[quote=CA renter]
Regarding the stores closing early, etc., there’s an easy solution: staggered work hours. You can easily run an operation 12-24 hours/day by just shifting staff around. If people work fewer hours, you just hire more people. As Spdrun noted, in countries where pensions, healthcare, etc. are managed by the govt, businesses can be free to concentrate on business. There would be less of a disincentive to hiring because the employer wouldn’t have to bear the burden of those non-wage benefits.
Here’s a great article comparing the wages and benefits of Burger King workers in the US and Denmark. What so many brainwashed people in the US don’t seem to understand is that corporate profits come from workers and consumers. THAT is the “redistribution of wealth” that people should be angry about. We need to make sure that the profits are shared more equally among all stakeholders, with a special emphasis on those who create the profits in the first place — workers.
[/quote]
The problem is it’s extremely difficult to regulate how profits are distributed. We cite how burger king pays their employees much more in Denmark but there’s also far fewer Burger Kings in Denmark. Only the most profitable locations can be opened because anything at the margin isn’t worth opening. So there’s were the rub lies. Countries that have have greater worker protections tend to have slower business creation.
There is a disincentive to start and open a company in a country with very strong worker protections. It should be obvious from looking at Europe. Italy and France with very strong worker protections have shrinking economies while those that have worker protections but not nearly as strong are still growing. A global software company isn’t going to open an office in France. They might do it in Ireland, UK, or Germany but they won’t do it in France. There’s a balance between regulation and business. So far I’ve yet to see a western government implement policy that favors strong worker protections and spurred an economic boom. Those two things seem to compete against each other. Maybe where we are here with the economy is the best that can be achieved. More regulation probably isn’t going to stimulate growth less regulation might stimulate some growth but comes with the negative consequences of more exploitation of labor.
