Stossel: Why Some Capitalists Are the Worst Enemies of Capitalism

Amazon lobbies for government favors and bad regulations.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders recently came up with a new business to attack: Amazon. Sanders said Amazon didn't pay its workers enough and because of that, many qualified for government assistance.
At first, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos defended his company.
That was the right thing to do, says John Stossel. He notes: "It's not companies' fault that some workers qualify for handouts. More people would collect them if Amazon were not hiring. By creating jobs, Bezos gives workers better choices."
But the media rarely mention that. Instead, they bombarded Amazon with negative coverage.
So Bezos caved. He declared that all Amazon workers would now all be paid $15 an hour or more. That higher wage sounds good to most people, but Stossel point out that while the higher minimum is good for workers who have jobs now, it can shut out beginners.
Kelsey Holder (now Kelsey Turner) started working at age 13, for minimum wage, at Mossman's Coffee Shops and Catering Company in Bakersfield, California.
By the time Stossel interviewed her in 2010, she was making $20 an hour. She told him: "For being only 13...minimum wage was fine. If you work hard, you can make more, it's just you have to prove yourself."
The skills she learned through work-even at minimum wage-served her well. Kelsie is now the restaurant's manager. Had the minimum wage been higher when she started, she may never have gotten that opportunity.
When Amazon sets a high minimum wage at its own company, unskilled workers can still find jobs at other companies.
But Amazon did not stop there. It has also begun lobbying for the government to force all its competitors to pay a higher minimum wage too.
That could help Amazon, Stossel says: "Amazon's already replacing workers with robots. Bezos knows a higher minimum wage will hurt his competitors more than it hurts him."
Amazon often tries to get favors from government. It didn't just announce a second headquarters. It started a competition to see which politicians would give it the largest tax incentives.
"Give me a break," Stossel says. "Politicians shouldn't pander to companies, and companies shouldn't pander to politicians. I wish Bezos would stick to innovating, not scheming with politicians to get special breaks. Some of the worst enemies of capitalism are capitalists."
The views expressed in this video are solely those of John Stossel; his independent production company, Stossel Productions; and the people he interviews. The claims and opinions set forth in the video and accompanying text are not necessarily those of Reason.

[@EARLandPEARL-c3i]

Thomas Sowell‏ @ThomasSowell "The very same people who say that government has no right to interfere with sexual activity between consenting adults believe that the government has every right to interfere with economic activity between consenting adults."

[@elinuss2546]

@Volkstribun Common good for who?

[@firstandforemost87]

silkhead44 Unless that sexual activity is an adult male paying an agreed upon sum in exchange for sex from a consenting adult female. Then it’s government to the ‘rescue’.

[@boywonder4509]

Theft, torture, and forced labor. It's all good bro. It's to serve the "common good".

[@ihavenojawandimustscream4681]

firstandforemost87 Prostitution is an extremely risky business.It is saturated with brothels employing minors and migrants,abuses and sexual crimes,scammers..

[@firstandforemost87]

Autistic Legion I am sure that is universally true the world over and is in no way related to its status as a black market trade most places.

[@Goldenblade14]

Capitalism isn't the enemy. Corporatism is.

[@arendmookhoek4314]

Yes but the company's heavily influence what the state ends up doing, the people didn't vote for it!

[@Baker.Matthew]

BUBBLEGUM GUN like anyone voted for the tax code.

[@arendmookhoek4314]

@@bubblegumgun3292 the masses are ignorant, that doesnt mean they wanted this. just because people dont know that they are being manipulated and scammed doesnt mean its directly their fault. the large cooperations influence politics almost completely, the us is hardly less corrupt than russia for instance, you just need more money to play.

[@ezpzlemonsqz]

Capitalism inevitably ends in a small group of the most profitable corporations dominating the market. Corporatism is the logical end of any capitalist system, not some corruption of capitalism.

[@arendmookhoek4314]

@Eric Zeng capitalism only works when there has recently been a large event causing the economy to 'reset', after a while companies start getting more power than they should and inequality grows, the us is in that fase right now.

[@donskiver]

This is the exact argument I had with my younger brother a couple weeks ago. He didn't seem to understand that crony capitalism (corporatism) is the problem. Government shouldn't be allowed to pick the winners and losers; consumers should be the only ones deciding who wins and loses by voting with their wallets. On a side note, I used to be a manager for Wal-Mart, and while there were some hard working people there who wanted to come in and do the best they could do, there were 5 times as many people who were there just for a paycheck. They would do the absolute bare minimum (and sometimes even less!) to keep from being fired, and still complain about how underpaid they were. Lazy, entitled people with unwarranted levels of self-importance. They had the notion that they should be paid lots of money just for showing up. And I can't tell you how many of them ended up being bitter and resentful that they didn't get paid what they thought they deserved and wound up stealing merchandise to "make up the difference." I'm utterly convinced that there are two types of people in this world, those who want to work, and those who don't. And right now, we have far too many people in this country who just don't want to work. They're envious of others; they see someone who has a nice phone or a nice car and they say to themselves, "Hey I want that nice phone" or "Hey I want that nice car" and think they're entitled to it just because they wanted it.

[@yegfreethinker]

There are plenty of people who want work for a good wage but if you're not going to give it then why the hell should I give 110%?

[@haroondaman7162]

Just hire immigrants, they usually work harder

[@racerx4152]

thank you for telling the truth.

[@zackhamilton8444]

And even worse than those that don't want to work attack those that do and about half of those that do either quit or play the same game as the deadbeats. In one annual review session I told the assistant manager that by not getting after the deadbeats you are putting workers in a position to chose between being a chump or playing the game. That game being I can do 120% of the work I signed on to doing or I can do 10 to 20% of that work and still get the same 40 cent a year annual raise you give to the deadbeats. He just sat there looking dumbfounded.

[@yashpatel261]

@@zackhamilton8444 That is something you realise over time. It will be the same in most other companies where you are an employee. However if you are a contractor working 120% it is good because you get more money for working that hard.

[@Ignatz71]

Remove all the regulations that keep Amazon and WalMart as practical monopolies, and opportunity and competition will fix wages in short order.

[@kalenbogart4482]

I’m as lefty as they come and I cannot argue with this We’ve established monopolization of entire industries, which keeps capitalism from functioning as advertised.

[@Ignatz71]

@Juden Arier As if those corporations have just always existed. Like giants like Blockbuster and K-mart didn't just fade away. Thanks for the dumbest comment ever to be posted on KZbin.

[@patoren3gou653]

@Juden Arier we need a twentieth century teddy rosevelt to break up Amazon, Google and Disney with extreme prejudice

[@haroldpierce1987]

@@patoren3gou653 Microsoft too

[@megauser8512]

Exactly!

[@hemprope4326]

"The duty of the press is to topple the current system." -Karl Marx.

[@GHam-f9o]

The duty of the small press, maybe. But the MSM only exist to uphold the government and the powers that be. Manufacturing Consent.

[@dubonstin8676]

"Due to the Karlovy Vary resolutions, the entire press system was subject to censorship, which was particularly strict with regard to the Rheinische Zeitung. The Prussian authorities first sent a special censor from Berlin. When this did not lead to the desired adjustment, each issue had to be submitted to the Cologne district president in the second instance. Because Marx's editorial staff regularly circumvented this double censorship, the newspaper was finally banned from publication on April 1, 1843. Marx resigned as a staff member and editor on March 17 because the owners hoped to avoid a ban by changing the newspaper's line with the censorship authorities." The context of such quotes is important. Marx had to flee to other countries since the German states (Germany wasn't a nation yet, but dominated by Prussia and Austria) were really repressive at this time. Americans tend to forget that we weren't so fortunate to live in a democracy back then.

[@nevadataylor]

“This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.” ― Albert Einstein

[@t6amygdala]

@@GHam-f9o exactly. The duty of the mainstream press is to uphold the status quo

[@Birkarl_]

Title correction: Why -Some- *_Corporatists_* Are The Worst Enemies Of Capitalism.

[@Birkarl_]

@@bubblegumgun3292 Even in a free market, the corporations' incentive to smother out competition by force exists. There must be larger incentives from customers not to.

[@squee116]

@@Birkarl_ In a free market, there are fewer controls that large corporations have to smother out competition. Only government authority allows them to impose their barriers on new entrants.

[@JudahDavis]

@@squee116 Corporations in government is a failure of government and predictable of corporations.That's how I put it.

[@squee116]

@@JudahDavis I generally agree.

[@leeuniverse]

Crony Capitalism...

