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Well great article however two noteworthy things to point out. Over the last 10 years the hourly wage has stayed the same meaning the workers have lost purchasi

Well great article however two noteworthy things to point out. Over the last 10 years the hourly wage has stayed the same meaning the workers have lost purchasing power due to inflation. If the prices of the product have gone up with inflation this just means a bigger part of the pie has gone to the owners of the business. Pretty much what one would expect with automation. This is not a sunshine story, even if they attempt to paint it as one, and that's before one contemplates full automation where no workers are involved.

Gys 9y ago
> If the prices of the product have gone up with inflation this just means a bigger part of the pie has gone to the owners of the business Labor costs are not the only costs. In most cases there is also material involved and less tangible costs like rent, IT, external accounting, VAT increase that could not be forwarded (a common problem in Europe), etc. Running a business is not simple. For most companies its a struggle. One day you win some, the next day you loose some. I have done well in the end, but I know many that did not.
- musgrove 9y ago
  Lord...the pie analogy. The OP thinks there's a limited amount of pie, which is a novice error. The pie itself can grow while remaining proportional, which is another scenario he didn't consider.
  - coldtea 9y ago
    And the thing your example doesn't consider is that in human societies wealth is relative. We don't think a family living in a trailer is doing great just because the average house in 1860 used to be worse and have less amenities (no electricity for one). Hence, it's not the volume of the slice one gets that matters but its relation to the overall size of the pie (e.g. whether your share grew, not whether the slice grew). And the situation we have is that while the pie is getting larger, the common people's slices are getting either only slightly larger (not as much as the change in the pie size), and they need to work a lot than they did in the 50s and 60s to get a basic slice. In other words, the society produces e.g. 2x or even 10x more wealth, but they only get, say, 2x larger share of that or worse, despite working harder than ever.
tpolzer 9y ago
> Over the last 10 years the hourly wage has stayed the same meaning the workers have lost purchasing power due to inflation. The article explicitly stated that the wages were corrected for inflation ("2015 dollars"), so purchasing power has stayed the same.

Gys 9y ago

> If the prices of the product have gone up with inflation this just means a bigger part of the pie has gone to the owners of the business Labor costs are not the only costs. In most cases there is also material involved and less tangible costs like rent, IT, external accounting, VAT increase that could not be forwarded (a common problem in Europe), etc. Running a business is not simple. For most companies its a struggle. One day you win some, the next day you loose some. I have done well in the end, but I know many that did not.

musgrove 9y ago
Lord...the pie analogy. The OP thinks there's a limited amount of pie, which is a novice error. The pie itself can grow while remaining proportional, which is another scenario he didn't consider.
- coldtea 9y ago
  And the thing your example doesn't consider is that in human societies wealth is relative. We don't think a family living in a trailer is doing great just because the average house in 1860 used to be worse and have less amenities (no electricity for one). Hence, it's not the volume of the slice one gets that matters but its relation to the overall size of the pie (e.g. whether your share grew, not whether the slice grew). And the situation we have is that while the pie is getting larger, the common people's slices are getting either only slightly larger (not as much as the change in the pie size), and they need to work a lot than they did in the 50s and 60s to get a basic slice. In other words, the society produces e.g. 2x or even 10x more wealth, but they only get, say, 2x larger share of that or worse, despite working harder than ever.

tpolzer 9y ago

> Over the last 10 years the hourly wage has stayed the same meaning the workers have lost purchasing power due to inflation. The article explicitly stated that the wages were corrected for inflation ("2015 dollars"), so purchasing power has stayed the same.