Even if we give what you say the benefit of the doubt, what about the phrase, "job creator" used to justify tax breaks? If you say the company isn't there to support "you," then why are "you" (the taxpayer) supporting the company under that assumption? Companies love to say they are "job creators" to gain political favor and so they are trying to perpetuate the idea that the company is there to support "you."
Ok, sometimes skilled temp work on certain very specific instances could be good, but I tend to suspect exploitation. Look at the lawyer example in the article. They business is getting 90% off the price it was paying just a few years ago: $5,000 to $500. I guess if somehow the business unexpectedly needs a ton of very skilled workers right this second and is in a major bind, then maybe.... The problem is, the prevailing idea out there now is that everybody, everybody is a dime a dozen. They're even doing it with medical doctors at lower rates than they would otherwise pay.... I want a doctor who is used to the hospital he is operating on me in and who is very comfortable with the setting, personnel, and equipment. We are all somehow disposable no matter the skill level?
That said, "The company isn't there to support you." Yes and no; it's a loop. The customer supports the company who supports the employees who are the customers.... If that sounds circular, that's because it is, and its entirely correct. Every business wants "customers" or "sales" or "clients" or whatever they call people paying them. No business wants to pay "employees," but employees are customers. It's a logical disconnect and very short sighted on the part of companies as a whole (industrial and commercial sectors).
Who was it who asked, "Mr. Ford, how many cars does that machine buy?"
You want a well funded customer base and you get a well funded customer base by having well paid employees....
To start out with, the tax break issue is entirely separate; which is why I didn't address it. However, the proper way to address that issue is not to use anecdotes, but actual economic analyses like this one:
http://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/documents/Stimulus-Impact-2008.pdfwhich look at the GDP ROI of a variety of economic decisions. Things like "for every dollar of corporate tax breaks, the economy grows by $0.30, and compared to other forms of government spending, or even doing nothing, that is deplorably bad" are much more convincing than anecdotes about temp workers.
For the second paragraph, the lawyer bit is simply replacing a lawyer agency (with all its associated overhead) with a single lawyer. And from what Truean has recounted about the lawyer business of late, that probably isn't a bad thing since the lawyering agencies themselves overcharge and underpay. You'll also note that it has a highly decentralizing effect: a single lawyer could post for a job they wanted to do, find customers, and do it; all without needing to be part of a 'big law firm.' The small business could do their stuff without overpaying, the lawyer got a small side-job for a couple days, and no law firm bosses got any cut of it.
As for pay, nowhere in that article does it state doctors or similar skilled workers were paid less. Typically you're actually paid more. See, if a company need an employee 50% of the time, if they hire a contract worker for 50% of the time, they can afford to pay up to 200% the wages before it actually costs them extra; more, actually, since they don't give benefits. Contract workers also expect much higher pay. They need to cover the contract worker's expected higher pay or they simply go elsewhere; the whole point of doing skilled contract work is that it gives more flexibility.
For that last half, see also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commonsYeah, let me know when the massive societal change solves that one. Because until then, companies are not there to support you. The best we've got in that direction are things like minimum wage laws and unemployment benefits; very few companies even care about more than their quarterly earnings report, let alone the economy as a whole or even their own long term survival.
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Topic: Calm and Cool Progressive Discussion Thread (Read 1247576 times)