There is a sickness, a disease permeating our civilization No, nobody’s going to read that

Due to the imbalance of wealth and power Boring!

The ongoing class struggle Aw hell no

I’m having trouble writing an introduction to this one. I think I just won’t, because you already know that, in general, humans are not good at looking out for one another. Why should I set the stage when you’re standing on it?

The specific part of that big picture I want to zoom in on has to do with the way we measure productivity, and why it probably leads to less productivity than just not measuring at all. Consider the following example:

Pretty soon I’m going to go buy some tires. Now I can see this like it’s already in the past: I will be presented with several options from the wide world of round-rubber-help-car-go objects, which will vary considerably in both price and quality. I am not going to be able to purchase a set of VR-3000 SuperTires because they each cost more than the average car, but rest assured they’re top of the line. No, I will settle for the second-cheapest set I can find (because I know the cheapest will blow out next Wednesday), wait patiently as they are installed, and cope with my public shaming on the drive home.

Why do tire-making companies willingly produce inferior products?

Well, that’s the easiest question ever. They do it because they end up making more money that way.

Wait, what? Let’s go over that again. Something’s not quite right.

Companies (yeah, I follow you) who make tires (totally on board) deliberately construct both cheapo and expensive tires (willing to suspend disbelief) so that they can sell the cheapo tires to most people (uhhhh) thereby making more money than if they sold the expensive tires (nope, that’s dumb).

Clearly we need to remove some complications. First off, there are such things as designer, luxury tires. Those are for idiots. Cosmetic alterations will now be ignored.

Also, economics exists and I’ve heard of it. No doubt it costs more to make a good tire than a shabby one; however, I presume tire-makers are themselves not idiots and the higher price of the VR-3000 more than covers the difference in production cost. So we can remove that complication too.

In this particular case, we can also eliminate hoarders and corner-cutters. Every bloke with a car is going to want exactly four quality tires, and not all that often.

What’s left? It has to be that tire companies realize the average Chad is either unable or unwilling (dude, it’s both!) to spring ten thou on regular automotive maintenance. They offer the “budget” brand as a carrot to the unworthy, reasoning that it’s better to sell an inferior product than nothing at all.

Except that it isn’t.

How stupid do we have to be to gloss over such a ridiculous sentence since – at least – the dawn of the Industrial Revolution? Of course it’s better not to make inferior products in the first place! If Joe Blow is gainfully employed yet cannot afford the VR-3000, it’s either because the tire company is too greedy, or Joe Blow’s being underpaid by his own company (which is turn is either too greedy, or about to go under, nearly always the former).

I really didn’t mean to talk specifically about tires for that long. Other examples abound:

“How many hours did you work this week?” Who cares? If I can do what needs to be done in three hours, but I’m paid by the hour, how does this question measure productivity?

“You’ll be paid $0.04 per word.” I saw this in a job posting the other day. Guys, I have news for you. Or should I say, “it has come to my attention that excessive loquaciousness may have its roots in the assumption that ten words convey twice as much information as five”? (Dang, I could have said “five words” and been four cents richer.)

“We sold 2000 units this quarter, up from 1560 last quarter.” Yeah, but is that because 440 of the units you sold last year quit working? What exactly are you producing and selling?

It’s a no-brainer that [companies who spend lots of money and time making durable products] are going to fare more poorly than [companies who make cheap crap and great commercials]. That’s where we are, ain’t it? The tendency to measure productivity by quantity actively decreases the quantity of worthwhile production! So what can we do about it?

This is a problem with an obvious solution. I’ll spell it out:

1. Make deliberate production of inferior products illegal.
2. Pay your employees enough money to buy the good stuff.

Yep, that’d do it.