Why Play Leap Frog | Cold War Era American Propaganda Cartoon | 1949

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This 1949 Technicolor cartoon is a Cold War-era propaganda film aimed at American workers with the objective of convincing them that increased wages based on increased productivity bring about greater purchasing power.
The cartoon presents a tunnel vision capitalist view of economics. Rising prices are blamed on increasing wages for workers, so the only hope for wages to keep up is for workers to produce more. It also illustrates how the cost of production, overhead, the processing of raw materials, and labor combine to create the overall cost of a product.
The cartoon is a John Sutherland production. It is one of the "fun and facts about America" series, made "to create a deeper understanding of what has made America the finest place in the world to live."
Plot:
The film begins with a brief introductory sequence showing two cartoon figures - one representing prices and the other representing wages - playing leapfrog as each successively rises on the cost-of-living index. It then shifts to show Joe, a worker in the Dilly Doll Company, slightly down in the mouth because of a steady rise in the cost of living without an accompanying increase in wages. His joy over an increase in wages fades when he discovers that the price of a doll which he planned to buy for his little girl for a birthday present has also gone up. The manager of the store explains to Joe that he has had to increase the price because the factory is charging more.
As Joe is reflecting upon the thought that the raw materials for the doll which markets for two dollars cost only ten cents, a voice asks him whether or not he knows the value of the raw materials in a $1900 car. When Joe guesses $300, the voice tells him that the materials are worth only $22. An animated pictogram shows the raw materials in an automobile and the countless number of men needed to transform it into the finished product. A circle graph shows the proportionate costs involved in the manufacturing and marketing of the car. The direct and indirect labor costs are shown to be $1200.
Joe admits that he can understand this cost analysis for an automobile but still wonders what factors account for beef steak's costing one dollar per pound. The direct and indirect labor costs of feeding, fencing, housing, caring for, shipping, butchering and marketing "Bully Boy" are shown. As a butcher sells a pound of beef, his scales register each of these costs. In the case of this item, as in the case of the car, 85% of the selling price is attributable to direct and indirect labor costs.
The offstage voice helps Joe arrive at the conclusion that increased productivity would result in greater buying power and lower costs. Joe presents to his supervisor the idea of painting four dolls at once. The supervisor thinks it is a good idea and is shown going to the bank to borrow money to purchase new equipment. The increase in production results in another increase in Joe's wages and a decrease in the price of dolls. The summarizing statement points out that under this arrangement wages can keep ahead of prices.
BACKGROUND / CONTEXT
Wage-price spiral is an economic term that describes how prices increase when wages increase. It's a phenomenon that occasionally occurs when the general prices for goods and services increase, causing workers to demand a wage hike. The wage increase effectively increases general business expenses that are passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. It's essentially a loop or cycle that perpetuates itself by consistent prices increases.
The wage-price spiral deals with the causes and consequences of inflation, and it is therefore most popular in Keynesian economic theory. It is also known as the "cost-push" origin of inflation. (Another cause of inflation is known as "demand-pull" inflation, which monetary theorists believe originates with the money supply.)
Some argue that incomes policies or a severe recession is needed to stop the spiral. The spiral is also weakened if labor productivity rises at a quick rate. Rising labor productivity (the amount workers produce per hour) compensates employers for higher wages costs while allowing employees to receive rising real wages, and while allowing the company's margin to stay the same.
Why Play Leap Frog | Cold War Era American Propaganda Cartoon | 1949
TBFA_0159
NOTE: THE VIDEO REPRESENTS HISTORY. SINCE IT WAS PRODUCED DECADES AGO, IT HAS HISTORICAL VALUES AND CAN BE CONSIDERED AS A VALUABLE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT. THE VIDEO HAS BEEN UPLOADED WITH EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. ITS TOPIC IS REPRESENTED WITHIN CONTEXT.

[@TheBestFilmArchives]

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[@CHRISTIAN-jv5ud]

Why don't you make Video's anymore?

[@jeffwolcott7815]

Joe should have considered his 'Dilly Doll' Employee Discount. He could have gotten that doll for only $1.85 plus tax.

[@trugangsta4real]

Being the worker, and having all the skills, he could have made his own.

[@TheErikM]

In soviet russia doll gets discount on you.

[@sonicmastersword8080]

Employee discounts were not common when this was made. This is based on the Ford model where loyalty to your employer was considered sufficient as a means since you had a vested interest in its success.

[@NaiveCynic]

Amazing! So with our record high productivity, wages in the USA should be farther ahead of the cost of living than ever, right! Asking for a warehouse working living in a cardboard box.

[@jijipoid]

Companies these days want costs to production to be as little as possible so that the guys at the top can make as much as possible. They want to spend less while charging the same if not more so that they can make as much money as possible.. Guys at the top are only interested in their numbers game. Any time minimum wages get increased all that happens is instead of the guys at the top taking a hit to their income they simply raise the prices in everything to cover the costs which causes the cost of living to go up and also makes smaller business unable to compete. It is a vicious cycle. That is how i see it anyway..

[@MrJolte]

@@jijipoid I stand right behind you, friend.

