don't think anyone should be laid off. Ever. Because it's not fair. If labor costs cause the company to lose customers, so what, those losses should be borne ad infinitum by the company and its fat cat bosses. Capital should seek no return, it should exist solely for the benefit of the people.

Japan and broad swaths of Europe are governed by these principles. No one is ever fired. Hitachi or Toshiba can't pivot, to pivot would require a reorganization and a reorganization would lead to job loss. We can't have that. Same story in Europe.

Over decades the difference in CAGR this generates in GDP is absolutely astronomical. When I lived in Japan my base salary was 280k yen per month. 25 years ago. Plus I got OT for every hour over 18 that I worked in a week. My wife just showed me an article where big companies have moved their base salary to 300k yen per month. There was a 50 year old interviewed in the article who was angry because he doesn't make 300k yen per month and it was unfair that competition for the college grads pushed up their wages but the people who had been there for nearly 30 years still earned what they made in the 1990's.

The Yen collapse relative to the dollar has made it so 300k yen per month is $1875. That's the "lucky" ones getting that. Pre-tax and pre mandatory pension contribution. The policies these people want create an entire class of victims out of the every common man and absolutely freeze an economy in place. It's fine for awhile - you burn down the prior surplus, but once that old surplus is gone the spiral is nasty.