8.28.2011

Rise of the machines: union-busters' fault?

Over at Naked Capitalism, Yves Smith touches on a theme I wrote about last year in Rise of the Machines and Rise of the Machines, continued: the trend toward labor getting a smaller and smaller share of the economic pie as technology and efficiency make human labor less and less necessary.

Yves titles her post "The Wages of Destroying Labor Bargaining Power: Nearly 30% of Job Losses Due to Management Cutting Pie in Favor of Capital."

Unfortunately, most prescriptions from the left would seem to make the problem worse: more unionization, more rigid and expensive labor, more open-ended liabilities for every worker hired. All that only accelerates the incentives for offshoring and automation. You'd think the left didn't understand incentives or something.

You know we're not going to let this one go without playing "Who Made Who." Turn up your speakers to 11!

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Happy Super Tuesday!