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Employment is exploitation

Started by Mesozoic Mister Nigel, December 07, 2007, 09:49:02 PM

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Mesozoic Mister Nigel

I think that one thing that should be made perfectly clear is that an
employee is -NEVER- paid their full value.  If they were, the employer
would make no profit off of them, and that is the purpose of employing
people in the first place.

To put it VERY simply, employment is a form of exploitation.

I make handcrafted goods and sell them at a profit.  I reap the full
value of my employment as an artist, because it is self-employment.  If
the demand for my product became greater than the rate at which I can
supply it, I might hire another person to assemble my goods, while I
focus on artistic design.  I will pay that person enough that
they won't leave me for another employer, but less, hopefully far less,
than I am making by selling the goods that they assemble.  That means
I am profiting from their labor.  Therefore their labor is worth more
than I'm paying them.  I wouldn't pay them the full value of their
labor, because then I would reap absolutely no benefit from their
employment.  If that were the case, then we would be partners in the
business, because we would be sharing equally in the rewards of our
labor.

Pardon me if I was a little long-winded, but I've had people argue the
"employment is exploitation" statement before, and since it's really not
the point of my argument I wanted it to be perfectly clear so as to not
waste time arguing about it.

To get on with it; since employment is exploitation, the less scrupulous
the employer, the more distant the rate of pay will be from the
employee's actual value.  The most profitable businesses pay their
workers a tiny fraction of the value of their labor.

This is not a problem if there are more jobs than there are workers.  A
worker can take their skill elsewhere, and because the employer NEEDS
that worker to continue making a profit, there is assurance that the
worker will get at least a livable compensation for their labor,
although it will never be what the work is worth.

If there are more workers than jobs, there is no need for employers to
compete with each other by keeping wages high.  They don't need any
individual laborer to stay with them, because there are many who need to
work.  The compensation for work drops and profits rise.  Since people
have to work to live, it conditions become disturbingly close to
slavery, where a human being works hard day after day and their employer
profits enourmously from the work done while the employee just gets to
survive.

Yes, I approve of increases in the minimum wage, at least enough to keep
up with increases in the cost of living, brought about in part by the
constant drive for higher profit.

More so do I approve of laws requiring employers to actually pay a wage
reflective of the value of the work done.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


East Coast Hustle

you're trying to do away with a basic tenet of modern economics, which is that there is always advantage in being in control of the means of production.

don't think you're getting paid enough for helping someone else produce something?

go buy your own means of production and do it for yourself. This encourages entrepreneurship and gives natural incentives to saving money, investing wisely,and working hard. If you try to artificially legislate economic equality between the laborers and those who own the means of production, the BEST thing that can happen is that every aspect of your economy will decline and settle out at the lowest common denominator.

by the way, there's a term for that sort of economic system. It's called "communism".
Rabid Colostomy Hole Jammer of the Coming Apocalypse™

The Devil is in the details; God is in the nuance.


Some yahoo yelled at me, saying 'GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH', and I thought, "I'm feeling generous today.  Why not BOTH?"

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

I don't work for anyone, actually. I also have no employees currently, though I've had up to four. I paid them roughly double the minimum wage here in Oregon, because I wish to remain true to my core values. My ultimate goal with each employee is to see them self-employed; my protege now owns two of her own businesses and is successful in the field I trained her in. I have coached other people into successful self-employment. It's not for everyone; having an employer does have benefits. So to speak.

I'm just posting a bunch of old essays of mine my husband found on his hard drive. I was pretty young when I wrote them, and most are not very well developed.

In this one, I'm not advocating communism, I'm stating an inevitable truth of the marketplace; that employment is exploitation by necessity. I am also advocating a more equitable wage that is more reflective of the value each employee brings to the employer. Of course, after I wrote it I realized that the most elegant way to achieve that would be to reduce the work week, but whatever.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


East Coast Hustle

Rabid Colostomy Hole Jammer of the Coming Apocalypse™

The Devil is in the details; God is in the nuance.


Some yahoo yelled at me, saying 'GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH', and I thought, "I'm feeling generous today.  Why not BOTH?"

Cain

You seem to be conflating the economic term of exploitation with the moral use of the word.

Thought you'd like to know.

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

Right, that was sort of the point.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


East Coast Hustle

Rabid Colostomy Hole Jammer of the Coming Apocalypse™

The Devil is in the details; God is in the nuance.


Some yahoo yelled at me, saying 'GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH', and I thought, "I'm feeling generous today.  Why not BOTH?"

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

I couldn't figure that out myself. I assumed me, but it makes more sense if you?
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


Cain

Nigel.

Also, I'm staring to get drunk and don't feel like making much beyond vague points, at least until I sober up and can grab my political economy texts.

East Coast Hustle

that's a great idea.

I'm leaving to go get drunk.
Rabid Colostomy Hole Jammer of the Coming Apocalypse™

The Devil is in the details; God is in the nuance.


Some yahoo yelled at me, saying 'GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH', and I thought, "I'm feeling generous today.  Why not BOTH?"

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

I'm well on my way. Not going to get as drunk as last night, though.
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


P3nT4gR4m


I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
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walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Mesozoic Mister Nigel

Yes!!! I got drunk AND laid. Teh bestest!
"I'm guessing it was January 2007, a meeting in Bethesda, we got a bag of bees and just started smashing them on the desk," Charles Wick said. "It was very complicated."


rygD

When you wrote this essay was it just something you felt like putting into words or was there more to it.  It reminds me of something, don't recall what right this moment, and I will post it if I can find it.

ECH and Cain may have already gotten to it though.
:rbtg:

Quote from: rygD on March 07, 2007, 02:53:03 PM
...nuke Iraq and give it to the Jews...

Adios

Well.

It seems to me to be more of an economic partnership. When I work for a company I fully expect to help the company to profit.

1) I get paid. If I don't like the pay rate I can leave.

2) As long as the company makes a profit they stay in business and I continue to get paid.

3) That said, we depend on employers as much as they depend on us.

Sure, there are some companies that exploit, the same as lazy employees exploit companies. I am currently in the process of being promoted, because I did my job. So many employees show up for a paycheck and don't want to do one more iota than they have to do for it. So I see it as a two way street.