Income Levels in the US : North America Discussion - Page 2

Re: Income Levels in the US

by mackina1 » Mon 17 Dec 2007, 15:03:17

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Denny', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FreakOil', 'T')his is what happens when labor unions lose their teeth. Labor unions are a fundamental part of industrial societies. They should assert themselves. I'm not sure what part labor unions will play in the post-Peak world.

Quite right. Especially in the U.S., unions seem to be very weak these days. I think the quality of workers is a part of it. If you look back to the union heyday, it seems that a lot of factory workers understood the end product better than today. At that time, many bright people did not get an education, so they ended up in blue colar work, but they were still naturally smart. I'd say current construction wokers seem bright, but not most factory workers. Perhaps we have too many people in the white cllar jobs, but they aremotly overhead.

Perhaps, as they are not good at thinking things through, they are not very good at organizing and figuring out how to bargain and how to maximize their efficiency. To win these days, you have to maximize efficiency, by working hard and smart, and then you have to bargain to put in the wage package, not just give it to the boss.

Right now, I think America is losing on both fronts, both the smarts and the bargaining power of workers.

I actually think that the "braindrain" of the factory workers isn't merely a product of an official doctrine of educating the masses. Modernization also plays a role. There is no longer any complexity in manning a production line. The machine provides the only difficulties, and those difficulties will be taken care of by a special department. So basically what you in a factory is simple, brain numbing work that it won't be profitable to make a machine to do. This means that most relatively smart fellows will opt out of the job as soon as possible. Especially considering how attractive many of the new bullshit white collar jobs are. Just sit there, comfortable behind a desk in front of a computer and shuffle some paper from time to time. Bureaucratic jobs in both the private and that other sector is slowly killing of the reasonable intelligent people of western nations. Those that are not capable of creative desk jobs, and whom there is not enough real logistics work to employ will get stuck running the paper mills of the world.

Income Levels in the US

Re: Income Levels in the US

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