1) This is basic labor vs capital economics. Our monetary policy for the past 15+ years has basically made capital free. When given the choice between building an expensive robot factory vs one that uses labor, and interest rates are 2-3%, you might as well build the robot one. So there is less demand for labor and the value of labor declines = less wage bargaining ability.
2) McDonalds corporate charges a franchise fee of 12% of revenue (not profits). Since Pappa Ronald controls the cost of inputs (fries, burgers, etc) and the prices you can charge, that basically leaves franchise owners with one option for making money: screw over their employees. Corporate McDonalds averaged $5 billion in profits over the past few years, by the way.
3) Pay your workers a decent wage and charge prices that reflect actual value. I really don't care if my cheeseburger costs $1.50 instead of 99 cents.
I was really disappointed with the first episode. While the interviews with the pioneers were interesting, the editing and voiceover was poor. Too much time was spent trying to tie in early videogames to sociological movements of the 60s and 70s, and somehow the show flew Space Invaders/Pac-Man straight to the video game bust of the early 80s -- skipping the hundreds of great games that came in between.
It has very little to do with what anybody "deserves" to be paid.
A company makes profits.
Some of that profit should be reinvested in the company to ensure it's healthy.
Some of that profit should go to the shareholders who invested in the company in the first place.
Some of that profit should go to the employees to reward their hard work.
The problem is that the people deciding where profits go (the management) are mostly selfish bastards, who decide to give it all to themselves rather than distribute it in some more reasonable manner.
Couple this with the American work ethic that you should work yourself to death regardless of how you are treated, and nothing is going to change. What should happen after CEO X pays himself a $200 million bonus is that all of his employees should quit. But instead, most of them settle for much smaller bonuses, and continue to toil away under the delusion that they might be CEO someday. Board Members (who are supposed to manage such irresponsible greedy behavior) don't object because they get their own huge paychecks to keep quiet.Thus, the CEO "market" has no downward pressure on salaries, and they just keep getting higher and higher.
I'm not sure what the solution is. Some kind of government rules on compensation? The requirement that stock options be declared as liabilities in company accounts was a good start, but there's a long way to go.
I'd like to see apple come out with a simple phone: huge battery, huge antennae, a quality speaker/mic, and one of their great interfaces. Then I'd buy it.
I give them credit for coming up with a nice all-in-one... but I have no need for it.
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Three points:
1) This is basic labor vs capital economics. Our monetary policy for the past 15+ years has basically made capital free. When given the choice between building an expensive robot factory vs one that uses labor, and interest rates are 2-3%, you might as well build the robot one. So there is less demand for labor and the value of labor declines = less wage bargaining ability.
2) McDonalds corporate charges a franchise fee of 12% of revenue (not profits). Since Pappa Ronald controls the cost of inputs (fries, burgers, etc) and the prices you can charge, that basically leaves franchise owners with one option for making money: screw over their employees. Corporate McDonalds averaged $5 billion in profits over the past few years, by the way.
3) Pay your workers a decent wage and charge prices that reflect actual value. I really don't care if my cheeseburger costs $1.50 instead of 99 cents.
I was really disappointed with the first episode. While the interviews with the pioneers were interesting, the editing and voiceover was poor. Too much time was spent trying to tie in early videogames to sociological movements of the 60s and 70s, and somehow the show flew Space Invaders/Pac-Man straight to the video game bust of the early 80s -- skipping the hundreds of great games that came in between.
It has very little to do with what anybody "deserves" to be paid. A company makes profits. Some of that profit should be reinvested in the company to ensure it's healthy. Some of that profit should go to the shareholders who invested in the company in the first place. Some of that profit should go to the employees to reward their hard work. The problem is that the people deciding where profits go (the management) are mostly selfish bastards, who decide to give it all to themselves rather than distribute it in some more reasonable manner. Couple this with the American work ethic that you should work yourself to death regardless of how you are treated, and nothing is going to change. What should happen after CEO X pays himself a $200 million bonus is that all of his employees should quit. But instead, most of them settle for much smaller bonuses, and continue to toil away under the delusion that they might be CEO someday. Board Members (who are supposed to manage such irresponsible greedy behavior) don't object because they get their own huge paychecks to keep quiet.Thus, the CEO "market" has no downward pressure on salaries, and they just keep getting higher and higher. I'm not sure what the solution is. Some kind of government rules on compensation? The requirement that stock options be declared as liabilities in company accounts was a good start, but there's a long way to go.
I'd like to see apple come out with a simple phone: huge battery, huge antennae, a quality speaker/mic, and one of their great interfaces. Then I'd buy it. I give them credit for coming up with a nice all-in-one... but I have no need for it.