10 ms·

"Yet, despite all the quitting and renegotiating, the real wage for the average American worker — meaning the true value of their paycheck after taking into acc

"Yet, despite all the quitting and renegotiating, the real wage for the average American worker — meaning the true value of their paycheck after taking into account inflation — fell by 2.4% in 2021." All while the world's elites have doubled or tripled their fortunes. Great Robbery would be a more apt name than Great Resignation.

MattGaiser 5y ago
I would be interested to see the difference between those who did switch and those who didn't. It could easily be 20% raises for those moving and 1% for those who are not.
- PascLeRasc 5y ago
  I received a 1% raise at my current job. My coworkers who worked evenings and weekends received a "100% positive adjustment of their raise" (2%).
  - root_axis 5y ago
    A 1% raise seems insulting imo.
    - Ancalagon 5y ago
      It is
      - mgkimsal 5y ago
        I started at a company in mid January, and they did annual reviews in June/July. After review, I 'merited' a 4% raise. But... because I'd only been there since January, they prorated the 4% raise to 2%. I never quite understood their logic, but also didn't stay through the end of the year. EDIT: this was... 2004/2005 era.
        jsdwarf 5y ago
        IMHO quite generous by them, in my former companies you skipped the raise talk if you joined less than 9 months ago. Makes sense, because you just negotiated your salary on entry.
        MattGaiser 5y ago
        > Makes sense, because you just negotiated your salary on entry. Not really, as in this field that is about halfway through your tenure. Market has certainly shifted a lot in 9 months past.
        giantg2 5y ago
        18 month tenure seems short, even for IT employees. Better off just staffing with contractors if that's truly expected.
        MattGaiser 5y ago
        Devs seem to last two years, but they make the decision to leave well before that, so you need to get a retention offer in before they start the job search.
        giantg2 5y ago
        Any data on that?
        MattGaiser 5y ago
        Only anecdotal, but that seems to be how long people last. There are no devs that I knew at either of my past two jobs that remain. Virtually all friends report similar experiences.
        giantg2 5y ago
        My experience goes the other way. 75%+ have been at my company for 5+ years.
      - willcipriano 5y ago
        It's a clear signal, the company values you less than when it hired you. When leaving a company like that I find it best to frame it in a way that they were unhappy with you. "Hey look I know you are trying to spare my feelings, but that is 6 percent less than inflation, clearly you want me out of here but didn't have the courage to lay me off. Thanks for the heads up, I've found another role."
        MattGaiser 5y ago
        It really seems like you are most valued the day you are hired, with your value declining by the day.
        lotsofpulp 5y ago
        The whole concept of value in terms of business transactions seems weird to me. It is ill defined and unactionable. Either you agree to buy or sell at a certain price, or not. “Value” plays no role in the determination of prices.
        MattGaiser 5y ago
        Well, what the business will pay for you declines the longer you stay.
        lotsofpulp 5y ago
        Every choice in life is a gamble. Many or most businesses are betting that their labor vendors (employees) will accept less and less. Based on the statistics of the past 5 decades, this seems to have been a good bet.
        airstrike 5y ago
        Whether you agree to buy or sell at a certain price is entirely dependent on whether such price is higher or lower than the value of the trade, in your own subjective assessment. There are other meanings of the word "value" in business transactions, but that is probably the most common and fundamental one.
    - giantg2 5y ago
      1.5% raise receiver here. Yes I'm insulted.
    - AdrianB1 5y ago
      I got nothing for a couple of years in a row, then less than 1% the next; the HR guys said this is because there is a very low turnover, so there is no need to pay better. Companies to what they can, as much as they can.
