Brexit Thread

[Husar]

"Oh we can't get Brits to do this job!"

You could if you offered them a decent wage.

And then the price would probably triple or worse in quite a few cases.
People might stop buying that thing and then what happens to the jobs?
If people continue to buy it, they have less disposable money for other things, affecting other jobs.
The question is whether the ones getting jobs at first will get a sufficient amount of income to make up for that.
But consider that their income has to be less than what everybody else spends on the produce they produce or else the company is working at a loss, no?

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

And then the price would probably triple or worse in quite a few cases.
People might stop buying that thing and then what happens to the jobs?
If people continue to buy it, they have less disposable money for other things, affecting other jobs.
The question is whether the ones getting jobs at first will get a sufficient amount of income to make up for that.
But consider that their income has to be less than what everybody else spends on the produce they produce or else the company is working at a loss, no?

Triple? No, I don't think so - possibly double.

In wealthy Western countries Eastern European and African immigrants have begun to form a specific subclass, One that works harder, for less money, with less benefits and worse housing. The free movement of people exacerbates this problem so that instead of integrating they they are beginning to form new ghettos.

We need to start weening ourselves off this cheap labour, it causes wage depression across the continent, that means we all have four TV's and people in Poland are still a decade behind us.

[Husar]

Triple? No, I don't think so - possibly double.

In wealthy Western countries Eastern European and African immigrants have begun to form a specific subclass, One that works harder, for less money, with less benefits and worse housing. The free movement of people exacerbates this problem so that instead of integrating they they are beginning to form new ghettos.

We need to start weening ourselves off this cheap labour, it causes wage depression across the continent, that means we all have four TV's and people in Poland are still a decade behind us.

Consider that when the net pay doubles or almost doubles, the income tax bracket and other related payments may go up considerably, so the labour cost of the employer may easily triple. But even a doubling of the price of food for example may just counter the wage increase especially for the poorer strata of society.

I fully agree though that the wealth discrepancies are a bad thing, I'm just not sure whether they are caused by the free movement of labour alone. You also get free movement of labour within a country and it is perfectly possible for the wealth discrepancy within a nation to be as large as the one between two nations. Within Germany we also have a few wealthy cities and some cities that are close to bankruptcy. With your argument, we should limit the movement of labour between these cities to give the poor ones a chance?

One could even argue that the wealth discrepancy leads to the wage depression as wealthy people get more control over politics and therefore it is a vicious circle. However, we worship the free market with all of its invisible hands and every politician who wants to change it seems to have close to zero chance of getting elected. I still maintain that wealth is relative and every time you "empower" a poor guy to be able to buy a TV, having a TV is now the new standard for poverty. That is something you can only mitigate by doing something against the income and wealth inequality and therefore the difference in political power.

We currently have a competitive system where everyone likes to pretend that we can all be winners if we just want it enough and stick to the rules.