Indiana tax payers will subsidize Carrier with 7 million in tax breaks in exchange for keeping 700-800 jobs in the state, it is unknown if the remaining 1000+ jobs will continue to move abroad or not.
It seems that most Americans do not understand how Capitalism works. The government is supposed to stay out of the “free market”, not even to bail your sorry @$& if your company fails or one loses a job. These aren’t my rules, but if you studied economics 101, then you understand the laissez-faire principles. Businesses are suppose to compete and be profitable by keeping costs low and sell quality goods at the lowest price. That means cheap labor by either replacing humans with machines or hiring labor at a cheaper wage. If not, they will be priced out of the market by other competitors. Who else competes? Customers! Yes, sometimes customers bid and compete for high-demand goods (i.e ebay or buying a home); and employees also compete, by convincing employers that they can provide valued services at the best wage. If someone else can do your job for a lower price, then guess what, you weren’t competitive and free market principles dictate that you keep looking for another job or leave the market all together. These are all components of the “free market” that Conservatives rally for, but seem to only to remember one of these branches.
However, when White working class men realize that they are not competitive in the market, its time for a government handout (corporate welfare)! Unfortunately, the working class won’t benefit from these deals. Carrier is not obliged to hire union workers or pay the same wages/benefits that will put decent food on the table, nor keep these jobs on U.S soil for more than a year. However, this is politics, so a very good symbolic move for Trump. Nonetheless, my post is about the free market and the State staying out of the affairs of the private sector. Let’s take the fight for $15 minimum wage, that many conservative-leaning naysayers feel that these low-skilled, low wage jobs are for teens and college students for entry level positions in the workforce and thus raising wages could actually cause more unemployment as business will cut jobs.
When food workers picket for a higher minimum wage, they are classified as “lazy” low-skilled (predominantly shown in the media as Black, Brown, and female) workers that need to “get better jobs” instead of flipping burgers. Hence, this year’s election was all about poor and working class men who have seen manufacturing and mining jobs disappear as long as 30 years ago! Why didn’t Bill O’Reilly or Tucker Carlson also argue that these low skilled (mainly portrayed as male and White) workers in the manufacturing industry should “improve their skill-set” to get “better jobs” instead of asking for the government to intervene? This is a true capitalist perspective, which in no doubt would leave many people very vulnerable. However, many Americans are not advocating for government welfare policies to benefit the bottom 70% of America. Instead, mass society cheers and claps at the mention of more corporate welfare that may eventually (hopefully) trickle-down. Folks, something will trickle-down from the top 1% but it won’t be the loose change from their pockets, don’t you smell what’s going on here?