  - MattGaiser 5y ago
    After a few rounds of this, developers basically join a company with a plan to leave as soon as they become reasonably productive.
  - alana314 5y ago
    Is keeping your salary at pace with inflation a good argument? My raises have typically been 0-3% YoY but inflation in 2021 was 6.8%.
- grezql 5y ago
- wonderwonder 5y ago
  It seems like companies are really having a hard time understanding that people are not going to just take financial hits out of loyalty to a company anymore. Companies still appear to be of the mindset that they can give small cost of living increases and people will stick around for years in hopes of getting promoted. With inflation at 9%, getting a 20% raise after 2 years with a promotion essentially just sets you back at your starting salary with more work and responsibility. Why would anyone stick around for that? Plus there are only so many positions available to be promoted into, statistically the odds are not good for most. Coupled with the fact that companies are very open that they have zero loyalty to any employee below c-suite, its not really surprising people are only keeping jobs for a couple years before being forced to look somewhere else.
  - boring_twenties 5y ago
    > Why would anyone stick around for that? Lots of reasons. First of all, job hunting takes time and effort. If you're rusty at interviewing and need some practice, then even more so. People that have kids or other responsibilities outside of work have even less of both available. On top of that you have to face rejection, which for many people is emotionally difficult. Secondly, even if everything goes well, it's still a substantial risk. The new job might seem great at first, then turn out to be a nightmare a couple of months in. The old job might not be ideal, but you're used to it, and know you can live with it -- it's the devil you know. Same way that couples often stay in unsatisfying relationships for years, because it seems better than risking ending up alone.
    - wonderwonder 5y ago
      I have kids and need a raise each year to afford to buy them the things they need while still having a hope of retiring one day. "The new job might seem great at first, then turn out to be a nightmare a couple of months in" This is pretty much most of my jobs. The current one is probably the nicest I have had in a long time but I still need a raise as the thought of working until 65 just to be old and then die fills me with existential dread.
serverholic 5y ago
There's a saying “never let a good crisis go to waste” and I suspect many elites are taking that saying to heart. On the surface they are complaining but I suspect many are using this as an opportunity to make changes that they've wanted to make for a long time but couldn't for various reasons. Mainly because elites tend to play game of thrones in their respective organizations and it wasn't politically favorable to make certain changes before covid.
jonnycomputer 5y ago
My understanding is that the bottom of the wage scale have seen the biggest gains, in real terms (https://fortune.com/2021/12/10/inflation-wages-low-income-workers/ https://fortune.com/2021/12/10/inflation-wages-low-income-wo...). Its the middle and upper middle class that are being made (a little) poorer by inflation. A fine trade-off imo. And given the asymmetry of the risks policy makers faced (great depression vs higher than average inflation), they wisely went with the risk of inflation. And its not clear that US federal spending is causing the inflation. Month-on-month, the trajectory has been remarkably similar between US, UK and EU. https://econbrowser.com/archives/2022/01/inflation-us-vs-euro-area-and-uk https://econbrowser.com/archives/2022/01/inflation-us-vs-eur... Update: I think some people's views of this are skewed by the prices in the places they live. It's worth while doing the comparison of what can be bought for about 1.4 million, in Roanoke: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/15-Cardinal-Rd-SE-Roanoke-VA-24014/2068020880_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/15-Cardinal-Rd-SE-Roanoke... and in Los Angeles: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2495-Butler-Ave-Los-Angeles-CA-90064/20464943_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2495-Butler-Ave-Los-Angel...
