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by dvanduzer 4669 days ago
That's assuming a lot of things about the present level of productivity of everyone working. Also, your number sounds like "household income" and I'm making my assumptions based on GDP per capita[0].

Generally though, yes, I'd assume most people would end up working ~20 hours a week. I'd assume most employers would prefer this, and would also optimize the use of their employees' time.

I think your understanding of Soviet economic policy is probably a bit naive, but for a high level overview of my philosophy, I'd recommend Russell's In Praise of Idleness[1].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...

[1] http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html
1 comments
jcnnghm 4669 days ago
That's mean individual wage, not household. Per capita GDP isn't a good indicator here. I'd be careful about suggesting naïveté while advocating for a minimum wage higher than the mean wage.
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dvanduzer 4669 days ago
The Soviet Union put humans in space. And you have to be able to compete at all before you can lose a multi-decade arms race between superpowers.

I am absolutely not advocating for a minimum wage higher than the median wage. There is no universal law that 40 hours a week is productive. Given an average 20 hour work week, there are still trillions of dollars available to those who want to work harder or smarter. There is still plenty of room for winners and losers.

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jcnnghm 4669 days ago
The Soviet Union put humans in space. And you have to be able to compete at all before you can lose a multi-decade arms race between superpowers.

At what cost? How many Ukrainians did they starve to death in the process, how many "political opponents" were purged, how many people died in the gulags because they didn't tow the line?

Unfortunately, what you want has been tried, and it didn't work very well. What you'll end up with is many people not working at all because its not worth paying them, and a bunch of others forced to work at gunpoint to make up for the people that can't produce. It's pretty shitty to be in either group.

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rangibaby 4669 days ago
What happens when automation means there is an oversupply of labor? You will have many people not working at all because there are no jobs for them.
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