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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 23, 2024

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I do generally support labor over capital I would say. But I would also say that I think more restrictions should be placed on Mergers & Acquisitions for large companies. I believe in harsher penalties for companies that break laws, and harsher penalties for labor violations and retaliation. I would support a mandatory minimum number of sick days and maximum consecutive work hours. I would support more scrutiny over independent contractor status and using salary to avoid unpaid overtime.

As for Trump's tariffs talks, I don't think much of them. Labor in other countries costs pennies on the dollar. I think the tariffs necessary to dissuade that would cripple the economy. Well, that and I don't trust anything Trump says, and that goes double for Trump campaigning.

If you understand that labor in other countries costs pennies on the dollar, and that the tariffs necessary to dissuade that will cripple the economy, you should be able to easily understand that a mandatory minimum number of sick days and maximum consecutive work hours makes purchasing labor locally more onerous.

How do you expect to stop the extremely entrenched practice of outsourcing to the cheapest bidder?

I don't pretend my policies are 100% free, but even something like a minimum 2 sick days a year, or mandating that someone cannot be made to work > 24 hours straight do not strike me as onerous enough to have a noticeable impact on price. It wouldn't result in any change 99% of the time in any case, it's there for the few times it would apply.

How do you expect to stop the extremely entrenched practice of outsourcing to the cheapest bidder?

I don't think you can. Labor is like a tenth of the price in other countries, if that. Best thing to do is invest in more high-tech industry.

I don't- I'm confused. Or maybe you're confused. Leaving aside the costs of enforcement and that companies will pull every trick in the book to avoid it - can you answer the following, yes or no?

Simple thought experiment: do you think a company that has employees working for 10 hours a day is more or less competitive than one that has employees working for 11 hours a day, assuming all other factors (race, culture, net productivity, labor cost) are equal?

Obviously in the long run the market will usually point in the right direction. But not every actor in a system is a rational one. I'm not interested in micromanaging every possible behavior. I'm more interested in, when you can point to a situation that is clearly far out of bounds of reasonable, forbid it for the sake of if someone ends up in that situation they have recourse. To that end, the limits should be high enough that it doesn't come up often. It shouldn't need too much enforcement. Just allow it to be sued over and with penalties that would dissuade it.