Suicidal Cannibals

Of late I have discovered another little idea with big potential germinating in the back of my skull. A clever little beast, it seems to have inherited information from the generally poor (albeit improving) condition of our economy and the path by which it came to this state, the current gun-fight over universal health-care and my evolving understanding of the mechanisms of society.

Okay, short version: one the worst afflictions currently besetting our society is the practice among businesses of hiring only part-time staffers, in order to keep wages and benefits paid thereto as low as legally possible. The motivation is understandable, but nonetheless despicable; minimizing expenses in order to maximize profits. Aside from essentially forcing a significant portion of the population into virtual serfdom, this practice does nothing to encourage stability; the vast horde of job-hopping part-timers live in a state of perpetual fear and flux, being essentially unable to make long-term plans or invest time in bettering their situations, since all of their effort and time is taken up in holding down multiple part-time jobs, each of which demand to be "primary" and threaten to fire anyone who does not give them top-priority.

So how do we address this difficulty? I believe I have a solution, which can be directly tied to the current wrangling of health care legislation. Simply put, require all employers to provide full-time benefits to all employees, regardless of hours worked. Command Economics? Nay, True Believers, nay; read on.

The basic argument against this proposal is that it would cripple the ability of businesses to compete in the market...which would be true, if the measure was not applied universally. If all employers are required to do so however, then none of them is granted a position of advantage, maintaining the balance of power, as it were, while simultaneously giving all of these same employers a tremendous motivation to start hiring employees on a full-time basis. After all, if you have to spend that much on the staff, you should damned well get as much out of them as possible; given that salaries are a small cost compared to the benefits packages, it makes plenty of sense to maximise your productivity.

The direct effect would obviously be that incomes for a large number of wage earners would go up but, I think just as importantly, one of the indirect effects would be that restoration of confidence and stability in the general public. A population which feels stable and confident of its position is more inclined to invest in its own future, simply because it feels as though it has one. Nobody who doesn't know how they're going to stay in their home or put food on the table is going to pursue education or invest in new business.

I am not generally anti-capitalism but I am prepared to explore the idea that the fanatical pursuit of quarterly profits may have gone too far; you can only slash your expenses so far before you start cutting your own throat.