I laughed way harder at this than I should have

We use freedom units, where everything is measured in cheeseburgers.

I usually throw some condoms in my cart to make the ski mask, duct tape and shovel seem less embarrassing

WONDEROUS!!!

Reminds me of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKS3MGriZcs

And that’s what I appreciates about yous

You mean the Bonnie Tyler classic, “A Totalled Eclipse of a Car”?

and Adam spake"but gas grills are more versatile ", and God smited Adam for his heresy

Praise be

My point, while you could argue is defeatist, is realistic. You’ve clearly seen too many movies and TV shows where the little guy takes down the big, bad, evil corporation. There’s too much money involved and too many politicians with their hands out.

To your first “point”, any increase in the minimum wage will most definitely increase the amount it’s earners pay, as it’s a percentage, not a static amount, I assume you know how that works. As prices inevitably increase due to more cash chasing the same goods, the earning power of the wage increase actually decreases. This is known as “inflation”. But I’m going to go ahead an d guess you know that too, but are either purposefully being disingenuous or truly have a pollyannish utopian view of how a Keynesian economy would actually work. While I realize I’m taking a bit of a leap, the way you’re arguing that an across the board increase for entry level jobs while also placing crippling taxes on those who employ them would actually work, I think it’s a pretty safe bet.

The cold, hard fact that we need to come to terms with is the United Sraes economic system is based on capitalism. The money involved is incomprehensible and the power it affords those who have it is even more so. So feel free, fight your fight, I wish you luck. I’ll do my best to enjoy what happiness I’m able to find in the real world.

…so lower income earners can get bumped up into a higher tax bracket?

Small employer, where they will actually feel this, sure. Might work. Might put them under too, but that doesn’t matter since corporations do their best to crush the little guy. And for them, when you multiply that “just a dollar” by the number of hours worked, across all employees, and the bigger bumps that executives will then demand, that shows up as red on next year’s ledger. And once again, hours get slashed, benefits get cut, jobs get lost to automation…

The ripple effects of taxing companies, increasing labor costs, and the costs of compliance and litigation, real or frivolous all wind up hurting the little guy. You seem to think a corporation will just take it and move along with their tail between their legs, but they don’t. They always find a way around it, through all the things I’ve already stated. And throw in legal tax loopholes, lobbying and subsidies.

You’re correct, there is nothing stopping them from lowering costs right now, aside from market competition. If prices on the exact same item are different between Target and Walmart, for example, the market trend is generally toward the retailer with the lowest price (excluding external factors such as time/distance, familiarity, etc). However, as taxes (or any realized cost of doing business, for that matter) goes up, the pressure from investors/shareholders goes up, necessitating these moves sooner than later.

Jacking up taxes or the cost of labor, materials, energy or compliance will be offset by things I’ve already stated ad nauseum. Business will do what it does and continue to grow wealth at the top and keep the rest of us as complacent as possible.

And the cost of raising the minimum wage kicks off the cycle of increasing costs, which in turn gets passed off onto the customer, or reduced compensation / hours for workers, or any number of other cost cutting measures. I’m not sticking up for them, just saying what will happen in that case. Sad, but true. They will always find a way to shift those costs or the company will likely eventually fail, in turn losing all those jobs, whether that’s due to being priced out, major drops in investors, etc. It’s a huge shit sandwich, and, unless you’re at the top, we’re all forced to take a bite.

Reducing CEO pay is a logical fallacy. They will find a way to recoup those lost monies in another, harder to find and even harder to tax way, generally by reducing quality/ quantity of product, making cuts to workforce costs, or passing on costs to consumers in the form of increased prices. Altruism doesn’t keep the lights on.

You’re right. Unless the only alternative for an employer is to raise wages or die, they won’t.

You’re closer to right than wrong.

Pretty sure you’re thinking I’m supporting the “companies”. I’m not. Their sole purpose is to make money, be it for the ownership, board, or investors. Regardless of how you feel about that, it’s “real world” economics. , Raising taxes on them comes with consequences, we need to be honest with the ripple effect it causes. The board, shareholders, ownership, etc isn’t going to just “take it” and lower their own compensation. They will lower their costs to compensate, in the form of reducing hours, lowering quality of their product, raising prices on their product, lowering other compensation provided to employees, drastic cuts to their workforce, contracting workers, even famously “giving you less chips in a bag” for the same price. Companies will only willfully raise wages when the alternative is to be pushed out of lucrative markets.

Nothing about economics is “basic”.

If we’re being honest, corporations don’t “pay” taxes at all, those costs are instead passed on to the consumer. They collect taxes from you, just like the government, they just hide it better.

I’d pray for death

HOW DARE YOU REMOVE JEEBUS FROM MAH OS!!! SINNER!!!