[@jeremymain7303]

We used to care about each other.

[@jeremymain7303]

@Brandon Neifert Competition is important. But we used to be an American family. We used to understand that at the end of the day, we are united. We don't get that anymore. We have no understanding of our people as being a family.

[@sten260]

that's nothing new, you think back then people at the top were less greedy? It's the government laws that have caused this massive distortion in the first place. Back then there was barely any government and free market controlled everything, that's why you couldn't scam anybody. Now you can thanks to all the laws and regulations

[@memesthatmakeyouwannadie3133]

They played leap frog until 1980 and then wages got tired while prices kept climbing upward.

[@PETER-rt6zt]

1980 aligns well with the beginning of the demise of Unions.

[@blackmetalreki]

Reagan destroyed workers unions, neo-liberalism

[@sonicmastersword8080]

Actually, it was the 1970s. The decline of America's manufacturing sector during the energy crisis coupled with Unions hamstringing management when it came to more efficient and better technology caused an implosion within the system. Coupled with the rising cost of regulations-especially early 1970s environmentalism, and it just made more sense to move the jobs elsewhere.

[@mrfivegold]

Inflation.

[@daveshn]

Joe comes up with this great idea that quadruples productivity and does such a good job that they can lower prices while still making a solid profit. And yet he remains a factory line worker. Sure, he got a raise. But he should have got a promotion too.

[@TOFKAS01]

And just two generations later, his work would be tranfered to a low-wage-country.

[@StudioUAC]

i tried making suggestions at my job. they said no.

[@jeffschmeganheiman]

That's not how it works. They hire from the outside and find friends and family for those types of jobs. They don't want someone who sides with the workers.

[@wolfworks7339]

I still think that's the most realistic part of the cartoon.

[@waerlogauk]

Automation has deskilled the job, as a skilled worker he is then fired and replaced somebody cheaper.

[@thelazarous]

Ah yes, that elusive "real raise" I've never seen in my life. "Hey boss, I I've got an idea to get more done." "Cool, your coworker is fired and you get to do their work for the same price. I'm going to get the corporate bonus for sure now, thanks"

[@kelpermoon23]

Yes, usually you have to ask for a raise

[@1000niggawatt]

Well right now chinese are the ones manufacturing everything, and you americans are just wasting space in made up services sector jobs.

[@lordseelenfresserdemonking1168]

They weren't fired ?

[@lordseelenfresserdemonking1168]

8:39

[@YamiKisara]

How do you work for a corporate business and not understand how different they are to small businesses like the one Joe worked at?

[@atklm1]

He works in a relatively small factory and can make these dolls. I think he could quite simply just ask a bunch of extra raw materials from the owner so he could make one for the kid, maybe even with extra bells and whistles no one else has. And a sensible owner probably would say that just take one from the stock. It's a doll, not a car.

[@USA_UNITED1776]

Okay that wasn't the point you're picking apart the details of the hypothetical situation until it doesn't make sense.

[@atklm1]

@@USA_UNITED1776 I'm not denying the argument they make, that particular example just stood out. I'm middle class office rat, but I know small and medium business owners, as personal friends before the money and henceforth. For a good employee, they gladly give almost anything they ask.

[@dalepartoon710]

thanks for this I will never complain about being riped off again. until next month.

[@psychedelicpython]

When a tiny Apple pencil charging adaptor cost about $11.98 four years ago on Amazon that was a real rip off. (I didn't buy it...lol!)

[@alexn2162]

A loaf of bread cost 25 cents in 1970. A silver quarter is worth $4.17 today. So the cost of the bread didn't change. The money became worth less. And actual productivity in manufacturing products is probably 10 times what it was 50 years ago thanks to automation. The wealth is going somewhere and it isn't to the average American.

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

Harding University is a private university with its main campus in Searcy, Arkansas. It is the largest private university in Arkansas. Established in 1924, the institution offers undergraduate, graduate, and pre-professional programs. The university also comprises Harding School of Theology, located in Memphis, Tennessee, which was formerly known as Harding Graduate School of Religion. Harding is one of several institutions of higher learning associated with the Churches of Christ.

[@edgarblackwell1474]

Remember when wages were proportionate to the cost of living? Good times.

[@SanDiego_Railfan]

Good times indeed.

[@LockCard]

back when inflation was not so huge.

[@shanescatsandcannabisfarm2965]

No they have been about the same since 1950... Food is cheaper now than ever before in history. With inflation that is. For example... Bread in 1950 was about $0.15... Thats about $1.50 today. Which is about the same... Cigarettes where cheaper even with inflation because of taxes. Taxes are sky high compared to then. Min wage in 1950 was $0.75... About $7.50 today. Today it is $7.25... Again about the same... In 1948 min wage was only $0.40!!!! Thats only $4.45 today!!! So.... The good ol days wasn't that different money wise. A new home in 1950's was about $10,000. Which is like $100,000 today... Once again about the same.

