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Keynes conjectured reduced workload (or the equivalent: ever rising compensation) would be the natural consequence of increased productivity. What went wrong se

Keynes conjectured reduced workload (or the equivalent: ever rising compensation) would be the natural consequence of increased productivity. What went wrong seems to come from at least two things he did not expect. Firstly, rather than continuing the trend of increasing political power in the early post war period, the productive classes, including employees, have lost political power relative to the ownership classes and thus control of resource allocation decisions. Secondly, outside tech and a few other vibrant sectors, capital sits idles or is used unproductively (for example in real-estate speculation) or even to destroy wealth (for example through expanded rent seeking). This is relevant because in these cases the increased wealth from increased productivity is just wasted rather than being used productively or at least spent on quality of life. It's nice to see that somewhere, a few people are trying to address that first issue.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
nbrempel 7y ago
I think it's also worth pointing out that, while gains in productivity from increased automation that Keynes predicted would contribute to a 15 hour work week may have been realized, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio has risen quickly. Because of this, the gains would not have been distributed evenly. "From 1978 to 2013, CEO compensation, inflation-adjusted, increased 937 percent, a rise more than double stock market growth and substantially greater than the painfully slow 10.2 percent growth in a typical worker’s compensation over the same period." [0] "The CEO-to-worker compensation ratio was 20-to-1 in 1965 and 29.9-to-1 in 1978, grew to 122.6-to-1 in 1995, peaked at 383.4-to-1 in 2000, and was 295.9-to-1 in 2013, far higher than it was in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s." [0] [0] https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-continues-to-rise/ https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-continues-to-rise/
genS3 7y ago
I am curious about rent in Finland as well. I agree 100% with the fact that real-estate is the number 1 reason middle classes lost in power. it is the number 1 limitation when 30 to 50% of your income goes into your rent it is basically like slaving half of the time for some random guy who has a grandfather who bought some buildings two or three generations ago. we need to change this if we want our societies to work.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

nbrempel 7y ago

I think it's also worth pointing out that, while gains in productivity from increased automation that Keynes predicted would contribute to a 15 hour work week may have been realized, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio has risen quickly. Because of this, the gains would not have been distributed evenly. "From 1978 to 2013, CEO compensation, inflation-adjusted, increased 937 percent, a rise more than double stock market growth and substantially greater than the painfully slow 10.2 percent growth in a typical worker’s compensation over the same period." [0] "The CEO-to-worker compensation ratio was 20-to-1 in 1965 and 29.9-to-1 in 1978, grew to 122.6-to-1 in 1995, peaked at 383.4-to-1 in 2000, and was 295.9-to-1 in 2013, far higher than it was in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s." [0] [0] https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-continues-to-rise/ https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-continues-to-rise/

genS3 7y ago

I am curious about rent in Finland as well. I agree 100% with the fact that real-estate is the number 1 reason middle classes lost in power. it is the number 1 limitation when 30 to 50% of your income goes into your rent it is basically like slaving half of the time for some random guy who has a grandfather who bought some buildings two or three generations ago. we need to change this if we want our societies to work.