Cabinet Adopts Nahhas’ Wage Hike Proposal in Tit for Tat Row

the burden on employers will be unbearable, as they will have to pay a lot more than that if you take into account the SNSS contributions.
the end result is going to be massive lay offs.
employers are in this to make money as well as employees to earn a decent living, and unless a raise makes sense to both sides, it will be destructive.
employers will move their businesses to a cheaper country so that their investments are profitable.
although this seems to be a win for the employees, very soon they will discover how big a disaster this is.

Socialist populist policies that failed all over the world and led to economic collapse in many countries is now championed by this incompetent government formed by a criminal regime and a criminal organization. This will destroy Lebanon's credit rating, increase cost of debt, and cause more misery. This is how Iran and Syria buy loyalty while spreading misery and economic stagnation. Lebanon hope is by regaining its rightful position as regional headquarter for high-paying multinational firms. This will never happen in a country run Hizbollah and Aoun. One multinational R&D campus in South Lebanon will bring more money and thousands of respectable jobs than Hizbollah entire welfare scam. As to Aoun, he believes in justice and reforms as much as Kadafi believes in freedom and democracy. Aoun has instituted influence peddling recognized by all civilized nations as the worst form of political corruption. Hizb and Aoun are a poison to our freedom, democracy and prosperity.

What a masquerade... absolutely pathetic!

@sweaty
Well without the "elite" ya sweaty... people like you would be unemployed! What's wrong with working hard, taking risks, and making money?? You're against capitalism? Go work at the post office!
And please, spare us with this kind of posts that don't make us sorry for your failure. Now get back to work!

@theidiot
do you live in lebanon habibi? for your info sweating_demon is a freelancer coz his salary isnt enough to pay the taxi to beirut and back... if your afraid to lose your job maybe you should think about some extra freelance work... or ask papi for money

@sweaty: how come u can see from the busy freeway syrian & egyptian workers on construction sites with iphone 4's.? Can u see all this from the freeway? U sure they are not iphone 4S's, i mean the new model?

@sweaty
whatever...smells like frustration to me :)

Sweaty devil please pay for your electricity .

it is silly to see the comments of M8 defending their masters uselessly :)
this will either be rejected as previous ones, or it will simply lead into massive lay offs.
not a single business can afford a sudden hike of 100%....
so wise up guys and open your eyes, or is it too much to ask of you?

this is not a political matter to be voted on politically! this is an economical matter which should be dealt with through running the numbers and their effects!
but it seems it is tiring to M8 wise guys to go through such an excercise :)
their neurons cannot manage such calculations :)

What's all the complaining about, everybody go out and buy a motorbike so when the jobs dry out you can still make a living mugging little old ladies just ask the tandem mowaten and sweating_demon. Another selling point of that buisness model is that the guy sitting in the back can cop a feel AND make a living, every morning the argument overheard between mowaten and sweating_demon is "I want the back seat! no I want the back seat!" then after a while they flip a stolen coin.

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
Confucius

@mowaten
from 500K to 864K the raise is 364K. plus the 18% on the 364K which employers will have to pay to the failing SNSS, the total of the cost of the raise an employer will have to pay approaches the initial 500K. I hope this is clear.
now for the stupid litlle demon comments which are again insults: I have been an owner of companies for several years now (over 30 years) and have over 250 employees for your information.
it is sadening to see a short sighted little brain like yours even discuss such ecenomical matters as if you understood anything about the subject.
such a hike is unbearable to the majority of employers, and will definately result in major lay offs with many companies moving out of the country.
why would anyone work in a country where they cannot make money out of their investments? this is the ABC of economy which is apparently beyond your comprehension.

an alternative many are discussing these days would be moving to cyprus which is close by. they have economical stability while they are reasonable: they have just decided to reduce wages to facilitate the life of working businesses.
these are extremely hard eceonomical times which might lead to a World War as the previous 2 ones. extreme economicalsituations have led to WWI & II.
furthermore, our banking system (which is still the real strong value for our economy) is now being targetted by the west in punishment for the syro/iranians actions. so what is there left to make entrepreneurs really stay and invest here?

To All the guys posting here:
for once keep the rhetoric outside this discussion as this is a serious matter.
think beyond the stupidity of M8/M14 for once as this matter will affect all.

thanks rudy. let me add to the list simple matters that can enhance things in this country:
-remove interaction totally with public sector employees through automation of procedures, thus removing all middle men costs.
- effective transparency on government deals: ministers and their associates should not interfere in RFPs and tenders allocation.
- dismiss all employees who do not show to wrok like at the casino and other institutions.
- ....
so many things can be done to remove the extra charges all of us are paying for nothing.

@mowaten
first when i posted with a smiley that comment it was only M8 comments that were out of line, afterwards posters of M14 started replying to the stupid comments.
back to the calculations: yes employers were paying 18% on the first 500K, but not on transportation and so forth, however now they will have to pay on those too. so to be precise the hike is 364k +( 364 * 18%) = Approx 429K.
this is around 86% hike for the employer. so saying nearly a 100% hike is not totally wrong, as there many things that will affect the cost of an employer following this hike (it is not just about salaries).
not a single employer had in mind such a hike, and most cannot afford it.