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

Yep. I could write a lot about this. And have. About how in the 50's our Republican president raised the minimum wage and did a lot of other things that are considered subversive communist doctrine now days. About how big business conspired to sway more votes to the Republicans despite what's good for our economy and country and how well it worked. But I'll spare you for now. Unless you want to read my long winded rants? Anyone?

[@LockCard]

@@shanescatsandcannabisfarm2965 ummmm .75 cents an hour back then is 8.24 according to inflation. Housing in cheap low tax/regulations states are about 100k But in high tax locations its much higher.

[@Adenrux0]

Aftermath: Joe loses job because of automatization.

[@tmarritt]

Wages fail to keep up with inflation dispute unthinkable increases in productivity & profits.

[@GIGATHEBOT]

and moves to the service industry.

[@Adenrux0]

@@GIGATHEBOT A nice way to say McDonalds

[@GIGATHEBOT]

@@Adenrux0 I'm quite sure someone with previous work experience will find a much higher paying job.

[@destubae3271]

More like outsourcing

[@user-xg8yy7yl1d]

Economic ideas (tweaks to which are always brought into debate with new technologies) and specific dollar values (which have changed from back then due to both different production methods/availability/etc as well as inflation) aside this video has a very good basic explanation of all the physical steps required to get raw materials and make them into a finished product. There are a lot of steps required to produce our modern mass produced products and often they all must line up on a precise schedule to avoid delays or in the case of food to avoid expiry of materials.

[@Veltrosstho]

>often they follow a precise schedule. Yeah, transportation worker here, they make it sound like you gotta be there asap, but what you don't hear about is that the load of cereal I just ran was due any time before September that year. This was in May. This also applies to "perishable" food items, of course not with such an extreme degree, but you'd be surprised how cold a refrigerated truck can get and hold itself. Never mind the fact that the long hours from home and dangerous work that we don't get paid enough for, it's a boys club, you want good routes? Good money? Better start brown nosing your dispatch hard. Results may vary. It's not as streamlined and efficient as people may think it is, a lot, and I mean a fuck ton of product gets wasted, mostly dry food and drinks that get rejected on delivery. But I've also trailers just stuffed full of junk stores ordered toppled and tossed around. I could cry about this all day so I'll end my rant here.

[@MegaGraceiscool]

@@Veltrosstho please tell us more!!! Idk anyone in transportation so this is very new to me

[@WonderousLover]

it's interesting how they shoved all the responsibility on joe for either being happy with a crappy job or coming up with ideas that could save the company money. Yeah, the convey belt made the doll painting easier and the three brush holders tripled the painting speed but what happened to the workers? they cut labor that's what. They fired his coworkers, and what is stopping the guy who owns the company from just keeping the price at 2.00? nothing except competition but as long as he keeps an eye on his competitor's prices he can make out like a bandit with fewer workers to pay, the few workers he kept doing more of the job and he raking in cash..

[@billyb4790]

Nothing EXCEPT competition? Competition is huge and fundamental factor here.

[@bionicwizard]

@@billyb4790 you're actually wrong there, in the situation of the video, as long as their technology and productivity is higher than their competitors, they can hire less and keep charging the same amount. Of course, they could also charge way under normal market price driving their competitors to ruin, forcing them to either lower their costs to be unprofitable, advance, or hope they have enough loyal buyers.

[@billyb4790]

@@bionicwizard that doesn’t make me “wrong”. Competition still plays a huge huge driving force. You’re just looking at once outcome and ignoring the cause of it.

[@user-RedStar]

​@@billyb4790in the cartoon nothing is mentioned about competition. Looks like market is empty

[@bunk95]

Hes being kept as a slave. Did you learn much of the abuse and torture required to make a slave appear to be happy or at least how to lie about it?

[@isaiahjewell1379]

This really shows how much inflation has devastated us huh. I sure would like to see the raw materials to be worth around $22.

[@kapioskapiopoylos7338]

LOL raw material for the tires are worth more now, inflation is hitting like a nuke (maybe i should say train, but that would really downplay how it hits)

[@West_Coast_Gang]

@@kapioskapiopoylos7338 no no, trains hit hard

[@billyb4790]

Thanks Biden

[@Noah-rm5bu]

​@@billyb4790 Oh yeah, Biden just turned the inflation dial in the oval office. You're an idiot.

[@5849_Nearl]

I will never vote for Democrats for the rest of my life.

[@Lanooski]

i wish Harding had made a short on dealing with the crippling void that none of their other shorts could ever fill.

[@yourpersonalsupernova3493]

Before corporates behemoths sent 99.9% of labor overseas the cost of living could approximately be balanced out with gross income, and as the American economy boomed between 1948 to 1960 because, to a large extent, the US had and handled its own labor, there was no A) monetary obligation to China, the Philippines, ect. thus allowing for surplus in the federal reserve which kept almost us 100% independent while the US assisted other countries, rendering other countries in debt to the US, B ) jobs were everywhere, for kids to the middle aged, hence the coining of the old Boomer exclamation "Get a job, you hippie!" and C) this allowed for a glut of cheap housing to accommodate the massive influx of men coming back after the war , making home ownership far more possible for young married people then it had been for the previous 100 years, allowing for the development of families. Once it was learned much cheaper labor could be had and utilized in desperate overpopulated countries the late 1960's, it was the beginning of the end.

