5 ms·

We ought to stop blaming the "MBA mentality". I dislike them as much as any IC, but they aren't the issue. The issue is how wealth is distributed. Just after WW

by orwin 2y ago

We ought to stop blaming the "MBA mentality". I dislike them as much as any IC, but they aren't the issue. The issue is how wealth is distributed. Just after WW2, in my country, if a salaried woodworker in a chop added 1000$ of value on average each month after all other costs were paid (sales, stock, distribution), he took home 600, gave 100 to the government and 300 to his shop owner/shareholders. Nowadays, his added value is 2000€ each month, he takes home roughly 860, give the government 120, and the shop owner/shareholders take the rest, more than half of his added value.

Havoc 2y ago
This is hn. Everything bad about modern capitalism is apparently the fault of mba people. (No I didn’t do a mba)
- ruszki 2y ago
  I worked for several small projects and startups. All of them became shitter for employees when MBA people took over.
  - Havoc 2y ago
    >All of them became shitter for employees You don't hire MBAs to improve employee experience
twobitshifter 2y ago
who is behind the shift to owner and shareholder?
- Gud 2y ago
  It’s a natural progression where technology has improved production increases. However since the workers of the world have a very limited share of the ownership of the means of production, they don’t get anything from this increase in production output.
  - leereeves 2y ago
    Ok, but who is behind enshittification, planned obsolescence, corporate consolidation, private equity raiding, brand value extraction, etc...
    - Sirizarry 2y ago
      You don’t understand, it can’t be MBA types because it’s just the natural progression of the world to become worse and worse. Obvious right? Now sit down and consume.
    - Jensson 2y ago
      That comes from buying companies, not owning companies. I think the stock market is the biggest problem, or for the housing situation companies buying a large number of houses is the biggest problem, or for medicine buying up patents to rack up prices is the problem, or for software buying up games/programs and filling them with spyware is the problem etc. Builders typically aren't that evil, but builders sell to exploiters who are evil and exploit it as much as possible. You see this everywhere, that extra level of indirection where you aren't fine with exploiting people but you are fine selling your work to those who do exploit people. Exploiters are a tiny minority of people, but that is enough since they can buy up all the assets to exploit and thus become very wealthy. Edit; And yes, those exploiters often have MBA degrees. Not everyone with such degrees of course, but the overlap seems pretty large.
    - _nalply 2y ago
      It's profit. Revenue minus expenses. Companies that optimize profit better than other companies are more successful. Emergent behaviour like evolution. Companies that don't optimize will not grow as much or even decline or disappear. It's self-selecting. Planned obsolescence, private equity raiding, brand value extraction: these are steps to increase revenue. Enshittification, corporate consolidation: these are steps to decrease expenses.

by orwin 2y ago

Havoc 2y ago

This is hn. Everything bad about modern capitalism is apparently the fault of mba people. (No I didn’t do a mba)

ruszki 2y ago
I worked for several small projects and startups. All of them became shitter for employees when MBA people took over.
- Havoc 2y ago
  >All of them became shitter for employees You don't hire MBAs to improve employee experience

twobitshifter 2y ago

who is behind the shift to owner and shareholder?

Gud 2y ago
It’s a natural progression where technology has improved production increases. However since the workers of the world have a very limited share of the ownership of the means of production, they don’t get anything from this increase in production output.
- leereeves 2y ago
  Ok, but who is behind enshittification, planned obsolescence, corporate consolidation, private equity raiding, brand value extraction, etc...
  - Sirizarry 2y ago
    You don’t understand, it can’t be MBA types because it’s just the natural progression of the world to become worse and worse. Obvious right? Now sit down and consume.
  - Jensson 2y ago
    That comes from buying companies, not owning companies. I think the stock market is the biggest problem, or for the housing situation companies buying a large number of houses is the biggest problem, or for medicine buying up patents to rack up prices is the problem, or for software buying up games/programs and filling them with spyware is the problem etc. Builders typically aren't that evil, but builders sell to exploiters who are evil and exploit it as much as possible. You see this everywhere, that extra level of indirection where you aren't fine with exploiting people but you are fine selling your work to those who do exploit people. Exploiters are a tiny minority of people, but that is enough since they can buy up all the assets to exploit and thus become very wealthy. Edit; And yes, those exploiters often have MBA degrees. Not everyone with such degrees of course, but the overlap seems pretty large.
  - _nalply 2y ago
    It's profit. Revenue minus expenses. Companies that optimize profit better than other companies are more successful. Emergent behaviour like evolution. Companies that don't optimize will not grow as much or even decline or disappear. It's self-selecting. Planned obsolescence, private equity raiding, brand value extraction: these are steps to increase revenue. Enshittification, corporate consolidation: these are steps to decrease expenses.