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Since there is a smaller consumer spending pool to pull from, prices have risen faster on key products to make up for the lack of growth in wages. Housing/rent

Since there is a smaller consumer spending pool to pull from, prices have risen faster on key products to make up for the lack of growth in wages. Housing/rent, healthcare, tuition, food and many other things have risen dramatically. Some products have come down in price but that is typical with technology/entertainment products over time. If you make products to sell to everyone, not just the wealthy, you have also probably noticed consumers having less money to spend. This is not good for the engine of the US that creates jobs, small to medium business. This is bad for both classes in the US: wealthy upper and lower plebs, the middle is just about gone. If we want growth across the board, wages also have to grow, else stagnation for all from lower to upper, when did we forget this?

abakker 10y ago
Has individual productivity gone up? Income needs to be justified by productivity, doesn't it?
- drawkbox 10y ago
  What comes first, the productivity gains or a raise? If there is never a raise, or wages essentially do not grow, why would productivity rise? However, productivity has gone up and been helped by technology, wages have not followed.
  - abakker 10y ago
    assuming a Technology/Capital/Labor split (simplistic), if productivity has gone up due to technology, and the technology is primarily a function of capital (i.e. technology doesn't make me smarter, it makes my computer faster) then doesn't it follow that my wage doesn't go up, but the money spent on my computer does?
    - douche 10y ago
      You know, that would make a lot of sense, but it seems to be awfully hard to get management to sign off on time-saving tools, equipment, and software sometimes. It seems like it's pretty simple math: You're paying me X/day, tool which costs Y would save me Z days of time, over the course of the year. Is Y/Z >= X? Then get out the company Amex already.
      - naveen99 10y ago
        Unless the worker writes their own software with their own computer, in which case they can pocket the productivity gain. This is basically what has allowed programmer salaries to go up. IT frequently gives long estimates and then does the work in a tenth of the time, pocketing the surplus. Happens all the time at multiple levels. Until the end users learn to solve their own problems, they will keep losing to people who learn to automate themselves. So if the simple math checks out, don't ask the company, break out your own Amex, and pocket the difference.
        hiram112 10y ago
        Where do you work? I've never worked at a company where I pocketed the extra money by coming in under schedule. On the other hand, I often pay out of my own pocket for licenses, books, etc that benefit the company. In return, I get more work and less time to do it.
        naveen99 10y ago
        i meant pocket the difference in time saved. Nice added benefit is irs doesn't tax time off, energy saved, or happiness. you can use that time and energy to make money elsewhere or invest in learning, networking, understanding your bureucracy. but i am sure there are companies where your bonus depends on your performance vs. your proposed budget. If you are not being rewarded for improved productivity and being treated as a commodity, why should you pass on your internal productivity gains. sometimes you want more work (responsibility). that's how you get experience and a bigger budget. Even if you can only spend the budget for work things, you still gain autonomy and power.
- st3v3r 10y ago
  Depends on who you're talking about.
- socialist_coder 10y ago
  Yes, individual productivity has gone up in almost every field due to technology innovations. However, the increased profits generated from the productivity increases are only being captured by the business owners. The actual workers are seeing nothing, and many workers are actually being laid off so they are losing. So in this case, businesses are using their leverage in the job market (high unemployment) and the fact that they own the means of production to break the relationship between income and productivity.
- tokai 10y ago
  Yes it has. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_productivity_and_real_wages.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_productivity_and_...

abakker 10y ago

Has individual productivity gone up? Income needs to be justified by productivity, doesn't it?

drawkbox 10y ago
What comes first, the productivity gains or a raise? If there is never a raise, or wages essentially do not grow, why would productivity rise? However, productivity has gone up and been helped by technology, wages have not followed.
- abakker 10y ago
  assuming a Technology/Capital/Labor split (simplistic), if productivity has gone up due to technology, and the technology is primarily a function of capital (i.e. technology doesn't make me smarter, it makes my computer faster) then doesn't it follow that my wage doesn't go up, but the money spent on my computer does?
  - douche 10y ago
    You know, that would make a lot of sense, but it seems to be awfully hard to get management to sign off on time-saving tools, equipment, and software sometimes. It seems like it's pretty simple math: You're paying me X/day, tool which costs Y would save me Z days of time, over the course of the year. Is Y/Z >= X? Then get out the company Amex already.
    - naveen99 10y ago
      Unless the worker writes their own software with their own computer, in which case they can pocket the productivity gain. This is basically what has allowed programmer salaries to go up. IT frequently gives long estimates and then does the work in a tenth of the time, pocketing the surplus. Happens all the time at multiple levels. Until the end users learn to solve their own problems, they will keep losing to people who learn to automate themselves. So if the simple math checks out, don't ask the company, break out your own Amex, and pocket the difference.
      - hiram112 10y ago
        Where do you work? I've never worked at a company where I pocketed the extra money by coming in under schedule. On the other hand, I often pay out of my own pocket for licenses, books, etc that benefit the company. In return, I get more work and less time to do it.
        naveen99 10y ago
        i meant pocket the difference in time saved. Nice added benefit is irs doesn't tax time off, energy saved, or happiness. you can use that time and energy to make money elsewhere or invest in learning, networking, understanding your bureucracy. but i am sure there are companies where your bonus depends on your performance vs. your proposed budget. If you are not being rewarded for improved productivity and being treated as a commodity, why should you pass on your internal productivity gains. sometimes you want more work (responsibility). that's how you get experience and a bigger budget. Even if you can only spend the budget for work things, you still gain autonomy and power.
st3v3r 10y ago
Depends on who you're talking about.
socialist_coder 10y ago
Yes, individual productivity has gone up in almost every field due to technology innovations. However, the increased profits generated from the productivity increases are only being captured by the business owners. The actual workers are seeing nothing, and many workers are actually being laid off so they are losing. So in this case, businesses are using their leverage in the job market (high unemployment) and the fact that they own the means of production to break the relationship between income and productivity.
tokai 10y ago
Yes it has. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_productivity_and_real_wages.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_productivity_and_...