Since obsessing about immanent inflation is all the rage these days, let me suggest a rapid supply side remedy for some insipient inflation. Joe Biden should declare the ports of LA/Long Beach and Savannah COVID disaster areas. The respective state national guards ought to be mobilized to aid in improving throughput of these ports. One area the military can be expected to be expert at is logistics. (Between them, these three ports have about eighty ships waiting to unload offshore). Getting the goods trapped in these ports to their inland destinations will reduce price pressures throughout the supply chain.
Re: Workplace Surveillance Is Becoming the New Normal for U.S. Workers
Why is this such a commonplace practice in the US? Is it because as Graydon has suggested, the result of a slaveholder mentality? There used to be a number of different theories for management, of which only one was about wielding a big stick. This last seems to have become the US company go-to management style. Yet when the early 1990s recession took place, I was seeing popular business books with "big stick" titles like "What Genghis Khan taught Me About Managing". What happened to nurturing workers? Silicon Valley became notorious for expecting 60+ hour work weeks. Sculley had Apple workers on his Newton project closeted 24/7. Coders working remotely had keyboard spyware to check that the person was at the keyboard, even though much coding requires contemplative thinking about the problem. What drives this? Wall Street demanding increasing quarterly profits? Managers incentivized to meet short-term goals because of stock options? Research has shown that 4 day weeks are as productive as 5-day workweeks, so why are they not implemented? We seem to have got the reverse - company communications at any time making an employee effectively "on call" 24/7 yet not paid for this intrusion.
Will we need to make new workplace labor laws to stop this race to the bottom, much as we did when ending child labor? If so, what will it take when the business lobbyists seem intent to block regulations that would help their productivity? As for zero-hour contracts, they should be made illegal immediately.
If only I could snap my fingers and have everyone be a subscriber, and think deeply about these links you post, and then act appropriately!
Since obsessing about immanent inflation is all the rage these days, let me suggest a rapid supply side remedy for some insipient inflation. Joe Biden should declare the ports of LA/Long Beach and Savannah COVID disaster areas. The respective state national guards ought to be mobilized to aid in improving throughput of these ports. One area the military can be expected to be expert at is logistics. (Between them, these three ports have about eighty ships waiting to unload offshore). Getting the goods trapped in these ports to their inland destinations will reduce price pressures throughout the supply chain.
Re: Workplace Surveillance Is Becoming the New Normal for U.S. Workers
Why is this such a commonplace practice in the US? Is it because as Graydon has suggested, the result of a slaveholder mentality? There used to be a number of different theories for management, of which only one was about wielding a big stick. This last seems to have become the US company go-to management style. Yet when the early 1990s recession took place, I was seeing popular business books with "big stick" titles like "What Genghis Khan taught Me About Managing". What happened to nurturing workers? Silicon Valley became notorious for expecting 60+ hour work weeks. Sculley had Apple workers on his Newton project closeted 24/7. Coders working remotely had keyboard spyware to check that the person was at the keyboard, even though much coding requires contemplative thinking about the problem. What drives this? Wall Street demanding increasing quarterly profits? Managers incentivized to meet short-term goals because of stock options? Research has shown that 4 day weeks are as productive as 5-day workweeks, so why are they not implemented? We seem to have got the reverse - company communications at any time making an employee effectively "on call" 24/7 yet not paid for this intrusion.
Will we need to make new workplace labor laws to stop this race to the bottom, much as we did when ending child labor? If so, what will it take when the business lobbyists seem intent to block regulations that would help their productivity? As for zero-hour contracts, they should be made illegal immediately.