Clarification: no most employers do not pay the minimum wage, but overall the hike percentage will affect the economy through a rampant inflation that the costs of operation for an employer will end up reaching this percentage.
these are normal economical matters: each action has a reaction....
so this subject will end up hurting employees more than entrepreneurs, as discussed above, as it is not worthy to invest in such conditions.
and please for those who want to talk about the big investors and companies making millions daily, please note that most businesses are not from that category.

moreover please go to the webiste of the LBC which hosted today Fadi Abboud (M8 minister from tthe FPM) and hear what he said about this, most probably you are more likely to believe him over what I am saying. :)
this is really beyond the day to day bickering guys. this is a make or break situation for our economy.
I for one am seriously studying closing shop here and looking for alternatives outside for good. any business that moves will not return :) and the jobs lost here will never be recovered.

So they have agreed the non-realistic wage hike, BRAVOOOO!!! what steps are they taking to curb inflation and control prices? NONE!!! the way i see it all the increase is going to end up in the pocket of the shop owners and supermarkets and service providers! they will make the people pay for the increases they are going to give their employees while keeping their profit margin the same. no company is ready to loose. Any way you look at it, welcome INFLATION and BYE BYE Economy...

this was expected thunder.
again, this is not a political issue to be dealt with so lightly like this government did!
at least leave economical matters to people who understand them, so they are dealt with properly.

guys, I propose to move the discussion to the new post of annahar should you want to:
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/24155-economic-committees-govt-wage-hike-is-major-blow-to-economy

i think this hike is not even enough. the gvt has the capacity to increase the wages if they also in parallel do the necessary reforms to save public money! starting from stopping all the advantages the MPs the army, the ISF have, decreasing the number of MPs, computerizing all the public services to stop corruption from all levels and so on... they would save millions!
the gvt also has to drastically control the prices to avoid anarchic increases not even justified!
when there s a will there s a way but i m not sure they have the will to improve the quality of life of their citizens...
but the ministers and MPs vote laws according to how much money they will make out of it, not really for the people...

Dear All, i read all your comments and especially yours"sweaty demon".I am not gonna repeat the same things regarding the deadly economical repercussions.2 things happened yesterday,hizbullah sold this to aoun why??very simple, first he's not affected at all by this increase, not one company in dahieh is registered or even pay any taxes to the government.So there are no rule that applied to him!its was at jungle over there and still is!As for Michel as crazy as he is he is convinced that this will make him win the elections by increasing that much the wages!for your info general the economy wont even sustain until the elections!you are doing worse than the communism and your minister charbel nahas should govern in north korea i think he wil look better in red than orange!!

We are still lucky cz the leb government does not take half of our wages TAX.I dont understand why we complaining about wages increase without applying TAX deduction on it we are lucky that this system is unavailable. Im not expert in economy but logically if things are too cheap in our country surrounded by more expensive ones, our economy will start shaking simply this will mean that we are buying on expensive(which is the case of lebanon importing more than exporting) and selling on cheap. Increasing the prices will let money flow on a big scale without us noticing directly the benefits of it and it is not bad as we think. It is totally up to the consumer to choose his own lifestyle and spending, we all know that it can be very effective if they increase the wages without the consumer spending more money,then there is no problem. but in lebanon we are not very wise in controlling our incomes and spending, higher wages does not mean more spending.

look at the house prices and the interest rate, prices used to be dramatically cheap to a point that the construction industry was almost dead unlike now it is booming simply because now this industry is making money and followed the international standards. you will say to me but how to buy the house at a higher price? but remember that buying a property is an investment the prices will go up defenetly and won't go down, so if u buy high price you will sell it at a highest price later...hope this makes sense...cheers

The inflation that M14 is betting on has no economic fundamentals. The opinion of the pseudo "economic councils and representatives" is economically ridiculous. To resume the economic justification for Nahas's plan, refer to PAul Krugman's and all the liberals (which are a branch of capitalism, like it or not) say about the current crisis. When price and quantity ajustments are impossible in an economy (lebanon, the euro witha fixed monetary policy where the exchange rate does not have an effect ), in these economies, the state has to intervene to re insure that equilibrium is attained in a way or another.The The housing bubble is a reality in lebanon, the IMF and world bank has been looking at this and sayin nthg, ad if the lessons they are learning aaaaalll around the world with the bigges depression in history of the world economy have not served them in lebanon. Nahas has understood that an interventionist policy is needed in lebanon, khallas market economics habal ba2a,

higher wages means people will have more money to use to pay for the higher prices! Unfortunately, imports will be much cheaper, and exports will be much more expensive!
It will mainly affect exports, but people will also buy cheeper imports rather than buy locally produced goods!
end result equals:
1. less demands for our exports
2. higher production costs
3. lower demand for locally produced goods
4. layoffs due to less demand!

with this wage hike - i guess that property may become a little more affordable, but this will also result in even higher property prices in the lower range market - since the more expensive properties are already way out of reach