[@sonicmastersword8080]

A lot of the issues can be attributed to the loss of the lateral-vertical movement within corporations. Companies back then were structured that you could learn and find your role-now they will not hire you without X years of experience plus Y, plus Z plus....

[@phillipcastella2462]

I love how this video assumes this can go on forever. Its quite silly to think how naive we were and still all to a major extent.

[@GiggityGig]

Hehehehehehehehe

[@brigidmcdonagh2966]

Well of course it will

[@guyver441]

They didn't think that at all...they just didn't care. "Not MY problem, I'll die fat & happy before this collapses."

[@guyver441]

@@LilNeenerMcWomanRaypist I vote for currency itself to become an obsolete concept.

[@guyver441]

@@LilNeenerMcWomanRaypist Unfortunately it requires humanity to aspire to more than a full belly, like in the Star Trek setting. Like any system, your problem will still be the same thing - parasitic layabouts.

[@donaldbundy3499]

They left a lot out of the equation. The worst of which is shareholder profit.

[@CorundumDevil]

Imagine for a hot second that _anybody_ explained _anything_ this concisely, today.

[@thedevilsadvocate8766]

How's that boot taste?

[@CorundumDevil]

@@thedevilsadvocate8766 Pillbugs can contract a disease that turns their shell the same blue color as their blood :U

[@thedevilsadvocate8766]

@@CorundumDevil and your point is? Make it good.

[@CorundumDevil]

@@thedevilsadvocate8766 More than 95% of all human beings that have ever existed on this planet died as children :U

[@skyisreallyhigh3333]

Imagine believing only 15% of it went to profits

[@davidedeus12]

I always think it's so naive to assume that when productivity goes up, the prices goes down. The reality is when productivity goes up, you keep the prices the same because you can make PROFIT and become even more rich then you already are

[@jacksonray3596]

That’s where competition comes in. Prices in areas where there is little government regulation have consistently been going down, as it has become cheaper to make more of a good or service. Meanwhile, in areas where there is much government regulation, like in housing and healthcare, prices have been consistently going up.

[@overtoast1105]

@@jacksonray3596 Are you truly, one hundred percent confident that the reason healthcare charges 500 dollars for insulin is because of the government? Like you don't think that a product that people HAVE to buy could be priced poorly by the free market at all

[@jacksonray3596]

@@overtoast1105 Insulin prices have tripled within the past 15 years, without there being massive innovation to explain why. The free market was doing fine until the drug companies lobbied government to stifle the competition. We only have 3 major drug companies, and they have been consistently rising prices the past 15 years. That doesn’t happen in a free market unless the government is involved.

[@Schoritzobandit]

@@jacksonray3596 Any theories about why insulin is astronomically cheaper in dozens of countries with higher degrees of government intervention?

[@jacksonray3596]

@@overtoast1105 People have to buy food to survive, and yet food is extreme cheap. Why do you think that is? Food isn’t that much cheaper to produce than insulin, with only one vial of insulin taking about 5-10 dollars to produce. So why is food that much cheaper? Sure, the government does intervene slightly in the food industry, like subsidizing farmers, but we mostly do that to help the farmers, not lower prices. Food was still easily affordable even before we started programs like that. So why isn’t it the same with insulin? Why does a vile of insulin cost hundreds of dollars, while you can buy a months worth of food with that money? It’s because the government makes it extremely difficult to produce insulin. If you want to become a food producer, it’s easy. You just need a farm, some workers, and to comply with some safety and tax codes. But if you want to produce insulin to sell it, it is much harder. To produce insulin, you just have to harvest some insulin from some bacteria, which is easy to do. As I said, it only takes around 5-10 dollars to produce a vial of it. The 3 big drug companies (Eli Lily, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi) saw this, and knew they could lobby the government to stomp out their competition, so they could charge hundreds of dollars for their product.

[@DoctorInk20]

What's fascinating to me about these shorts (this one in particular) was there was never anything about even the _possibility of a shortage of resources_ or just _sustainability._ Just constant growth and expansion. Granted, I know the U.S.A. in its *post-war optimism* was abundant with material, so looking after the environment was furthest away from the forefront of people's minds. I bring it up, 'cos I think it ties into an intriguing economic perspective on the subject. Does anyone know if there was ever anything in the vein of these Harding College shorts that tackled maintaining the environment?

[@sten260]

people want it both ways, they want to maintain their lifestyle and yet take care of the environment but that's impossible

[@thiccsmoke6245]

@@sten260 why? Just build cities in agro punk, popularize bug eating, and change to grid to nuclear/solar/wind. Build Dams. Move to places with higher latitude. Seems possible. Doesn't seem like big change.

