This is another one that I have repeatedly explained. It is the labor
theory of value. Just how do the rich get rich? Let me use the example
of the slave again. If you have a slave you set the slave to work making
a product. Since you don't pay the slave anything when you sell the
product the price you get for it is worth the amount of labor the slave
put into it. That is a rather abstract slave though. Let's look at what
a real slave entails. In order to get labor out of a real slave you have
to feed him and give him enough shelter and other amenities to keep him
alive and productive. You then have to subtract the cost of that upkeep
from the sale price of the product to determine your profit and it is
that profit that is the value of the labor that you have stolen from the
slave. Now, let's make the slave a wage worker. You hire a worker to
make a product and then you have to subtract your payroll and any other
expenses involved with employing labor to determine your profit and that
is how much of the value of your employee you have stolen from him.
Notice that in all of these scenarios you have done no productive labor
at all. Every bit of the money you have made is stolen money. Profit is
how one gets rich. If everyone received the value of his or her labor we
would be all more or less equal in income as long as everyone
contributes labor to the economy. There would, of course, be some people
who could not manage the productive capacity of others because of
disability or other special circumstances. It is those who are justified
in receiving more than the value of their labor. In that case, everyone
gets about as rich as everyone else. But we do not live in an economy of
equality and the ones who get rich can only get rich by exploitation of
others. That is why we should not allow some to get rich and that is why
the entire profit system is inherently unfair.
On 9/23/2015 7:50 PM, Bob Hachey wrote:
Hi Roger,
I'm not sure I fully agree. If the level of wealth is limited, why can't we
have a few folks who are rather wealthy while others have less, but are not
suffering. Of course, for that to work, we'd have to have a much smaller
military.
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 2:52 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: A Drug Company Raised a Pill's Price 5,500
Percent Because, in America, It Can
While you are reconsidering you really should consider that you can't have a
few rich people without someone suffering for it.
On 9/23/2015 1:58 PM, Bob Hachey wrote:
Hi Miriam,rich people so long as no one is forced to suffer for it.
Martin Shkreli is evil incarnate. Believe it or not, CBS News did a
very good story on this price hike and Martin Shkreli was put on the
hot seat by anchor scott pelli. I'd say his attitude constitutes a
good bit of what's wrong with America. He has no compunction raising
the price of this drug by
5000 percent so long as it is legal to do so. He said all this crap
about how it would be wrong to sell a car for way below market value
which is what he claims was happening before the price increase. My
wife Donna said he ought to be thrown in jail for such behavior. I
concluded that a more just punishment would be to strip him of his
wealth and force him to live in an inner-city low-income neighborhood
for a year. Would he last that long? I sure wish we had the
opportunity to find out. I have often said that profit is a good
motivator of innovation and that there is nothing wrong with having some
Stories like this one are making me rethink this position.
Bob Hachey