- altcognito 5y ago
  Wage gains are not being treated the same as investment gains. It's not like Bezos is taking home an hourly rate. Everybody at the real top is doing quite, quite well. That's why the concentration of wealth into a very few hands at the top marches on, not because of "wages".
  - jonnycomputer 5y ago
    There are the rich and then there are the really rich, and then there are the unbelievably rich. I'll happily call a family earning 500k/y on two salaries in a small town where a million dollar home is literally a mansion on a hill "rich". Because they are. They just aren't as rich as the Trumps or Bezoss of the world.
    - bushbaba 5y ago
      It hit me when I saw a 3MM home in Tampa vs 3MM in Bay Area. I think many’s definition of money is skewed from living in hcol cities.
VoodooJuJu 5y ago
>All while the world's elites have doubled or tripled their fortunes Who and how?
- melenaboija 5y ago
  https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/worlds-billionaires-made-5-trillion-dollars-over-the-past-year.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/worlds-billionaires-made-5-t...
  - hanselot 5y ago
- bduerst 5y ago
  It's no small secret that the world's billionaires saw >50% increase in wealth during the pandemic. https://www.reuters.com/business/pandemic-boosts-super-rich-share-global-wealth-2021-12-07/ https://www.reuters.com/business/pandemic-boosts-super-rich-...
  - MattGaiser 5y ago
    This is very misleading. They took a massive cut in early 2020, so a lot of that is just recovery.
    - monkpit 5y ago
      [Citation needed]
    - jtbayly 5y ago
      Yep. And in the last week, the rich have lost more money than anybody else. It’s all a function of two things: 1. what percentage of your wealth is where, (ie home, stock market, checking account) and 2. Even if you and a rich man are both 80% in the stock market, he’ll come out in absolute terms having made more money. Is that fair? I think so. Both made the same percentage. And if it drops, he’ll lose more absolute money, too.
giantg2 5y ago
"meaning the true value of their paycheck after taking into account inflation — fell by 2.4% in 2021." This has been going on for like 30-40 years. It's sad, but nothing new. I got about a 4.5% value cut this year.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  > I got about a 4.5% value cut this year. I have not done the math, but I would not be surprised to see this is true for me. Certainly feels like it. I do not hate my current job, and I loathe interviewing, but I feel like I will need to jump soon just so I can push the reset button and get my compensation to keep up with inflation lately.
  - wonderwonder 5y ago
    I got a ~50% raise last year by changing jobs and switching to 1099. This year I did not get a raise, contract just renewed as is. So I got a 50% raise to start the year and after inflation took a 10% cut at the end of the year. I like the job but I think I have maxed the salary there so going to have to find a new one at the end of this year. Pretty unfortunate but I can't eat a pay cut every year. I have a feeling most software engineers are in a similar situation where the market is good, why take a cut or only 3% raise during out of control inflation when we can jump and get a 20% raise.
    - giantg2 5y ago
      10% cut? Wasn't inflation about 6.2%?
      - monkpit 5y ago
        They might be referring to inflation in their specific area or in their specific budget. I don’t think you can apply average national or global inflation rates to an individual in a specific location.
        5y ago
Gehtio 5y ago
While I hope that this redistribution of wealth can be reverted, reversed or something else, I don't think this is robbery. My concern with this is primarily because people in Germany (not that many) believe that the pandemic is controlled by big pharma, big tech and by the 'elite' (great reset) and I think it's just much simpler described somehow else than the control of rich people.
c7DJTLrn 5y ago
