After the fires...we will build back better

Imagine your house is on fire.  The last Fire Chief took some sparks and sprayed kerosene on the flames making a bad situation worse.  When he got fired in November, the new Fire Chief stopped spraying kerosene and instead started spraying water, putting out the blaze. 

Now, picture the charred remains of the house...only the strongest structural components surviving.  Water damage is pervasive throughout. 

You and most of your family got out alive, but now its time to roll up your sleeves and start rebuilding.  But we don't want to rebuild to the old unsafe conditions that allowed the blaze to begin in the first place.

We will build back better.  But it will be a long road.  Our only comfort is we will rebuild together.

Free Market Saved By Unions

Some thoughts on the causes of Wage Stagnation inspired by the above post.

Wages stay the same because Owners compare salaries and benefits with other Owners.   In other words...Owners are Unionized.

True facts (like salaries and benefits) which, while supposedly are confidential, can never really be totally secret.   And that's fine...as long as the workers can Unionize, too.

The cost of materials is set by markets.  The sale price of good and services is set by the markets, too.  If owners and workers are unable to collectively negotiate the workers fight amongst themselves and the owner get the balance of what is left on the table.  That is WHY we have wealth and income inequality. 

A Free Market is self-equalizing.  It would either force employers to compete for laborers (labor share of profit goes up) or lower prices to increase their sales (owner share of profit goes down).  In either case, the wealth and income is more equitable and fair. 

Owners get rewarded for risk, and laborer get rewarded for value added.

A system of economics in which all or nearly all profits go to the Owner with little or no reward to the Laborers, is Fuedal Serfdom.  Not Free Market Capitalism.  I knowvit seems counter-intuitive, but if we had stronger Unions, we'd be closer to Free Market Capitalism. 

And the best part...is that government doesn't have a role in this at all.  If the government let's the Owners talk to Owners and the Workers talk to Workers, it all sorts itself out with the Invisible Hand of the Free Market.