[@sten260]

@@thiccsmoke6245 are you insane, that's a massive change. It takes 100 years to build all those things and ridiculous amount of resources before we even get close to what we can do with fossil fuels right now which took 200 years to build up from 1800s

[@johnpaulcross424]

@@thiccsmoke6245 bro spitting facts the Texans are jumping at this idea

[@Sorrior]

​@sten it's really not..But then i am part of the school of thought that as we advance we can fix most if not all the damage we've done. Note keywords can..not will..but we already can swap alot of our okder methods for sustainable ones with new ones coming all the time. Catch is businesses don't invest in upgrades nor does the us at least so we are stuck woth old shit. But we really can continue to move forward while losing very little if any of our modern conviences if the politicians and corporate owners would bother upgrading/innovating

[@glorybound7599]

This one cartoon could now give you a degree in finance at a top university today. Economics 101, most will never know or understand or accept.

[@TheNoobShow57]

However we have been so efficient at producing, it has become taxing to the planet. I love these old videos keep up the good work.

[@haydenc2742]

This is where true recycling would definitely benefit the world

[@WouterStevens]

An inflationary monetary system encourages spending your saved energy and time to useless stuff instead of productive capital through high time preference. That is what's taxing the planet, NOT efficient production methods. Efficient production means more with less energy, how can that be 'taxing the planet'? Inflation can have a very broad meaning, for example, the impact of increasing demographics is not mentioned in the above cartoon. Also the mass psychology of having trust in a more prosperous future which in turn enables a higher velocity of money and demand for goods. This is the good form of inflation explained in the cartoon, which contrasts the corrupt and hidden theft that is monetary (Keynesian) inflation. If you have an infinite money supply that at the whims of a corrupt oligarchy grows faster than the combined quantity of goods and services, you end up with an impoverished working population and an exploited ecosystem because of the Cantillon effect.

[@vylbird8014]

@@WouterStevens That is 'Jevons paradox.' More efficient use of a resource can actually mean more of the resource is consumed, because it costs less to consume that resource. For example, let's use the example of meat, because the video does: Going back to pre-industrialisation, meat was expensive to make. You needed lots of farmland to grow animal feed, lots of space for the animals, an experienced butcher to prepare it, and so on. Then along came efficiency through technology, just as the video describes: Intensive farming with petrochemical fertiliser, improved animals through selective breeding, new techniques for cramming the animals in denser growing conditions*, and larger-scale slaughterhouses that run a production line where your workers only need to carry out one step of the butchering process. Now you're making meat cheap! You'd /think/ that all this efficiency means less farmland is used to raise animals and grow their feed... but that isn't what happens. What happens is that meat becomes a staple food - no longer the special dinner people can only afford on Sundays, now it's what they have for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. And that consumption goes up by a factor greater than the efficiency of production does, so the end result is a lot more land and feed used for meat production. The same thing can be seen in a lot of other sectors. Jevon noticed it in regard to coal: Steam engines were getting more efficient, so they could do more work with less coal. But that just meant a lot more steam engines were used, so coal consumption went up. A lot. *Sure, this is cruel, but empathy has no place in business.

[@sonicmastersword8080]

@@haydenc2742You need more energy to do that.

[@83jbbentley]

I hope Joe doesn’t buy soda at a restaurant he’d be pretty pissed.

[@anothertarnishedone5960]

I love these propaganda cartoons and their naivete (intentional or unintentional)

[@0x777]

One has to wonder whether they're this naive or whether they hope their viewers are.

[@Allenrythe]

​@@0x777 The people funding them hope the viewers are, the people they pay to write them genuinely are. American economists live in a dreamworld all alone.

[@TheRadar758]

Very insightful.

[@PetarJovancevic]

I love it how they keep talking about increasing productivity, like there's no ceiling or cap...

[@frostedbutts4340]

Don't think, just consume more every day

[@DrBernon]

Of course there is no limit. Once robots are able to produce with no human intervention productivity could be infinite, only limited by capital. Wouldn't it be nice?

[@lm7bird680]

@@DrBernon we'd finally get the luxury space communism every college student dreams of, ironic that it requires capitalism to get there

[@DrBernon]

@@lm7bird680 The problem with capitalism is that it does not work. Mainly because it requires free competition, yet has a tendency to create monopolies. It's a self destructing system. So it is pretty easy for other economic systems to come in when it inevitably fails. So it's not that surprising really. Let's hope someone finds a solution that is not communism.

[@lm7bird680]

@@DrBernon monopolies really dont work though. Standard oil is probably the closest example to a true Monopoly forming in the US despite controlling vast amounts of the market and constantly buying up competition or keeping prices so low the competition can't form. They actually we're spending more money suppressing competition than they would have simply offering a better product at a better price than their competitors. The reason monopolies that last form today is because these businesses got smart and started lobbying government to create business killing legislation rather than actually making a better product. It's cheaper that way. things like occupational licencing, extensive and expensive building regulations are all ways the government helps the people who are already on top from people on the bottom who want to climb to the top. The problem isn't capitalism, it's the government

[@treelee2602]

8:25 that's like the best boss ever

[@GIGATHEBOT]

indeed benefited everyone.

[@DrBernon]

Everyone would be like that if told how to get richer for free.

[@JasonMomos]

Average Joe now has 4x productivity and received a minor hike, while nearly quadrupling the profit for the company. Ah, the beauty of capitalism.