Come on. Most of the people in first world countries were forced to stay at home and depend on the services that these "elites" provided. How exactly is it unfair that they make more profit from wider reach? A large portion of Americans who received COVID cheques burned it on toys and leisure instead of saving and their money went upwards. How is that unfair?
- claudiulodro 5y ago
  > Approximately 159 million economic impact payments, totaling more than $376 billion, have gone out to eligible recipients in the last month — and the majority of that money continues to be spent on groceries, rent and other monthly bills, according to a new survey released Wednesday. [1] The vast majority of the stimulus money was spent on bills, not frivolity. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/how-are-stimulus-checks-being-spent-two-thirds-recipients-say-n1264035 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/how-are-stimu...
  - melenaboija 5y ago
    Also is even painful to me to think about frivolities and how people spend money when seeing things like this. “Lamborghini had its most profitable year ever during the coronavirus pandemic”[1] Each of this cars may be something like 5 years of average salary in US. [1] https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/lamborghini-had-its-most-profitable-year-ever-during-coronavirus-pandemic https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/lamborghini-had-its-m...
    - lostlogin 5y ago
      Surely the much smaller individual sums spent on something like Xbox consoles is far greater in the aggregate than a few Lambos? As soon as you get into rating the worthiness of a spend it becomes a bit puritanical. The ironic thing is that I mostly agree with you, but judging others ‘wasted’ spend is too slippery a slope to go down.
      - 5y ago
slowhand09 5y ago
"All while the world's elites have doubled or tripled their fortunes. Great Robbery would be a more apt name than Great Resignation." I don't get it. Why does what they do have anything to do with what you or I do? Why does anyone begrudge someone else for being lucky, harder-working, in the right place at the right time, better looking, fitter, smarter, better at business, better at making connections, faster at learning, or anything else that helps them acquire more wealth? Was it at your expense? I've certainly been passed for hiring because someone found a better candidate. I've receive smaller raises than a co-worker probably because they did more impactful work. I'm sure I've missed opportunities due to office politics. I guess this is where we should all whip out the "U mad bro?" meme.
- adgjlsfhk1 5y ago
  Because it's not luck. It's exploitation.
- keeblers_n_bits 5y ago
  At a certain point, you start to see the elites continue to amass incomprehensible quantities of wealth while making their employees piss in bottles and drive into tornadoes. It’s a completely different gap than competing for a job or a raise with another candidate or coworker. I believe this is what is meant by “The Great Robbery”.
- jjeaff 5y ago
  >Was it at your expense? Yes, I think the point of complaints of the richest becoming richer is that they are doing so on the backs of the poor. They are underpaying employees and otherwise taking advantage of the lower classes to extract efficiency from them. If at the end of the year, I'm poorer because wages didn't even keep pace with inflation but my employer is 2-3x richer, something is wrong. In a healthy econonomy, the idea would be that the employer pays you for services rendered and we both come out ahead and with some sort of balance. Which, in a truly competitive free market, that should be the case. Amazon shouldn't be able to pay peanuts and work employees like dogs (or drones). Because in a free market, a competitor would show up and pay more and treat employees with more respect. But the moat is too wide and deep for many of these companies. Heck, even if someone did make a serious play for Amazon's online retail and fulfillment, they would simply use their AWS earnings or even borrowing power due to their market cap to fund their retail side and underprice you out of the market. (Something that they have done several times before).
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MattGaiser 5y ago

