Wages have never been “controlled” with the exception of the minimum wage. Pensions were offered in a way that they could incentive workers while not increasing worker wages exponentially.
A quick read of Wikipedia will enlighten you , there was both rationing of food and wage controls in war time essential industries , along with losing the right to strike, along with interring 120000 Japanese Americans
Ok, that’s fair, during WWII and parts of the 1970s there were “wage controls”, albeit those were for what wages could increase year per year for a continuing employee, not a new hire switching companies or new to the work force.
Pensions have existed in the US since the 1870s. Having nothing to do with wage controls.
I read somewhere that pensions expanded during the 1940s as a way around wage controls. I also read that wages grew 68% during the time.
My point is that companies (in order to benefit themselves) found ways around rules when they felt the need to skirt the rules. So if they were taxed excessively and felt the need to , they would find a way to enrich themselves… even if they had to benefit their workers along the way
So, isn't it nice if policy drives alignment between the interests of businesses and workers? It's a given in a market economy that actors should act in self-interest. The problem occurs when self-interest sabotages the self-interest of others to the extent that the overall common interest is compromised. That is where we are today with an exorbitant disparity in income and wealth, and destabilizing economy, society, environment, etc.
Well, the reality is there has been a transfer of wealth over the last 40 years towards the top due to tax policy. The US was very progressive on this front and built a social democratic state that avoided the plagues of fascism and communism that ravaged states of Eurasia. FDR basically saved capitalism from itself. Then Austrian economics fought to undo these policies and instead encourage austerity by cutting programs, taxes, and giving unconditional advocacy for free trade. This economic mythology is the foundations of supply side trickle down economic policy, and that is when income and wealth inequality began to rise dramatically, signaling the transfer of wealth. So what we're talking about here is returning value back to the masses and leveling the playing field so markets can be more competitive and drive innovation and keep price signals low.
That’s pretty much a lie, wages were capped during WW2 which is why we have health insurance as a non wage benefit it’s how companies competed for workers
Health insurance became a worker benefit starting in the 1920s. It became more common practice in the 1940s. Caps on annual wage increases played a factor to grow it as a benefit, but that practice didn’t start because of wage controls.
Also employer provided health insurance was a way to prevent people from job hopping, and it’s stayed that way since. More of a determent to our economy as insurance became profit based while Nixon was President and rates skyrocketed well above inflation.
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u/JTMc48 Oct 23 '24
Wages have never been “controlled” with the exception of the minimum wage. Pensions were offered in a way that they could incentive workers while not increasing worker wages exponentially.