Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MulhollandDrive who wrote (18358)	3/9/2004 5:14:43 PM
From: GraceZ	Respond to of 306849

In my own biz, I've had to work harder for less. Or at least provide a higher level of service while trying to hold price constant. What that is, isn't deflation, it is passing the benefits of increased productivity on to your clients because if I don't someone else will. Most Americans see their financial progress as constantly increasing wage demands in the form of rising income or rising benefits, while that higher income gets inflated away by their own spending. I've had to increase my income by working more efficiently and adding new innovative services while exchanging older less efficient technologies for newer more efficient ones. This is the way technology is suppose to work, it's suppose to continually take fewer people to make more goods at a lower cost. It's when labor gets some sort of monopoly power that this process gets thwarted. What most haven't figured out is increased labor demands in excess of productivity gains do one of two things, destroy jobs (because it makes the cost of employing labor saving technology more rewarding) or it moves those jobs to more efficient providers, aka: those who are willing to do more for less. This is when people start demanding protection from the government. What they don't see is it is that very "protection" which accelerates the loss of jobs. The union construction workers in my "right to work" state have higher wage/benefit demands, so they get fewer jobs and work fewer hours in total so they essentially make less money than the non-union workers do while carrying the extra cost of union representation. At least they have a union hall to do their complaining about no work. What is great is that they keep a lid on compensation and inflationary labor demands by remaining poorer than their non-union counterparts. What is funny is that they blame the non-union workers for this when a non-union guy makes almost ten percent more when you factor all the costs of being union.