I would be interested to see the difference between those who did switch and those who didn't. It could easily be 20% raises for those moving and 1% for those who are not.

PascLeRasc 5y ago
I received a 1% raise at my current job. My coworkers who worked evenings and weekends received a "100% positive adjustment of their raise" (2%).
- root_axis 5y ago
  A 1% raise seems insulting imo.
  - Ancalagon 5y ago
    It is
    - mgkimsal 5y ago
      I started at a company in mid January, and they did annual reviews in June/July. After review, I 'merited' a 4% raise. But... because I'd only been there since January, they prorated the 4% raise to 2%. I never quite understood their logic, but also didn't stay through the end of the year. EDIT: this was... 2004/2005 era.
      - jsdwarf 5y ago
        IMHO quite generous by them, in my former companies you skipped the raise talk if you joined less than 9 months ago. Makes sense, because you just negotiated your salary on entry.
        MattGaiser 5y ago
        > Makes sense, because you just negotiated your salary on entry. Not really, as in this field that is about halfway through your tenure. Market has certainly shifted a lot in 9 months past.
        giantg2 5y ago
        18 month tenure seems short, even for IT employees. Better off just staffing with contractors if that's truly expected.
        MattGaiser 5y ago
        Devs seem to last two years, but they make the decision to leave well before that, so you need to get a retention offer in before they start the job search.
        giantg2 5y ago
        Any data on that?
        MattGaiser 5y ago
        Only anecdotal, but that seems to be how long people last. There are no devs that I knew at either of my past two jobs that remain. Virtually all friends report similar experiences.
        giantg2 5y ago
        My experience goes the other way. 75%+ have been at my company for 5+ years.
    - willcipriano 5y ago
      It's a clear signal, the company values you less than when it hired you. When leaving a company like that I find it best to frame it in a way that they were unhappy with you. "Hey look I know you are trying to spare my feelings, but that is 6 percent less than inflation, clearly you want me out of here but didn't have the courage to lay me off. Thanks for the heads up, I've found another role."
      - MattGaiser 5y ago
        It really seems like you are most valued the day you are hired, with your value declining by the day.
        lotsofpulp 5y ago
        The whole concept of value in terms of business transactions seems weird to me. It is ill defined and unactionable. Either you agree to buy or sell at a certain price, or not. “Value” plays no role in the determination of prices.
        MattGaiser 5y ago
        Well, what the business will pay for you declines the longer you stay.
        lotsofpulp 5y ago
        Every choice in life is a gamble. Many or most businesses are betting that their labor vendors (employees) will accept less and less. Based on the statistics of the past 5 decades, this seems to have been a good bet.
        airstrike 5y ago
        Whether you agree to buy or sell at a certain price is entirely dependent on whether such price is higher or lower than the value of the trade, in your own subjective assessment. There are other meanings of the word "value" in business transactions, but that is probably the most common and fundamental one.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    1.5% raise receiver here. Yes I'm insulted.
  - AdrianB1 5y ago
    I got nothing for a couple of years in a row, then less than 1% the next; the HR guys said this is because there is a very low turnover, so there is no need to pay better. Companies to what they can, as much as they can.
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  After a few rounds of this, developers basically join a company with a plan to leave as soon as they become reasonably productive.
- alana314 5y ago
  Is keeping your salary at pace with inflation a good argument? My raises have typically been 0-3% YoY but inflation in 2021 was 6.8%.
grezql 5y ago
wonderwonder 5y ago
It seems like companies are really having a hard time understanding that people are not going to just take financial hits out of loyalty to a company anymore. Companies still appear to be of the mindset that they can give small cost of living increases and people will stick around for years in hopes of getting promoted. With inflation at 9%, getting a 20% raise after 2 years with a promotion essentially just sets you back at your starting salary with more work and responsibility. Why would anyone stick around for that? Plus there are only so many positions available to be promoted into, statistically the odds are not good for most. Coupled with the fact that companies are very open that they have zero loyalty to any employee below c-suite, its not really surprising people are only keeping jobs for a couple years before being forced to look somewhere else.
- boring_twenties 5y ago
  > Why would anyone stick around for that? Lots of reasons. First of all, job hunting takes time and effort. If you're rusty at interviewing and need some practice, then even more so. People that have kids or other responsibilities outside of work have even less of both available. On top of that you have to face rejection, which for many people is emotionally difficult. Secondly, even if everything goes well, it's still a substantial risk. The new job might seem great at first, then turn out to be a nightmare a couple of months in. The old job might not be ideal, but you're used to it, and know you can live with it -- it's the devil you know. Same way that couples often stay in unsatisfying relationships for years, because it seems better than risking ending up alone.
  - wonderwonder 5y ago
    I have kids and need a raise each year to afford to buy them the things they need while still having a hope of retiring one day. "The new job might seem great at first, then turn out to be a nightmare a couple of months in" This is pretty much most of my jobs. The current one is probably the nicest I have had in a long time but I still need a raise as the thought of working until 65 just to be old and then die fills me with existential dread.