[@raptokvortex]

I like how his attempt to refute the minimum wage argument was by stating that it is an argument against the minimum wage.

[@austinbyrd1703]

Yeah, exactly lol. Like.....that's the point.

[@wetokebitcoins1769]

if all the other jobs are worse like that guy says, wouldn't that mean that walmart jobs are pretty good then?

[@tadhgmcgrath1409]

Nah, because walmart gives low hours... If you have a specific amount you need to make to rent and eat, which in california is like 2600 a month. You take the job with more hours

[@mikerww]

No, it would mean all the jobs are shit and Walmart just happens to be the least shitty.

[@wetokebitcoins1769]

@Luke Bellika yup, I would be pretty glad if I were in that shitty fucking situation.

[@andrew-paulclements1502]

@@tadhgmcgrath1409 Explains why people are coming to my state of Texas from there. Besides the relatively high taxes of course.

[@michaelpaliden6660]

@@tadhgmcgrath1409 Ca is an absolut dung heep where government regulations and taxes that is 3 out of 5 of the top reasons for the C.O.L. in CA nice natural areas though

[@Andy-Christian]

This is the truth. I used to work for a luxury car dealership that had been around since the 1960s. The used to have 3 apprenticeships for mechanics, and one for body shop. Four in total. The year I worked there they only had 1 for each, I learned they were eliminating all apprenticeship positions, and I asked the manager why. He answered that training someone to work on cars, is essentially paying someone to lose money and break things. When the minimum wage was low, they could afford to do that. Now they can't. So no entry level positions.

[@kimobrien.]

Luxury Bosses make bigger profits because luxury is a fetish that can be sold like trinkets the Dutch bought Manhattan with. Bosses naturally don't want to pay for education because it would cut into profits. If they are faced with having to pay a higher wage they can raise prices and lose customers or cut other expenses like advertising, boss bonuses or profits themselves. They make their decisions based upon maximizing profits for themselves come hell or high water. A higher minimum wage means those workers will be able to spend more on things they need. This results in a shift in production away from luxury goods to workers necessities. As far as hiring and training goes capitalism always works to replace higher skilled labor with unskilled labor and machines. Capitalist supervisors are paid to get the longest hours at the fastest pace at the lowest wage in a pay period from those they watch for a living. The fact that they system itself enter into crisis and can't match all the labor available with the capital equipment is due to the natural tendency of long term profit rates to decline.

[@Andy-Christian]

@@kimobrien. No, the reason companies do not want to pay for education, is because people routinely screw them over when they do this. I worked at a Cadillac dealership. The dealership used to have a huge training program. 3 mechanic internships, and 2 body repair internships. Back in the 1960s, if you trained someone, they would stay with you for decades. Today, you train someone, and then they quit and work for your competitor, or they quit and open their own repair shop competing against you, with the training you gave them. No one is going to pay for education directly, knowing there is a good chance you'll quit and work for someone else with the knowledge you gave them. You wouldn't do that either. If you paid for it out of your pocket from a business you were running, you'd be pissed. Second, CEO pay will not pay for wages. If you confiscated all the salary of the CEO of walmart, and gave it to the employees, it would be less than half a penny per hour. If CEO earned zero, it would not even raise your pay by a penny. Third, higher minimum wage means those workers earn nothing. They are unemployed. Go read about what happened to the car wash workers in NYC. They jacked up the minimum wage of car wash workers with Unions. The result was that many car washes closed, and others converted to full automation. In both cases all the employees lost their jobs.

[@kimobrien.]

@@Andy-Christian All your doing is making excuses for the bosses. They can't afford this and they can't afford that but they can afford CEO pay and who knows what else they are hiding in their budget. Bonus for bosses, stock buybacks, advertising, and diversity training, WalMart has money to buy new computer systems to replace people and they can cut the pay of other bosses and plans to buy or invest. They can cut their trips to Las Vegas and donations to their foundations. We aren't interested in subsidising bosses who can't make a profit with low wages. They run everything based upon profits, Their profit system is coming to an end because of the declining rate of industrial profit. That's why we say the workers can't accept this close everything down because we can't make a profit. They wasted 5 trillion dollars destroying Iraq and Afghanistan. You want to die and sacrifice for them and their profit system that's your decision but don't expect me to follow.

[@kimobrien.]

@@Andy-Christian Why do you want a bunch of slaves washing cars to begin with? Seems to me that's a luxury service and if it gets replaced by automatic car washing that's a good thing. We don't want jobs that are just those of digging a hole and filling it up again. Same with the neoliberal argument that John Lewis made coal expensive compared to oil. Does it not make more sense to burn oil and gas than coal? Is not oil drilling and extraction safer than coal mining. Coal will probably always be needed to make raw steel. We want a system where people can change jobs without economic hardship. We don't want this business where people are thrown out of work, ignored, and treated like dirt on a shoe.

[@kimobrien.]

@@Andy-Christian Does the boss guarantee a life time JOB either? From a sensible point of view and not one based upon a boss making a profit than on the job training fulls two functions it creates value as the worker trains and he isn't put in the position of being told he didn't get the right training or some other reasoning after he spent both time and money on outside of work education. The bosses want all the choke points in the economy so they can extract profits. The want the all the gains and make us take all the losses.

[@caster863]

Correcrion: The title should be "Why crony capitalists are the worst enemies in capitalism".

[@darrelljohnson1319]

Cruz gave a good speech on crony capitalist hurting everybody during Obama years

[@aidanalberts6010]

Hi, I tend to lean left but I do think we as a society should be more civil to those we disagree with so I'd like to respectfully voice my opinion and hear your thoughts; Aren't crony capitalists always going to be inevitable if we deregulate, and cut taxes for corporations? I mean if we remove all roadblocks for giant corporations to accumulate massive amounts of wealth, then aren't there always going to be giant corporations who want to save more money by lobbying the government and having policy crafted in their interest by buying politicians, democrat and republican? It makes their business more profitable, so other companies can't compete unless they do the same thing

[@caster863]

@@aidanalberts6010 We don't have to eradicate all crony capitalists, but we could reduce them. One way is to make sure that they're competing in the market just like all of the other companies, and to make sure that they don't get any special privilages from the government. No monopoly exists without government favoritism. That's why we have Big Tech giants lobbying the s* out of government for their wants. I also think that lobbying should be overhauled so it won't work against us as much as it currently does. Also lobbyists need to be registered, and the money needs to be transparent to the public because if we allow secret money with secret lobbyists to thrive, we are not only vulnerable to crony capitalists, but also to foreign ones too. Same goes to politicians too. They need to have transparent money from registered lobbyists. Also it should be illegal for all political leaders to break their own rules. For politicians, I should look into more. Thanks for opening up.

[@aidanalberts6010]

@@caster863 I completely agree with your point about government favouritism. I don't think the state is ultimately a friend of the people. But how are we going to make sure companies like Amazon aren't exploiting government policy, when in order to have a successful career as a politician, you have to take funding from companies like Amazon (unless you're an AOC/Bernie type) We've never really had a truly "free market". What we've had has always been state capitalism in which the state picks its favourites, and protects the property of the "oppulent minority" to quote James Madison.

[@caster863]

@@aidanalberts6010 First there has to be transparency, then the politician should do more for his or her cause more than they benifit the business. If that politician benefits the business that grants it special permissions to become monopolistic or oligargical, then that politician and Amazon should be investigated with no lobbying stopping it. If that cause is admittedly intended to help Amazon, then that the politician should only change what is unfair for Amazon, and any business. I'm not an expert in crony capitalism, and corruption in general because solving it is like trying to avoid stepping on broken glass, but these are my suggestions of what I think should happen. Maybe not all special government privilages are for fulfilling the wants for a company to become a monopoly or an oligopoly, which I got from the last part of your reply.

[@jooky87]

Stossel, you’re smart, tell us more about corporate welfare. It has a way bigger impact on society than food stamps and minimum wage.

[@AbbeyRoadkill1]

Bingo. Welfare given to workers is absolutely dwarfed by welfare given to corporations (including the world'smost profitable corporations, like Exxon). Until corporate welfare ends, the John Stossels of the world need to shut the fuck up about ending welfare for workers.

[@HVACSoldier]

AbbeyRoadkill1 John Stossel has been critical of “corporate welfare.” He has criticized tax payer funded stadiums and if you watch the video to the end, you see him criticizing “corporate welfare.”

[@brianforbes8325]

Dave Davis, you're absolutely right! AbbeyRoadkill1 is blind and foulmouthed to boot.

[@marke219]

Let's cut all welfare!!

[@rackets7991]

READ "No They Cant" by Stossel...It will tell you a lot...

