[rayiner]

Fun fact: if you took all the income in the U.S. (labor + capital) and distributed it evenly, every adult person would make about $65,000. Quite comfortable, and maybe a big improvement on the status quo, but still "working stiff" territory. We still live in an era where America's protestant work ethic is relevant. Maybe that'll change decades from now, but we're still quite a ways away from being in a post-scarcity society.

[bluquark]

Do you remember your source? I'd be interested to see the breakdown.

[rayiner]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobmcteer/2012/11/30/the-income...

[dabbledash]

That would more than double the current average income. Right now the average family of four makes about 60k.

[rayiner]

The OP suggested that people could work a lot less if our system wasn’t designed for making some people rich. But folks makin $65k still work eight hours a day, often more. People who can make $65k almost invariably choose to increase consumption rather than decrease hours and income. Our economy doesn’t have so much excess in it going to rich people that we could have both the consumption we want and also work a lot less.

[xapata]

Depends what you mean by post-scarcity. For example, if supermarkets weren't as interested in profit, they might choose a lower price point which would allow them to sell "ugly" produce. I've seen many different estimates of how much produce is discarded for ugliness, but all indicate a large portion.

The knock-on effects of profit-seeking are large. And not all bad, of course.

[rayiner]

Supermarkets make almost no profit. It’s people who want better looking fruit.

[xapata]

So how is it that there's such a large variation in the price of produce at different supermarkets?