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Whoever said it, the quote about digging with spoons instead of shovels and backhoes comes to mind. Productivity is the root of economic surplus. It's the lode
by jackcosgrove 9y ago
Whoever said it, the quote about digging with spoons instead of shovels and backhoes comes to mind.
Productivity is the root of economic surplus. It's the lodestone of the economy. If we stop increasing productivity, the pie stops growing. Productivity is the reason the poor today live better than a king or emperor of old.
- darpa_escapee 9y agoThe problem isn't increased productivity, it's how the revenue generated from increased productivity is distributed in society.
- sokoloff 9y ago> Whoever said it, the quote about digging with spoons instead of shovels and backhoes comes to mind. Often ascribed to Milton Friedman, but it seems more likely to be William Aberhart originally. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/10/10/spoons-shovels/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/10/10/spoons-shovels/
- whytaka 9y agoYes but perhaps we don't need a bigger pie, we just need it shared more widely.
- jdietrich 9y agoIt's patently obvious that the freshly baked pie is being hoarded by an elite. Average wages and compensation have been almost entirely stagnant since the 1970s. At best, this unequal growth is irrelevant to most people; in all likelihood, it's driving rampant inflation of house prices, rents and an array of essentials like healthcare and education. If trickle-down economics ever worked, it certainly doesn't work now. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/05/08/researchers-have-answered-a-big-question-about-the-decline-of-the-middle-class/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/05/08/resea...