[@dlllester]

The root of the problem is the Federal Reserve creating currency, legal tender laws, and the Government spending money that they don't have. While I agree with the premise, it's pointless to complain about the inevitable reaction to these things symptoms until the real problem is fixed. Complaining about minimum wage laws under current circumstances is like complaining about the fire code while your house is burning down. It literally does no one any good. It makes libertarians look heartless, while it makes socialism seem good or even necessary. Whereas, if you focus on the broader picture you can see how socialism destroys the middle class and upward mobility. Arguments like this are poorly picked battles, IMO, unless you acknowledge the root of the problems.

[@Mitjitsu]

You have to look at where minimum wage laws come from. It's unions who want them (same when it comes to needing a license to do a job, when all most people need is some basic on the job training), as a way of raising barriers to entry level workers. Originally it was used to discriminate against blacks who were previously slaves. In Apartheid South Africa the mining unions advocated for a minimum wage specifically for black people to make them less employable. Nowadays, it's about big corporations trying to shut down or keep smaller competitors out of business.

[@gregcoste5332]

the whine about the money supply .. minimum wage is a factor in employment, but the major factor in employment is labor supply .. we spend billions in educating (schools) our labor supply and then short circuit that effort importing legal and illegal labor .. Trump/Coulter/Hansen are right and Trump's marginal efforts are showing results to make the need for minimum wage less important as an economic factor .. for the most part, the purpose of a job (job creators) is to make a living wage .. job creators who create jobs that don't meet that standard need to go back to the drawing board about their product and work structure.

[@dlllester]

@@gregcoste5332 It's about currency stability. The federal reserve's inflation policy destroys the poorest among us. There'd be no need for a minimum wage at all if it weren't for the Fed constantly destroying the value of the dollar. Just look at how much you've seen your purchasing power decline within your own lifetime, the results speak for themselves. If we want to stop immigration, we should stop destroying countries around us by launching coups and end foolish policies such as our drug war that not only allowed, but encouraged the creation of gangs of criminals (MS 13), widespread corruption, and drug cartels in our neighbor's countries. A large part of the migration crisis' we've seen spring up around the world can be tied directly to the violent criminality U.S. foreign and domestic policy has fostered.

[@caseyvee4419]

dlllester- Best comment in the entire discussion about this video !

[@Cjnw]

Crypto currency is the best for future

[@josebatista5188]

Also, much praise to Stossel for taking a balanced and rational view on this issue; that Capitalism and the free market are worthwhile despite those who abuse it and give it a bad name.

[@kimobrien.]

No he doesn't because he fails to say that a higher minimum wage means a shift in production away from luxury goods towards things workers need as a social class. People like him will pay higher prices for Lincoln Continentals and advertising budgets will get cut as waste as will talking heads like Strossel himself. His investments will yield lower rates as capitalism is unable to halt declining profit rates in industrial production. .

[@johnnygeneric161]

Someone needs to explain how Sweden, which has the one of the highest GDP per capita has NO MINIMUM WAGE.

[@mrertam]

The minimum wage is not decided by the politicians, instead the unions and the employers' association make agreements for different sectors of the labour market which include wage levels. www.sverigesingenjorer.se/om-forbundet/om-oss/the_swedish_model/

[@coolbeans6148]

@@mrertam excellent

[@niklasmolen4753]

No minimum wage is required. There are welfare programs that mean that if the salary is too low, it is better to live on welfare. Therefore, companies must keep a certain salary if they want to be able to hire someone. And what Erik wrote.

[@darrelljohnson1319]

sweden GDP is a lie like all socialist/communist countries lie about GDP as Rome told people economy was good up until day Rome was destroyed

[@niklasmolen4753]

@@darrelljohnson1319 The only problem is that Sweden is not a socialist / communist state, so the whole reasoning falls. In fact, the market in Sweden is more free than in the USA.

[@makayahbenavides2478]

"If you think 15/hour is too much, try living on it" this dudes an idiot. I make 16/hour, and live comfortably even paying 800 in rent smack in the middle of the city. I dont eat out, I dont spend money on things like pot alcohol or tobacco, I just know how to spend and because of that I have a near luxury lifestyle for someone my age. The idea that you cant live off such inflated wages is simply a result of people spending money on a lifestyle they cant afford.

[@grantjohnson5785]

The problem is, the Left ignores reality. Leftists dominate the big cities where less than $15/hour really is very hard to live on because cost of living in general, and especially rent, is so high. So they think that applies everywhere. Meanwhile, conservatives tend to live in rural areas and many suburbs where the cost of living is much lower, so they are well aware that even on less $15/hour you can live quite well... in those areas. Conclusion? What needs addressed is not the federal minimum wage, but the LOCAL one (if there is one). Conservatives consistently put in the hard work to address issues they care about at the local and state level... why don't Leftists do the same?

[@inbredjesus9188]

@@grantjohnson5785 15 an hour isn't enough in san Jose CA

[@Ocastia]

And you do earn 160$ a month more (if you work 40h/week) so that is something.

[@_gamepoint_]

@@inbredjesus9188 I imagine 15 dollars wouldn't be enough in California anywhere. What does rent normally run in your state/city?

[@inbredjesus9188]

@@_gamepoint_ 1100. 900 for roaches and crackhead if you are lucky. Ceres California. 13 is minimum wage here at odd jobs with usually no overtime

[@KIMG69]

My Economics class watches your clips from 20 20 that are from back in the day Mr. Stossel. We all cheer for the “mustache man”

[@Anonymous-yy7ur]

No that's where he's wrong the worst enemy to capitalism are two enemies corporatism and communism and those two go hand-in-hand

[@Iandar1]

Well crony capitalism/ corporatism is the only form capitalism can take you have to blind not to see that.

[@niklasmolen4753]

All systems are driven in one direction because of the conditions in which they exist. In capitalism, corporatism is the way to a super company that controls everything. And in communism it leads to authoritarian dictatorship. That is why pure capitalism or communism is bad.

[@megauser8512]

Yep!

[@Iandar1]

Niklas Molén I’d argue that it’s not necessarily the case with communism most of the times Leftist governments come into power which the majority of them where democratically elected and the US decided to squash them either using the CIA or direct military intervention, a small exemption is a state in India called Kerala in which they have the lowest amount of people in poverty as well as the improvements brought by leftists which was indicated in a 1984 study using World bank data.

[@niklasmolen4753]

@@Iandar1 There is a difference between a left-wing government and a communist / socialist government.

[@merkazoidduff7651]

And aren't food stamps and other government assistance defacto corporate welfare? If a corporation chooses to pay someone less money than it takes for their employees to survive and the government takes up the slack isn't that by design the government paying part of the wages of these corporation's employees? Therefore the corporation can cut salary to pad their profits since the government has decided to pay the difference in the salary the employee requires?

[@squee116]

Except food stamps and government assistance aren't limited to employees of corporations, so by definition they'd be better classified as "poor people" welfare. And their targeted income levels may be way too high or too low depending on the state in which they are implemented. Meanwhile, the corporation likely didn't lobby for those things to be in place, as they come out of taxes, which are collected twice against corporations, at an entity and individual level. Further, none of this takes into account an individual's ability to budget and plan for their career ahead of time. The whole "late 20's with a family" schtick in regards to entry level job means that person made some poor economic choices.

[@waltermh111]

I make only $12/h and I dont qualify for food stamps nor do I need them. No Amazon employee qualified due to their pay. They qualified due to life choices. For example, if they have kids, they can get food stamps at higher incomes than people without children. So you are saying that if a person chooses to have a child, the company should have to pay them more? If the woman chooses to be a single parent, that the company should have to pay them more? That if the person refuses to work a second job to be responsible for their life choices, that the company should pay them more? The wage the company pays is already enough to have a decent life on. but people feel entitled to more and more without taking on more responsibility to get it. I heard some young people saying they are entitled to a house simply for being born :/

[@pariasdark]

@@waltermh111 The problem with your argument is that ultimately you're saying it is okay to pay people so little that they can not do normal things like have children and you're expecting people to be okay with that so long as the individual can survive. There is no way you will ever get people to be okay with not being able to do such fundamental things just because a corporation feels it needs to pay its upper echelon hundreds of times what they pay their average worker.

