Americans are Lazy! And, it's Hurting the Economy.

[Mai72]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/12/news/economy/us-economy-big-problem-tyler-cowen/

This is what economist Tyler Cowen says. It's causing the US to stagnate.

Does he have a point? I thought many Americans were hard workers.

Thoughts?

 

[ch33zw1z]

All the things he states take funding.

Starting a small business means start up capital

Moving takes quite a bit of money.

The money that used to flow to the middle class has been greatly redirected to the top, while workers in USA work for less wages and benefits than our previous generation.

Lazy, hah, disenfranchised is the word he's looking for.

 

[vi edit]

I'm sort of failing to connect some pretty far spaced dots here. I understand and agree with most of his bullet points but don't follow them as necessarily a chained string of interactions. Innovation is tough because good ideas either get challenged legally or bought up and destroyed by larger companies. People are hesitant to take self employed careers because health care is prohibitively expensive and housing costs have risen so high many households can't afford for one of the income earners to go out and risk their financial future on a startup.

There's been a huge shift in income bands. The middle class shifted down to lower middle, and up to upper middle. The "true" middle shrunk. We wanted cheap replaceable shit from China to fill up our cheap built homes and our healthcare and other standards of living have become so prohibitively expensive that companies left expensive American labor behind and went north and south to Canada(GM and Chrysler) and Mexico (Ford, Cat and a pile of other manufacturing) to build their stuff.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

So.. successful, established, professional economist, professor, harvard graduate, states that the economy is suffering and other people aren't successful because they're lazy?

K.

 

[Atreus21]

There's been a huge shift in income bands. The middle class shifted down to lower middle, and up to upper middle. The "true" middle shrunk. We wanted cheap replaceable shit from China to fill up our cheap built homes and our healthcare and other standards of living have become so prohibitively expensive that companies left expensive American labor behind and went north and south to Canada(GM and Chrysler) and Mexico (Ford, Cat and a pile of other manufacturing) to build their stuff.

The problem with capitalism is that it gives people what they want.

 

[Genx87]

The level of regulation to start a business is hampering small business. In the United States we like to create laws to protect entrenched interests. These laws keep players out of the market. There is also a sense of entitlement among people born here in how they view immigration. Immigration would be the biggest boon to our economy. But a huge % of the population feels entitled to not having to compete with new citizens. They are trying to create laws to bar immigrants from coming to this country. See above about entrenched interests creating laws to protect themselves.

Having come back from France this week the first thing we noticed was how much small business there is. Every street is lined with small business. In Murrica every street is lined with corporate nationwide stores.

 

[Atreus21]

The level of regulation to start a business is hampering small business. In the United States we like to create laws to protect entrenched interests. These laws keep players out of the market. There is also a sense of entitlement among people born here in how they view immigration. Immigration would be the biggest boon to our economy. But a huge % of the population feels entitled to not having to compete with new citizens. They are trying to create laws to bar immigrants from coming to this country. See above about entrenched interests creating laws to protect themselves.

Having come back from France this week the first thing we noticed was how much small business there is. Every street is lined with small business. In Murrica every street is lined with corporate nationwide stores.

My brother in law and many other owners of small pharmacies have Obamacare to thank for putting them out of business. So what remains? CVS, Walgreens, Rite-Aid...

 

[vi edit]

My brother in law and many other owners of small pharmacies have Obamacare to thank for putting them out of business. So what remains? CVS, Walgreens, Rite-Aid...

I'd like to know how that is connected....if anything Obamacare has been a boon to almost all providers of healthcare.

 

[Genx87]

I'd like to know how that is connected....if anything Obamacare has been a boon to almost all providers of healthcare.

My guess is it would have to do with something around medicaid\medicare payments.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

The problem with capitalism is that it gives people what they want.

It does? I must have been living on Earth or something because that's not the case there.

 

[vi edit]

My guess is it would have to do with something around medicaid\medicare payments.

It's a give take. Through the expansion you also had a much higher population of people that were insured and getting scripts filled that they previously would not have.

 

[brycejones]

My brother in law and many other owners of small pharmacies have Obamacare to thank for putting them out of business. So what remains? CVS, Walgreens, Rite-Aid...

Be very specific about how the ACA has done this please.

I have friends in the industry and from my discussions with them it is not an ACA related issue but more one of vertical integration in the industry you have PBMs who also own the pharmacies so they can extract more value and control.

The small pharmacies that are still doing well are those that specialize in areas like compounding.

 

[theeedude]

Part of it is government subsidizing home ownership through tax breaks, which encourages people to stay in place rather than move to the next opportunity. Also, employer based health insurance makes venturing on your own cost prohibitive for most people.
Also, this tripe again:

His book points out that white males earned less in 2015 than they did in 1969, once you adjust for inflation. He dubs it "one of the most stunning facts about contemporary America."
"I think those people [in the Rust Belt] are smarter than the coastal elites have been. They actually see the problem pretty clearly," he argues.

If they are smarter than the coastal elites, why aren't they taking care of the problem and making more money?

 

[Thump553]

The level of regulation to start a business is hampering small business. . . (rest omitted)
Having come back from France this week the first thing we noticed was how much small business there is. Every street is lined with small business. In Murrica every street is lined with corporate nationwide stores.

