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> Globalism, the casualization of labor (replacing full-time employees with contractors and part-timers) and a zealous fixation on profits above all else have l

> Globalism, the casualization of labor (replacing full-time employees with contractors and part-timers) and a zealous fixation on profits above all else have left the American middle class in shambles. That's a dangerous thing for a consumer economy. The ruthless MBA short term metric builders and long term value destroyers are still at it. People having money to buy is a good thing, not constant cutting back. Quality work suffers as there is less money to do it, meaning quality products suffer, eventually there is no product and no need for sales/marketing or the CEO because all the grace of current/old innovation dies out. It is very hard to find quality these days except at companies that do somewhat value employees and/or engineering/product over finance (as the product brings the revs, not the revs and cutting). One day we will return to the value of building quality products and value the people that do it as the engine rather than the financial part of the company as the engine. You can't have financial success without happy workers and thus good products being produced. After globalization is more baked in, it won't be as easy for companies not valuing quality work. We don't want to finish that stage with a depleted consumer base. The minimum wage also should be locked to inflation in some way. Minimum wage triggers raises throughout the market. Eventhough it just rises all boats, it sends ripples through the economy from the bottom up when there are downturns. In downturns there is too much money locked up in the 1% backdrift as it has to hit rock bottom for investment to start again. Minimum wage auto increases every 3-6 months would keep a consistent lower end ripple that would eventually make it up to everyone. If you want a raise, support minimum wage. When you give to the rich they keep it, when you give to the poor they give it right back but at least you have money moving. This is relevant today: http://www.theonion.com/articles/company-to-experiment-with-valuing-employees,37947/ http://www.theonion.com/articles/company-to-experiment-with-...

WalterBright 12y ago
> It is very hard to find quality these days I'm not seeing this. Cars, for example, are enormously better than they were in the 60's and 70's. They are far, far more reliable, and the fit & finish is much better.
- jdmichal 12y ago
  I think the mistake being made is that people continue to expect the same quality at the same price and ignore inflation. So they complain that the $100 bookshelf they buy in 2015 is nothing like the $100 bookshelf they bought in 1960. Well, thanks to inflation that $100 in 1960 is actually about $800 in 2015, and that $800 bookshelf in 2015 likely is a better quality. In 2015, for $100 you are buying a product that didn't exist in 1960: a bookshelf for $12.50. Technology has raised the quality at the same inflation-adjusted price point, but has also introduced new items at lower price points.
  - WalterBright 12y ago
    True. There's also survivorship bias at work - the only things left from earlier times are the good items, as the junk was discarded years ago.
crdoconnor 12y ago
>One day we will return to the value of building quality products and value the people that do it as the engine rather than the financial part of the company as the engine. You can't have financial success without happy workers and thus good products being produced. After globalization is more baked in, it won't be as easy for companies not valuing quality work. We don't want to finish that stage with a depleted consumer base. This is certainly what drives real economic growth (as opposed to that phony stuff caused by ramping up consumer debt to heady levels). However, I don't think that the "MBA short term metric builders" (as you put it) are at all concerned with real growth. I think they would far rather see steady and slow stagnation of their companies and the economy as a whole where their position in the hierarchy is kept intact rather than fast growth where their position is more uncertain. This is why I'm not so optimistic that valuing quality work is a state that the country will naturally return to driven by market forces. I think the decline will continue unabated until there is some kind of enormous keynesian kick from the government (in the past it was war and a federal public works program).

WalterBright 12y ago

> It is very hard to find quality these days I'm not seeing this. Cars, for example, are enormously better than they were in the 60's and 70's. They are far, far more reliable, and the fit & finish is much better.

jdmichal 12y ago
I think the mistake being made is that people continue to expect the same quality at the same price and ignore inflation. So they complain that the $100 bookshelf they buy in 2015 is nothing like the $100 bookshelf they bought in 1960. Well, thanks to inflation that $100 in 1960 is actually about $800 in 2015, and that $800 bookshelf in 2015 likely is a better quality. In 2015, for $100 you are buying a product that didn't exist in 1960: a bookshelf for $12.50. Technology has raised the quality at the same inflation-adjusted price point, but has also introduced new items at lower price points.
- WalterBright 12y ago
  True. There's also survivorship bias at work - the only things left from earlier times are the good items, as the junk was discarded years ago.

crdoconnor 12y ago

>One day we will return to the value of building quality products and value the people that do it as the engine rather than the financial part of the company as the engine. You can't have financial success without happy workers and thus good products being produced. After globalization is more baked in, it won't be as easy for companies not valuing quality work. We don't want to finish that stage with a depleted consumer base. This is certainly what drives real economic growth (as opposed to that phony stuff caused by ramping up consumer debt to heady levels). However, I don't think that the "MBA short term metric builders" (as you put it) are at all concerned with real growth. I think they would far rather see steady and slow stagnation of their companies and the economy as a whole where their position in the hierarchy is kept intact rather than fast growth where their position is more uncertain. This is why I'm not so optimistic that valuing quality work is a state that the country will naturally return to driven by market forces. I think the decline will continue unabated until there is some kind of enormous keynesian kick from the government (in the past it was war and a federal public works program).