I really dislike how this article and popular media always criticizes capitalism in this respect:
> “without workers to exploit, the owning class can’t get richer. Capitalists cannot exploit the labor of the dead”
Working for a wage is not inherently exploitation, and it’s natural that if someone starts a business of any sort they will be the one who makes the most money since they had the idea and took the financial risk to start the business. If the workers don’t like the wages, there are options.
As it relates to the pandemic, I think it’s a case of business owners being ready to open but workers not ready to go back. Partly due to unemployment benefits (why work if you are getting enough money?) and partly due to a serious risk of COVID-19. Employers should expect to pay a risk premium right now and have that reflected in higher wages, which I would expect to come down over time as more people get vaccinated and as unemployment benefits begin to recede. If you’re trying to pay minimum wage you’re going to be in a very tough market and will have to raise wages or go out of business. In one respect, the least profitable (and perhaps least healthy) businesses will go bankrupt, which is healthy in a capitalist and free market economy. It also demonstrates the risk business owners take when starting a business. They might have dumped their life savings into a new business and had been reaping the rewards for a couple of years, but now they’ve lost that life savings whereas the workers lost nothing. Certainly this is a simplification of that process, but I think it’s generally applicable.
We really need to stop demonizing businesses in America. The issues we face are due to poor government and by lazy Americans who haven’t had to struggle for and don’t really value their democracy. The malaise and apathy I experience day-to-day from nearly everyone I know as it relates to government is exactly why we have so many problems. Everybody is talking about this business or that business and some workers and nobody can tell me who their representative is in Congress.
> “without workers to exploit, the owning class can’t get richer. Capitalists cannot exploit the labor of the dead”
Working for a wage is not inherently exploitation, and it’s natural that if someone starts a business of any sort they will be the one who makes the most money since they had the idea and took the financial risk to start the business. If the workers don’t like the wages, there are options.
As it relates to the pandemic, I think it’s a case of business owners being ready to open but workers not ready to go back. Partly due to unemployment benefits (why work if you are getting enough money?) and partly due to a serious risk of COVID-19. Employers should expect to pay a risk premium right now and have that reflected in higher wages, which I would expect to come down over time as more people get vaccinated and as unemployment benefits begin to recede. If you’re trying to pay minimum wage you’re going to be in a very tough market and will have to raise wages or go out of business. In one respect, the least profitable (and perhaps least healthy) businesses will go bankrupt, which is healthy in a capitalist and free market economy. It also demonstrates the risk business owners take when starting a business. They might have dumped their life savings into a new business and had been reaping the rewards for a couple of years, but now they’ve lost that life savings whereas the workers lost nothing. Certainly this is a simplification of that process, but I think it’s generally applicable.
We really need to stop demonizing businesses in America. The issues we face are due to poor government and by lazy Americans who haven’t had to struggle for and don’t really value their democracy. The malaise and apathy I experience day-to-day from nearly everyone I know as it relates to government is exactly why we have so many problems. Everybody is talking about this business or that business and some workers and nobody can tell me who their representative is in Congress.