[@waltermh111]

@@pariasdark No, I am saying that you arent supposed to be able to raise a family on a front line job, and you never have been able to. You are an irresponsible parent if you try to, no matter how much they pay you because a front line job will never pay enough to do so well. If the minimum wage gets higher, so will the cost of living in the area to match what the majority of people make, the majority making close to the minimum wage. A responsible parent will take on more work responsibility to raise the kid better. And if you teach parents to be better with their financials and live within their means, they can raise kids on a lower wage than you might expect, but if you teach them only to be professional victims then they will stay poor and struggling no matter what you pay them. Also, teaching them to raise children with a mother and father, and not as single mothers, will also help as that always has the best outcome for children and allows people to raise a child with a better household income (assuming again that they stop trying to live outside of their means, aka trying to get a house before they are ready for it). As for what the upper class is paid, when you create jobs, you can choose your pay, but all I hear from people jealous of the upper management is that they dont want the responsibility for creating and keeping jobs around by creating a strong company, no, they want more without doing more.

[@waltermh111]

@Cousin Vinny Actually, in January, I got promoted to the next level and make nearly $16/h But it is my goal to become supervisor. I have the advantage that I actually love responsibility. I thrive on doing things I can be proud of and I have a business mind. But my point is that even if you dont like responsibility, it is a necessary part of a thriving life. People need to stop being so entitled and expecting me to pay for their lack of responsibility. I know that some of it is poor education and poor parental raising of children, but when you tell them over and over again how to fix their life and they make excuses as an adult, it upsets me. I am on the path to real estate as a side income, yes, on $16/h in expensive CO. Because I am planning well. When I try to teach people how to do it, they make excuses, act like its not important to them to be financially stable and growing, yet want to beg for others to give them more stuff. Disgusts me when I know 100% they can do better based on their situation.

[@clairecelestin8437]

Arguing in one breath that Walmart, Target, and Amazon are the greediest of the greedy, and in the next breath that people choose to work there because the other job offers are even worse, is actually an admission that competition helps protect the worker and that greedy capitalists have a profit incentive to attract employees by offering a better employment arrangement than the rest of the market.

[@TexyMom]

Most waiters make more money than I do with my college degree. 🤷‍♀️

[@treasureplanet9082]

You either got the wrong degree, need more experience, or a different job. You have choices in the free market... you have no choices under socialism.

[@pringleaddict5827]

What degree? Art?

[@John-jg2km]

@@treasureplanet9082 The US is a mixed market... so do we or do we not have a choice?

[@deisk2707]

@@John-jg2km Depends if the government made choices

[@chenaniahmay4541]

We're too focused on raising the wage when we should be focusing on the cost of living. I do think anyone busting their ass 40 hours a week deserves to be able to afford to live and have disposable income for our economy. But I doubt raising the wage will fix that.

[@John-jg2km]

@ALJustice0 but in Texas you cannot get a job to afford it lol

[@americanlad434]

As a Republican who is also a former Amazon Employee, I can safely say Amazon is a bad company. An employee's home burned down, and they were told if they missed another day, they would be fired. An employee died on a machine and they tried to hide the news because a safety device failed. An the workload makes it hard for someone's body to heal if they are injured or you are fires. Threatening employees with lawsuits because they didn't follow a company policy, even though they can forget to give you your pay check and you can't appeal it because you signed away such rights. There are a lot of horrible stories that are not limited to just one fulfillment center, maybe more people should work there to learn how bad it is. I refuse to buy Amazon because I know they make a fortune yet they mistreat their employees, even skipping out on buying tape-guns and box cutters for "safety" reasons.

[@scaryblackrifle1481]

I'm a pretty Conservative guy aswell, but I support Labor Unions in the private sector in order to prevent abuse like this.

[@orainer687]

as a restaurant owner I can't afford to pay 15$ an hour to every new employee without increasing the prices.

[@John-jg2km]

Okay... so increase your prices?

[@armoredplacoderm]

@@John-jg2km And then when people stop eating at his restaraunt because it's too expensive, how will the employees be paid?

[@John-jg2km]

@@armoredplacoderm If the business cannot afford to pay employees a living wage then its best to let capitalism do its thing. It will go bankrupt and a better restraunt will replace it.

[@armoredplacoderm]

@@John-jg2km And now instead of those employees having a non-living wage, they simply have no wage. Brilliant. There is no guarantee a restaraunt will replace the out-of-business restaraunt and employ those people. You're also failing to account for people who are willing to work for lower wages for a variety of reasons. The video addresses them. Now they just don't get to have jobs because you know better I guess. Not to mention if you raise the cost of goods and services by raising minimum wage you will have a number of other effects: 1) Jobs will be outsourced to other countries where labor is cheaper. 2) Cost of living will increase for everyone so the dollar will have less buying power. Your "living wage" is now no longer a living wage because everything is more expensive. 3) It's going to insentivize automation and the elimination of jobs. Increase the cost of unskilled labor and watch those jobs vanish. But sure, just pay people more money. The final consideration is this: Why $15 an hour? Why not $30? Or $100? If we can just legislate our way to prosperity, the sky is the limit right? Some entrepreneur will make it work no matter the labor cost right? That's the implication you made right? How about $1,000 an hour? How about $1,000,000? How much is to much? Who determines that and how?

[@John-jg2km]

@@armoredplacoderm your right, the place will go out of business and if there is no demand for the business then that buisness won't work. Look at blockbuster, no demand = no buisness. Why not $20? Because that would create inflation. The idea is to pay people enough to survive and afford private Healthcare, house utility's, and children = the bare minimum to take care of yourself. We want automation, the world is already moving to that and the service industry is exploding, times are changing and the market will follow. Nothing you just listed is against raising the minimum wage.

[@jamesknowles6665]

Minimum wage mandates destroy jobs and are evil. That's right, evil. These mandates make it more difficult for first time workers to get a first job. Also minimum wage mandates limit higher pay scales because they put pressure on the bottom line. If an employer has to pay too much for a low skilled worker he will require all employees to do more, including the low skilled job and pay all his workers less.

[@sfrsteel]

I am just confused why they think they are only worth 15 an hour. Why stop there ? Why are they not going for 30, 50, 100 or a thousand bucks an hour? Why not 100 million an hour? Why not 30 trillion an hour? It doesn't matter what the minimum wage is. Inflation will match it every single time. That 30 trillion dollar am hour job will be worth minimum wage after inflation and a minimum wage job will always be minimum wage no matter what you are paid. They are not supposed to be jobs to live an raise a family on. It's where you start working, or the job you need to get back on your feet. If you're a good worker your employer will either pay you more as you take on more responsibility, or you find another job that will. Employers are always looking for good workers.

[@usayeed727]

It makes sense for small businesses NOT to have minimum wage requirements to meet by the nature of their size and margins. The argument falls flat though when you have multinational corporations like amazon paying their employees dirt poor wages, treating them like modern slaves and cogs to a machine where they just don’t matter. Before anyone even says anything here- I actually worked at Amazon. I was- and still am- an ardent proponent of classical liberal and free market economics- but a free market only works so long as competition remains. Amazon is so huge that competition against it is a joke and its obscene wealth and profit margins make it affordable to pay their workers a decent wage and the fact that they don’t is perplexing.

[@witchhatter]

Why would they pay more when there's no competition to steal thier employees?

[@rafalkaminski6389]

Afaik, theres no obligation to work in corporations with poor dirt wages.

[@philosopher-2007]

then get a job somewhere else, you don't need a minimum wage to fix that problem. If Amazon started losing a bunch of employees, it could either pay them more or invest in robotics.

[@MrDavidfuchser]

Boycott Amazon. It's not as hard as you might think.

[@wisesaint2]

One month after Seattle raised the minimum wage to $15 6200 workers lost there jobs.

[@jacobmurphy7333]

Please cite your sources

[@user-vv1do1wg1j]

@@jacobmurphy7333 can find it easily. He should've added the year. Although this makes sense and I'm not going to fact check it.

[@tokesalotta1521]

Food stamps, rental assistance etc is also based on family size. It's not the employer's responsibility to feed your children. Second, how many of those employees are part time, or seasonal?

[@Stevie8654]

Free market capitalism and the corporate-government machine are completely different things.

[@TheRisky9]

He says a fair wage is "$15 an hour" then switches to "$20 an hour." Uh, which is it? $15 or $20? In terms of wages, those are huge differences!

[@serbanandreimarin]

It really depends on where you live

[@jonathantiernan2148]

isn't that around a 33% difference. huge difference

[@serbanandreimarin]

@@jonathantiernan2148 25% actually

[@daviepageviews4521]

@@serbanandreimarin you must be a mathmatician

[@serbanandreimarin]

@@daviepageviews4521 Not really 15 and 20 are both multiples of 5 (and 3 and 4) respectively 3 is 75% of 4 and as such any correlating multiples will follow the same rule It's quite common knowledge really

[@VOKZEL]

Raising the minimum wage only makes the wage gap larger.

