The Invisible Hand of the Market Has You By The Balls

[Davka]

Peoples are stoopid. Let the Buyer beware.

[Jackalope]

I assume everyone is full of shit.

Statistically, you're probably right.

[Tonus]

The invisible had is not what some people think it is. Only a complete moron would argue for a total free market. Labour laws are a limitation, by nature anti-market and anti-competition between workers (preventing a race to the bottom) but are a tremendous necessity - It's also funny that economics has never proven that a lack of stability and rules both in the workplace and general quality of life work against profit and revenue, as well as GDP increases.

"Libertarian" is kind of an umbrella term in the USA. Any group that wants to differentiate itself from the two main parties will claim to be libertarian, because the connotation of "liberty" implied by the name is attractive. Go to the comment or discussion sections of any site that promotes libertarian politics, and the range of views goes from total lunacy to batshit insane.

There are probably a lot (well... maybe a few) of sane and reasonable libertarians in the USA, but putting people like that on TV doesn't deliver ratings. So you get the loons who think that you can build roads and maintain hospitals and fire departments by soliciting donations and ostracizing the holdouts.

[Minimalist]

the range of views goes from total lunacy to batshit insane.

Superbly phrased!

[Minimalist]

Very interesting stuff....as if we didn't know.

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/02/you-wo...ers-profit

Using just Time Warner Cable supplied information, we find that the company reported over $5.8 billion in revenues for High-speed Internet, but had direct expenses, according to their own annual report, of $175 million -- thus the profit margin (revenue minus expenses) is 97% -- (i.e., $175 million divided by $5.82 billion). Applying it to the revenues per customer we see that the customer pays $43.92 to TWC, on average, and it cost Time Warner Cable $1.32 to offer.

It gets even better about verizon.

[AFTT47]

Telecoms are the absolute scum of the earth.

[Minimalist]

So Walmart takes a small (emphasis on the 'small') step in the right direction...

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31540472

Walmart said that it would raise salaries for 40% of its staff to at least $9 per hour - $1.75 above the US minimum wage.

That hourly floor would be raised to at least $10 per hour by 1 February 2016.

[Wheee...don't spend it all in one place guys!]

and those motherfucking capitalist pigs on Wall Street react with predictable horror.

Shares in Walmart fell 2.8% in early trading on news of the employee programme.

[Mister Agenda]

The invisible had is not what some people think it is. Only a complete moron would argue for a total free market. Labour laws are a limitation, by nature anti-market and anti-competition between workers (preventing a race to the bottom) but are a tremendous necessity - It's also funny that economics has never proven that a lack of stability and rules both in the workplace and general quality of life work against profit and revenue, as well as GDP increases.

Right, it's almost the naturalistic fallacy to think 'the invisible hand' is always good. It's the same sort of self-organization we find in ecologies and involves a principle similar to natural selection. It works by eliminating what's not efficient. But maximal economic efficiency isn't the only human good. It's important to understand that other goods will have an efficiency cost, but as long as the value of the good exceeds the human cost of the lost efficiency, it makes sense to choose it, both morally and economically.

[Crossless2.0]

So Walmart takes a small (emphasis on the 'small') step in the right direction...

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31540472

Walmart said that it would raise salaries for 40% of its staff to at least $9 per hour - $1.75 above the US minimum wage.

That hourly floor would be raised to at least $10 per hour by 1 February 2016.

[Wheee...don't spend it all in one place guys!]

and those motherfucking capitalist pigs on Wall Street react with predictable horror.

Shares in Walmart fell 2.8% in early trading on news of the employee programme.

So much for Wall Street investors being steely-eyed realists. It didn't occur to these nimrods that a pay increase (however humble it may be) might actually make Walmart a stronger company by helping it to retain current workers and cut down on wasteful spending to train new employees? You don't need an M.B.A. or a degree in finance to connect those dots.

[Minimalist]

When the Christian Science Monitor turns against you.............


http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Bi...ions-video

Protesting workers from McDonald’s and other major fast food chains lobbed new accusations of unsafe work conditions at their employers Monday, including frequent on-the-job injuries (especially grease burns), ineffective or unavailable safety equipment, improper training, and pressure from managers to work at unsafe speeds.

McDonald’s employees have filed 28 such complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations (OSHA) against McDonald’s locations in 19 cities over the past two weeks. In many cases, they say, first aid was lackadaisical at best: In a conference call with reporters, Martisse Campbell, a Philadelphia employee, claimed one of his co-workers, badly burned by grease, was told by a manager to “put mayonnaise on it, you’ll be good.”