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This article should be titled 'almost all remaining economic opportunity has been systematically monopolized by large corporations'

by quxbar 9y ago

sametmax 9y ago
Which is completely false, and have been said for ever from people not seeing opportunities or unwilling to pay the price for them. I get a new business opportunity every month. The fact that I'm not a millionaire is not because of the lack of it, but because I failed in some way I could clearly see after the fact.
- Zigurd 9y ago
  This is where the money went: http://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ http://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ Without addressing this, millennials are right to think capitalism screwed them. Safe bet: someone here will say it's the fault of heavy handed government regulation.
  - CryptoPunk 9y ago
    The graph is a consequence of statistical anomalies: https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/the-region/where-has-all-the-income-gone https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/the-region/where... >Safe bet: someone here will say it's the fault of heavy handed government regulation. And why would that position be inherently wrong?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - sametmax 9y ago
    I don't deny that, I just say it's not opportunity related. My big "oh oh" moment was when I started to play the "return to your 10 years old self with your current mind" game. I realized I could have earned much more money than my parent's allowance, use much better my time and freedom, improved my health a lot, but couldn't see the opportunities. It's the same now. We have opportunities everywhere. As long as people have problems, you have opportunities to solve them and charge for it.
  - danblick 9y ago
    That chart is interesting, but I'm not sure how to interpret it. I think the authors are suggesting, "people are not being paid in line with what they produce." I think the chart may show something else, which is "an increasing amount of work is being automated (and goods are produced by no one in particular), and this benefits owners rather than workers." If I make widgets and you build a robotic cog factory, why should my wages go up?
    - danblick 9y ago
      Another issue: If you want to argue "we all deserve a share of productivity increases", then who is "we"? Does the local community deserve to benefit from the automated cog factory? Does the state? Do all Americans? All humans? Those with coercive power? It bugs me sometimes that you can argue "let's all share the wealth" but do it in a self-interested way by making a choice about who deserves what.
      - Zigurd 9y ago
        In a democracy it depends on what the people prefer. This article claims that without some kind of vivid lottery capitalism that makes people think "I'm not being screwed, I'm a temporarily embarrassed millionaire" people might become jaded regarding a US-style economy and choose a more socialized system that produces, for example, Germany-like income distribution rather than US-like income distribution. Economies produce what they are designed to produce. The design and implementation of the US economy has been captured by capital, and produces results optimized toward the advantage of capital. That's a brittle situation, and a "gold rush" is a cynical response.

This article should be titled 'almost all remaining economic opportunity has been systematically monopolized by large corporations'

by quxbar 9y ago

This article should be titled 'almost all remaining economic opportunity has been systematically monopolized by large corporations'

sametmax 9y ago

Which is completely false, and have been said for ever from people not seeing opportunities or unwilling to pay the price for them. I get a new business opportunity every month. The fact that I'm not a millionaire is not because of the lack of it, but because I failed in some way I could clearly see after the fact.

Zigurd 9y ago
This is where the money went: http://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ http://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ Without addressing this, millennials are right to think capitalism screwed them. Safe bet: someone here will say it's the fault of heavy handed government regulation.
- CryptoPunk 9y ago
  The graph is a consequence of statistical anomalies: https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/the-region/where-has-all-the-income-gone https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/the-region/where... >Safe bet: someone here will say it's the fault of heavy handed government regulation. And why would that position be inherently wrong?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- sametmax 9y ago
  I don't deny that, I just say it's not opportunity related. My big "oh oh" moment was when I started to play the "return to your 10 years old self with your current mind" game. I realized I could have earned much more money than my parent's allowance, use much better my time and freedom, improved my health a lot, but couldn't see the opportunities. It's the same now. We have opportunities everywhere. As long as people have problems, you have opportunities to solve them and charge for it.
- danblick 9y ago
  That chart is interesting, but I'm not sure how to interpret it. I think the authors are suggesting, "people are not being paid in line with what they produce." I think the chart may show something else, which is "an increasing amount of work is being automated (and goods are produced by no one in particular), and this benefits owners rather than workers." If I make widgets and you build a robotic cog factory, why should my wages go up?
  - danblick 9y ago
    Another issue: If you want to argue "we all deserve a share of productivity increases", then who is "we"? Does the local community deserve to benefit from the automated cog factory? Does the state? Do all Americans? All humans? Those with coercive power? It bugs me sometimes that you can argue "let's all share the wealth" but do it in a self-interested way by making a choice about who deserves what.
    - Zigurd 9y ago
      In a democracy it depends on what the people prefer. This article claims that without some kind of vivid lottery capitalism that makes people think "I'm not being screwed, I'm a temporarily embarrassed millionaire" people might become jaded regarding a US-style economy and choose a more socialized system that produces, for example, Germany-like income distribution rather than US-like income distribution. Economies produce what they are designed to produce. The design and implementation of the US economy has been captured by capital, and produces results optimized toward the advantage of capital. That's a brittle situation, and a "gold rush" is a cynical response.