[@mojungle3054]

You lolberts will cheer at the Lenin quote, "communism is the goal of socialism". Have you ever stopped to think that maybe, corporatism is the goal of capitalism?

[@vshah1010]

The unskilled job will give you the experience to earn more later. This is a common false argument. Unskilled jobs don't give you skills. Me working at McDonalds is not going to get me the skills for the professional tech job that I want. More likely, you will bounce from one retail or restaurant job to another and be trapped in those type of jobs.

[@BeeBlot]

This is ridiculous. Entry level is $15 when everything costs what it does nowadays. You're stuck in the past, dude. It ain't the 70's anymore

[@gregoryeverson741]

this is a 3yr old video

[@kylebradley3]

"If you think 15, 20 is too much try living on it!" So I can't live off this anyways and it'll get worse when everyone makes the same amount. Thanks, I guess.

[@joma12344321]

@Ryan Alex "Still better than not getting the job" you mean?

[@HeartlandHunny]

“Oh, John, that’s the same argument they used when the minimum wage was first implemented!” And they were right. As Thomas Sowell points out, when minimum wages were first implemented it priced a lot of African Americans, who typically had less job experience at the time, out of the market. Artificially higher wages means less jobs, less businesses, and higher cost of living. If the lefties out in CA can’t afford to live on less than $15/hr maybe it’s because their progressive policies have made it too expensive to live there. Don’t force these same dumb mistakes on the rest of us! If CA wants to hike their minimum wage, go for it. But it’s immoral to force every other state to do so through federal force. CA might be able to stay afloat for a few more years because of all the rich people who live there, but in KY, we can’t afford it!

[@krs2711]

TheSeptessentialRavenclaw, this $15/hour BS is the globalist's idea of a "universal, livable wage". They're abolishing borders, destroying nationalism, removing opportunities, corralling people into pack-n - stack cities, stealing all natural resources. They're creating 2 classes- the very, very, very rich and the dirt poor "workers of the world". They know full well what the f**k they're doing. Bezo is a globalist. The moronic lefties w/in society are just dumbed down people that have been duped into believing big government is some benevolent uncle there to "help" them rather than shackle them. Leftist politicians are either one of the dumbed-down people ignorantly believing they're "helping" others or just total sellouts, riding this globalist tsunami and aiming for self-enrichment. Bezo is a globalist. This $15 -minimum wage- universal, "livable" wage is one thing. Control.

[@olliefoxx7165]

The reason the California loons want a national minimum wage is to keep people from leaving their horribly run State to better run areas. If everyone has to pay $15 an hour then they think people will stay. Of course the cost of living is so high there and the one party rule so toxic people are still fleeing.

[@rackets7991]

Sowell knows his economics & FACTS..America will always have deadbeats and leaches..As long as it remains uneducated..

[@hemprope4326]

"I can't afford anything!!!" -Some millennial who eats only vegan food, lives in a luxury apartment in downtown Las Angeles, and is studying for a gender studies degree.

[@archaicnymph2977]

@@hemprope4326 And who takes out a loan for an iphone

[@stevepowsinger733]

Towards end: I don't like this game of corporations playing states off against each other when relocating. - And interfering with the Law of Supply and Demand always backfires.

[@LionsMayday]

Capitalism always breed capitalists who create monopolies and imperialism. How predictably ironic that capitalist turn to be worst enemies of capitalism. Greed is good!

[@rafalkaminski6389]

Lets teenagers dont fall under minimum wage regulations?

[@AnonEMoose-mr8jm]

Woah woah...de-annex a part of the city and name it Amazon? Sounds like a golden opportunity to create a privately owned city. That sounds great.

[@MrGatoka]

Like one big HOA.

[@shujin7024]

Btw I'm living on 12$ an hour and I'm golden I even have enough money to store some away for better days

[@MrJay_White]

the distinction needs to be made between capitalist and corporatist. those who use capital investment for non-zero-sum wealth generation, vs those who abuse the power of the state for for exemption from consequences, and explotation of the wider economy. the latter being (close to) economic fascism.

[@abatos1146]

And that's the problem, we don't have capitalism, we have a corporatocracy.

[@MrJay_White]

@@abatos1146 actually, corporatocracy, is just fascism. one of the original goal of fascism was for individuals to surrender to the greater good of all powerful corporations who where indistinguishable from government. not that you will hear antifa point that out while they are cheering for the violent suppression of comedians and non-corporate news.

[@squee116]

I don't think corporations are really the problem either. Even the most corrupt corporation could not enforce its barriers to entry without the complicity of government. Meanwhile government could do so without the aid of corrupt corporations. Government holds the power.

[@MrJay_White]

@@squee116 as i pointed out earlier, one of the goals of fascism was to create all powerful corporations that where inseparable from the state. and increasingly, that is what we are getting. corporations can not exist without the government protecting them, and the government can not keep its current structure without corporate money. if you believe the concept of "rule of law" means the law applies equally to all, then you cant accept corporations.

[@squee116]

@@MrJay_White Another goal of some forms of fascism was to create all powerful white people and them inseparable from the state. Should we revile them without context or nuance as well?

[@TexasRanchu]

Minimum wage is BS..promotes laziness . Get a education.

[@captainchaos5705]

You know what I started out making? 7.50 and hour. 4 years later, I'm making 14 an hour, and that's with a small company. Where I am that's enough to live on, and the reason it's fine is because I got a job before I needed to live on my own. I started at 16, I know others that start at 14. Yes $15 is likely the minimum livable wage, but we shouldn't be teaching people to wait to get a job until they need a livable wage

[@themerovingian4252]

First. Where are my food stamps?

[@maxxxstrong4577]

Get a job you bum!!! lol

[@karrskarr]

They have been mailed! :P

[@HamguyBacon]

its been given to illegals.

[@cloakintersection7756]

Food stamps hurt capitalism physically and emotionally.

[@jeanbethencourt1506]

Where are my tax cuts? I want to operate a multinational business here, guys. I just don't want to pay any taxes.

[@DanielEarl]

They're fascists (socialists), not capitalists.

[@nevadataylor]

Your education has let you down, my friend. You have no idea what Socialism even means, nor Fascism for that matter. And it blatantly shows, by your comment.

[@counterfeit1148]

@@nevadataylor They aren't even the same thing

[@archangelazrael7267]

Big government sounds like the enemy of capitalism to me

[@MrTalithan]

The enemy of capitalism is capitalism itself. Capitalism's endgame is fucking horrifying, dude.

[@counterfeit1148]

@@MrTalithan What endgame?

[@MrTalithan]

@@counterfeit1148 The ownership and commodification of literally everything.

[@counterfeit1148]

@@MrTalithan so you mean everything is a monopoly?

[@MrTalithan]

@@counterfeit1148 It pretty much is. the vast majority of our food is owned by 5 corporations, Internet? 4. But when I say everything, I mean everything. They've already essentially commodified human lives. You can see it in how poorly the big, big companies pay their workers.

[@Qreator06]

“How are they exploited?” HOW ARE THEY EXPLOITED?! What they produce should be theirs, but since you just so happened to have owned the capital, you get to steal it from them. Imagine an independent farmer farming, they produce stuff and sell and get to keep the money for them selves. Now imagine the same situation but the farm is owned by some other person that isn’t the farmer. The farmer works just as hard as the previous one but gets payed whatever and if he refuse to or can’t work, the owner can banish him from the farm. This is straight up feudalism but more profitable. The very concept of owning land and tools should be abolished, just like slavery

[@wojtek9675]

Why should the farmer have the same profits when they take zero risk and are using someone else’s things for their own profit? Should the owner be forced to pay for their “true worth”? If that happened why would the owner willingly hire that person? Also about that “banish” part. Should it be legal to trespass on private property? Would it be ok if I were to trespass on your party and force you to hire me for my “true worth”?

[@Qreator06]

@@wojtek9675 First of all, I'm happy to have a nice discussion with you. Now for the 1st question: Indeed, the farmers shouldn't have the same profits as one takes risks and the other doesn't. I don't know why you are even asking this, it quite unrelated but there's your answer. For the 2nd and 3rd questions: No, no-one should have this "owner" role. The farm is collectively owned by those who work in it, who gets to work there depends on those who are already working there, going back in time, the person who built the first part of this farm is the sole owner and as their workload increases beyond their personal capacity, they can invite those they trust to split up the work, the profits and the ownership. For the last 2 questions: For the both of them, the answer is no, if someone wants to enter/join a collectively owned property, they need the permission of those who already own it. I'm sure you have more questions; I'll be happy to answer them. It really allows me to think about what the consequences are of what I support.

