Seattle Becomes First American City With Absolutely No Fucking Problems At all

[JakeStratham]

Productivity went up

How do you define productivity?

In the context of wages, I define it as revenue production. A low-skilled worker's ability to generate increased revenue over a given period of time - i.e. his productivity - does not magically appear when given higher wages unless there is zero competition for his job.

If there were competition for the low-skilled worker's job, the employer could simply replace him with a higher-skilled worker who is able to generate a higher level of revenue for the same market rate.*

But again, you and I might be defining productivity differently. Hence, my question.





* This, by the way, is why unions rejoice when minimum wages increase. A higher minimum wage cuts the legs out from under low-skilled workers who are willing to work for a lower rate than union members.

 

[mattfca]

Phfff, waaaaaa... try $1.3+ million in Greater Vancouver for a detached home (read: complete dump) and, like $600K + if you lump in apartments and townhouses into the index. It's fucking stupid. There's a tear down lot in Point Grey going for $22.8 mil. It has a view, but it's not waterfront. It's nuts. For the same price, you can own 9 French Chateaus...

9 jaw-dropping French castles for price of 1 Vancouver tear down

For the sixth year in a row, Vancouver has been said to be the most least affordable housing in the world, second only to Hong Kong.

Here's what $2.6 mil gets you in Vancouver...

Absurd Vancouver Property (March 6/14) - the thirties grind

Or $1.5 mil (scroll down)...

Absurd Vancouver Property (March 20, 2013) - the thirties grind

$1.2 mil...

Absurd Vancouver Property of the Week - the thirties grind

A steal at only $738k...

Let's play "would you rather" Vancouver real estate style! - the thirties grind

Excellent blog BTW.

Yeah, you don''t buy downtown unless you are fiscally retarded or very well off.

 

[chigga102]

I fucking love this. saves so much time when i go there

 

[Jimmy Clayton]

I use this when I go to the stores so the cashier doesn't judge me...

I'm emotionally fragile. There's nothing worse than a minimum wage worker looking you in the eyes and saying, "Did you find everything you were looking for today, sir?"

Of course I found everything I was looking for. What am I, stupid?

I also like shopping online. It's easier to find everything I am looking for. I'm always in a rush when I go to big box stores and forget to buy half the things on my list. The other half...I can never seem to find them. I get distracted by all the other people around, looking at me and judging my purchases.

People are so friggin neurotic nowadays...why can't they just focus on themselves...

 

[Seven3]

Can't we just make minimum wage $100 an hour and solve all the poverty in America? What's with all these half-measures? If we're gonna do this shit, let's do it!

 

[IceToEskimos]

I use this when I go to the stores so the cashier doesn't judge me...

I'm emotionally fragile. There's nothing worse than a minimum wage worker looking you in the eyes and saying, "Did you find everything you were looking for today, sir?"

You dropped this on your way out of Walmart last week. I'm not going to mail it to you, so I'll just post it here.

 

[Rotalihinna]

Fast! Easy! Fun!

 

[Moxie]

labor-controlled means of production can actually exist WITHIN a capitalist system, and the main reason it doesn't

It exists to some degree.


The Feeling Is Mutual | Washington and Puget Sound Business News Source | Seattle Business Magazine

...a cooperative Mecca, the epicenter of a historic movement that is a quiet but crucial facet of the Northwest culture and economy.

“If you’re into cooperatives, you want to come to Seattle to see what they’re about,” observes David Woo, a Philadelphia cooperative activist who got his start selling outdoor equipment at REI in Philadelphia.

In addition to the nation’s largest consumer and funeral co-ops, Seattle and Washington state are also home to the nation’s largest health cooperative, one of the largest credit unions, along with dozens of rural electrical co-ops, farmer co-ops, grocery co-ops and more.


Co-operative facts & figures | ICA: International Co-operative Alliance

In the United States, 30,000 co-operatives provide more than 2 million jobs.

 

[teatree]

If a bunch of factory workers wanted to pool all of their assets, purchase machinery and raw materials, secure a production facilty, hire administrative workers and a sales force, and open a plant, there is literally NOTHING stopping them.

They don't do it though, because they prefer to work and be paid on FRIDAY instead of waiting months or years to see if thier investment pays off. Their own unwillingness to assume risk and delay consumption is what prevents them from entering the ranks of capitalists.

Of course they do it!!!

Britain's most profitable department store and supermarket chain, The John Lewis Partnership (which owns John Lewis stores and Waitrose supermarkets) is entirely owned by it's staff. They all call themselves Partners and have a democratic set-up where they vote stuff through etc. And pay themselves a whacking big bonus at the end of the year depending on profits - and they are always profitable.

Interestingly, they target the high end of the market - Waitrose supermarkets are luxurious - wide aisles, the most delicious food, beautiful service. And they charge accordingly to pay for their wages and profits.

Of their competitors in the department store and supermarket space, only Aldi is doing well, and that's a 100% family-owned business that targets the low end of the market.

The stores and supermarkets owned by shareholders - Marks and Spencers, Tescos, Sainsburys - are all struggling to turn a profit.

There's a lesson somewhere there. Both John Lewis/Waitrose on the one hand and Aldi on the other, take a long term view of their businesses because in both cases they are owned and operated by people with a long term interest in the business surviving.

The publicly quoted shareholder companies have a revolving door of chief executives (who award themselves great pay while they are there regardless of whether they make profits) and they are owned increasing by large pension funds who don't hold the shares long term either and so have no interest in the company beyond three months.