ALL of the cost of goods falls into only two categories: labor, and profit.

And one of those is nothing but a tax on productivity (profits).

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, a 19th century philosopher who had a great debate with Karl Marx (Proudhon was opposed to centralized state ownership of anything), had some very interesting things to say on the subject of profits and their relation to labor. Even though some of his thought veered into anarchism territory, and later he went off the rails with some anti-semitic comments, his logical arguments about profits and capital are well worth considering.

A lot of what we take for granted about the relationship between capital, profits and labor are really just a construct of an economic philosophy embraced by the oligarchy benefited by it, and which is starting to show its limits in a global market in late-stage capitalism.

Does that go both ways- if the minimum wage went down then prices would deflate with it?

Almost certainly not as long as we have increased consolidation in the companies producing goods and services and in the labor market.

But there's this thing called inflation.

Inflation? Really? Such a thing exists, but it has been historically low for some time now. At least since 2008.

http://inflationdata.com/Infla...

"Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in March 2015 was a deflationary -0.07%. Due to rounding the BLS counts this month as -0.1%. This is down slightly (more deflationary) from the 12 months ending in February at -0.03% when the BLS rounded to 0.0%.but slightly less deflationary than January when the BLS also rounded to -0.1%. Note that Annual Inflation has been negative (i.e. deflationary) for three months now primarily due to lower gasoline prices.

http://aneconomicsense.com/201...

The Federal Reserve sets a nominal inflation rate of 2%. Despite the quantitative easing, we haven't seen anything like that. Monetary policy is one of those areas where you can most perceive just how much Economics is a pseudo-science and how many of the so-called "laws" (such as "supply & demand" and it's resultant fiction, "supply-side economics") are just fables you tell working people to make them behave as the value of their labor is artificially degraded.

Because some people's labor is not worth the minimum wage.

Why isn't the best measure of that the profitability of the employer?

Let the businesses pay them what they are worth.

See, "monopsony"

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/mon...

You seem awfully upset at MRAs.

They are embarrassing all men. You should be upset too.

Also realize that I never bring them up until they start to appear in the comments, like maggots on a corpse.

I had to do this once before when a small group of neo-nazis started hanging out at Slashdot. It takes a while, but eventually they run off when they realize that someone will call them out on their bullshit. It's not that hard. You just hold a mirror up before them, and they shrink away.

Was I the only person who followed your link and immediately thought of this Margeret Hamilton?

How cool would it be if they were the same person?

Real men don't need IDEs.

http://boingboing.net/2015/05/...

Isn't an "installation problem" by definition a design problem?

Aren't we passed the days of process not being part of design?

I wouldn't crow too much yet, your SJW brethren were also calling for a boycott due to "harmful female tropes" or some such bullshit. If I'm not mistaken, LW1 went on quite the Twitter tirade about it today.

Can anyone translate that?

Power Creep is a well known issue in comics.

Power Creep is my favorite superhero.

The world of MRAs is in a new uproar because that boycott of Mad Max they were calling for last week? IT TOTALLY DIDN'T HAPPEN!

Before you go to this story for a good chortle, remember that Dean Esmay is the proprietor of "A Voice for Men" which is considered one of the "serious" and "moderate" MRA forums. There goes my hero. Watch him as he shits on the floor in fury.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/0...

In addition to these and worst of all is the remote that controls your cable box

People still have cable? What is this, 1998?

Apple considered adding sensor-equipped cameras

Of course they did. Because no consumer product can exist in the 21st century that does not spy on the customer.

I'm old enough to remember when companies made money by manufacturing and selling products, not having products upskirt their customers privacy.

I'm not really sure how to respond to this comment.
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