[@tjmarx]

This isn't propaganda, it's economics 101. The problem is, productivity has been spiralling for some time now

[@KibuFox]

Yeah. This is surprisingly decent.

[@suroguner]

been a while since I saw a joe cartoon. How many has he been in?

[@thewingedhussar4188]

What i wonder is why the guy didn't just buy a doll right from the factory he works at. My father who worked for ford did something like that. Also, i WISH stuff like that happens at the end. T_T The irony is, the larger companies are so greedy that they raise prices of everything regardless and or don't bother giving you a raise. They give out a random bonus, but those don't cover the books T_T

[@Vinsedesign]

0. Lets imagine that all the world became capitalistic. All of the companies bosses we will consider as one Capitalist, as example. 1. Capitalist adds his margin to product`s price, which consists of the cost of raw materials and salaries of workers. 2. When all of his workers buy all of the products, the Capitalist earns his margin, workers earns their salary, the cycle begins again and everyone is happy... 3. ..but how the workers would buy all the products, when they have only their salary - the products` prices contains the salary of the workers *AND* the Capitalist`s marge. Where will they take this money from? 4. Nowhere. That is why capitalism lives from crysis to crysis and every next crysis is severe then previous. 5. The only one possible future is communism - or barbarism, if we reject it.

[@chingis1154]

Communism failed. Cope harder commie scum. USSR, Mao China and Vietnam prove that

[@trugangsta4real]

Except all the gains in the last 50 years from increased worker productivity never went to the workers...

[@Tespri]

not all indurstries saw increase in productivity. You think that teachers become more productive over time? The areas where productivity increased was in IT field and wages are high in there.

[@WarlordToby]

It is a bold assumption that all parts of sales scale their prices with production capability. The retail price for the doll, even if they increased the productivity of the dolls, can still be two dollars if the factory deems it suitable to increase profit margins, and the shop deems it a good idea to increase their own profits. Right now, wages have stayed the same since roughly 1975, even though production has scaled massively.

[@Tespri]

profit margins in general are almost always around 3% of the price of the product. Anything higher will usually ensure that competitors will just undercut your prices and ensure that you won't be able to sell anything. "Right now, wages have stayed the same since roughly 1975" this is blatantly false and have been debunked by economists. However for sake of an argument let's point out something to you. How much do you think that computer in 1975's would've cost if it had same computing power and memory as your current cellphone? ;)

[@TSZatoichi]

lol, prices never go down in the end, shareholders are way happier and far more willing to give the CEO a raise if the line always goes up, and lowering the price would not make the line go up.

[@walpoleandworcester]

I love how the guy in this looks so similar to Private Snafu in terms of design.

[@robertrobertson7129]

worth seeing thank you

[@sonrouge]

Always amusing how some people think goods and services just appear out of thin air.

[@Demonetization_Symbol]

I don't, but I wish they actually did. XD

[@wstevenbrown]

I’ve a right to them. Why shouldn’t they?

[@mmille10]

"I, Pencil" 1.0. Nice lesson in how to avoid inflation.

[@revolutionaryprepper4076]

So, this is the reason that the cost of living is so high nowadays. Prices and wages are always playing leapfrog, causing inflation! This video explains that issue, ty.

[@yourboi1842]

no we dropped the gold standard and print money whenever we need more social programs.

[@teebob21]

The wage-push inflation spiral has been known for over 100 years. It's basic economics.

[@colonelkurtz2269]

I requested a loan from my bank to buy eggs this month. I hope I get approved.

[@holgerhn6244]

I like the little greenbacks marching by themselves to be invested. So cute

[@thatonelordnerd9693]

I sure wish this were still true.

[@fernandoalt2590]

For those who know this is far from today's reality it should come as no shock that this cartoon was mostly true back in post-war USA, unfortunately for our northern neighbours (The Americans) this is no longer true. If this situation were today still even mildly similar with that of 75 years ago, Latin America would be severely depopulated

[@notthemama7296]

LOL according to the CPI inflation calculator from the bureau of labor statistics, $22 in Jan 1949 is 276.68 in March of this year. He was almost right with the 300.

[@TOFKAS01]

Funny how they think that pay-raises are automated....You need unions and preasure-groups to get a raise! Without an organised workforce, you would realise very soon that salaries are staying low while the prices will go up.

[@networknomad5600]

Nope, you don't need unions. They're garbage, and incentivize and perpetuate their own slew of issues. Unions are what happen when the employees and the company fail to negotiate properly ad hoc, and the only reason you won't have good negotiations is when a third party is involved, such as the Feds' hands deep in collusion with the industry barons of the 19th-early 20th century.

[@teebob21]

Weird. I've never been in a union as a Millennial worker. I've been in the workforce for 25 years. I've gotten either a raise or a promotion or a better job at least once every year I've ever worked.

[@TOFKAS01]

@@teebob21Good luck if you think that your personal experience is a general norm...

[@teebob21]

@@TOFKAS01 Of course it isn't. Unlike most of the people I have ever met in the workplace, I am competent and show up on time.