[@yevgeniygrechka6431]

The problem is that the government doesn't let companies 'just stick to innovating'. Lobbying is an adversarial game; if you don't do it, someone will do it against you. Reducing the size, scope and power of government is the one and only solution. This would make lobbying irrelevant, and then companies can get back to doing what they do best, and not merge with government.

[@GRBoi1993]

The problem I’ve always encountered at work is that wages are often stagnate, rarely seeing wage increases, and don’t inspire their workers to stay on longer through poor, even bad, leadership. An increased minimum wage, a concept I actually support, would only exacerbate problems.

[@envincible]

Question: if amazon was able to get the federal minimum wage to $15, doesn’t that effectively make the minimum wage 0? Inflation will just catch up, right?

[@fenian123]

No, when the federal minimum wage was raised 87% in 1950 it had little to no effect on inflation or employment

[@gregocanepa]

I consider myself pretty libertarian, but, aren't those countries that have a living wage doing pretty well? I mean places like Australia, NZ, and some European countries like Holland.

[@ruigoncalves2]

I know that in Denmark and Sweden there's no state defined minimum wage, it's agreed between each workers union and employers.

[@fartexpertable]

Then you also have countries like Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland that are doing extremely well without any minimum wage. Minimum wages are forced by Union workers to cut out entry level competition to get themselves a pay raise. Econ 101

[@victoriamarulanda5639]

gregorio canepa well they’re doing fine for now because minim wage was implemented a few years ago and economic decisions take a few years to show its unintended consequence. Also, I was looking at the unemployment rate in those countries for the youth and Australia has a 12.6% unemployment rate of 15-24 yr olds. New Zealand is 11.2% same age bracket and Holland is 7.6% which for them is the equal of 20% (I spoke to a Dutch person who lives near me). Minimum wage jobs are taken by that age bracket. This are entry level jobs, no skills you get a waitressing job or a delivery job or whatever. If you’re forced to pay someone without experience or skills a “living wage” which depends on the state you live in, then those entry jobs disappear because no one will hire someone who isn’t going to produce $2-5 more per hr than their forces to pay.

[@Gamer1st1]

So far, but sliding. And they’ll get worse.

[@s0lid_sno0ks]

Why would you assume it's minimum wage, and not a litany of other factors that can be attributed to their success? If a nation is thriving with a minimum wage, it is *in spite* of it, not because of it.

[@tokesalotta1521]

If people supposedly can't afford food, rent etc, it's because those things are too expensive, and Amazon isn't the one causing all those expenses to increase. If anything, they're reducing prices. We need to look at what's causing prices to increase so much. Rising income is one thing that will cause higher prices.

[@CasusCantare]

i think that minimum wage should be a state by state issue. Some states could easily do 15 an hour, but some states it would literally destroy the market

[@DeathSpiral77]

i live in NY state, i lived on 10$ an hour, and we have some of the highest taxes ever, you cant own a 50k car and a nice house on 10$ an hour but you can have a decent apartment and a decent running used vehicle. , i worked my way up in my job to 15 an hour voluntarily, and about to buy my first brand new car, its all about money management and living within your means.

[@user-vv1do1wg1j]

Wow holy shit dude you look exactly like me just a bit more chubby and i can't grow a beard

[@DeathSpiral77]

@@user-vv1do1wg1j Are you also 6'5?

[@ExeterXD]

Its all fine while you are single and until you want to have a family with x amout of kids, its no longer affordable to have a family

[@beareggers]

2:39 "Hang out on the street" That guy looks like he already has a job. He's in sales.

[@riadburctoolla3251]

Sure, his product causes the downfall of society. But he is a private business, he can do whatever he wants

[@diamondinvr]

"Amazon workers are forced to rely on food stamps" Is that due to low pay, like you'd have us believe, or is it due to a far too significant portion of their paycheques going towards rent and loans? Absolutely ludicrous to look at such a complex issue with such little effort

[@123chargeit]

It's not even that, it wasn't a wage issue it was a salary issue. Meaning they cooked the numbers and only talk about the Amazon employees that were part time, meaning they weren't getting enough hours not that the hourly wage was too low. If you work 40 hours a week at even minimum wage you don't qualify for virtually any government aid (unless you have kids of course)

[@marklevan6546]

It’s not a free market

[@loonewoof9074]

this is why i boycott amazon

[@josebatista5188]

Every society has corruption. However, good societies have less. So that's why it's important to examine principles instead of specific outcomes when judging a society. There is always, always someone to criticize.

[@Drumsgoon]

Someone give Stossel a break already, he's been wanting one for years now! Just kidding, keep these video's coming!

[@kungfew1396]

I love how Walmart comes in and destroys all the family stores in the area, and then when they are one of the ONLY jobs left they say "well, people don't have to work here if they don't like a hard labor non living wage". That's called a monopoly and we have laws against them until Walmart and their corporate cronies in crime lobbied(bribed) their way around the laws.

[@armoredplacoderm]

How does Walmart do that? Did they hold a gun to the customer's heads and force them to patronize their business over the local family-owned store? Or did they just provide a better store people xhose to shop at?

[@jeniko2841]

You know Walmart truck divers pay for your class to get a CDL and start you out at 100K right? Or you could go into construction or learn a useful trade other than "paper or plastic?"

[@JamesTaylor-on9nz]

If there are literally no other jobs in the area, either learn a trade so you can be self-employed, or move to a town where there are more job opportunities. People have been doing that for THOUSANDS of years.

[@123chargeit]

@@JamesTaylor-on9nz But that you know takes effort. I'm seeing the Post office run off help faster then anyone in history. If you treat you're employees as bad as everyone says Walmart and Amazon are supposed they don't have to put up with it and wont. If they still work there its there best option, if they can't find enough help they have to change (or die off). You see it now in fast food. Its ironic that nowadays and without any law to force them to. all fast food restaurants start people off at this magical 15 dollars an hour, why? Because otherwise no one would show up. The market dictates what is a fair wage not someone on high.

[@awesome9481]

@@JamesTaylor-on9nz It is not always that simple. The problem with this philosophy is that it reduces complicated personal circumstances to a very simplistic understanding. More people would listen if they weren't being denied a basic understanding of their circumstances.

[@user-vv1do1wg1j]

We need a set amount of money, we need a currency that is near impossible to inflate. Gold. Standard. Every dollar should be laced with a dollar's worth of gold, and that worth will be the lowest it can be. Sadly most people would rather vote for a 30% wage increase then a 50% cut of cost of living.

[@adambhame4518]

Saying that entry level workers don't deserve a living wage is lunacy. Some people have kids to feed and don't have work experience (divorcees, widows, etc.) I bet that restaurant owner could also hire one or two more kids if he took a pay cut. Claiming that giving someone without experience a low paying job is charity is silly, that's called manipulation. Cost of living varies drastically from place to place, minimum wage should get you a low cost living situation, food, healthcare, and transportation. The math just works out in a way that allows these companies to give better paying jobs than what they offer, but people like this keep insisting that a living wage is something you should only be able to achieve after suffering through grueling years as full time worker living in poverty. We wouldn't need government subsidies if capitalism was perfect, my dood. Capitalism needs to be regulated in order to not destroy the low wage workers lives.

[@isaiahnewton614]

The point of entry level job is to build experience then go for higher paying jobs ppl shouldn’t settle

[@unknownuser6809]

A "Have" telling the "Have Nots" how to live. I want to see this guy on the minimum wage and see if his attitude doesn't change

[@smplfi9859]

"shock the hearts of decent people" sour attempt at pathos of age, if you dont agree with me you cant be decent!

[@dilkry]

Whatever happened to internships for low paying starting jobs?

[@BradFoust1826]

You can't have unpaid internships in most fields any longer

[@dilkry]

Why can't we bring them back or make internships exempt from the minimum wage but cannot last longer than a year.

[@squee116]

Only internships I know of are either paid or for school credit, now.

[@martinjuulandersen9694]

Some employers just couldn't help themself and misused it. Hence the regulation.

[@michaelpaliden6660]

@@dilkry then what would we tax grab from them?

[@jamessills5802]

If minimum wage had had a COLA, like all government workers get, it would be 22.50.

[@davidjamesshaver]

Word.

[@jasonlacroix6083]

Why does John Stossels opinion matter? He does nothing but talk about what others do. He spent the first half of his career being a liberal and now hes changed sides to complain about them.

[@jojje3000-1]

Every worker should have above average salary /the left.

