My dad grew up peddling tomatoes on a donkey in the countryside to people who could only pay in olive oil

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

That isn't a fact, and one page from your ECON 101 book doesn't make it a fact. So, is this move going to really hurt Amazon? Why are they doing it?

Hell yeah, that's awesome. Bring back bartering! Pay your family doctor in a year's worth of delicious homemade pies.

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Who's this guy following me around?

They probably already pay them more than that and plan on replacing anyone that unskilled with a robot.

True story. Was in a plant a few weeks ago, a forklift comes up behind us and beeps. I look up and there's nobody driving the damn thing!

I have no problem with automation replacing these jobs either.

The fact is that cost is based on far more than just base labor cost. If that were the case, Amazon would pay every employee $15/hr and make everything much cheaper and make more money. I doubt the plan would work very well though.

You don't have a problem with people being unemployed as long as the employed people make a living wage? Sort of defeats the point, doesn't it?

Have a terrible night and die in MANY fires.

You don't have a problem with people being unemployed as long as the employed people make a living wage? Sort of defeats the point, doesn't it?

The "invisible hand" just so happens to use that hand to suppress wages down to the point where you can work a full time job and not feed, clothe, and shelter yourself. As I said before, why don't we let the invisible hand also handle all environmental protections? The invisible hand will eventually figure out that black water and lead in the water is bad for business.

They probably already pay them more than that and plan on replacing anyone that unskilled with a robot.

You just admitted that raising wages will eliminate jobs. Hallelujah!

I still don’t understand why they raised it by $3per hour, when it could have been $4.

Why not by $1 billion? $1 billion and $12 an hour sounds pretty good to me!

Why not by $1 billion? $1 billion and $12 an hour sounds pretty good to me!

Huh?

I said those jobs are going to eliminated regardless of the wage as long as they are doing a task that can be automated, and the list of tasks that can be automated are increasing every day. Even at $8/hr, with all the other costs associated with humans, the cost savings of automation has a wide margin to be viable. Even waiters, which many companies can get away with paying roughly $3/hr not including tips, are being automated away by tablets on the tables and other automation.

So those people who talked about a Big Mac doubling in price were wrong?

The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.

Bernie is a champion of large corporations? That's a new one.

Bernie is a champion of large corporations? That's a new one.

Get WFR on the case!

For instance they were never taught that Columbus was a slave owner.

Seriously, Rick, obviously you think there's some line there where a minimum would be detrimental rather than helpful, where is that line? Exactly $15? If so, what is the basis for that number?

Bernie is a champion of large corporations? That's a new one.

I believe W_Z has almost written a book about the horrible working conditions at Amazon.

One of my friends who was an executive his entire career and worked most of it at one company that went out of business is winding up his working years packing boxes at Amazon for insurance purposes. He assures me that Amazon barely knows who its best employees are. This guy is way more experienced and educated than most of the managers at his facility. He tells me he sees stuff that could be improved for more efficiency all the time, but he rarely says anything and just packs his boxes for ten hours and goes home. He likes one of his managers so he'll occasionally whisper suggestions in her ear to try to make her look good (and make shit easier for himself). Basically, his take isn't much different from Zach's, the place is an exploitative mess.

Jobs aren't eliminated just because they can be automated. They are eliminated when automating them costs less than having them not automated. By raising the minimum wage, more jobs will possibly be marked for elimination because a robot can do the same work less cost/hour.