capitalism and industrial technology is fallacious. Capitalism is not an ancient system magically tied to humanity, it arose very recently in the grand scheme of things. As it replaced feudalism so it can be replaced by a better system.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Oct 23rd 2021 at 10:44:02 AM
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
Anyone able to refute/confirm this? Democrats Are Turning Their Big Spending Bill Into Absolute Trash
by making everything half-baked to the point that it becomes all questionable.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman