Declining worker power vs. rising monopoly power: explaining recent macro trends

That is the lazy way. If people are uniformed, we need to do more to inform them. People have power to choose where they work and where they spend their time and money. No one needs to come in and force Amazon into becoming a co-op. If top talent wants to work for co-ops and consumer prefer to get their good from co-ops, Amazon will adapt or die.

Not really. The more people who get to vote, the less individual control you get yourself over the outcome, and so the more powerless you become. More votes do not equate more democracy, only less individual power to influence your own future or leadership through the ballot, especially if your choices are limited. Unless you take a more direct action, and go into politics yourself, that is. But who has the time for that?

This is why people are rioting in the streets now, instead of patiently waiting until the voting booths open. It's because deciding between two candidates wouldn't resolve the matter in any meaningful way. Especially since there are no real candidates to vote for, that would make anything but token change for you. Nevermind an independent candidate, who just wouldn't gain any traction at all, or at least not under the American system.

Call me cynical, but representative democracy only works because it gives people the illusion that they have an individual say in politics, but they really don't. However the illusion keeps them blissfull enough to not want to rise up. If it actually mattered, I'm sure there wouldn't be a discussion on whether the Brexit vote should be respected (many wanted to disregard it entirely), or even that my own country of Norway perhaps shouldn't pursue relations with the EU, since a majority voted against membership. Yet here we are, with a de-facto membership of the EU through the EEA. Voting against it really worked. Yay... /sarcasm. So I can full well understand why some people think rioting is a better choice. I don't condone it, and I think there are better ways to protest, but I still understand it.

> even in the most selfish system, any bureaucrat who takes the time to "remove" you will have to face the consequences. And therefore, there can exist a state that does not demand everybody work.

Depends on the system in place. And it would be at the eternal scorn of those who have to work, but still pays the full cost of all those who don't. Because UBI isn't "free." And let's face it, such a machine wouldn't be "free" either, although it stands to reason that if it was made really big, then it would certainly be cost saving enough as to preclude all competition from all those who don't have the means to build such a machine themselves. As such, it would be clearly monopolistic.

In essence, it would be unfair to all those who would otherwise compete by baking bread of their own, because it would make bread-baking entirely unprofitable for everyone, just like slavery made low-end work unprofitable both in Rome and in pre-civil war USA. People somehow forget to mention that the war wasn't just about emancipation, but also because slavery gave slave owners such an unfair advantage that it put a lot of people out of honest work. Thus there would be something in it for every baker to throw a wrench into such a monopolistic machine.

If the only way to build such a machine, is to build it big, then it stands to reason that only big players can build it. So what makes you think they'd do it out of pure benevolence, without anything to gain from it? Surely, giving elites peace from the "rabble" might be a good enough reason? In fact, large swathes of the people would become complacent and dependent on the machine. So anyone who could gain control over it, would also stand to gain untold power for themselves and their group.

I think a fair few people would aspire to such power, and some might even be willing to murder for it. If you were somehow able to defend that coup, either diplomatically or by force, you would in effect gain dictatorial power over anyone it served. And nevermind democracy. You now have the power to decide what people vote, or no bread for you! And so, even if it was made with good intentions and for benevolent reasons, the machine may well come under the control of evil. Worst of all, if evil ever got control over it, many would come to their aid, simply to make sure they would continue to come first in the bread-line.

Now consider a crisis sweeping the world, say, destroying crops around the world; the guys who are getting stuff for free, would be the first to be cut out of the service of that machine. Only those who worked and saved would afford bread in such a time, as everyone would be made to pay. Except those who relied solely on the machine would starve, because they wouldn't have anything saved up to pay for bread. And so you'd have new upheavals.

The only way to alleviate such an extreme amount of power, would be to make sure there is competition for it, so that several machines were made to compete with each other to offer the best bread. And for that to be possible, you need people who also add value by working in various ways.

But without any incentives to do so, one might revert to letting the state do it. And then it would be in the interest of the state to keep that power to themselves, and prohibit anyone else from having it. Good luck saving it from the psychos and sociopaths that usually want to climb to those heights.

> If the people of such a future state decides to create a common automation infrastructure, then they may also reach the conclusion that not everybody needs to work.

If they provide no value, then they are also worthless and expendable. If their worth is only potential, then don't be surprised if they're treated like cattle by those owning or controlling that infrastructure.

> To some extent, that already exists today. Welfare states protect (or are intended to protect) people who can't work. The people in a welfare state do not want to leave those who can't work to starvation, and so the state doesn't, either.

Except it's an inherently unsustainable system unless most people in that country also contributes to it. We're now in a situation where more and more countries cannot afford the welfare states they once created. And now while the coffers are empty, and the jobs are drying up, people want UBI? Who's gonna pay for it? The only reason rich people would pay for it, is to insure safety for themselves. So in essence, they would pay for security against the masses. It's the same reason the patricians of Rome did it. Well, Ok, whatever you say, it did work for a time... For that reason. So that's at least something, I guess. But whatever that was, it wasn't freedom.

There is already solutions that lets people stop working, however: Income based on interest, dividends and rising asset values. This is when the value you add back to society has become intrinsic to the property that you own. But most people have neither the means nor the knowhow for how to get there. Perhaps this is what schools should focus on in the near future, then?

I personally know of many, many cases of this.

Even if this is true in theory, it's so completely untrue from a practical perspective that it's pointless to debate.

Many of us might be fortunate to have well paid jobs, and the ability and capital to invest, but it's understandable how someone could view the ability of those with capital to generate further capital without any labour to be unfair.