the newest mod of 28 days (and 21 years old) did like five other interviews with major outlets that have yet to be released. seems like the person has never been employed.

:bear-despair:

Who's /u/Kimezukae ? Why did he do interviews?

Hello, I'm a 21 years old male, long-term unemployed and an Anarchist. I've been surfing this Subreddit since 2020 and it helped me in my journey when I started to began to be unemployed. When I began to read this Subreddit I was a leftist-liberal, namely a social->democrat. I've been reading some of the recommended literature from the library since then, for example Bob Black's "Abolition of Work" and have been radicalized to an Anarchist.

  • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Smaller firms can get replaced with larger ones. People can change what and how they consume. We saw this shift with Walmarts - one big box would replace an entire downtown's worth of independent retailers. But unemployment didn't rise with the advent of Walmart. You just saw more indie owners become assistant managers and department supervisors, while the retail workers changed hats.

    Higher interest rates put firms like Walmart in a bind, because it does nothing to change the man-hours they need to maintain operations. They either give up territory to a rival firm willing to pay higher wage rates or they find somewhere else to cut.

    I suspect real estate prices will be what really take a hit in the event of another Volcker shock.

    • aqwxcvbnji [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      People can change what and how they consume.

      Not if they're fired and their disposable income shrinks. Unemployment is pretty low right now, it's going to rise when interests rates go up. That's the intent: they want to increase the reserve army of labor, so people are content with more miserable working conditions, and large companies can increase their exploitation-rate.

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Unemployment is pretty low right now, it’s going to rise when interests rates go up.

        I don't think there's enough slack in the market to allow for it. The pinch is going to have to happen in real estate or admin pay, unless you can run a business with zero employees. We might try and pivot to serfdom by way of non-compete contacts. But we don't have enough warm bodies to tolerate layoffs.

        At a certain point, the Labor Theory of Value raises its ugly head.

        • aqwxcvbnji [none/use name]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I don’t think there’s enough slack in the market to allow for it (...) But we don’t have enough warm bodies to tolerate layoffs.

          I don't really understand what you're trying to say, but but you can't deny that more people will become unemployed as more businesses go bankrupt, which undoubtedly is going to happen when interest rates go up. In 2021 there was a historically low number of bankrupcies , because the low interest rates kept zombie-companies going. When interest goes up, those companies lose their only lifeline. Other companies won't be willing to hire all the newly unemployed workers and thus a bigger reserve army of labor will "discipline" workers in to accepting worse employement-conditions.

          • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
            ·
            2 years ago

            you can’t deny that more people will become unemployed as more businesses go bankrupt

            Demand for stuff will persist. We already did a huge business consolidation over the 90s/00s. Unemployment didn't fall, people just started working for larger businesses. Hell, the COVID crash failed to produce any long term unemployment. It just accelerated retirements, further contributing to the labor shortage of today.

            The real pinch will happen in the real estate market, as the threat of bankruptcy drives down rents.

            • aqwxcvbnji [none/use name]
              ·
              2 years ago

              the COVID crash failed to produce any long term unemployment.

              Because of low interest rates. Unemployment will go op if the fed raises interests.

              • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
                ·
                2 years ago

                Interest rates were already low when COVID hit and we still had a short term spike.

                But the spike created a long term worker deficit. It wasn't just the interest rates. There was a real surge in labor demand, particularly in the tech sector.

                A rise in rates will force a pinch in other sectors. There's no more room to cut staff without giving up significant profits.

                • aqwxcvbnji [none/use name]
                  ·
                  2 years ago

                  There’s no more room to cut staff without giving up significant profits.

                  And what's your evidence for that claim?

                  • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
                    ·
                    2 years ago

                    Personal experience, anecdote, the rising price of labor, and the success of unionization efforts and other labor actions.

                    • aqwxcvbnji [none/use name]
                      ·
                      2 years ago

                      the rising price of labor, and the success of unionization efforts and other labor actions

                      Both of these things can be explained by low unemployment as a result of low interest rates: lower unemployment increases the bargening position of workers, resulting in better pay and a higher succes-rate of collective action.

                      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
                        ·
                        2 years ago

                        Both of these things can be explained by low unemployment as a result of low interest rates

                        We had low interests rates as far back as 2008. We're only just now seeing labor actions 14 years later.

                        lower unemployment increases the bargening position of workers

                        The low unemployment isn't just due to lending. There's a serious shortage of physical bodies.

                        • aqwxcvbnji [none/use name]
                          ·
                          2 years ago

                          We had low interests rates as far back as 2008.

                          But the fed and the ECB have only expanded their monetary stimules since then. You can see on their balance which I linked, that they've kept on buying bonds since then, which decreases real interest rates for companies, much more than what's possible trought just lowering the federal funds rate or EONIA (which is what's usually meant when people are refering to low interest rates).