Dividing up the Pie

Dividing up the Pie

There is a lot of press about the uneven distribution of wealth. The French economist Piketty, analyzed the return on ownership of capital versus labor.  He concluded  in layman's terms that it is easier to grow wealth through ownership than labor. The gap between rich and poor will widen.

Do you ever wonder why we make things that increase our ability to produce more with less effort on our part?  It seems that as we do this, the skilled workers work harder and longer, instead of shorter. Fewer people with high skills make increasingly more money, while the rest become unnecessary and displaced to menial or low paying jobs.

This works fine for corporations, or more specifically owners of corporations, who have seen profits increase as the jobs decrease. But it comes with a huge toll. Social unrest will increase as this pool of underemployed and low wage population rises.

People need work for their own self esteem. I don't think any job is too menial. If it needs to be done and you do it well, it will be a source of personal satisfaction. Half of the society is average or below average, but we cannot afford to throw individuals on the waste dump. There needs to be adequate reward for their efforts, even if the job is menial. And there needs to be opportunity for work if it is desired.

Corporations are lucky to have access to our markets and resources. I believe there is an obligation on their part to help educate the work force for the jobs they need, and to provide opportunity for those that want to work at a fair wage, even if this means considering shortening the work week of skilled personnel to provide more jobs. Maybe the wage structure should provide more opportunity for ownership.

When we were in grade school, teams were often selected by captains. The good players were chosen first, and so on until everyone was on a team.  We did this out of a sense of fair play. It seemed to make sense then. Why not now?