[@josephomole6404]

Lmao 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

[@dev_among_men]

"Maths is racist, sexist, xenophobic..."

[@MrTalithan]

No, 'everyone should earn enough money to at the very least live something resembling a stable life, and not be one missed check from homelessness' /the left.

[@badman5363]

@@MrTalithan By increasing the minimum wage it would make the wealth gap bigger. Increase minimum wage > value of the dollar goes down > things get more expensive, and employment rate goes lower > corporations exploit this to become even richer > the poor get poorer.

[@MrTalithan]

@@badman5363 >don't increase minimum wage > shit still gets more expensive only now the majority of people can't afford to exist> the rich craters the economy again because they can and gets even richer off people being poor and government bailouts. There is no data that says what you say will happen will happen. Taxing the shit out of the rich helps to offset that. No more bailouts for Wall Street.

[@songhuchoe]

"You either die a capitalist or you live long enough to see yourself become the corporatist" - Ayn Rand, interviewed by Phil Donahue circa 1872

[@firearmsstudent]

LMAO 1872

[@prometheanevent]

In the end, the “progressive” vision and the “progressive” capitalist sympathy leads to the infamous quote by Lenin: “[The capitalists] will sell us the rope we hang them with.”

[@sendhelp6121]

Great. So the best thing about capitalism is being destroyed by people who climbed the ladder and then got tired of knocking others off.

[@kevinmcd112]

Earl Nightingale said that the only person who "makes" money works in a mint. The rest of us have to earn it. You don't get paid because you live in America and some guy says you should get $30,000 a year. You get paid by bringing value to the market place. When you bring more value to the market place, you get more money in return from these market places.

[@Joefest99]

THIS IS THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM!!!!!! government intimidates and litigates business into merging with it!!!!

[@serbanandreimarin]

It's far more the other way around Corporations pwyi their way into control

[@Joefest99]

Serban Andrei Marin Yes, that as well.

[@LaNguyenBTong]

"They have choices, they pick that job." Enough said.

[@arthasmenethil2201]

That's why there has to be more job opportunities. Then, people will stop signing for awful job contracts just for the money. Earn money for doing whatever you want: the true American dream.

[@kysier6015]

Said it before, I'll say it again. The min wage needs to be abolished entirely. In an open economic market, companies will compete via wages.. and employees can choose what wage they find acceptable. Yes, if we keep min wage, it does need to be raised, but only because minimum wage itself allows companies to avoid competition, and decreases options for employees. Raise it with inflation. Or end it. We have to pick one. I'd pick end it.

[@HamguyBacon]

shut the fuck up and keep your fucking idiotic mouth shut. you shouldn't speak since you clearly don't even have two brain cells to rub together.

[@kysier6015]

@@HamguyBacon Well aren't you just an adorable little cupcake. Any reason for the totally reasonable outburst? Has your mommy not rubbed one out for you lately? Little pent up frustration perhaps? Anyway, thanks for the chuckle you knuckle dragger ^_^ It's nice to know drooling basement whales are still pounding their foreheads against keyboards in anger at opinions they disagree with. Good luck in life n all that. God knows you're going to need it.

[@smothmc]

We've already tried that in history and major companies took advantage of it. Pay attention to history man and quit being so hard core Republican that you forget they aren't always right. This is coming from a independent that swings right keep in mind.

[@HamguyBacon]

@@kysier6015 The reason is you are a fucking idiot with idiotic ideas. nothing you said would ever work. companies would choose the lowest wage and it is not employee's that will compete but the employers since they are the ones who offer the jobs. if you don't accept working for 2cents then you could always find another job.

[@kysier6015]

@@smothmc The purpose of the minimum wage was to stabilize the post-depression economy and protect the workers in the labor force. The minimum wage or rather, the FLSA enacted in 1938 was designed to create a minimum standard of living to protect the health and well-being of employees. It's primary focus was under skilled workers or workers in low demand jobs that lacked the ability to bargain for their wages. During the time it worked exceptionally well, allowing the bottom 5% to climb out of poverty and have an acceptable standard of living. In terms of inflation, the idea was congress would review and increase the minimum wage every year to account for rising prices, as predicting the rate of inflation was quite difficult. Unfortunately the wording did not require congress to make any changes at all, only to review it. Up until 1981 the rate was indeed increased every year, usually by an increment of .30 to .50 an hour. Between 1981 and 1991 it was not increased at all, even though inflation substantially rose. Between 91 and 96 it was increased once, and then again was not increased until 2007, and of course, we have not seen an increase since 2009. None of the previous changes accounted for the severe gaps in between, and as such, the minimum wage no longer provides what the original act intended it to, and that is a standard of living that allows for all basic needs to be met at 30-40 hours a week. (Had it followed the rate of inflation, Min wage would fall somewhere between 10.25/h and 11.50/h). *The real reason* I argue for no Min wage, is because I find it highly unlikely we will see another min wage increase anytime soon, as republicans feverishly fight it now. Makes little sense, considering the GOP are what created the wage, and up until somewhat recently it was standard practice to raise it yearly. But anyway, considering in many states they are managing to lower the wage to the federal standard, and in washington they have prevented it from being raised for nearly a decade, it seems that no longer is an option. At the current rates, especially in high cost states, many are living in a state of poverty due to low wages. That's not an assumption, but a statistical fact. Since raising the wage to a reasonable rate seems an impossibility (democrats are pushing for it to be too high, republicans refuse to budge, and we have a stalemate, ad infinitum), a desperate act such as removing min wage seems only viable option left. *Please understand* my view point comes from a clear lack of options. That is all. *Also* I'm a moderate, slightly right leaning, and as you can see @Hamguy Bacon I'm not just talking out of my ass.

[@curtischilders3024]

Why crony capitalism is the enemy of free market capitalism...

[@Lisa-Sherlock-Holmes]

Amazon has THE WORST training of any company I have EVER attempted to work for. It's the equivalent of wafting a book in your face about swimming, then throwing you in the middle of the ocean. WORST. EVER!!!

[@twoshedsjackson6478]

Here in the UK we went through ALL these arguments against a decent minimum wage. They're all bunk. We introduced a minimum wage years ago, its works, nothing bad happened. It's a level playing field so NOBODY lost their job. Businesses that exploit poor people with unliveable low wages DESERVE to go broke.

[@michaelprestexzzon4052]

Oh yeah a lower minimum wage, wow that would be great, lol

[@counterfeit1148]

There shouldn't be one at all

[@sumvs5992]

Higher minimum wages push smaller business, like family businesses going out of business because they need employers, but can't hire as many for as long. That just creates a monopoly for the bigger guys as they lobby for higher and higher minimum wages. Nothing stops employers from paying employees more from the minimum wages.

[@Paul-yn2zy]

Amazon was going to raise their "minimum wage" anyway. The turnover rate was getting so high that it couldn't keep enough employees to continue operations. This was a stop gap. As for automation, it can't be deployed as rapidly as some fear ot wish for it to be. Doing so would have huge economic impacts as a large number of people become unemployed. This in turn would reduce the number of potential customers. Long term, automation has to instituted slowly. Slow enough to get the workers that it is replacing into other fields. Why do you think Amazon pays for its employees to get certain certifications and degrees; some of which have nothing to do with Amazon operations.

[@minerva31]

"Long term, automation has to instituted slowly. " This is most likely completely false. True automation will completely change our economic system if not totally break its back. "Capitalism" in the current sense of the word has its days numbered. I'm not against capitalism at all just its time is up. Sources: Calum Chace's The Economic Singularity and Alvin Toffler's The Third Wave. I have other books for further reading I can recommend if you are interested in the topic.

[@furtim1]

The reason why capitalism is practically down for the count is the same reason it took so long to come into common understanding - freedom is hard and not politically as profitable as government control for the sake of the politicians friends and own ego (socialism, mercantilism, etc.) @@minerva31

[@Paul-yn2zy]

@@minerva31 you may be correct in terms of true automation. However, I don't think we'll see true automation right away. The movers and shakers in society need peyote to be able to buy the products they produce. If all jobs are automated to the point where no-one has a job then no-one can be a customer. For this reason I think automation would be something that slowly creeps into society. How fast do you think automation will enter society and what impacts do you think it'll have at that rate?

[@simplegarak]

@@minerva31 - Capitalism's "time" will only be up when people stop having needs or desires. As long as those exists, capitalism will live.

[@minerva31]

@@simplegarak That is a ridiculous statement. People had needs and desires in Feudalist, Mercantilist, and even Communist systems. The goal of a system is to fulfill the needs if those in it. Feudalism had its day, so did Mercantilism, Communism was just a disaster, and eventually the day of modern capitalism will end. It depends how you define Capitalism I suppose. The future will hold a new system, especially as we move closer to a post scarcity era.

