Make a Difference

Day: April 12, 2016

Minimum Wages Hurt the Poor

Walmart as an example:

“…  while the company’s revenues seem high, Walmart’s profit margin is far from fat: a mere 3 percent. The company has billions in expenses every year—so significant that in a 31-day month, all its sales in the first 30 days go toward paying expenses. Only on the 31st day does the company actually turn a profit, assuming nothing goes wrong during that month—like an unexpected jump in wages.

Just like any other firm, Walmart employs individuals who will earn the company revenue. After pay increases early this year, the average full-time Walmart employee will earn $13.38 per hour, well above the industry average of $10.29. With other benefits, including short-term disability and paid time off, the company’s actual cost per employee is significantly higher.

That Walmart pays an average of $13.38 an hour plus benefits means it expects the average employee to earn the company more than that amount. While a jump in pay of just a few dollars may seem trivial, for a company that employs 1.4 million domestic employees, it is positively massive. This is not to mention the additional costs associated with taxes paid for each employee. With such thin profit margins, Walmart cannot afford to ignore these costs.

As the cost of employing workers increases, Walmart has to decide whether its current workforce is worth the price. For example, if a worker’s hourly wage plus benefits is $30 per hour, but he or she generates only $25 in revenue, the company loses money for every hour the employee works. Under those circumstances, it would benefit the company and its shareholders to lay off workers. It has nothing to do with “corporate greed.” It’s business. Firms can’t operate at a loss.”

It really is simple. If the government forces employers to pay workers more than those workers make for the company, the company will either stop employing them or go broke. There’s no point whining about reality. No one owes you a job. If you don’t want to work for yourself, get a job by proving to an employer that you will make more than you cost.

Useless Projects

Purported Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull intends to spend $1 billion of taxpayer money to stop climate change. Given that the climate has been changing ever the earth has had an atmosphere, this may seem like a tall order. But Malcolm is undeterred.

The Prime Minister says clean energy is a vital part of his plan to boost innovation and create jobs beyond the mining boom.

Experience shows that every “green” job comes at the cost of 2.2 real jobs. That is, 1,000 jobs in clean energy means 2,200 jobs lost in farming, mining, small business. Areas where people are employed to create value; to create prosperity for themselves, their employers, and the wider community.

Nah. Let’s spend more money on windmills and solar panels that don’t produce any net energy over the cost of their manufacture, transport, installation, maintenance, and the cost of enabling the grid to cope with their wide fluctuations in production day to day and even hour to hour.

In further rampant nitwittery, Mr Turnbull has proposed a fast rail link between Sydney and Melbourne. Like we haven’t heard that before. He says it would be self-funding, because easier, faster access to the centre of those cities would dramatically increase land values near stations along the way.

An anonymous writer at Quadrant Online, someone who writes like Roger Franklin, gives this the walloping it deserves by pointing out the bleeding obvious. If the train stops at stations every fifteen minutes along the way, it won’t be a fast train. If it is not a fast train it won’t make access to city centres any easier. If it doesn’t make access to city centres easier, it won’t increase property values.

Syrian Refugee (?) Fake Hate Crime

I have pretty much gotten to the point that whenever I see news of a hate crime committed against blacks, gays or muslims I assume it is a hoax.

There is a long. Very long. And growing. List of hate crimes that featured in the mainstream media and were subsequently shown to be false.

A Syrian refugee has admitted to setting fire to a German shelter where he was staying, spray-painting swastikas on the walls to make it look like a political crime. The asylum seeker said the arson attack was in response to poor conditions at the shelter.

I guess he was used to much better food and accommodation at home ….

And no, this doesn’t speak to a larger truth. Lies don’t. They are just lies.

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