The Robot, the Trillionaire, and the Coffee That Broke Us

Justin Wolfers and Bloomberg columnist Stacey Vanek Smith slow down to unpack the one number that quietly shapes your paycheck: labor's share of income. For most of modern history, workers took home about two-thirds of the pie. Today it's down to 53% — and the rest goes to the people who own the companies, not the ones who show up to work. Then the stakes get bigger. Justin argues that past $100 million, the only thing money buys is power — and in an election decided by 115,000 votes, one billionaire's checkbook could theoretically swing thousands more. The same logic drives the AI question: the same technology makes your life utopian if you own the robot and dystopian if your boss does. From the first-ever live edition of Off the Clock, recorded at Stanford. Chapters: 0:00 The only thing $101 million buys 5:30 Labor's share of income, explained 13:46 Homer Simpson and 325x CEO pay 16:34 What's wrong with concentrated wealth? 19:12 How money buys elections 24:30 AI: utopia or dystopia 28:18 The Stacey Bot 2000 38:28 Young workers and the iced-coffee test Subscribe: on YouTube 👉    / platypuseconomics   on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com the Podcast 👉 https://platypuseconomics.com/podcast Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers