in which machinery and automation would help us have more time off while maintaining the same level of productivity.

"What will we do with all our free time?" was the question. It seemed like the future work week would be 20 hours, not 60 or 80.

But instead of more personal time the improved technology just led business leaders to require the work of two people from one, then the work of three people, then whatever they could wring out of the desperate workers that remained.

If corporations could completely replace people with machines they would. They are not interested in creating jobs, but profits.

the "more free time for workers", presupposed that employers would pay workers the same (or more) for less hours on the job..

That was a utopian premise, that would never have worked out.


There is free time, but it's unpaid free time.

The ultimate irony is that if you are an employer, you WANT to do more with less, because every dollar NOT spent on labor, is a dollar in your pocket.

Rich people who are employers may want us to think that "job creation" is what they are all about, but it's NOT. They are all about the bottom line, and they will cut labor to the bare bones, as long as it's just enough to get the job done, and if it makes THEM money.