Unions built the middle class and employers built the slums.
I've noticed a new trend of people complaining that no one wants to work anymore. The claim cites laziness and undeserved extended unemployment benefits, ignoring the fact that a year ago when the pandemic struck, millions of workers declared non-essential were cast off as bars, theaters, restaurants, and retail stores closed or went to a skeleton crew.
During that year of pandemic recession, billionaires bought yachts that had internal docks for multi million dollar speedboats, bought million dollar Lamborghinis, and paid to have themselves shot into space for vacation. Locally, Denise DeBartolo-York, at $3.5bil, barely eked out a spot in the top 1000 on the Forbes list, despite increasing her fortunes from the year before. She slipped from 250 to 850th.
These people who complain about how no one wants to work anymore also scoff at a $15 minimum wage and wonder why no one is lined up for those Dollar General jobs. But if businesses can't put enough money on the table to lure hourly workers from govt benefits, they'll have to up their game and offer 21st century wages, a salary that allows one to live indoors and eat every day. Call it a sign of a strengthening economy, but we will likely see that $15 minimum without an act of Congress. It's a simple matter of supply & demand.
It's what conservatives long touted as "The Invisible Hand Of The Free Market", which according to them, requires no input to work, yet now they complain and ask the govt to help by putting the squeeze on the poor. Employers are finding they get the workers they pay for, and current minimum wage nets the untrainable, incompetent, and dishonest. There are people you don't want making your Big Mac.
The good times may finally be ending for space tourists, global playboys, and the tax sheltered alike. History may one day recall this era as The New Roaring 20s.
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And my first thought, as well, was “Who would clamor to work for $8 an hour (or less ... if you are expected to make it up with tips) in a crowded restaurant during a pandemic?”
What are the healthcare benefits, if any? Do you get any sick days or vacation days? Those employers complaining that they can’t find people to work in these low paid jobs need to start thinking about this.
They're the house, and the house always wins.
And I applaud it.
But that is probably only possible with the big chains.
It just made me angry that these guys locally complain that people are lazy because it’s hard to find employees to work for low wages during a pandemic in a crowded place, and that working is what enables you to buy a house and have a comfortable retirement. Has he never heard the term “working poor”?
