$15 (or more) minimum wage has consequences. People complain about robots taking human jobs...take a ride in the waaambulance. When you make robots more cost effective, guess what's going to happen? Robots don't complain, take breaks, have to sleep, or go on strike and work for the price of electricity. Maybe they should learn how to program/work on those robots. They'd be busy for years to come. Maybe the people that dreamed up that movie Wall-E are going to be proven right one day.
Price things to sell, and they will sell. Price things to keep, and you will keep them. Economies work when people are able to buy the things they want/need when they want them at a price that they're willing to pay. Supply, demand and access works to adjust prices. You stop at a convenience store gas station and decide you want a coke. You go into the store and you can buy a coke right now for $1.99. Or you can drive all the way home and get your coke that you paid 75 cents for in that 12 pack in the fridge. You know it's costing you a bit more, but you pay for the convenience factor, aka availability buying it at the store. But you get it right now.
Gordon Gekko is my hero. 🙂
But he's right. Entrepreneurism/capitalism cannot sustain itself without the basic floor of greed. It's the driving force. Which is simply wanting more than you already have, regardless of the reason. You're a vendor? You buy a part for $40 from the supplier, and sell it for $47 to cover your overhead costs and a few bucks for your bank account. Greed keeps you going. Supply and demand helps as well. You say you want your business to be successful. Which is just another way of saying you're greedy. Doesn't mean you're a bad person. Sometimes greed is based on a more altruistic reason- you want your family to be better off and not have to worry about finances when you die. Or you use some of your company's profits to donate to less fortunate people.
The problems arise when greed turns into an obsession. Scrooges aren't tolerated well in society. If you see a super-rich person, it's likely there's only a few reasons they got rich in the first place. Many work their azzes off to meet/exceed their goals and build their wealth. Some have a gifted talent and exlploit it for money, such as a novelist writer, movie star, star football or basketball player, while some have no real talent and people throw money at them anyway (Kardashians come to mind- retards that people paid money too to watch that huge car-wreck- it just boggled my mind). I think the Beth Dutton character from Yellowstone TV show summed it up best- you get rich by either someone giving it to you (lottery or inherit), stealing it, working your azz off, or learning to suck a d**k like you lost your car keys in it (marrying into money...or making a sex tape).
Milton Friedman has a good take on greed:
