Originally published at: Totally cool CEO says governments need to punish workers with unemployment to make them less arrogant | Boing Boing
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Where do they get this “productivity has gone down” bullshit?
Every study that I have seen shows productivity has stayed the same or improved through the pandemic. I’m sure there are some sectors where what he says is true, but am I just living in enough of an information bubble that I’m not seeing any published evidence of it?
From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Has productivity increased during the pandemic?
On the tail of these unprecedented job losses, labor productivity grew at an annualized rate of 11.2 percent in 2020q2 and the average hourly wage increased sharply.
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A reminder that this is the same out-of-touch millionaire real estate arsehole who infamously complained about Millennials and their avocado toast six years ago.
Also:
Last summer, former Democratic treasury secretary and congenital arsehole Larry Summers argued that the U.S. must create unemployment, putting 10 million people out of work, in order to tame inflation.
Fixed to include his full title.
From ignorance of how actual economists define “productivity”, I assume. Real estate execs and landlords may be wealthy but it’s not necessarily because they’re smart or educated.
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Ugh, I’ll never understand this adversarial relationship that some execs insist on having with employees.
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My wife tells me this constantly, apparently getting it from social media. I don’t think we know a single family member who isn’t employed if they want work.
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How do you create unemployment without destroying those employers’ businesses?
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Gotta give him credit for more people getting interested in building guillotines…
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Can we toss this man on the barbie (is this the correct spelling? Australian slang confounds me).
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Sure, yeah, go ahead and see if absolute economic turmoil ends with businesses flourishing on peaceful main streets in a paradise of obedient workers with pockets full of consumer confidence. That’s usually how that ends, right? No need to check the historical record…
Your wealth-extraction machine is operating in OUR public sphere, employing humans (who are also the consumers of business product) so take your begged questions and shove them up your arse.
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List of types of people that Adam Smith warned against…
Looks like all the boxes.
(Just transferred An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations into my phone library for those long waiting moments when electrical shocks aren’t an option.)
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It sure would be a shame if this guy’s workers seize the means of production. 
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Totally CoolAbsolute Tool CEO
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That Atlantic article about Summers doesn’t mention how his financing of the business school’s Allston campus involved risky bonds that blew up when the market crashed, almost bankrupting Harvard and causing massive layoffs. I mean you have to fuck up pretty badly to bankrupt Harvard.
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Machiavelli is probably most famous for his opinion concerning “whether it is better to be loved than feared.” But according to Machiavelli, a wise prince may be better served by focusing on the distinction between goodwill and hatred. Above all else, a ruler “must only endeavor . . . to escape being hated,” for the “best fortress that exists is to avoid being hated by the people.” Of only slightly lesser importance, the prince must cultivate the goodwill and respect of the people. Machiavelli asserts that if a ruler has the goodwill of the people, then he need not worry about “conspiracies” and similar threats.
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Let’s think of all the ways in which property companies improve the world…
…anyone?
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I’ve understood it since learning the phrase “class war.” 
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Similar attitude
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But… does his company produce anything?
No doubt there’s some value-added, but isn’t he mainly a middle-man, buying and selling investments, and extracting wealth from renters?
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