By the way, Marx literally predicted wages stagnating even as production increases. I’ve also added some other benchmarks to help gauge where earners would stand given how much they currently earn.
25k in 2020-> 57k
35k in 2020-> 80k
45k in 2020-> 103k
50k in 2020-> 108k
75k in 2020-> 172k
100k in 2020-> 229k
Imagine working for THREE months a year and being able to afford a place to live or a semester of college tuition
Automation is great for those who own it. That’s why automation is such a focus for giant corporations right now. They want to remove power from the hands of the workers
Automation usually means an increase in productivity so now you can produce the same quantum of commodities with less manhours going into them. So their value is less then before, but because your competiton has not become more productive it sells pretty much for the same price as before and therefore you make an extra profit. That is the classic motiv for automation. Removing power from the workers is usually not the reason unless maybe in full employment. Unions have overall lost all over north America and Europe in the last decades. Within international competition nationally organized labour doesn’t hold that much power.
I both love and hate reading that kind of stuff. On one hand, the right idea is there - advances in automation even on basic levels like those found in the 18-1900’s can absolutely lead to those benefits for people. But because of reasons it hasn’t for the vast majority of us. so we’re here all these years later with working people not seeing those benefits and it’s infuriating that things which should help humanity as a whole are still only helping a small number of people on top
We’re in this position because of the actions of the generation that, on average, paid off their 4 year college by holding down a full-time (40 hour) minimum wage job for ONE summer vacation during highschool
Just when I was like “maybe I’ll try today at work”
I was a barista for over a decade and I’ve always wondered “What if I just put 50% of the money in my pocket?”
Can’t ring up the item of you do that, or at least only ring up half the items
Marx’s prediction of the falling rate of profit was correct as well
Yes but Marx failed to consider the massive profit I get from my feet’s onlyfans
