Quote (Poog @ Mar 12 2020 07:22pm)
Automation is only a small part of the problem when it comes to wage stagnation.
A broken labor market is the real culprit - due to totally unchecked globalization, trade deficits funded through financial surplus, and worst of all:
The perpetuation of the lie that throwing money at education is the way to make it good, and that everyone should go to college. This has led to a massive, massive student debt bubble and a generation of citizens who wasted 4 years doing shit they didn’t care about, didn’t truly learn, and who are now basically unskilled laborers with 6 figure debt
cant argue at all. automation was just a catalyst which reduced the value of the worker. simple assembly tasks like putting lugnuts on a car went from a skilled position that took strength to something anyone can do with an air wrench. the further mcdonaldization of labor made training more steamlined and employees more replaceable.
the reaction of making more kids go towards professional careers wasn't itself awful, but of course the banks and colleges seized the opportunity to raise prices and make getting more in loans easier to drive down kids working in school. as well as expanding their majors to include many either low demand jobs or worse no demand jobs like ceramics majors or women's studies (which only has the purpose of writing more books for more college courses).
labor changed from adding real value to a company to way less value and more of a sense of entitlement for putting in 8 hours and wanting all of the food and technological toys one feels they should have. its a house of cards, soon it will fall.