The decrease in unionization of the American workforce coincides with the decline of American society.

Coincidence? I think not.

I'm in three of them. Only one of them does me any good

if capital had it it's way, we'd all work for free. no wages.

people have options and people make choices. the criteria for a good paying blue-collar job could be no dope smoking. organized labor doesn't exist at wal-mart, mcdonald's or uber.

organized labor blue-collar jobs vs. private sector blue-collar jobs.

Like three of these things are actually true

Bob thinks

Hallmark holiday.

if capital had it it's way, we'd all work for free. no wages..

We're a family here. Okay bud?

Actually that is communism. If you read Ayn Rand, labor is to be paid fairly for the value it returns to capital. Work harder or improve your skill set and employers will gladly pay you more. The best example is a salesperson fully on commission.

Why would a company ever put caps on commissions then?

communism is: i'll pretend to work if you pretend to pay me.

i'm sure there's no correlation with the dow at 30K, american workers more productive than ever and the shrinking to apprx. 6% of america's workforce in private sector unions. in 1982, the dow was under 1,000 and we had about 18% of the workforce in private sector unions. i happen to be one of today's 6% and thankful for it. no regrets not aspiring to be a vacuum cleaner salesman on commission. corporations have also wiggled out of paying pensions by making workers fund their own pensions with 401ks/IRAs.

it's quite simple. the money that used to go to labor now goes to shareholders. no secret why the dow is over 30k.

labor is to be paid fairly for the value it returns to capital? ok.

ups with estimated revenues of $102 billion for 2022. ups has 535k workers. each worker averages $191k in producing revenue, average pay & benefits at ups is not $191k per year.

You have a few good points in there. Real wages have generally been stagnant despite longer term productivity gains. The share of income going to companies has been the highest in history. American companies have been incredibly efficient in wringing out costs and optimizing their businesses. Income inequality remains a major issue.

But there is a lot to be thankful in our system despite its flaws. We generally have lower unemployment than our social democratic first world peers. Our per capita GDP is much higher than them. And for all the concern about the shrinking middle class, it is not because of people moving down, but rather we have the largest percentage moving up into the upper middle class. I have posted those detailed stats before.

So I ask you, which country would you rather trade positions with? It must be done in whole. What makes us great also creates liabilities like a larger percentage of people in poverty. You want Germany? Sweden? China? Japan?

American companies have been incredibly efficient in wringing out costs and optimizing their businesses.

Which country is Hawaii?