I haven’t really seen a ton of math here yet, so let’s do some simple math to prove that a 15 hour work week, if anything, is an estimate in the high range of what is necessary, and not absurd in the slightest:
What we see here is that technology has increased human productivity while median compensation for that productivity has been lagging behind.
In other words, somebody (a small minority) is making a bunch of money they weren’t making before.
Since 1978 human productivity has, thanks to technology, multiplied by 2.5x.
Standard of living has (calculated from spending and accounting for inflation) NOT CHANGED.
This means that we are not living more expensively, and in some areas, particularly housing, healthcare and education, we are now actually having it WORSE than they did 50 years ago.
So let’s do the math I was missing:
If we got rid of this paradoxical group that is making so much more money, we could have the same standard of living as in 1978 while working 2.5x less!
As the typical work week in 1978 was 40 hours, that corresponds to 16 hours (16 × 2.5 = 40).
And human productivity didn’t start increasing through technology in 1978! If we accounted for farther back than that we could cut it WAY more!
On top of that we have all of the previously mentioned factors, which get a lot more complicated to calculate, but it’s not even necessary!
The IWW was campaigning for a 16 hour work week in the 1910’s for crying out loud!
You really think we can’t do any less than 15 in 2018?
Also, let’s talk about how exactly capitalism makes this not work:
In capitalism, you have an employer who needs to profit from what you do.
This means that you create a certain amount of value for them. They pay you a wage in turn.
This wage is ALWAYS lower than what your work is worth.
If it was equal or higher, your employer would lose money from hiring you!
And this surplus value that your employer takes isn’t a little. It’s a lot.
So much that cutting the work week by half – presupposing this wage-exploitation stopped existing – would be absurd; a 15 hour work week would probably be too long, not too short!
