How does a producer decide whether to employ additional units of a resource? This question is posed in the 6th edition of a textbook titled "Economics: Private and Public Choice". We (the collective labor force) have been reduced to "units of a resource".

Another election cycle is upon us, and the crowded field of Republican candidates are pushing the same truncated arguments from past elections. “It will be different this time." “If we stick to our conservative principles we can't lose.” Tragically, most of the solutions they offer don't address the root cause of many of our socioeconomic problems. The labor force (at all levels) has been relegated to being nothing more than an appendage. That's a systemic problem that no one on the right is going to address.

The Republican platform of wholesale deregulation is a symptom of our economic illness: the unquenchable thirst for capital. We won't need to worry about unfair trade agreements if all of the costs associated with labor are cut. I'm sure the unemployment rate would be close to zero if the minimum wage was $2.00 an hour and the safety net was dismantled. Just think of the money saved on hard hats and safety glasses. This is a very real and pervasive attitude that has sadly become more mainstream.

I believe we are suffering from our own apathy. The same middle class Americans who would have led marches and protests are now sitting on their hands and keeping their mouths shut. Their fear is rational in context to their eroding status in society. In the professional sector productivity is at an all-time high due to 70 plus hour work weeks, and the reality that your highly skilled younger replacement is in the cubicle down the hall. Meanwhile low skilled jobs have seen their wages stagnated for the better part of a decade. We've lived for 30 plus years with a business ethic in place that reduces the value of work in almost all of its forms. Seeing labor (people) as “units of a resource" who exist for the sole purpose of generating revenue is a problem that I'm certain we won't see addressed by any of our conservative friends running for president.