serverholic 5y ago

There's a saying “never let a good crisis go to waste” and I suspect many elites are taking that saying to heart. On the surface they are complaining but I suspect many are using this as an opportunity to make changes that they've wanted to make for a long time but couldn't for various reasons. Mainly because elites tend to play game of thrones in their respective organizations and it wasn't politically favorable to make certain changes before covid.

jonnycomputer 5y ago

My understanding is that the bottom of the wage scale have seen the biggest gains, in real terms (https://fortune.com/2021/12/10/inflation-wages-low-income-workers/ https://fortune.com/2021/12/10/inflation-wages-low-income-wo...). Its the middle and upper middle class that are being made (a little) poorer by inflation. A fine trade-off imo. And given the asymmetry of the risks policy makers faced (great depression vs higher than average inflation), they wisely went with the risk of inflation. And its not clear that US federal spending is causing the inflation. Month-on-month, the trajectory has been remarkably similar between US, UK and EU. https://econbrowser.com/archives/2022/01/inflation-us-vs-euro-area-and-uk https://econbrowser.com/archives/2022/01/inflation-us-vs-eur... Update: I think some people's views of this are skewed by the prices in the places they live. It's worth while doing the comparison of what can be bought for about 1.4 million, in Roanoke: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/15-Cardinal-Rd-SE-Roanoke-VA-24014/2068020880_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/15-Cardinal-Rd-SE-Roanoke... and in Los Angeles: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2495-Butler-Ave-Los-Angeles-CA-90064/20464943_zpid/ https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2495-Butler-Ave-Los-Angel...

altcognito 5y ago
Wage gains are not being treated the same as investment gains. It's not like Bezos is taking home an hourly rate. Everybody at the real top is doing quite, quite well. That's why the concentration of wealth into a very few hands at the top marches on, not because of "wages".
- jonnycomputer 5y ago
  There are the rich and then there are the really rich, and then there are the unbelievably rich. I'll happily call a family earning 500k/y on two salaries in a small town where a million dollar home is literally a mansion on a hill "rich". Because they are. They just aren't as rich as the Trumps or Bezoss of the world.
  - bushbaba 5y ago
    It hit me when I saw a 3MM home in Tampa vs 3MM in Bay Area. I think many’s definition of money is skewed from living in hcol cities.

VoodooJuJu 5y ago

>All while the world's elites have doubled or tripled their fortunes Who and how?

melenaboija 5y ago
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/worlds-billionaires-made-5-trillion-dollars-over-the-past-year.html https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/worlds-billionaires-made-5-t...
- hanselot 5y ago
bduerst 5y ago
It's no small secret that the world's billionaires saw >50% increase in wealth during the pandemic. https://www.reuters.com/business/pandemic-boosts-super-rich-share-global-wealth-2021-12-07/ https://www.reuters.com/business/pandemic-boosts-super-rich-...
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  This is very misleading. They took a massive cut in early 2020, so a lot of that is just recovery.
  - monkpit 5y ago
    [Citation needed]
  - jtbayly 5y ago
    Yep. And in the last week, the rich have lost more money than anybody else. It’s all a function of two things: 1. what percentage of your wealth is where, (ie home, stock market, checking account) and 2. Even if you and a rich man are both 80% in the stock market, he’ll come out in absolute terms having made more money. Is that fair? I think so. Both made the same percentage. And if it drops, he’ll lose more absolute money, too.

giantg2 5y ago

"meaning the true value of their paycheck after taking into account inflation — fell by 2.4% in 2021." This has been going on for like 30-40 years. It's sad, but nothing new. I got about a 4.5% value cut this year.

rootusrootus 5y ago
> I got about a 4.5% value cut this year. I have not done the math, but I would not be surprised to see this is true for me. Certainly feels like it. I do not hate my current job, and I loathe interviewing, but I feel like I will need to jump soon just so I can push the reset button and get my compensation to keep up with inflation lately.
- wonderwonder 5y ago
  I got a ~50% raise last year by changing jobs and switching to 1099. This year I did not get a raise, contract just renewed as is. So I got a 50% raise to start the year and after inflation took a 10% cut at the end of the year. I like the job but I think I have maxed the salary there so going to have to find a new one at the end of this year. Pretty unfortunate but I can't eat a pay cut every year. I have a feeling most software engineers are in a similar situation where the market is good, why take a cut or only 3% raise during out of control inflation when we can jump and get a 20% raise.
  - giantg2 5y ago
    10% cut? Wasn't inflation about 6.2%?
    - monkpit 5y ago
      They might be referring to inflation in their specific area or in their specific budget. I don’t think you can apply average national or global inflation rates to an individual in a specific location.
      - 5y ago

