I think he's right but a major issue is identifying the super rich. Apart from the famous ones (which a lot of people like & admire), a lot of them are practically unknown, live in safe places and have easy access to flights and travel and the ability to move their wealth pretty easily.
Is it time for wage increases?
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I think he's right but a major issue is identifying the super rich. Apart from the famous ones (which a lot of people like & admire), a lot of them are practically unknown, live in safe places and have easy access to flights and travel and the ability to move their wealth pretty easily.
Drop a large rock in Lake Geneva and you'll wet a good few of them. You'll also splash the billionaire wife of that Nobel Peace Prize winner from Palestine.
But I like Lake Geneva!
TheBigShort
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If they are unknown, how do you know they live in safe places? Where are these safe places? Are they unknown safe places too? How do they have easy access to flights without anyone knowing who they really are?
TheBigShort
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Or alternatively you could comment on the views offered in the article instead of side-stepping. I like this bit,
"The model for us rich guys here should be Henry Ford, who realized that all his autoworkers in Michigan weren’t only cheap labor to be exploited; they were consumers, too. Ford figured that if he[broken link removed]their wages, to a then-exorbitant $5 a day, they’d be able to afford his Model Ts.
What a great idea. My suggestion to you is: Let’s do it all over again. We’ve got to try something. These idiotic trickle-down policies are destroying my customer base. Any yours too."
I tend to agree with the sentiment here. Increasing wages can drive consumption and in turn increase productivity.
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Interesting article from Ken Early in the Irish Times commenting on the decline in Sky Sports viewers. Despite this, prices have increased and not declined. He also comments on the effect of wage stagnation.
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...-watch-nothing-and-yet-miss-nothing-1.2832070
Perhaps its time that wages started to increase? Perhaps wages could be used as a tool to reduce debt, instill confidence, increase consumption, increase productivity?
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...-watch-nothing-and-yet-miss-nothing-1.2832070
Perhaps its time that wages started to increase? Perhaps wages could be used as a tool to reduce debt, instill confidence, increase consumption, increase productivity?
That's my point - we don't know who they are or where they are. Usually as people do better for themselves they tend to live in nicer areas that are safer, but you're right, at any point in time people from the 0.1% could be just strolling down Grafton St without a care in the world. So, short of rounding them up à la Pol Pot I'm not sure there's anything much that can be done. In older times the rich and powerful built big houses with tall walls. If enough people got together they could just surround the house and climb the walls. It's a bit different today. Have you seen the height of those mountains in Switzerland?
TheBigShort
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What are you talking about???
A self-made billionaire, of no particular expertise, is able to deduce that the gap between rich and poor is growing at an alarming rate. He is able to deduce that the 'middle class' are in danger of losing their quality of life (this is echoed on this very site, expect posters are targeting low earners instead of the very wealthy) and as such this acts as a major threat to his own wealth, and billionaires like him. He is smart enough to realise that it is in his own interest that the middle class be preserved, and is advocating increasing the income of middle class earners. He uses Henry Fords initiatives in raising wages to help spur demand and in turn increase productivity.
What Pol Pot, Swiss mountains and Geneva Lake have to do with any of this is beyond me!
I'm taking about the difficulty in identifying the majority of the super rich and where they are even if someone wanted to.
I agree with this. Henry Ford did the right thing for Henry Ford. For others this might not be the right thing to do. The question I have is how is this implemented?
Pol Pot is a reference to what can when people are forced to live in an extreme left world. The Swiss Mountains is a reference to how difficult it would be to even locate the super rich who presumably have homes in Switzerland and other places. Lake Geneva was obviously tongue in cheek.
The wages should be increased in lower wage economies, not Ireland. Increase the wages in Asia and let them consume more and let us compete on ability and productivity, not wages.
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TheBigShort
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Why, do super rich people start to disappear or something? Dont they have tax numbers, bank accounts , use credit cards, buy big expensive stuff, like yachts and private planes?
Who mentioned anything about forcing anyone to live in an extreme left world?
Well, if they have homes in Switzerland, im guessing...erm... Switzerland is a good place to go find them if you need too!
What do you think happens to people when they go to Switzerland???
My point is that that it's not as easy as it was in times past by just pointing to a big set of gates to identify someone who is wealthy. Wealth can be hidden offshore and set up in complex structures.
Bertie Ahern was on the Pat Kenny show earlier. He defended benchmarking back when he was in power and hinted that we may need to bring it back given the current unrest. Because the public servants are clearly unhappy and the private sector are being paid more
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But that is to miss the point entirely. We know the wealthiest are hoarding wealth off-shore in complex tax avoidance schemes etc.
Its the level of that hoarding that is now coming to the fore in the form of the middle class struggling to keep apace with the cost of living. It is being felt in the US, UK, Ireland, across Europe etc.
It doesnt matter how much you have stashed away, if things keep going the way they are, it'll be worth nothing if, as the author of the article states "the pitchforks are coming".
Thats obviously a metaphor for social unrest, but in real terms, a collapse of the euro for instance could cause extreme social unrest through rising inflation. A lot of wealthy people could see their wealth wiped out. Some will no doubt gain from it, but if you were a billionaire would you be prepared to take your chances? Not knowing in what form social unrest will take place? Who will be in charge? Whether or not it would be your assets seized or not.
Alternatively, if incomes were to start to rise, any potential social unrest could be thwarted.
Bertie Ahern was on the Pat Kenny show earlier. He defended benchmarking back when he was in power and hinted that we may need to bring it back given the current unrest. Because the public servants are clearly unhappy and the private sector are being paid more
You know, the last time I wasn't happy with my income I just changed jobs.
I agree entirely, but how do you go about making these billionaires to pay higher wages?
Ah you see, you don't have the 'vocation' spirit!
Bertie Ahern was on the Pat Kenny show earlier. He defended benchmarking back when he was in power and hinted that we may need to bring it back given the current unrest. Because the public servants are clearly unhappy and the private sector are being paid more
25 years old recently qualified accountants start on 45-48k.
Gardai start on 23k.
That gap is not defendable.
Did the Gardai recruits join the force expecting to start on 45k? Maybe they should read this:
I do (sadly), but I just believe in sharing the love!!