LogFAQs > #881922084

TheCyborgNinja posted...

As I said to a dumbass "friend" of mine, minimum wage has been raised for decades and companies wanting to replace workers with machines started with the industrial revolution and they are kind of mutually exclusive issues at present. Unless we returned to slavery or a feudal system, they'll stay relatively separate.

The rich will always want more. Wealth will either be redistributed voluntarily, or taken in a bloody revolt once they have it all. History is full of examples.

Only to a degree.

Replacing workers with machines has an initial up front cost, and requires new employees to be trained etc. This can offset the long term savings significantly and prevents many companies from making the switch (even though there are tons a benefits for the company long term).

A slow boost in minimum wage won't change this much, but sudden jumps are equivalent to a sudden extra cost (pretty much exactly the same as the cost of employees suddenly jumps 30-100% depending on the old minimum wage).

Such a short term increase (forget about long term for now), offsets the price of making the switch, meaning the company which was on the fence about changing, may decide it's time to do so.

Will all companies switch to automated systems? Nope, but i'm sure some will, and very fast increases in min wage will be responsible for at least some of them.
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