Gehtio 5y ago

While I hope that this redistribution of wealth can be reverted, reversed or something else, I don't think this is robbery. My concern with this is primarily because people in Germany (not that many) believe that the pandemic is controlled by big pharma, big tech and by the 'elite' (great reset) and I think it's just much simpler described somehow else than the control of rich people.

c7DJTLrn 5y ago

Come on. Most of the people in first world countries were forced to stay at home and depend on the services that these "elites" provided. How exactly is it unfair that they make more profit from wider reach? A large portion of Americans who received COVID cheques burned it on toys and leisure instead of saving and their money went upwards. How is that unfair?

claudiulodro 5y ago
> Approximately 159 million economic impact payments, totaling more than $376 billion, have gone out to eligible recipients in the last month — and the majority of that money continues to be spent on groceries, rent and other monthly bills, according to a new survey released Wednesday. [1] The vast majority of the stimulus money was spent on bills, not frivolity. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/how-are-stimulus-checks-being-spent-two-thirds-recipients-say-n1264035 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/how-are-stimu...
- melenaboija 5y ago
  Also is even painful to me to think about frivolities and how people spend money when seeing things like this. “Lamborghini had its most profitable year ever during the coronavirus pandemic”[1] Each of this cars may be something like 5 years of average salary in US. [1] https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/lamborghini-had-its-most-profitable-year-ever-during-coronavirus-pandemic https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/lamborghini-had-its-m...
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    Surely the much smaller individual sums spent on something like Xbox consoles is far greater in the aggregate than a few Lambos? As soon as you get into rating the worthiness of a spend it becomes a bit puritanical. The ironic thing is that I mostly agree with you, but judging others ‘wasted’ spend is too slippery a slope to go down.
    - 5y ago

slowhand09 5y ago

"All while the world's elites have doubled or tripled their fortunes. Great Robbery would be a more apt name than Great Resignation." I don't get it. Why does what they do have anything to do with what you or I do? Why does anyone begrudge someone else for being lucky, harder-working, in the right place at the right time, better looking, fitter, smarter, better at business, better at making connections, faster at learning, or anything else that helps them acquire more wealth? Was it at your expense? I've certainly been passed for hiring because someone found a better candidate. I've receive smaller raises than a co-worker probably because they did more impactful work. I'm sure I've missed opportunities due to office politics. I guess this is where we should all whip out the "U mad bro?" meme.

adgjlsfhk1 5y ago
Because it's not luck. It's exploitation.
keeblers_n_bits 5y ago
At a certain point, you start to see the elites continue to amass incomprehensible quantities of wealth while making their employees piss in bottles and drive into tornadoes. It’s a completely different gap than competing for a job or a raise with another candidate or coworker. I believe this is what is meant by “The Great Robbery”.
jjeaff 5y ago
>Was it at your expense? Yes, I think the point of complaints of the richest becoming richer is that they are doing so on the backs of the poor. They are underpaying employees and otherwise taking advantage of the lower classes to extract efficiency from them. If at the end of the year, I'm poorer because wages didn't even keep pace with inflation but my employer is 2-3x richer, something is wrong. In a healthy econonomy, the idea would be that the employer pays you for services rendered and we both come out ahead and with some sort of balance. Which, in a truly competitive free market, that should be the case. Amazon shouldn't be able to pay peanuts and work employees like dogs (or drones). Because in a free market, a competitor would show up and pay more and treat employees with more respect. But the moat is too wide and deep for many of these companies. Heck, even if someone did make a serious play for Amazon's online retail and fulfillment, they would simply use their AWS earnings or even borrowing power due to their market cap to fund their retail side and underprice you out of the market. (Something that they have done several times before).

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