[@emanonymous]

the problem is there is no free market and this is fascism.

[@rickrouse7865]

We have a separation of Church and State but where is the separation of Business and State? I'm serious. What must be made separate is Government lawmaking and finances from business.

[@araci88]

Crony capitalism 101.

[@jeffarchibald3837]

Boycott Amazon. I've seen Bezos for what he is for years, never buy there.

[@italktoomuch6442]

So what you're saying is that government should subsidise companies' inadequate wages with food stamps? This sounds suspiciously more neoliberal than it does libertarian.

[@waltermh111]

I make only $12/h and I dont qualify for food stamps nor do I need them. No Amazon employee qualified due to their pay. They qualified due to life choices. For example, if they have kids, they can get food stamps at higher incomes than people without children. So you are saying that if a person chooses to have a child, the company should have to pay them more? If the woman chooses to be a single parent, that the company should have to pay them more? That if the person refuses to work a second job to be responsible for their life choices, that the company should pay them more? The wage the company pays is already enough to have a decent life on. but people feel entitled to more and more without taking on more responsibility to get it. I heard some young people saying they are entitled to a house simply for being born :/

[@italktoomuch6442]

@@waltermh111 Okay; I admit that I'm not from the US so am not familiar with the way the American be edits system works. In the UK, there is a similar debate going on around Amazon and a thing called "Working Tax Credit" - which is literally a wage subsidy. Nor do I really have a concept of purchasing power in USD, so I have not really been comparing like with like. Addressing your actual point though; children are unusual since there are few life choices that are literally necessary for our species to continue. I would personally say that based on that, you should be able to raise a child on a basic wage. If you disagree with me, then that's fair enough, that's you're prerogative.

[@waltermh111]

@@italktoomuch6442 No, never since the beginning of time has that been a rule of thumb. It has always been that once a couple has a child, the father, if he hadnt already, would assume more responsibility to care for the child. It is entitlement to think you are owed more for doing a basic job that anybody else could do. But even so, I guarantee that I could raise a child on $12/h but then I was taught how to use money as a child. So instead of feeding into victim mentality, why not teach people how to be responsible? For example, move out of the expensive area even if it means commuting another 15 minutes each way. Use handmedowns, thrift stores, handmade toys (used to be all the rage before people became spoiled and thought kids always needed the latest things), and so on. Being smart with money is key, but it needs to be taught. There are also many charities in cities to help people get by. Use them. The right donate and volunteer far more than the left does, because they care about community, not virtue signaling and forcing others to give. Promoting volunteerism without the virtue signaling or moreso the gatekeeping is great :) If people cant or refuse to learn to better their lives, then you dont make them dependent on what you force others to give, you focus on volunteerism and accept that some people just wont make it. Clearly under liberalism, things are only getting worse for the lower class, so dont act like everybody makes it under that system. Heck, the most liberal of systems, marxism, has the most deaths of any ideology attributed to it.

[@italktoomuch6442]

@@waltermh111 Hey, I'm not going to pretend that the present system is working for anyone. (Though to anyone outside the US, calling an interventionist system "liberal" is completely backwards, but that's just semantics.) Everywhere other than the US - the only country in the western world without paid parental leave - that IS the rule of thumb. And can I just say, well done on beating the system to provide a tolerable life for your hypothetical child with eighteen years of blood, sweat and tears, by the way. Christ, it is hard enough being an impoverished working single parent without having to make them toys with your bare hands. I'm sorry, I am slightly biased because I know too many people in that situation, and I never cease to be amazed at their ability to keep going. What I am trying to say is that the present crappy system appears to be exactly what Stossel is advocating for. I fail to see why sponging off charity is any different to sponging off government - it is still relying on others' money to make up for money you could have earned for yourself. From the receiver's point of view it is still dependency. And we should not be advocating for a system that necessitates either dependency, or using every single fibre of one's being merely for your family to survive, before you even talk about social mobility. (Since most single parents don't actually CHOOSE to be single.) I'm not saying that we should make higher wages mandatory, it just amazes me that we have created a culture where keeping people on crappy wages when you are ABLE to pay them more is considered a virtuous thing. In the west, that virtue is pretty unique to the US and UK as well, by the way. Go to Germany and do that and people consider your company a failure because you have to resort to that. They look after their workers. That's why they can reap the benefits of having fewer labour regulations - the culture means their workers don't need them.

[@italktoomuch6442]

@@waltermh111 (And all of that is before you start talking about worker motivation and productivity because they simply have more energy, and the macroeconomic benefits of higher middle class purchasing power.)

[@stealthsamurai8980]

Initially I was sceptical of the title. But as usual john stossel is reasonable presents both sides and made a few great points. It all sounds great until you break it down to real world consequences. Me and you need to stand up and stop the "bezos" of the world from manipulation of our government and the government from being willfully manipulated.. its disgusting

[@DCBChump]

Instead of blaming low wages, why aren't we examining the high cost of housing caused by property taxes.

[@charlespaine987]

Add a multitude of government conflicting rules,regulations ,fees, inspections. Three are 5 to 10 thousand dollars in fees before you can build a house. You have to put out thousands of dollars in government training required to work on finger nails. Business are forced to spend hundreds to millions to comply with government edicts . All of which we the costumers end up paying.

[@renees1021]

It will never cease to amaze me how blind this entire argument is and I'm disappointed Stossel didn't come up with the broader in order to accommodate employers and employees. IMO the answer to this fight is this: Why is it only the wage expense employers cry out about? Not the electric bill? Or ever increasing costs of product/material's? Or how about this one: dividends and keeping the glutinous capital investors fat? Of course the only other arguments in the wage fight exposes the extreme compensation of the top and the overseas sweat shops now performing the work. I just find it interesting that all this time people claim Walmart has low prices. They are only lower than the few residual competitors remaining.

[@liberalsocialist9723]

This is just late stage capitalism working that will always lead to feudalism.

[@kendrickbrock-king1092]

I think you missed the point

[@TheHortond]

If you make 20 bucks and hour and they raise the minimal wage to to 20 and hour. Guess what. You are now at minimal wage. Rising minimal wage pulls down everyone.

[@nathankkarren5316]

The supposition that Amazon, say, may have lowered the inflation rate is flawed in principle because inflation is a matter of the money supply. Real economic improvement will result in prices of basic goods falling, with inflation at zero.

[@broncoremy]

I believe the saying is: "The problem with socialism is socialism. The problem with capitalism is capitalists." No?

[@blamb42]

For The Record - I worked for Amazon for almost two years until the ever increasing productivity expectations (fueled by an incoming tide of younger workers, I was in my early fiftys at the time) forced me out. At the time (and to this day) it is still the best paying job that I've ever had and I was an entry level worker at a Fulfillment center. The younger incoming workers were also paid the same wage as I was.

[@bebeaggad3302]

I don't know what is more offensive, the deceptive clickbait title or the house of cards argument against fair pay. I know what is truly appalling. You argue that higher wages are a privilege for those who earned it. I am sure anti-abolitionist had a similar view in regards to enslaved humans not being worth the risk of being free, or that the economy would have collapsed which of course it didn't, it only grew unlike any other economy in human history. Fair trade and fair pay pays off

[@goer3148]

minimum wage is more for work that requirs no education/skill. like working at amazon or wall mart. working in a restaurant does actually require skill. meaning that people working at wallmart or amazon never realy go up they always stay the same

[@TheOfficialChillClan]

But amazon has been known to artificially lower prices to the point where the company takes a loss in order to undercut competition. And the fact that they are consolidating entire supply chains from factory to doorstep is a scary scene for real believers in capitalism. C'mon, why was non of that discussed in this?///

[@timothyjacksondrake4454]

Because that wasn't the point. Most situations have a string of asterisks behind them(CGP Grey illustrates this well). Yes, monopolies are by their very nature anti capitalist. Their are rules against monopolies, but they are rarely used. When it comes to Amazon specifically I don't think there is a good way to level the field. It will take another major innovation in the supply chain or change to make room for competition to truly happen.

[@denasewell]

I am against the minimum wage all together ! The market needs to set the wage...an employer will pay what he needs to pay for competent workers if no one could live on minimum wage they would not work at a place! making the minimum wage is only going to shut down small businesses! The government needs to stay out of it and let the free market work! Thank you so much for educating me Mr.Stossel you're a diamond in a rhinestone world! You have changed my world view on so many things by making good arguments!