[quote=livinincali][quote=spdrun]
If the minimum standards are the same for everyone, people can still get ahead within the standards. We’ve had worker health and safety standards for years. Our country hasn’t collapsed because of them. The world won’t end if people are guaranteed a humane amount of time off to spend with their families, despite what the conservatards will say about it.[/quote]
The problem is there’s always going to be exceptions. Are you limited in the a amount of hours you can work if your self employed. What about Doctors, Police, Lawyers and all kinds of professions where there’s some sort of looming deadline to get things done. There will always be exceptions and when there’s exceptions there’s loopholes. France has attempted to erect those standards and results leave something to be desired.
In addition if on net you lose productive hours, there’s fewer goods and services for people to consume. Therefore your standard of living in terms of goods and services is limited. Can you afford to take a vacation if there’s fewer hours being worked in the hospitality industry. It does come down to supply and demand.[/quote]
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.
Companies in this country did wonderfully when CEO/worker compensation was more in line, when the wealth/income gaps were much smaller, when taxes were higher, and when companies felt that they had a moral and ethical responsibility to their workers and society, in general. This same pattern can be seen in economies across the globe, and throughout history.
You can compare the numbers for the “socialist” Nordic and Germanic countries vs. the US. I have yet to see any evidence that our type of economic policies are any better; as a matter of fact, they tend to be worse.
