I've been wondering lately if high profits per employee could be a negative externality for society. That is, if enough jobs aren't being created to give peopl

I've been wondering lately if high profits per employee could be a negative externality for society. That is, if enough jobs aren't being created to give people something meaningful to do, then idleness and disruption (a la dctoedt's excellent comment) become a problem. While America is wealthier overall today, it seems like the previous 100 years did more to spread the growth in wealth across the whole population and make society wealthier as people benefited from universities, roads, better health and housing, etc. These aren't fully formed or vetted ideas, just thoughts. Regarding the article, if GM is selling and making more cars overseas, then maybe just owning 60% of the company and profits is the best outcome. Structurally, they were never going to employ 500,000 American workers again.