Biden / Harris Focused Discussion

[Draco-Onis]

The smart way to handle the "great resignation" would be a $22/hour minimum wage. Given that's what the old $15/hour suggestion would be today if it had kept up with inflation.

Set the floor at a basic minimum living wage. People will go back to work if paying them is remunerative enough to be worth it. This is a hole corporate America has dug for itself through its own abusive action.

I agree but the reaction from the press and Biden has been to ignore record breaking corporate profits and blame the working class for making "too much money".

[Xyonai]

But won't they then raise the price on goods and/or services to offset that?

I mean, they're arbitrarily raising the prices on goods and services anyway even without wages increasing to compensate. So actually legislating for national wage increases can't make things much worse (save for getting blamed for inevitable price hikes because that's the trend going forward with or without said increase.)

A halfway decent bill to increase the Minimum Wage would also probably include clauses and regulations to prevent companies from just boosting prices on everything to entirely offset increased wages anyway.

[Kaleredar]

I mean, they're arbitrarily raising the prices on goods and services anyway even without wages increasing to compensate. So actually legislating for national wage increases can't make things much worse (save for getting blamed for inevitable price hikes because that's the trend going forward with or without said increase.)

A halfway decent bill to increase the Minimum Wage would also probably include clauses and regulations to prevent companies from just boosting prices on everything to entirely offset increased wages anyway.

That’s all fine and dandy, but… if the votes required to pass such legislation aren’t there… they aren’t there.

And I think we should be beyond the point where “just threaten manchin/sinema with primarying/pulling support/statistics show that voters actually like XYZ/an angrily worded letter” should be the recommended “solution.” They don’t seem to care, and the GOP aren’t going to spring for it either.

[Adam Jensen]

But won't they then raise the price on goods and/or services to offset that?

Yes.

But not to a point where it doesn't make raising the minimum wage irrelevant. We're talking about raising the price of goods by some amount in pennies while raising purchasing power among our labor force to a much greater extent.

[Draco-Onis]

That’s all fine and dandy, but… if the votes required to pass such legislation aren’t there… they aren’t there.

And I think we should be beyond the point where “just threaten manchin/sinema with primarying/pulling support/statistics show that voters actually like XYZ/an angrily worded letter” should be the recommended “solution.” They don’t seem to care, and the GOP aren’t going to spring for it either.

I don't think the democratic party wants to raise wages simply put if they wanted to they could have just made Sinema / Manchin write the bill for the minimum wage increase they wanted. They openly said they wanted $12/hour while not $15 democrats simply dropped the issue and didn't bother, on a lot of issues the democrats just walk away instead of making them you know legislate.

[Shadowferal]

U.S. Senate finance chair to propose tax on excess oil profits

U.S. Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden is planning to introduce legislation setting a 21% surtax on oil company profits considered excessive, an aide for the senator told Reuters.

The bill applies a 21% additional tax on the excess profits of oil and gas companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, the aide said. The 21% tax would be in addition to any regular income tax due. Profits over 10% would be considered excessive under the bill, according to the aide.

Unlike other proposed windfall profit taxes, the aide said, Wyden's bill would apply the tax based on profit margins, not oil prices.

"While Americans pay more to fill up their gas tanks, Big Oil companies are raking in record profits, rewarding their CEOs and wealthy shareholders with massive stock buybacks, and using special loopholes in the tax code to pay next to nothing in taxes," Wyden, a Democrat, said in a statement.

[Kathandira]

U.S. Senate finance chair to propose tax on excess oil profits

U.S. Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden is planning to introduce legislation setting a 21% surtax on oil company profits considered excessive, an aide for the senator told Reuters.

The bill applies a 21% additional tax on the excess profits of oil and gas companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, the aide said. The 21% tax would be in addition to any regular income tax due. Profits over 10% would be considered excessive under the bill, according to the aide.

Unlike other proposed windfall profit taxes, the aide said, Wyden's bill would apply the tax based on profit margins, not oil prices.

"While Americans pay more to fill up their gas tanks, Big Oil companies are raking in record profits, rewarding their CEOs and wealthy shareholders with massive stock buybacks, and using special loopholes in the tax code to pay next to nothing in taxes," Wyden, a Democrat, said in a statement.

But what does that do for those who still have to pay for gas?

[Belize]

But what does that do for those who still have to pay for gas?

It forces companies to lower prices.

Roughly speaking windfall taxes only start applying past a certain profit threshold, and are severe enough that lowering profits below that threshold is more economical than paying the tax.

[Kathandira]

It forces companies to lower prices.

Roughly speaking windfall taxes only start applying past a certain profit threshold, and are severe enough that lowering profits below that threshold is more economical than paying the tax.

Thanks for the answer = ) That makes more sense to me now

[Paranoid Android]

Umm yeah Sleepy Joe is really just going to sleep through this and hopes the good ole hyper capitalism fixes it. Biden writing letters and begging oil companies to play nice is effin weak. Also running to Saudi Arabia is classic also.

Before we kiddingly joked how Biden's opponents would say "do something" and the only thing Biden can do is authoritarian actions or some type of socialism. Maybe no more joking and Biden needs to do some overreach and while enacting the policy fight it courts.

The taxes or trying to go after oil's money is just going to have them raise prices to recoup it. Again, with hyper capitalism combined with our stock/shareholder where these companies are beholding to most return possible, will never let them take losses. Even in a time of a worldwide inflation.

