Garbage company suspends yard pickups in 7 Minnesota cities

True, but essentially the government is acting as a competitor against the entire labor market now, while the government does not have to compete for profits in the rest of the market.

How so?

If I’m working my behind off for a $60k a year salary, and someone offers me $40k a year to do nothing, that’s a competitive offer, even thought it’s a far lower salary

I have no idea what state you are in but if I were to lose my six-figure salary job tomorrow the government would pay me exactly $320 per week.

Also every state I'm aware of will not pay you unemployment if you just quit your job, and will not continue to pay you if you aren't looking for work.

This is an employee job market. Demand is far outstripping supply so of course workers are going to where they get paid the most. Pay people enough and they will come work for you. Don't, and they will walk. That isn't socialism or big government interference. It's simple supply and demand economics.

“How so?”

If a private companies raises wages above the market rate, then they also have to make more profits in order to pay those wages, or find some way to reduce their other expenses lower than their competitors (probably drastically lower, since wages are usually one of the largest expenses). Otherwise they would be taking losses that in the long run would be unsustainable.

The government has no such need. They can print as much money as they want to pay their “wages”, and the public are the ones who take the loss, whether in the form of taxation, or in the form of inflation, as we are seeing now. So when the government starts competing with businesses, the potential for “anti-competitive practices” is immensely greater than any that a private business could exercise.

“if I were to lose my six-figure salary”

I think the problem is mainly affecting lower wage workers, since they are the ones who will be most tempted to accepted a lower “salary” if it means they don’t have to work. Someone in an upper-middle class position doesn’t really have that same temptation.

“the government would pay me exactly $320 per week”

I think perhaps you are only considering unemployment, but most people who decide to “drop out” and stop working will likely take advantage of every government program they can, including fraudulently claiming disability, food stamps, rental assistance, etc, which can add up to much more than $320/week. If the person is a single mother with children, then the amount of money they can collect is significantly higher.

Apparently the company in question ha the staff to service the suburbs in question since they have been doing so up to date. Now they do not. The question is where those people went and you find some sort of government conspiracy to explain what can easily be explained by simple supply-and-demand economics. The number of open positions in the U.S. far exceeds the supply. Truck drivers of all kinds are in great demand. If Waste Management is paying X dollars per hour and the drivers can go down the road and get an even higher salary then why should we be surprised if they do so? The solution is for Waste Management to adjust their salaries to meet demand.

Of course they will.

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