[@TOFKAS01]

@@teebob21 A lot of people are competent and on time too and never have a raise or a promotion.

[@DeFaulty101]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I burst out LAUGHING after that first line... Since when do wages give a flying f*** about prices??

[@TOFKAS01]

Since too many peoples thought that labour-unions and organised workers are unnecessary.

[@couchgamingnews9379]

Crazy video 🖒

[@TheBestFilmArchives]

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[@TianMuYe]

Somebody: I’ve got the printer

[@matthew4997]

So labor gives goods their value? Someone should write some kind of a manifesto on that/

[@TOFKAS01]

5:48 And today, in a lot of products the biggest part are the fees for the licence....

[@mrhoho]

I think it makes senses

[@RoDe]

Send this to the Congress!

[@haydenc2742]

And Bernie Sanders supporters

[@RaulGarcia-vr1jx]

@@haydenc2742 they're just a bunch of grade A morons 😌

[@Namkify]

​@@haydenc2742 You guys here do realize tho, that this is not how it's done anymore?

[@trugangsta4real]

@@haydenc2742 Bernie Sanders supporters realize that, ideally workers benefit from the increase in worker productivity due to technology. But what we also know is that about 50 years ago, that stopped happening. If wages kept up with productivity, minimum wage workers would earn $23/hour today.

[@mathiaschwan9882]

they are bought and paid for

[@usuallyangry]

Boy, $2 for ANYTHING above a pack of gum sounds like a piece of Heaven.

[@utahraptor4729874]

The orange haired guy isn't wrong.

[@nightshade8958]

lovely

[@Anonymity4LDAF]

Love how it’s assumed raised just happen….pretty sure it doesn’t work like that. If they could make the same number of dolls with 25% the labor….don’t expect a raise!

[@boki102409]

Except for the last bit

[@guyver441]

"A buck's worth of steak" Now that would be...a forkfull?

[@bloopahVIII]

in modern times, yes but a buck in the 50's is 11 bucks today

[@Deltasquadformingup]

​@@bloopahVIII more like 5 or 6

[@bloopahVIII]

@@Deltasquadformingup look up "one dollar in 1950"

[@Deltasquadformingup]

@@bloopahVIII my mistake.

[@billyb4790]

Too bad stuff like this isn’t taught in schools.

[@TheBestFilmArchives]

*Visit our brand NEW CHANNEL* dedicated to space exploration and aeronautics research: kzbin.info

[@ryanpiercy3390]

this only works until the capitalists start demanding ridiculous profits, then the system breaks down as even the best ideas have trouble paying for such rates and rarely allow sufficient profit to the innovators.

[@ryanpiercy3390]

@Nuby yes, and as a result, there is a shortage of supply and some of their ridiculous demands get met. They don't need you, you need them, that isn't a healthy economic relationship.

[@user-xg8yy7yl1d]

@Nuby Until people start bribing the government to protect them from the effects of the market.

[@dinosaurusrex1482]

wages stopped increasing, prices did not

[@drewnight3944]

The autoworkers all died from lead based paint poisoning

[@bloopahVIII]

hey, they got the facts straight for the raw materials thing

[@alexadams4358]

2:00 In this modern era, that is a VERY Good and Cheap Price To Pay.

[@DeFaulty101]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL Just finished the video. Since when do corporations deliberately decrease the price of their products, even if they cheapened manufacturing?

[@TOFKAS01]

Never....

[@bloopahVIII]

only in the case of a 4-employee doll factory

[@sonicmastersword8080]

When competition was fierce.

[@DeFaulty101]

​@@sonicmastersword8080 Yeah, back before everything was a big corporation I guess. Small businesses might've let their prices fall to appeal more to local customers, but big corporations never do. The on-site manager at a local franchise operation doesn't have the authority to lower prices. Corporate's gotta the directive, and corporate will never give that directive. Instead, corporations kill small competitors - by undercutting them, or by buying up all the business essentials for their industry - and they cooperate with any company too big to kill in order to discretely price gouge us with slowly inflating prices, instead of shrinking the pie in competition for a larger cut. The Pheobus Cartel, for example, was a group of 5 corporations which fixed not prices, but products, agreeing not to manufacture lightbulbs lasting longer than 1,000 hours. That was 100 years ago, but it created an industry standard which persists to this very day. So Idk that there was ever a great era for competition b/c cooperation has been a corporate strategy for centuries, predating even the industrial revolution, but I will grant you that the ball really got rolling after the founding of the first fast food chain in 1956. After that, it wasn't long before chains outnumbered small, independently owned stores and restaurants.

[@smnoy23]

Why, as long as wages keep up with increases in productivity and cost of living, the future looks bright!

