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The collapse of the Soviet union in the late 80s gave rise to a unipolar capitalist world. That reduced the propensity of governments and corporations to share
by Qem 4y ago
The collapse of the Soviet union in the late 80s gave rise to a unipolar capitalist world. That reduced the propensity of governments and corporations to share with workers the big computer-tech fueled productivity gains realized from the 90s onwards. In the previous decades it was easier to workers to negotiate better conditions, as their employees feared they would become communist-friendly if too mistreated. With fear from communism gone, corporations and governments feel free to squeeze their employees, sabotage unions, etc cetera. So productivity gains now go straight to billionaires pockets, instead of reducing the working hours for the rest of us.
- runesofdoom 4y agoWhile I doubt the lack of any major competitor to the capitalist West is the only factor, it certainly get very little attention compared to how plausible it seems.
- dinkumthinkum 4y agoThat really needs several citations. You really think because the “great” Soviet Union collapsed that businesses decided “wow, we were worried about communism so now that’s not a thing. Now, we can treat workers however we what.” So, you think during the Cold War, Ford was really minding their P’s and Q’s because the threat of Marxist revolution, overthrowing U.S. Constitution, etc was a thing?
- bilegeek 4y agoThe PATCO strike[1] was '81, and Reagan's admin was RIFE with greed. The trends we see today didn't just spring up with the fall of the Berlin wall in '89; it has deep roots as a reaction[2] to the 70's and 80's. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Contr... [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tppeGYoWDxg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tppeGYoWDxg