Doing More For Less
(of us)
Getting the most out of people is not a bad thing but in the extreme it translates into squeezing the life out of them. As Deming exclaimed, "beat horses and they will run faster--for a while." Doing more with less implies squeezing more and more out of people until they drop.
When is the extreme pursued? When the goal is to maximize profit: when corporations squeeze whatever is left to get just that much more profit. From a previous post, a ccording to Ethan Harris, chief economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, "companies are squeezing their labor costs to build profits." Moreover, as noted i n an interview with the Huffington Post, Kathy Bostjancic, director for macroeconomic analysis at the Conference Board "most of the productivity gains have gone to corporate America and stock prices."
Our economic system rests on the belief that it is just if those who don't benefit sacrifice for those who do. We don't have to go to China to find evidence of workers sacrificing in service to corporate gains, the history of work in U.S. industrial society shows both wages and working conditions were abysmal. It is only through the efforts of an organized labor movement beginning in the late 1800's (e.g. Haymarket Square) that humane treatment (e.g. living wages, 8-hour work day, safe working conditions etc) to those laboring to do the work has been realized.
Perhaps today's corporate overlords are seeking to return to the good ole days for the sake of greater profits. Consider the following from a previous post
The
two-tier wage
structure of the Chrysler Corporation (as well as in GM and Ford) wherein
labor for their U. S. manufacturing is hired at the rate of $14/hour.
Some might say this creates more jobs, but if the jobs weren't there already a
low hourly rate wouldn't create them. That is to say, it doesn't create
jobs it just makes it far more profitable for corporations who have the work to
hire people to perform that work. It appears that it is an issue of where
corporations make more with the cash they have on hand, in the financial
markets or in the labor market. The guiding premise is if a corporation can
get people to work for far less (or nothing) it could make a lot of money!
Gains for Me
The notion that productivity gains drives higher standards of living beneficial to society is only true to the extent that people in society--beyond the shareholders and executives--participate in the gains in productivity. According to an August 17th 2011 article by Jim Zarroli (a business reporter for NPR), "the U.S. economy may be slowing to a crawl, but a lot of individual companies are richer than ever." Moreover, a 2011 report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) shows that between 1979 and 2007 income grew by 275% for the top 1% of households, 65% for the next 19% and under 40% for the next 60%, with the bottom 20% of households only realizing an 18% growth. Clearly the further away from the top the further away are the benefits.
In light of the current higher productivity levels and the greater number of people who are either unemployed or underemployed clearly more are benefiting less. Why? To a large extent the corporations are in business solely for their own self-serving purposes--the business of business is profit for top executives and major shareholders. It seems doing more with less translates into a select few realizing most of the benefit.
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