[@wertywerrtyson5529]

22 bucks for raw materials for a car. Compare that to 2021 which was the number I could find and the raw material price was 4125. That is about 10% of the sales price instead of just above 1% back when this video was made. Raw materials are much more expensive now since we don’t have such an abundance of them anymore. As a European when I see old American cars from classic car collectors I am astonished by how a car of 5.5 meters only seats 2 people while my modern car of 4.6 meters have room for 7. But it makes sense with raw materials being so cheap that you didn’t have to worry about wasting any. Just make bigger roads and put more cars after all oil is cheap and easily accessible and never ending. Also I like to idea of a regular worker going into the office of the manager with an idea and it is implemented. Today that process is more like management telling you to work twice as fast for the same pay or you are fired and if you have any ideas he will claim to consider them while taking them straight to the trash bin.

[@SchwerMetall154]

Except now we have wages stagnate for the past few decades since Reagan and the cost of goods and services have continued to rise since we left the Social Democratic ways in the 70s and moved on to trickle-down economics, neo-liberalism, and the reemergence of Libertarianism. Makes you wonder how easy it is to forget that these lead to the Panics of 1873, 1893, and the Great Depression; and even to the faults we as Americans witness today. If people want a world where wages stay ahead of prices, they must want Social Democracy.

[@juanjoseph]

Becuase the government is less expansive now than in the 70s, right?

[@user-xg8yy7yl1d]

I think a big problem is "democracy" especially that we have a class of voters who is not actually knowledgeable in physical realities about economy and government. We need better education as part of much needed reform to the already existing but outdated and stagnant educational system to produce informed voters and we should have some kind of test for all who seek to hold office

[@juanjoseph]

@@user-xg8yy7yl1d All democracies end up like this. Ever wonder why all philosophers untill the bastardization of luther hated democracy and named it ochlocracy?

[@TheErikM]

In soviet russia joe would've just stolen the doll from the factory.

[@mathiaschwan9882]

that's what i was thinking

[@stranger__4956]

Or he would have had to stand in a 1-hour queue in a doll shop and maybe bribe shop personnel beforehand.

[@0x777]

He would have broken into the doll factory only to find out that all he could steal is an AK47, of which there are curiously many but not a single doll in sight.

[@Levinewak]

“Two bucks is too much!” How?!

[@cameronsitzman7108]

That’s $25.92 in todays money

[@WuodOuko-ee3hj]

A guy with 4 arms are you kidding me who do you think I am goro😅😅

[@senditall152]

People had such a different optinion back then it is unreal in todays world.

[@ginidontthinkso4282]

Its a shame they couldn't see monopolies fucking things over

[@lordseelenfresserdemonking1168]

Hence why a sandwich made in your kitchen is worth around 33¢ for each sandwich made while one sandwich can go up to 6 bucks at a store

[@sotch2271]

6? Its 8-12 here

[@fortis3686]

Can you start uploading Soviet Propagands too?

[@haydenc2742]

That's CNN/MSNBC/CBS's job apparently

[@TheAllSeeingEye2468]

Just wait till outsourcing

[@animebrat76]

This is how we use capitalism correctly

[@samuelellis1316]

That died decades ago

[@koencooper3944]

If this is true than how come production has doubled and wages have stagnated

[@stovepip]

They never mentioned transportation costs

[@Aqnde]

Pay raise? Times sure were different. Nowadays it's the unions who negotiate the raises. They have been so succesful in it that the wages in my company have risen 4% during the time in which inflation has been nearly 20% total(altho many things have nearly doubled in price). Seems like every individual merit raise has to be approved by the board of directors of the multinational conglomerate which has tens of billions in sales.

[@SuperBigdude77]

He at least madr the gig upper management. He saved the company.

[@animebrat76]

A-1 beef! I thought it was only Japan with that grading system

[@fLeEtingg]

2 dollars huh ? That's cute

[@TheBestFilmArchives]

*SHARE this video with your friends on Google+, Facebook and Twitter!* Thank you! ►My channel: kzbin.info ►Facebook: facebook.com/TheBestFilmArchives ►Google+: plus.google.com/+TheBestFilmArchives ►Twitter: twitter.com/BestFilmArch

[@samueljackson6188]

Never propose a new idea to an employer. He will take it as his own then give you nothing! The working man always gets shafted! Better to save your paychecks then start your own company!

[@karandamarshall8715]

They did not figure in health care.

[@marcovandermerwe3026]

So what you're saying is that tax is theft?

[@caleb_does_gaming9642]

I love me some capitalism

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

I don't know of anywhere, even in 2023, that has a 26⅔% sales tax. Pennsylvania has a 6% sales tax. That $1,500 car would have a $90 sales tax, not $400!

[@jontalbot1]

In the UK wages have been stagnating for nearly 20 years because productivity is low. There is no real agreement about why this is happening and successive governments have done very little to address the problem. Brexit of course, makes it worse

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

God Save The King

[@TheMNrailfan227]

Someone should show this to the people who wonder why McDonald’s burgers have gotten so expensive lately

[@Sultan_europa]

These are the fundamental thought that made today's world.

[@benlarsen4602]

That college produce lots of short films.

[@JohnnyLodge2]

Labor gets way less than 85% these days.

[@-JustHuman-]

Have you done the math ? As it's pretty close to that in the text books I used in school too, unless it's a brand name then you pay for the name and bad parts like Apple or Nike.

[@boki102409]

Facts