I liked the part where the folks who will Never Make the Orange Bigger made the orange bigger
Also
:laughs in Self-employed:
Part of the issue is that the green and yellow circles are converging, but not due to wages going up. People aren’t adding as much value as they used to, and on some level may realize that, leading to a certain level of despair, where they don’t expect their pay to ever go up, so they get mad at having to pay taxes instead.
In the auto industry (it’s what I’m most familiar with, so I’ll use it as an example), manufacturing automation has gotten to the point where minimum wage humans aren’t even the cheapest way to do a given operation. The skilled work has all been taken away, and people are only used for situations where variability makes automation unreliable (ie picking up parts out of a bin and loading them into a fixture). We can (and do) automate that process, but if something happens, it’s harder to fix. Better to just pay someone minimum wage than risk OEM fines for causing downtime.
I’m saying it: automation leads to less demand for human labor, and by the rule of the market that leads to lower prices (wages) for human labor. that trend is not gonna revert, unless humanity finds a totally new field in which economic growth can happen (which, at least on planet earth, is unlikely). that’s why jobs don’t pay living wages anymore, and people need universal basic income. there is no alternative. tax the rich to pay for it, as they become the only ones who can afford it.
Because I poop on the company time?
My supervisor makes a pound. While I make a pence. That is why I shit at the companies expense.
My boss makes a dollar and I make a dime, that’s why I poop on the company time
This I can give a shot: Because working in a certain or for a given employer job is a choice, but paying taxes is not. This makes paying taxes feel more unfair.
Also, you can calculate the amount of taxes, but only estimate the economic value of your work.
About the green circle: are you saying that the janitor for an electric company should get royalties from the profits a customer business earns through the electricity they consume? How far back do you trace it, and how can you measure total value of the labor?
Seems like even just the janitor (as well as all other employees) having an ownership stake in the company would be a simple and great start.
Yes. If you’ve ever worked at a runaway success company, that still had shitty poorly kept bathrooms, this is why.
People can negotiate larger or smaller shares, according to the rarity of their skillset, but to build a real team requires real ownership.
how can you measure total value of the labor?
Simple laws like requiring job postings to list a salary range have a huge impact, and allow people to negotiate a much more fair wage.
Companies also save money through reduced turnover.
Stockholders get better share price gains through continuity and staff loyalty.
The only losers are C suite executives who want to boost the stock price for one quarter before leaving for a new job.
Believe me, I am.
Because people need a common term that’s memorable to describe it.
Something like “owner’s rake” or “worker juice.”
