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Before this thread devolved into the usual welfare queens and bums smoking dope, it had some glimmers of reality. There are a lot of really lousy bosses out there. With the labor market today, workers are abandoning those jobs and nobody has any interest in working for a toxic boss. With the Great Recession, companies had no problem hiring people so they had no reason to correct the problem.
The revolt will speed up automation and AI adoption. It's already begun anyway, I went to a few stores lately where there's cashier. The host told me to scan the QR code and then we were seated in a few mins in the restaurant. Then she says you can either order through the website or use this card to make the order. The food was out and brought to our tables.
Many fast food chains are already doing drive thru, pickup, or delivery only eliminating some workers that are customer facing. Eventually it will only be gig workers.
Revolting just sped up automation. Look around you and see places that are moving or transitioning to digital ordering and apps only.
And even then... why $10k? You can go on eBay and there are dozens of used cars that are older... (~10 years old) that have less than 20k miles on them that have been sitting in people's garages, etc... as they are retired. Basically new cars, that you can get for $5k or less.
When I was 18 until... well, honestly, I still do it. As a young kid... I bought used cars for cheap. It's all I could afford, but I didn't try to buy above my means. I'm not going to say I was super responsible, but I did what I needed to do to get to work. Even as an adult... I am a millionaire now (don't be too impressed, I am like, just barely there), and even still, I drive a 2009 Ford Explorer... which is a fantastic car, and it's in excellent shape, and I love it.
People are too caught up in glam and showing off. I've been there... I like new stuff too... and I've bough new and newish cars too. But live within your means.
Exactly. The $10k figure is just a number I pulled out of my ass. You could easily get a decent car that will get you to and from work for like $5k.
Real (inflation-adjusted) per capita US GDP just barely passed its pre-pandemic level this last quarter, and overall employment is still five million below its previous peak. Why is the supply capacity of the US economy so low? Evidently, there is a lot of sand in the gears. Consequently, the economic-policy task has been upended – or, rather, reoriented to where it should have been all along: focused on reducing supply-side inefficiencies.
One underlying problem today is the intersection of labor shortages and Americans who are not even looking for jobs. Although there are more than ten million listed job openings – three million more than the pre-pandemic peak – only six million people are looking for work. All told, the number of people working or looking for work has fallen by three million, from a steady 63% of the working-age population to just 61.6%.
We know two things about human behavior: First, if people have more money, they work less. Lottery winners tend to quit their jobs. Second, if the rewards of working are greater, people work more. Our current policies offer a double whammy: more money, but much of it will be taken away if one works. Last summer, it became clear to everyone that people receiving more benefits while unemployed than they would earn from working would not return to the labor market. That problem remains with us and is getting worse.
Remember when commentators warned a few years ago that we would need to send basic-income checks to truck drivers whose jobs would soon be eliminated by artificial intelligence? Well, we started sending people checks, and now we are surprised to find that there is a truck driver shortage.
Practically every policy on the current agenda compounds this disincentive, adding to the supply constraints. Consider childcare as one tiny example among thousands. Childcare costs have been proclaimed the latest “crisis,” and the “Build Back Better” bill proposes a new open-ended entitlement. Yes, entitlement: “every family who applies for assistance … shall be offered child care assistance” no matter the cost.
The bill explodes costs and disincentives. It stipulates that childcare workers must be paid at least as much as elementary school teachers ($63,930), rather than the current average ($25,510). Providers must be licensed. Families pay a fixed and rising fraction of family income. If families earn more money, benefits are reduced. If a couple marries, they pay a higher rate, based on combined income. With payments proclaimed as a fraction of income and the government picking up the rest, either prices will explode or price controls must swiftly follow. Adding to the absurdity, the proposed legislation requires states to implement a “tiered system” of “quality,” but grants everyone the right to a top-tier placement. And this is just one tiny element of a huge bill.
Or consider climate policy, which is heading for a rude awakening this winter. This, too, was foreseeable. The current policy focus is on killing off fossil-fuel supply before reliable alternatives are ready at scale.
Quiz: If you reduce supply, do prices go up or go down? Europeans facing surging energy prices this fall have just found out.
Moody's Analytics' Mark Zandi recently released an analysis that people who left the workforce are living on savings from the Pandemic checks & the savings will start to run out in December - and that they will re-enter the workforce in droves in December & January.
While economics can't predict what any individual person will do, it does a pretty good job of predicting the behaviour of very large groups of people. It is clear that in aggregate, handing out money to people since the start of the Pandemic resulted in people not working. Once their pandemic-induced savings are depleted - and only once such savings are depleted - they will re-enter the labor force and look for a job.
Said differently, Economists bemoan "paycheck-to-paycheck" consumers with little savings. Consumers get some savings, thanks to free money from the Feds during the pandemic.
Do they start to "build inter-generational wealth?" Nope. They promptly quit jobs until their savings are gone again.
Moody's Analytics' Mark Zandi recently released an analysis that people who left the workforce are living on savings from the Pandemic checks & the savings will start to run out in December - and that they will re-enter the workforce in droves in December & January.
While economics can't predict what any individual person will do, it does a pretty good job of predicting the behaviour of very large groups of people. It is clear that in aggregate, handing out money to people since the start of the Pandemic resulted in people not working. Once their pandemic-induced savings are depleted - and only once such savings are depleted - they will re-enter the labor force and look for a job.
Said differently, Economists bemoan "paycheck-to-paycheck" consumers with little savings. Consumers get some savings, thanks to free money from the Feds during the pandemic.
Do they start to "build inter-generational wealth?" Nope. They promptly quit jobs until their savings are gone again.
I employ a fair number of people for a small timer. As more and more people come off the bench looking for work a question I've told my peeps to ask is, "why haven't you been working since Feb. '21?" or whatever date.
If we don't hear a response that makes sense it'll be a big ding every time.
Last edited by EDS_; 10-28-2021 at 04:11 PM..
Reason: fixed a glaring typo
My uncle entered the workforce in N. America right after WW2, waling into the greatest industrial expansion in human history, and where pure labor could get you enough cash to buy your new car, after the winter in the bush, with cash.
He has absolutely no idea about what the Great Depression wrot, nor changes in industries making careers redundant, nor any idea how many jobs to day require extreme learning skills.
Wish the world was so simplistic in it's solutions. It's not.
Yeah Boomers are the most privileged generation dude...
In the history textbooks Millennials will be respected as cleaning up all their mess.
My grandmother was born right after the Depression and she had a more realistic outlook on jobs and labor. She worked for the post office and dept of education. She said never trust private employers they'll always hang you out to dry - I'm in a F500 and she is right...
This is a permitted, even engineered, revolt. Nobody revolts when they are hungry enough.
Actually they do ....
Here in NYC they are looting every week now.
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