That's oft repeated, but it's pure BS. I could start a new business in an hour with about $200 in out of pocket expenses. Depending on the type of business the amount of government regulation ranges from next to nothing for most, to sensible regulation (like health codes, professional licensing, etc). The reason we have so much franchised businesses and so few independents is different consumer psychology in US versus France, plus France has a lot more laws protecting the small businesses from outside big chains. When was the last time you ate at a diner as compared to a chained place?

In the USA the best way a small business person in an established field (like grocery store, restaurant, drug store or the like) is as a franchisee.-and it's been that way for decades now.

 

[BurnItDwn]

As productivity increases, salaries are not.
So, economy as a whole collapses since higher productivity per worker means less workers needed to make the same widgets.

 

[skull]

All the things he states take funding.

Starting a small business means start up capital

Moving takes quite a bit of money.

The money that used to flow to the middle class has been greatly redirected to the top, while workers in USA work for less wages and benefits than our previous generation.

Lazy, hah, disenfranchised is the word he's looking for.

Bullshit I started my business with nothing. I just grew it gradually working for the people no one else would work for. This is exactly the point no one has any balls any more. That too hard, you can't do that, nothing but excuses from all the sheltered cry babies we have today.

Same reason the middle class is losing they either don't care about the paycuts because they like being lazy at work and don't want to get noticed or they just don't have the balls to tell there boss to fly a kite.

The main issue is life is too comfortable today. I only make 30k a year but own my own house, own 3 vehicles out right, got a big screen tv and a computer with high speed internet. I have everything I need. This has actually been a problem for me lately. Now that I have everything I need in my personal and business life its hard for me to get motivated. When I was hungry with lint in my pockets I was a real go getter. Now I just sit back when things get slow and wait for the phone to ring.

 

[skull]

The level of regulation to start a business is hampering small business. In the United States we like to create laws to protect entrenched interests. These laws keep players out of the market. There is also a sense of entitlement among people born here in how they view immigration. Immigration would be the biggest boon to our economy. But a huge % of the population feels entitled to not having to compete with new citizens. They are trying to create laws to bar immigrants from coming to this country. See above about entrenched interests creating laws to protect themselves.

Having come back from France this week the first thing we noticed was how much small business there is. Every street is lined with small business. In Murrica every street is lined with corporate nationwide stores.

Like I said no balls. I'm an American I was born in the land of the free like my daddy told me I was when I was a kid. Just because they made America a prison state doesn't mean we have to obey. They can make up whatever laws they want to. I'll tell em to fuck off all the way to a jail cell and back out again. If every one had this attitude we wouldn't have this problem.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Reinventing the wheel. America has been fat lazy self entitled assholes for a long time. And fuck em that's how we roll. This is why the immigrants have continued to benefit our country, BY THE WAY. And I give no fucks. Happy to be a fat lazy slob, happy to have immigrants doing the hard work and achieve the American Dream as this country was created for.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Bullshit I started my business with nothing. I just grew it gradually working for the people no one else would work for. This is exactly the point no one has any balls any more. That too hard, you can't do that, nothing but excuses from all the sheltered cry babies we have today.

Same reason the middle class is losing they either don't care about the paycuts because they like being lazy at work and don't want to get noticed or they just don't have the balls to tell there boss to fly a kite.

The main issue is life is too comfortable today. I only make 30k a year but own my own house, own 3 vehicles out right, got a big screen tv and a computer with high speed internet. I have everything I need. This has actually been a problem for me lately. Now that I have everything I need in my personal and business life its hard for me to get motivated. When I was hungry with lint in my pockets I was a real go getter. Now I just sit back when things get slow and wait for the phone to ring.

30k per year, where you living? Lol

Must not be around my neck of the woods.

Congrats on your success, that means people that didn't get that break are just lazy right?

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Bullshit I started my business with nothing. I just grew it gradually working for the people no one else would work for. This is exactly the point no one has any balls any more. That too hard, you can't do that, nothing but excuses from all the sheltered cry babies we have today.

hey can make up whatever laws they want to. I'll tell em to *** off all the way to a jail cell and back out again. If every one had this attitude we wouldn't have this problem.

What are the odds you broke the law on the way to success? Also, where I live, 30k barely covers rent and utilities, much less anything else.

 

[skull]

30k per year, where you living? Lol

Must not be around my neck of the woods.

Congrats on your success, that means people that didn't get that break are just lazy right?

Cincinnati, Oh, my house is a fixer upper I got cheap, so are my vehicles. I didn't get a break I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and made it happen.

 

[skull]

What are the odds you broke the law on the way to success? Also, where I live, 30k barely covers rent and utilities, much less anything else.

None that anyones mad about. Look you in the eyes and shake your hand for 7 years same name no complaints.

People in my area say the same thing. They want brand new cars and big fancy houses loaded with useless shit while wearing equally stupid expensive shit. Like I said I came from absolutely nothing I just need a dry place to put my head food and I'm cool. I got way more than that now. Hence why I'm comfortable.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

None that anyones mad about.

Could you have been as successful, in the timeframes that you became successful, at the point in time that you became successful, had you not broken the law on the way to success?

 

[skull]

I think you missed my point some where.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I think you missed my point some where.

I have a point, and you didn't answer my question.