Check out this crazy video from Scott Sheffield and Bloomberg:



He talks about how they will not drill for more oil cause it hurts profits.

He speaks on they are beholding to shareholders, so again will not sacrifice profits. Oh btw above of course is to keep your stocks strong you much grow thus again, why companies will never take sustainable losses even though they might be making profits.

Q: "So if the president phoned you up Scott and said "you know what, we need some more oil", what are you gonna say to him?"

Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources: "It’s all about the shareholders [...] they want a return of cash"

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. CEO Scott Sheffield said: “We’re not going to change…at $100 oil, $150 oil, we’re not going to change our growth rate,” Sheffield said. “We think it’s important to return cash back to the shareholders.”

[Endus]

Umm yeah Sleepy Joe is really just going to sleep through this and hopes the good ole hyper capitalism fixes it. Biden writing letters and begging oil companies to play nice is effin weak. Also running to Saudi Arabia is classic also.

Before we kiddingly joked how Biden's opponents would say "do something" and the only thing Biden can do is authoritarian actions or some type of socialism. Maybe no more joking and Biden needs to do some overreach and while enacting the policy fight it courts.

The taxes or trying to go after oil's money is just going to have them raise prices to recoup it. Again, with hyper capitalism combined with our stock/shareholder where these companies are beholding to most return possible, will never let them take losses. Even in a time of a worldwide inflation.

Check out this crazy video from Scott Sheffield and Bloomberg:



He talks about how they will not drill for more oil cause it hurts profits.

He speaks on they are beholding to shareholders, so again will not sacrifice profits. Oh btw above of course is to keep your stocks strong you much grow thus again, why companies will never take sustainable losses even though they might be making profits.


Pioneer Natural Resources Co. CEO Scott Sheffield said: “We’re not going to change…at $100 oil, $150 oil, we’re not going to change our growth rate,” Sheffield said. “We think it’s important to return cash back to the shareholders.”

Companies need to be reminded that the government's response to shit like this can be "Neat. We own everything you own now. Your company is now run by and for the government." And you and your shareholders get to whine about it in the press while you get no traction because gas prices drop precipitously. The government technically doesn't even need to pay you for any of it. It's not that different from seizing Russian oligarch's megayachts.

[Shadowferal]

Oil companies are giving some good reasons for nationalization.
They really shouldn't provoke..

[Nurasu]

Oil companies are giving some good reasons for nationalization.
They really shouldn't provoke..

Neither party in the US are for nationalization though. Just hand-wringing. Not to mention, you could double their wage and Trumpist oil workers would walk off the job to spite Joe Biden if he nationalized it. Texas would tie up their refineries in litigation. The experiment would fail like it did in Canada because of conservatives, and leftists would shoulder the blame. This is the worst timeline.

[Milchshake]

So it looks like Very Online People are mad at Biden, because he's not following their advice.
Very Online People Advice;
"Biden needs to throw people in the gulag to teach them a lesson!"
"Biden needs to start seizing property of everyone that disagrees with me!"

Seriously, read The Bread Book, he talks a lot about how you can't guillotine your way out of problems.

[Zan15]

I genuinely hope the hike rate kills tech stocks and we go back to fundamentals when it comes to businesses

This is not unique to tech stocks.

What we need to get back to is acceptance of a normal rate of increase of profit and revenue.
This idea that we can keep having double digit increases every year is impossible to maintain.

[Adam Jensen]

how you can't guillotine your way out of problems.

Not with that attitude.

[uuuhname]

So it looks like Very Online People are mad at Biden, because he's not following their advice.
Very Online People Advice;
"Biden needs to throw people in the gulag to teach them a lesson!"
"Biden needs to start seizing property of everyone that disagrees with me!"

Seriously, read The Bread Book, he talks a lot about how you can't guillotine your way out of problems.

this comes off as someone who spends way too much time reading and seething over twitter posts with 3 likes and literally no retweets.

[draynay]

Not with that attitude.

Exactly, I can think of a few problems a guillotine could solve, because I have a positive attitude.

[Adam Jensen]

this comes off as someone who spends way too much time reading and seething over twitter posts with 3 likes and literally no retweets.

Don't kink shame me.

[Endus]

So it looks like Very Online People are mad at Biden, because he's not following their advice.
Very Online People Advice;
"Biden needs to throw people in the gulag to teach them a lesson!"
"Biden needs to start seizing property of everyone that disagrees with me!"

You mean "start seizing the means of production from capitalists exploiting an economic crisis for personal profit, at the expense of the American people".

Seriously, read The Bread Book, he talks a lot about how you can't guillotine your way out of problems.

Pretty sure the French guillotined themselves out of several problems.

You need more than just the guillotines; you need to build something back up in the aftermath, which is where the French Revolution fell apart. But the guillotines were a perfectly functional Step 1.

See also the American Revolution, for a more-or-less successful iteration.

Those in power always like to present violence as a non-option, because they're fully aware that violence is very much an option, and a highly successful one, historically speaking, and that they do not have the resources to protect themselves against the masses the moment the masses realize things are fucked. That's kind of the thing about studying history; you start leaning that maxims like "violence never solved anything" are pretty wildly incorrect. Violence solves a whole lot of things. And many cases where it fails, it's because insufficient levels of violence were used.