Philosophy Now Forum

It may be too late for you, bro.

Yeah, it is.

"Henry would shoot you for the thieves you are."

Now wait a minute, Henry, not so fast.

How did you get the factory? Did you build it with your own labor, or did you appropriate it? If you bought it, did you buy it with capital you amassed by paying employees who worked for you, less than the value of what they produced.... or did you buy it with wages you made yourself?

If the former, you might in fact be the thief, because the capital you used to purchase it was generated by someone else's labor. But you get away on a technicality here, I'm afraid; the contract between employer and employee is voluntary, therefore you aren't really 'stealing' value from them by selling their product for more than you pay them to produce it. For more on this bullshit, see gramsci's ideological hegemony.

If the latter, you're good, until you start employing people to work at that factory... at which point you become the thief.

Pro,

Now wait a minute, Henry, not so fast.

Now we come to the predictable is the factory yours or did you steal it? phase of the conversation.

Okay, if I'm the subject then we need to amend the scenario. I'd never own a factory. I could own and operate a bookstore (Quirk's Books: Esoterica for the Eccentric) or a coffee shop (Quirk's Coffee: Hot & Black [like his women]).

I'll go with the bookstore for this lil exercise.


How did you get the bookstore?

I bought it with the moola I saved from self-employment. Probably had to take out a loan as well.


you might in fact be the thief

Well, let's say I was a dirty dog, or that you, my malcontent employee, suspect I'm a dirty dog. Prove it. Take me before the arbiter, lay your claim and evidence on the table. Innocent till proven guilty.

Now, under the current system, it's possible I could buy the favor of court. You, my malcontent, would not, could not, get a fair shake.

So, tell me, what are your options?

"Quirk's Coffee: Hot & Black [like his women])."

Are you saying all you really wanted wuz a black girlfriend ?

promethean75 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:45 pm "Quirk's Coffee: Hot & Black [like his women])."

Are you saying all you really wanted wuz a black girlfriend ?

had one, many moons back: a luxury ride

"So, tell me, what are your options?"

Very few under the circumstances. I could exercise my Lafarguean right to be lazy or organize a strike. In either case, Henry the capitalist wins. If I refuse to work, I become the lumpenproletariat and create even more of a burden for the working classes who are not only paying the vast majority of wage tax on top of being exploited by capitalist parasites, but must now also pay to take care of my lazy ass when I hit the shelters. If I organize a strike, you laugh at me and hire some Mexican immigrant who's moved to America to get away from his own poverty striken country, for two dollars less per hour.

Now the problem becomes more philosophically deadly than before, and Rousseau meets Stirner; it is illegal for me claim a plot of land somewhere as my own because the government owns it all, and I'd be put in chains if I tried... and I can't just loiter at a homeless shelter all day because I don't want to burden members of my own class with even more financial difficulty than they're already facing with the capitalist parasites that control the system.

My only option is la reprise individuelle, and I become a Novatorean illegalist.

Seems to me your best option is the one you and me already took: self-employment.

The solution (and best revenge): not needin' an employer.

Walker wrote: ↑Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:44 pm American Marxism
by Mark R. Levin

Check it out.

He proves that a Marxist revolution is in process, American style.

Levin is a fascist.

henry quirk wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 3:36 pm Seems to me your best option is the one you and me already took: self-employment.

The solution (and best revenge): not needin' an employer.

Of course that's the best solution! Then along comes a big industrial complex , (incomers colonising your sweet village economy) that needs your labour and the taxes the big men impose mean you have to become a wage slave.

Sculptor wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 4:01 pm

Walker wrote: ↑Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:44 pm American Marxism
by Mark R. Levin

Check it out.

He proves that a Marxist revolution is in process, American style.

Levin is a fascist.

Ummm..."Levin" is usually a Jewish name.

I'm going to guess he's not a Nazi.

Belinda wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 5:52 pm

henry quirk wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 3:36 pm Seems to me your best option is the one you and me already took: self-employment.

The solution (and best revenge): not needin' an employer.

Of course that's the best solution! Then along comes a big industrial complex , (incomers colonising your sweet village economy) that needs your labour and the taxes the big men impose mean you have to become a wage slave.

Why?

The circumstance you describe is at play now and I'm not a wage slave.

What am I doin' wrong, B?

henry quirk wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 5:57 pm

Belinda wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 5:52 pm

henry quirk wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 3:36 pm Seems to me your best option is the one you and me already took: self-employment.

The solution (and best revenge): not needin' an employer.

Of course that's the best solution! Then along comes a big industrial complex , (incomers colonising your sweet village economy) that needs your labour and the taxes the big men impose mean you have to become a wage slave.

Why?

The circumstance you describe is at play now and I'm not a wage slave.

What am I doin' wrong, B?

I guess you have a combination of skill and luck so you have identified and made use of a market opportunity. People who can do this are few and fortunate. We can't turn back the clock and we have to live with big capitalist industries that employ labour for as long as they need labourers.

Belinda wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 6:04 pm

henry quirk wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 5:57 pm

Belinda wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 5:52 pm
Of course that's the best solution! Then along comes a big industrial complex , (incomers colonising your sweet village economy) that needs your labour and the taxes the big men impose mean you have to become a wage slave.

Why?

The circumstance you describe is at play now and I'm not a wage slave.

What am I doin' wrong, B?

I guess you have a combination of skill and luck so you have identified and made use of a market opportunity. People who can do this are few and fortunate. We can't turn back the clock and we have to live with big capitalist industries that employ labour for as long as they need labourers.

Anybody, and I mean anybody, can do what I do.

And if anybody can do what I do, and if they were to actually do it, then big capitalist industries would be in real pickle, which is why big capitalist industries partner with big gov to market the idea self-employment is a bad idea (and, to reinforce it, they craft law explicitly designed to make self-employment a bad idea).

There ain't nuthin' the big boys do that can't be done just as well by little guys.

henry quirk wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 6:13 pm

Belinda wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 6:04 pm

henry quirk wrote: ↑Mon Dec 13, 2021 5:57 pm

Why?

The circumstance you describe is at play now and I'm not a wage slave.

What am I doin' wrong, B?

I guess you have a combination of skill and luck so you have identified and made use of a market opportunity. People who can do this are few and fortunate. We can't turn back the clock and we have to live with big capitalist industries that employ labour for as long as they need labourers.

Anybody, and I mean anybody, can do what I do.

And if anybody can do what I do, and if they were to actually do it, then big capitalist industries would be in real pickle, which is why big capitalist industries partner with big gov to market the idea self-employment is a bad idea (and, to reinforce it, they craft law explicitly designed to make self-employment a bad idea).

There ain't nuthin' the big boys do that can't be done just as well by little guys.

I think you simply are unaware of the circumstances of others' lives.

Henry you gotta tighten up. There's no way you or anybody else would ever be able to buy wholesale or manufacture products for dirt cheap and ship em to a nigga's house in less than twenty four hours like bezos does. Fagettaboutit.