Monday, October 19, 2009

Frantic action and reaction

Current states under Political Economy are such that capitalism in many ways has made certain classes of workers debt slaves. Under traditional slavery norms, the master had obligations to the health and wellness of his assets. Think of a non-human example, a horse, regular shots, re-shoeing, appropriate living quarters. Now what we have as far as a dysfunctional view of this labor market, or should I say a pool of idle human productivity is a L.L.C. of hiring and firing. Contemporary slave masters, can command work from people due to their debt dependence and prevailing social norms that they themselves enforce through mass media and conspicuous consumption. Then once workers are obtained, what is considered as highly structured in favor of the employer, is the name of the game. The employer has a slew of front line liability shedding programs, contract workers, temporary work agreements, cobra, probationary period, lack of benefits, and the bible for capitalist lords, the great employee or company manual. This manual which for good reason is longer than any book you've ever read, has millions of small loopholes that you will never read, that will hopefully skirt all labor laws, and make sure that the people interested in profit will not part with any penny on the account of you. Labor laws are great for the dwindling masses that can claim any right to them. But now we see that people are forced to work today, much like they were forced to work in a time of a more direct slavery, except when the horse is done plowing today it is up to him to re-shoe himself, find living quarters and negotiate the payment for his own shots. In the past power was actually concentrated more fairly, large slave owners could negotiate better terms with other large entities, shop owners, health care providers, other large firms. Today power is concentrated through capitalism to those who have capital $, and workers are solo. You get paid from your company which is larger than you, hence they get to set the pay terms, then with this money you go buy stuff from a chain of production that has several links, all that are larger than you, hence they set the price. Under a society of capital concentration, there will never be equality between firms and individuals, either as seller and consumer or employee and employer.

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