Ray Fischer wrote:
> Kevin Gowen <kgowenNOSPAM@myfastmail.com> wrote:
>> Ray Fischer wrote:
>>> RonG <rgesell@mb.sympatico.ca> wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 05:01:16 +0000, Omphalos wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> For years I always read about how much harder Japanese worked than
>>>>> other countries. Apparently the tide has turned, according to an
>>>>> International Labor Organization report, Americans work more hours
>>>>> now than any country in the world.
>>>>>
>>>>> Hours worked per year:
>>>>>
>>>>> US   1,979
>>>>> Japan  1,842
>>>>> UK  1,719
>>>>> Germany 1,480
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Productivity per worker (in US $):
>>>>>
>>>>> US  $54,870
>>>>> Belgium $53,370
>>>>> Canada $44,870
>>>>> Japan $40,870
>>>>>
>>>>> If you calculate productivity per hour Belgium and France come out
>>>>> on top.
>>>>>
>>>>> I think the longer # of hours worked in the US is due to
>>>>> opportunity; there has been a lot of work available in the past
>>>>> decade and people take advantage of it. I would expect lower
>>>>> productivity per worker in Japan since there has always been a lot
>>>>> of overemployment, keeping workers on that you don't really need.
>>>>> This raises business costs but lowers social costs associated with
>>>>> unemployment.
>>>>>
>>>>> All things considered, I think I'd rather live in France and have
>>>>> 6 weeks vacation a year.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Don't forget that in USA about 60% of the population is employed.
>>>> In Europe its between 45 and 52%. Not only are are Americans
>>>> earning more,
>>>> but there are more of them earning more.
>>>
>>> But in the US the greater productivity is going to make the already
>>> rich even richer.  Less of that earning actually goes into the
>>> pockets of the earners.
>>
>> How so? The already rich are earners.
>
> They "earn" the wealth generated by others.

Why the scare quotes? It seems to me that they earn wealth by forming
corporation and providing jobs. You nice little scare quotes suggest that
there is something wrong or illegitimate about this. You can't honestly be
objecting to anyone ever having an employee, right?

> The US has a high and rapidly growing disparity between rich and poor.

Cites, if you please? Of course, the disparity does not matter. All that
matters is if the poor are not as poor as they once were. They aren't. There
is no reason to gripe about the disparity except for jealousy.

> The increases is worker productivity have resulted not in an increase
> in the incopme of the typical worker,

Let's see some numbers about the typical worker. Of course, I see little
reason why an increase in worker productivity should lead to just an
increase in worker pay. Increase their pay to give them incentives to work
harder, but remember that increased productivity means a more efficient
workforce. That means it is time to fire some workers. Surely you have
noticed that the economy has grown while unemployment has gone up?

> but an enmourmous increase in
> the income of the wealthy corporate executives.

Good for them. The purpose of a corporation is to make a profit for
shareholders, not to pay workers high wages or provide health insurance.

The rich are rich because they keep doing what makes them rich. The poor are
poor because they keep doing what makes them poor.

-- 
Kevin Gowen
"I'm not sure which is more frightening: the horror that engulfed New
York City or the apocalyptic rhetoric emanating daily from the White
House."
 - Columbia University professor Eric Foner in the London Review of
Books, on the attacks of 11 September 2001. A new study has recently
suggested that the inferno that destroyed the World Trade Center and
killed thousands of innocents was indeed more frightening than the
rhetoric of the Bush administration.