Recovery for whom?

Worker productivity figures shoot up, with no gains in employment or wages to show for it

Produced by Jesse Freeston and Lia Tarachansky

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• recovery
• worker
• productivity
• Richard
• Wolff

[abortabraham]

Squeezing that cash out of the serfs. You try and tell people that revenue and productivity don't show up in wages, it gets ignored for the free market fantasy math equation.

[mikezephyr]

The Real News' "Gold, impunity and violence in El Salvador" is proof that it continues to this day.

similarly, the destruction of the amazon in brazil, peru and bolivia for corporate profit follows as well.

[Capitalocracy]

well, force could be considered an incentive... it's essentially wage slavery

[wnxsilence]

I still don't understand the idiotic arguement made by Free-Market idealists. "There's no incentive to work in Socialism"

Taking into account the valid points brought up in this video. Explain to me what the incentive is to work in Capitalism? Is wage slavery an incentive?

Actually the facts point otherwise. Western Europe which uses many atrributes of Socialism, social democracy, redistribution ect..Enjoys greater worker productivity than the USA, and HIGHER standards of living.

[WarDogLRS]

Thank you Dem's & Repub's and lets not forget there supporters who destroyed this nation one election at a time.

[rickkluga]

I disagree with you in some ways.

1. What are the deminishing returns?

2.  The workers health deteriorates?

Sounds like you own a business are want your employees to act as slaves working until they drop dead.

[rickkluga]

Save every dime you can, you 'll need it.

[audadvnc]

This ongoing crushing of the middle class will eventually lead to rioting, mass suicide, and breakdown of civilization. All so the top 1% can reap ever greater profits.

[Mahoivlich]

The threat of losing your job always raises productivity but never lasts.

[Capitalocracy]

He taught KBR to lowball bids on New Deal dam building projects (which were actually important) and then they could apply for additional funding behind the scenes without public scrutiny. Later, when he became president, KBR and LBJ were turning Texas into the center for almost all new military infrastructure, which was possibly part of why LBJ escalated the war in Vietnam. Competition was never a part of the equation.

[Capitalocracy]

I agree with you there, if we're talking about infrastructure which is necessary for public interests, the public should be investing in it.

I just think it's more complicated than a total meritocracy. There's nepotism and other factors as well. Some big businesses stem from a good idea, good practices, or a lucky break, but just look at KBR, which gave birth to Halliburton. A personal family fortune was invested in a promising young corrupt politician, Lyndon Johnson.

[Capitalocracy]

I don't agree and I'll tell you why: I think it's already like that. I think that "barrier of entry" you're talking about exists whether the price of employing someone is $300/day or $2/day. Businesses will always cut costs as much as possible and use as few workers as they possibly can. The workers they have are the workers they need to produce, at a bare minimum, and increasing wages won't change that. What's more, requiring overtime payment or reducing the workday forces them to hire more.