He’s got better ideas for boosting labor costs.
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I happened to be in the car last week when Biden was delivering his Infrastructure Bill remarks at the Port of Baltimore.
Most of the words that he read from the teleprompter were 50,000 feet high pablum… what I like to call political Muzak.
But, my ears perked up when he read aloud this line:
Say, what?
Lets start with some basic arithmetic:
40 hours per week times 52 weeks per year equals 2,080 hours per year … 2,080 hours per year times $45 per hour equals $93,600 per year.
Not bad work if you can get into a Dem-loyal union and bag one of the jobs.
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Fringe Benefits
Oh, yeah … let’s not forget the part about good benefits.
In my old managerial days, we always figured that “fringe benefits” cost us about 25% on top of the base wages.
That puts the annual benefits-loaded cost of labor at $117,000 … not counting overtime (1-1/2 over 8 hours per day, double on weekends and holidays) … or the new freebies included in the “Biden agenda” (e.g. paid family leave time).
Hmm.
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The Infrastructure Bill
Best that I can tell, the Infrastructure Bill has a couple of objectives: (1) fix some bridges and fill some pot holes, and (2) boost wages (especially for union loyalists)
Not necessarily in that order.
I guess the old goal of a $15 minimum wage is so yesterday.
Why fight that battle when you can:
(1) Set a floor on wages by paying people to stay home watching TV instead of taking “demeaning” entry-level jobs.
(2) “Create” thousands of $100,000 jobs … by ordering infrastructure contractors to staff up with a diverse army of union workers.
The best part: nobody will even notice.
Methinks we’re getting played…
The Homa Files 