I have to agree on the point that productivity hasn't advanced much. Mostly because there's not much pressure to improve as people want to believe since it's ea

I have to agree on the point that productivity hasn't advanced much. Mostly because there's not much pressure to improve as people want to believe since it's easier to make productivity gains from non-technical approaches (off-shoring, downsizing, and the like). Technical improvements to production only happen IFF there's a real need for it like how kerosene lamps improved since their smokiness (and the kerosene itself) were still much cheaper than whale oil lamps for the same use cases and their associated improvements. But a car company doesn't need to reinvent production to save money per car. They can do that many ways without a single new robot to replace a person on the factory line. The fact of the matter is that if you look at the last three decades of growth it was all on the backs of cheap Chinese and Asian labor pools. Now those pools are demanding higher wages so we're pushing into ever smaller, cheaper labor pools. Eventually, the whole thing will come to a halt once African nations are at Brazil's level of development since they too will start demanding safer work, better wages, and a welfare state. Then the real demand for technological productivity gains will be in full swing. Until then, we'll just exploit our fellow human being as best we can to get those sweet sweet metrics for Wall Street!