[throwawaybbq1]

In the limit, this is like arguing against the use of wheels. Automation improves labor productivity. Economies that have not invested in capital, have seen labor productivity and incomes stagnant. This is a current debate going on in Canada (especially as compared to the productivity and income gains in the last decade). Canada does have strong Unions, so I wonder if this is related.

Another thing that seems troubling is how a small group of people can hold a majority of the country by the bXlls. Given how this is an election year, I can see this turning into huge fiasco. The rest of the economy is collateral damage.

[navane]

We've had stagnant incomes for the last 50 years. The fruits of automation are not shared with the workers.

The small minority that keeps a country by the balls is not the unions but the owning class. The 2008 crash that put the whole world in a decade recession is collateral damage.

[throwawaybbq1]

In the US? I don't think what you are saying is supported by real data. My understanding is that US works did see an improvement in incomes in the last decade but Canadian workers did not.

What makes life better for everyone is competition. Canada's stagnation can be be summed up in a single phrase - lack of competition. Generally, the US has been a free-for-all when it comes to competition and hence its populace enjoys some of the best living standards.

I'll also relate my experience traveling the subway in Asia vs. Manhattan. Asian transit seems like space-age compared to what we have in the West. I think UBI won't save us as the income must come from somewhere. Hiking taxes kills incentives. The better way is to have more freedom/efficiencies in my humble opinion.

[Enk1du]

North America is very car-focused. Transit in Europe is also much better, although your experience will vary from country to country.

Even with all that oil money gushing through Alberta, it still takes 9.5 hours to drive from Medicine Hat to Grand Prairie - which is the same distance as Barcelona to Seville, a train journey of 5.5 hours including the changing of trains in Madrid.

[polski-g]

It has not been stagnant for 50 years: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1uDSE

[navane]

It has been: https://www.statista.com/statistics/185369/median-hourly-ear...

I guess we're at a stalemate now?

[youcanalwayszzz]

President needs to send in the national guard to maintain flow, because this is a domestic national security issue. I'm surprised he hasn't done it yet.

[exolymph]

(You don't need to censor yourself like that on HN. You can say "balls." Heck, you can say "testicles"!)