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submitted 9 hours ago by maplesaga@lemmy.world to c/canada@lemmy.ca
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[-] maplesaga@lemmy.world -3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

It is entirely supply and demand for labor, that was my whole point. We increased supply of workers while interest rate hikes lowered demand by mechanically slowing money supply creation, what am I missing?

[-] non_burglar@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Is it that difficult to grasp?! You're missing the part where the people in charge of this "natural" process have their thumbs on the fucking scale.

Don't cherry pick economic theory to make this yet another "blame the workers" bullshit story. Supply and demand are economic constants in a microeconomy for theoretical modelling purposes, not a quotable to explain why things are the way they are.

As soon as you start adding in stuff like real people with real, non-economic needs, the model breaks in the real world.

See, for example, the Finnish approach to housing that reflects social needs rather than economic outcome for model that doesn't end up with us plebs all on the bottom.

[-] maplesaga@lemmy.world 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

So you think you can just dump workers into a country and it has no affect on housing demand or wages?

I was also somehow blaming the workers for being to numerous, is that what you mean? I was intending on blaming the government, as they appear beholden to corporations pushing modern forms of slavery.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/09/1140437

[-] non_burglar@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

So you think you can just dump workers into a country and it has no affect on housing demand or wages?

That's not what I said. You aren't following what I and others are saying.

When you say stuff like "it's entirely supply and demand for labour", you are replaying talking points of that same government and those same corporate interests, who both use language around housing like it's something people can just stop wanting by framing it as a commodity.

Our issues aren't based on population changes one way or another, they exist squarely because we treat housing as a commodity and as a financial vehicle. There is effectively enough housing for everyone, it's just been placed out of reach for many.

Supply and demand explains the price of lemons in a place that can't grow lemons. It does not work for housing, which is a hard requirement of social stability, that's why we can't treat housing like we treat buying and selling lemons.

Slow down and read what is being said to you, and for your own peace of mind, stop interpreting criticism as a personal attack.

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Nice theory you got there, shame it doesn't bear out in practice. In normal labour conditions workers have no leverage over employers to demand higher wages because workers have to take any job available in order to avoid homelessness and hunger. Workers demand for jobs is inelastic. Only in labour shortage scenarios workers have leverage to demand higher wages. But even then industry consolidation counteracts that because large corporations not only have price setting market power in the consumer market but also in the labour market. This is why the only consistent way to create similar leverage for worker in the labour market is unionization. Wages have never grown significantly enough to chip away wealth inequality except in the presence of strong and wide unionization. This is the main reason why increased labour productivity decoupled from wage increases since the 70s and 80s, when union busting started picking up around the world.

Rapidly increasing labour supply can make wages worse but that's not the main driver as there have been periods where wages have both been increasing with significant immigration and also others where wages were stagnant without significant immigration.

[-] maplesaga@lemmy.world 0 points 4 hours ago

Sure I'd say unionization is eroded by mass immigration and capital shallowing, wouldnt you?

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 hour ago

No I wouldn't. I would say unionization is eroded through various union busting strategies as practiced going as far back as the 19th century. The incentives to bust unions operates on individual firm level and does not require any other macro level phenomena to explain.

this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2026
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