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> Study suggests a robot levy — but only a modest one — could help combat the effects of automation on income inequality in the U.S. Pretty sure automation is

by mkl95 3y ago

> Study suggests a robot levy — but only a modest one — could help combat the effects of automation on income inequality in the U.S. Pretty sure automation is not to blame for inequality, anywhere. At least not currently.

senectus1 3y ago
yeah, also the Gov (all Gov's really) has such a stirling record of redistributing wealth fairly...
- flangola7 3y ago
  Sending payments to every known resident would not be difficult to implement. We already did a fairly decent job during points of this pandemic, and that was with very little preparation (and also an egomaniac who delayed it to get his name on the checks.)
PeterisP 3y ago
> Pretty sure automation is not to blame for inequality, anywhere. From the economic perspective of factors of production (labor, capital, natural resources, tech, entrepreneur), more automation means that the same products need less labor and more capital. That shifts both money and influence away from workers and towards capitalists, so that is a quite direct factor that increases inequality. I mean, the whole concept of capitalists was only enabled by automation during the industrial revolution; previously the main driver of inequality was landholders (nobility) but automation allowed capitalists to overtake them in wealth.
- pydry 3y ago
  >previously the main driver of inequality was landholders (nobility) It is once again. Have you not noticed that property prices, share prices and rent (things you can collect in your sleep) keep going up and up while wages are in a mild decline? That's productivity gains being captured. This fomented the creation of a new jeans-wearing aristocratic nobility driven once again by parasitic wealth extraction. All automation and productivity improvements are doing is keeping living standards in a relatively stable decline while they keep taking. Land value tax, property taxes, wealth taxes, building - all of these things would stem the bleeding. There's just one minor issue - they have an absolute stranglehold on government and would vehemently (and, violently, as a last resort) oppose them. I reckon proposing the idea of an "automation tax" is an elaborate bit of misdirection. Robots are pitchfork immune. The parasitic wealth extraction class collecting rents, dividends and interest in their sleep are not.

by mkl95 3y ago

senectus1 3y ago

yeah, also the Gov (all Gov's really) has such a stirling record of redistributing wealth fairly...

flangola7 3y ago
Sending payments to every known resident would not be difficult to implement. We already did a fairly decent job during points of this pandemic, and that was with very little preparation (and also an egomaniac who delayed it to get his name on the checks.)

PeterisP 3y ago

> Pretty sure automation is not to blame for inequality, anywhere. From the economic perspective of factors of production (labor, capital, natural resources, tech, entrepreneur), more automation means that the same products need less labor and more capital. That shifts both money and influence away from workers and towards capitalists, so that is a quite direct factor that increases inequality. I mean, the whole concept of capitalists was only enabled by automation during the industrial revolution; previously the main driver of inequality was landholders (nobility) but automation allowed capitalists to overtake them in wealth.

pydry 3y ago
>previously the main driver of inequality was landholders (nobility) It is once again. Have you not noticed that property prices, share prices and rent (things you can collect in your sleep) keep going up and up while wages are in a mild decline? That's productivity gains being captured. This fomented the creation of a new jeans-wearing aristocratic nobility driven once again by parasitic wealth extraction. All automation and productivity improvements are doing is keeping living standards in a relatively stable decline while they keep taking. Land value tax, property taxes, wealth taxes, building - all of these things would stem the bleeding. There's just one minor issue - they have an absolute stranglehold on government and would vehemently (and, violently, as a last resort) oppose them. I reckon proposing the idea of an "automation tax" is an elaborate bit of misdirection. Robots are pitchfork immune. The parasitic wealth extraction class collecting rents, dividends and interest in their sleep are not.