The issue of productivity and wages

Productivity is defined as output/hours worked, which, along with average worker compensation as a share of total output, is a factor in total average worker compensation. Essentially, no matter what that average worker share of productivity is, when productivity rises, workers should earn more. Unless the average worker is somehow not actually earning more, because the average worker's share of output is dramatically diverging relative to productivity, suppressing total compensation to average workers.

The problem is, many like to make the argument that this basic model will benefit the average worker once productivity is headed in the right direction. But the simple case is not the reality. And instead what's happening is that while productivity is positively changing, total compensation to the average worker is declining as a share of total output. Meaning, an average worker's total compensation is declining despite rising productivity. The average of compensation is actually a faulty number now given that the average diverges dramatically from the median, and is thus no longer helpful.

This has been an issue since the 1970s, and when you look at a guy like Bernie Sanders who actually often talks about this problem, it's kind of sad that no one listens, while writing him off as some old loon. I don't necessarily think that capitalism is doomed to failure, but I think some of what he says is more relevant than what people are giving him credit for, especially when considering this dramatic divergence between productivity and wages.

In fact, some of the cultural shifts may be due in part to this vast economic issue that has been allowed to persist for decades now. Race relations, especially due to systemic disparities are magnified. Bernie is not alone in manifesting the frustrations in this economy, and I wonder how much is the right's so called "logic" holding back the search and focus on an actual solution for the issues this country is challenged with.

I believe the market economy is important. I'm not sure that, in its current state, it is working successfully for the average person. The average person could probably get along without thinking about the big issues like poverty, systemic racism, or even who is in the White House as much as is happening today if people generally felt that we were in good hands. Clearly, we're not. And the temperature in this country has certainly reflected that. This is something that needs to be fixed, and I guess I just wanted to propose this as an issue for people to think more about.