manifold
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #141
By "exploitation" I mean exactly that, taking full value and compensating for only part of the value, eg regarding labour. Capitalism works by exploiting the old idea of surplus value that goes back well before Marx.
With all due respect Diur, you're smoking some seriously high grade stuff right there. It might sound good in general and philosophical terms, but once you scratch the surface, you see that underneath is one massive, indefensible turd. What you are calling "exploitation" is what is commonly referred to as profit. And seriously, anyone that thinks that eliminating the profit motive is a good thing definitly has a screw loose.
In simplified terms, the following equation is essentially a truism:
material cost + labor cost + profit = selling price
What you are suggesting, IIUC, is that the profit (exploitative surplus value) variable should be zero and to keep the equation in balance, the elimination of profit must be offset by adjusting labor costs and/or selling price, assuming that material costs is a given. This is a completely unsustainable model since nobody with the capital to fund the operation has any incentive whatsoever to do so. And even if the "state" controlled said capital, it's still capital, and now you've gone and eliminated the one variable that provides any insight whatsoever as to how one endeavor compares with another when deciding the best uses for limited capital resources.
But here's where I'm going to take a left turn at Albequrque and lose just about everyone that's agreed with me so far. You see, I do agree with you that in the absence of constant vigilance protecting the best interests of labor, the natural drift of time will always be to shrink labor's overall piece of the pie. That is just an unavoidable aspect of human nature when those that control the capital seek to maximize the profit piece. To counter-balance this natural drift in the profit-driven capitalist model, there needs to be some institution of some kind that represents the collective best interests of labor. And if that aint gonna be unions, its gotta be government. What else is there? Arguing that it should be individual laborers looking out for themselves is a rather convenient, selfish, insincere and largely insidious pile of unrealistic bull shit.
IMO, true socialism is the Spruce Goose of economic models, too clumsy and ridiculously flawed to really ever take flight. However, true capitalism, over time, leads to an ever growing disadvantaged, ultimately impoverished, class left with no alternative other than to revolt.