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Keynes famously predicted we'd be working much less by now due to increased productivity, but that hasn't happened yet and probably never will for the same reas

Keynes famously predicted we'd be working much less by now due to increased productivity, but that hasn't happened yet and probably never will for the same reason we still have to work five days a week.

fma 10y ago
If it weren't for unions we'd all still be working Saturdays. But we all know unions are only for the good for nothing & the lazy. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/sep/09/viral-image/does-8-hour-day-and-40-hour-come-henry-ford-or-lab/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/sep/...
- hueving 10y ago
  If it weren't for unions, we'd still have a competitive manufacturing industry that would be allowed to reward competence rather than seniority. Unions stagnated decades ago and have achieved little more than strangling many of the industries they are involved in.
  - vacri 10y ago
    > a competitive manufacturing industry that would be allowed to reward competence rather than seniority. Because that's how it was for labourers before unions? Yes, life with unions sucks. But life without unions sucks even more.
  - rdm42116 10y ago
    Is there any real evidence of this that's not from conservative talk radio? It's amazing how workers, who got fired by the hundreds of thousands, voluntarily gave up pensions only to lose their jobs, dealt with numerous health issues and cancers working in horrible conditions, even in modern times, and still get blamed.
  - eon1 10y ago
    Yeah.. and if it weren't for unions most of us would've been working from the age of 7 or so in a country with no safety regulations. Imagine how competitive those businesses would be though, oh boy! Sorry if the unions in your particular area/industry don't live up to your expectations, but unions have done far more good than bad, and it's been over a lot longer than decades.
delbel 10y ago
Probably because any gain we're getting from productivity is being equally erased by inflation. Imagine if gas cost $.35, like it did in the mid 60s. You'd only need to work a few days to have enough gas for the entire year.
- colanderman 10y ago
  That's not how inflation works. Gains in productivity (e.g. better technology) aren't wiped out by changes in the nominal value of currency. Rather, gains in productivity could be countered by increases in the standard of living. But, since the first world standard of living has been "good enough" since the 1950s, the increases in productivity have instead fed the ever-increasing wealth divide in first world nations.

fma 10y ago

If it weren't for unions we'd all still be working Saturdays. But we all know unions are only for the good for nothing & the lazy. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/sep/09/viral-image/does-8-hour-day-and-40-hour-come-henry-ford-or-lab/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/sep/...

hueving 10y ago
If it weren't for unions, we'd still have a competitive manufacturing industry that would be allowed to reward competence rather than seniority. Unions stagnated decades ago and have achieved little more than strangling many of the industries they are involved in.
- vacri 10y ago
  > a competitive manufacturing industry that would be allowed to reward competence rather than seniority. Because that's how it was for labourers before unions? Yes, life with unions sucks. But life without unions sucks even more.
- rdm42116 10y ago
  Is there any real evidence of this that's not from conservative talk radio? It's amazing how workers, who got fired by the hundreds of thousands, voluntarily gave up pensions only to lose their jobs, dealt with numerous health issues and cancers working in horrible conditions, even in modern times, and still get blamed.
- eon1 10y ago
  Yeah.. and if it weren't for unions most of us would've been working from the age of 7 or so in a country with no safety regulations. Imagine how competitive those businesses would be though, oh boy! Sorry if the unions in your particular area/industry don't live up to your expectations, but unions have done far more good than bad, and it's been over a lot longer than decades.

delbel 10y ago

Probably because any gain we're getting from productivity is being equally erased by inflation. Imagine if gas cost $.35, like it did in the mid 60s. You'd only need to work a few days to have enough gas for the entire year.

colanderman 10y ago
That's not how inflation works. Gains in productivity (e.g. better technology) aren't wiped out by changes in the nominal value of currency. Rather, gains in productivity could be countered by increases in the standard of living. But, since the first world standard of living has been "good enough" since the 1950s, the increases in productivity have instead fed the ever-increasing wealth divide in first world nations.