The average profit margin in the US is approximately 7%... a 10% margin is considered healthy. Fluctuations in fuel prices DO threaten businesses. That's why you see fuel/transportation surcharges and price increases.
It's typically my experience that a great number of people are not entrepreneurial. They just want to show up to work, do their job, get paid and go home. I'm not talking about coercion of anyone to be FORCED to work for a business. I am just trying to understand how this new legislation would work. My hunch that is if this was passed, consumer prices would increase 20%. If you believe otherwise I would like to understand more.
I don't have to "let" Joe sell his own widgets. He'd be free to do that regardless. I guess your guidance is that the business should just die under this new model.
Look at it this way. Let's say I run a widget factory. I have a worker, Joe, that I pay $1000/week to. Each day, Joe creates me a widget that I can sell for $220. That means at the end of the week, I have 5 widgets I can sell for $1100, yielding me $100 profit.
Now, we move to a 4 day work week. I pay Joe $1000. He creates me 4 widgets, still worth $220 each. I sell them for $880 total. I now lose $120 each week.
Under the current plan, it seems the guidance is that Joe will magically start working faster and produce more than 1 widget per day. If he does not, my other option is to increase the price of widgets or to decrease the amount of money I pay Joe.
You can deserve all you want, but that won't change the names on the ballot. If you really care, start organizing some grassroots support around 3rd parties, or perhaps take on a role in government in your local jurisdiction. The upcoming election is 99.999% going to be between Trump and Biden. Vote or not, there's very little you can do about alternatives at this point. Start working on the next one.
Anytime there is an argument that begins "everyone believes X" you are wrong right out of the gate. I'd imagine that if you were to poll Jews, MANY of them would support Israel, but there is no way possible each and every one would. Not all Americans support the American government, so why would Israel be any different?
The US government isn’t party to private contracts. Can’t dictate terms in that manner.
Nonsense. Try writing a contract that makes someone your slave and see how enforceable it is. How do you think minimum wage works? Walmart is paying that out of the goodness of their heart? No... they are forced to by the feds.
Imagine I manage a business where my employees earn $1000 a week, working five 8-hour days. Suppose my profit margin per employee is 10%, resulting in a $1100 return for each one.
Now, if a new law mandates that I pay my employees $1000 for a 4-day workweek, my operation could start incurring losses. The question then arises: where would the necessary additional funds come from? Likely, I'd have to increase my prices. I'm open to considering this arrangement, but I seek clarity on the strategies to mitigate such financial gaps. Should a 4-day workweek lead to a 20% hike in prices, I'm uncertain about the benefits of this change...
I'm all for a more healthy work/life balances, but typically businesses don't like to incur extra expenses, so I would predict if workers are present 20% less, businesses would charge 20% more to make up the gap, which means workers would end up needing to earn more money, which may lead them to work more hours, making this change pointless.
If this came with some consideration from the federal government, like "we will give a 20% tax break to businesses that do this" I would consider the idea funded and I think it may work. Otherwise, this just feels like voting our way into price increases.
I'm not necessarily opposed to this... I just expected the plan to address how the productivity gap will be filled. Looks like the plan is: "People will just work harder in the 32 hours to make up for it".
My pessimism says that if this passes, businesses will just increase their prices to cover the extra cost per hour of employee time.
So let's say I run a business and I employ workers at $1000/wk and they work 5 8 hour days. Maybe I have a 10% profit margin on them and I make $1100 for each employee.
If this law passes and I need to pay my employees $1000/wk for 4 days... that means suddenly I'm losing money. Where would that extra money come from? I'd probably end up raising my prices. I'm not necessarily against this plan, I just want to understand what the proposals are to fill this gap. If I work 4 days a week but prices all go up by 20%, I'm not sure that's a good outcome.
Thanks for the correction. I believe my overall point still remains valid.