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Technology has provided benefits but the rich take an ever increasing slice of those improvements and that's deliberate to keep the proles working. Housing was

Technology has provided benefits but the rich take an ever increasing slice of those improvements and that's deliberate to keep the proles working. Housing was arguably better built in the 50s (and earlier) than it is today and it was certainly bigger. Maybe we need to figure out a way to use technology to help the problem of high quality affordable homes.

bluGill 10y ago
Wealth is NOT a zero sum game. Yes the rich are getting richer, but so is everybody else. The Middle class is richer too. Most people have multiple TVs with none smaller than 25 inches. Poor people today have 40+inch 1080 color TVs. Poor people often with a video game system. The Poor have cell phones and computers with internet service. No amount of money could get any of that in the 1950s, now it is considered normal for the poor to have them - legally. If you think houses were better quality then you know nothing about construction. They might LOOK better, but in today's houses engineers have actually calculated wind load to ensure it will stand, r-values to ensure you can afford to heat it, and other safety standards so it doesn't kill the occupants. Of course most of that is invisible, you see something that seems like is is not flimsy and don't realize it is strong enough, while may things that seem strong are brittle.
- andy_ppp 10y ago
  I'm saying that we should all be a lot richer than we are: http://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ http://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-wor... I'm not saying it's a zero sum game I'm saying that workers are getting screwed relative to capital. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I2WNYJW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I2WNYJW/ref=dp-kindle-redirec... You can say "cheap Chinese labour has lead to cheaper goods". We aren't any richer adjusting for inflation, and are considerably poorer if you include land values in the inflation calculation.

bluGill 10y ago

Wealth is NOT a zero sum game. Yes the rich are getting richer, but so is everybody else. The Middle class is richer too. Most people have multiple TVs with none smaller than 25 inches. Poor people today have 40+inch 1080 color TVs. Poor people often with a video game system. The Poor have cell phones and computers with internet service. No amount of money could get any of that in the 1950s, now it is considered normal for the poor to have them - legally. If you think houses were better quality then you know nothing about construction. They might LOOK better, but in today's houses engineers have actually calculated wind load to ensure it will stand, r-values to ensure you can afford to heat it, and other safety standards so it doesn't kill the occupants. Of course most of that is invisible, you see something that seems like is is not flimsy and don't realize it is strong enough, while may things that seem strong are brittle.

andy_ppp 10y ago
I'm saying that we should all be a lot richer than we are: http://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ http://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-wor... I'm not saying it's a zero sum game I'm saying that workers are getting screwed relative to capital. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I2WNYJW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00I2WNYJW/ref=dp-kindle-redirec... You can say "cheap Chinese labour has lead to cheaper goods". We aren't any richer adjusting for inflation, and are considerably poorer if you include land values in the inflation calculation.