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I.. dont think it works out well even for the people at the top, selling products into an eternal trade surplus via vendor finance means that the vendor loans must, in the end go bad, and those are held by capital.  
What we really need is a pithy reframing of the debate that convinces (german) voters that excessive wage restraint is a bad idea.
"You cannot have a wealthier nation without wealthier workers"?
by Thomas on Fri Jan 27th, 2012 at 03:02:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You would seem to be right, with the debt/credit/trade imbalance/currency crisis Europe is - I was going to say undergoing, but fostering would be a better term. But the lenders are making it clear they want every last pfennig. They can't imagine losing out.

If they insist, of course, the people at the top will begin to feel the pain, because exports within the eurozone will fall off seriously. Though they've got a nice flexible handle on the situation, with all those short-hours part-time jobs that can be shucked off.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Jan 27th, 2012 at 03:22:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Henry Ford got it:

Henry Ford - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ford announced his $5-per-day program on January 5, 1914, raising the minimum daily pay from $2.34 to $5 for qualifying workers. It also set a new, reduced workweek, although the details vary in different accounts. Ford and Crowther in 1922 described it as six 8-hour days, giving a 48-hour week,[27] while in 1926 they described it as five 8-hour days, giving a 40-hour week.[28] (Apparently the program started with Saturdays as workdays and sometime later it was changed to a day off.)

Detroit was already a high-wage city, but competitors were forced to raise wages or lose their best workers.[29] Ford's policy proved, however, that paying people more would enable Ford workers to afford the cars they were producing and be good for the economy. Ford explained the policy as profit-sharing rather than wages.[30] It may have been Couzens who convinced Ford to adopt the $5 day.[31]

But then again we are not run by industrialists anymore, are we?

A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!

by A swedish kind of death on Fri Jan 27th, 2012 at 04:48:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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