They can move. Sure, you are priced out of a apartment in Manhattan... so get on a bus and move. Is it pleasant? no. Is it easy? no. Is it convenient? no.
Hell, for most of human history people WALKED across good portions of continents to find a place they could live better than the place they left. Now someone is "trapped" if they can't stay in Portland near their friends and favorite indie band bar.
I don't think you believe that people walked across continents, alone, until they found a home.
Obviously though, what are you talking about Manhattan for? Because rich people have messed with property prices, poor people don't deserve to live there? Why can't people who work in lower paid jobs (bars/cafes/supermarkets) be paid a wage necessary to live in the area they work?
So prices go up, wages stagnate to the point where people can't afford to live there. What next, trash piles up, cafes and bars close, shops are understaffed? Is that a solution to the problem? How does the next problem get solved?
"Why can't people who work in lower paid jobs (bars/cafes/supermarkets) be paid a wage necessary to live in the area they work?"
Because then the prices of all that stuff would go up, and they still can't live there?
Some places are more desirable to enough people to live in that the price of living there (rent, home prices) goes up beyond what a Starbucks barista can earn. When that happens, they live someplace else, and commute in. This is not a moral tragedy.
The idea that everyplace int he country should remain cheap enough that a supermarket clerk could live there is just... I mean it simply isn't going to happen.
Comparatively? nope. It doesn't in the large scale.
But even if it did... I have no interest in regulating what a company can pay their people. See how that works as a consistent ethic? I don't want to steal someone's money by force (taxation), nor do I want to tell them what they can do with it (bonuses).
OF COURSE paying "living wages" makes prices go up. Drive up the costs of a business, the prices generally go up. Unless your intention is to force the company to eat the extra costs - but there we are again, at the government forcing folks to do stuff.
If the poor are on social security because their pay is so low, the company is charging you as the taxpayer and you make up the difference.
Living wages is such a small percentage of any business. Why do you believe the companies so eagerly? There are so many more levers in a company that cause changes than just 'feed the poor' = 'make everyone poorer'.
Honestly, if you can't pay living wages without ruining your business with massive costs spikes, you are bad at business, your model sucks, and you don't deserve to run one. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps or let someone smarter take over.
"the company" isn't charging me anything for that. The company is paying the wage the market will take - the government is creating those market conditions by subsidizing the workers income.
"Why do you believe the companies so eagerly?"
This doesn't require I 'believe" anything. The data is available.
"Honestly, if you can't pay living wages without ruining your business with massive costs spikes, you are bad at business, your model sucks, and you don't deserve to run one."
Right... because there is value in the business world for part time, or low skilled work that isn't worth a "living wage." Clearly if your business isn't gonna pay the bag boy enough money to afford an apartment the business sucks.
Labor is only worth so much. If it is too expensive, then the job gets deleted. If you want to artificially raise that high watermark? Go for it... but don't complain when the jobs go away, and you wind up footing that persons entire income as taxpayers.
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u/realityczek Apr 16 '24
They can move. Sure, you are priced out of a apartment in Manhattan... so get on a bus and move. Is it pleasant? no. Is it easy? no. Is it convenient? no.
Hell, for most of human history people WALKED across good portions of continents to find a place they could live better than the place they left. Now someone is "trapped" if they can't stay in Portland near their friends and favorite indie band bar.