What happened in 1980?

Interesting graph from the NY Times this morning.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/08/12/briefing/15-morni…

Looks like my early decision to minimize wage & salary income in favor of personal investment portfolio management was prescient.

intercst

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That is a lesson I needed to have learned a decade or two ago myself. :frowning: I am starting to teach my daughter that. Though at 11, it’s not sinking in. This will be a continuous process of mine.

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In 1980 I started working as a private consultant, taking a huge increase in hours worked per week (when I was working which was not guaranteed) a big decrease in earnings per year for the first year, and a radical increase in my value to employers. After two years I was way far ahead, but still known for crazy long working hours when I was on a project, and for having a “nap cot” hidden somewhere near the operating consoles of the Vaxxen – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAX – I was mostly working with.

I didn’t do it primarily for the money, although I suspected that would work out well with a little luck. I did it because I was a maniac and regular working culture drove me (and incidentally my employers and supervisors) insane.

david fb

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<I am starting to teach my daughter that. Though at 11, it’s not sinking in.>

Are you sure it’s wise to teach a cynical attitude that hard work is a waste of time to an 11-year-old?

Wendy

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WendyBG asks,

<I am starting to teach my daughter that. Though at 11, it’s not sinking in.>

Are you sure it’s wise to teach a cynical attitude that hard work is a waste of time to an 11-year-old?

How many people have drank the Kool-Aid over the past 40 years while jobs have been outsourced to Mexico and Asia, corporate asset strippers have gutted companies, loaded them up with debt and screwed middle-class workers out of their jobs, pensions and health care? And while all that’s going on, more and more money is being shoveled to the top of the pyramid.

It’s best for young people to learn the nation’s history.

Why do you think we’re on the brink of revolution? Hint: it’s not video games and youtube.

intercst

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Once again we can see how the breaking of the social contract between capital and labor under Reagan started a four decade victory March for the forces of capital. After beating wage labor into submission for forty years is it no wonder that the current generation of young workers are embracing unionization, gig work, and leisure over labor?

The reckoning is coming.

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Hard work does pay, but only if you are working in your own self-interest or in the interest of causes that have won your devotion.

Whether hard work in a wage-slave job pays depends on circumstances.

But what I’d say is that the 11-year old should be taught to devote the proper amount of energy to each task. Too little will lead to failure, too much will take energy that could be better used elsewhere.

WilliB writes,

But what I’d say is that the 11-year old should be taught to devote the proper amount of energy to each task.

Exactly!

Smart work beats “hard work” every time.

intercst

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