this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2024
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China is not, its controlled by a centralized party but it lets people do their own thing. I noticed you didnt mention Cuba as a great example of communism, "Because sanctions they cant get ahead!!!!" You should check out the vox video on how well their system works.
Because the harder I work it doesnt directly benefit me, it benefits all the owners. So I would not be incentivized to work harder or longer because I dont get the direct benefit.
Correct. Now, apply that exact same analysis to the capitalist company.
The average worker earns $34/hr. Let's say you work for a company that employs 10 people.
At 9am, you produce $40 profit for the company, as does every other employee. For that, you each receive $34, and the shareholders receive $60.
At 10am, all the other workers produce $40 for the company, but you produce $4000. Company grosses $4360, pays out $340 in payroll, and keeps $4020 in profit.
Simple, right? You gave the company an hour; you received an hour's pay. You don't have a claim to the company profits; those belong to the shareholders. Your claim is $68 for those two hours of work, not the value of what you produce. That's capitalism.
The difference between capitalism and socialism is that under socialism, as a worker, you are also a shareholder in the company.
Under socialism, your claim is $68 for the two hours of work, plus 1/10th of the company profits. You receive $34 + $6 for 9am, and $34 + $402 for 10am.
Fwiw, I don't agree with the idea of state-owned businesses. But, I do believe that most businesses should operate as partnerships or co-ops, where the people doing the work are also the owners, and entitled to their fair share of the company's profits.
As an owner, if you see me freeloading on the factory floor, you can petition the other owners to have me fired. If you're the only one putting in any work, you can demand the rest of us pay you better, or you can quit.
I understand what you are saying but there are two important factors that change the whole story. The first one is simple, the government does everything abysmally. Its just a nature of how these things work, so everything would be less effcient.
The second thing is under a socialistic structure the amount of overall wealth will be reduced. I had two jobs, I worked for Megacorp as an engineer, and I renovated houses. I personally used to work 70-80 hours per week, if I didnt get the direct benefit from the 30-40 extra hours I worked, I would not have done it. Also when I was doing self employed work I worked very hard and was very efficient with my time. In Megacorp I did exactly what I was told and no more, I would literally only have negative things happen if I did more.
All this to say that sure the worker could get more money, but the whole society would be poorer so it is a bad exchange.
No, I don't think you do. The reason I don't think you do is because you made this criticism:
How would that play out in the scenarios I described?
You would have earned $34/he for the first 40 hours, then $51/hr for the overtime. You would have received the direct, time-and-a-half pay for your labor.
But then, you don't have an external shareholder to pay: you get a fair share of the company profits. Not just what you produced, but what the company produced.
I didn't adequately define a method for determining a fair share. I assumed every worker was working the same number of hours, so there was no need to consider workaholics like yourself.
But the solution is simple: each worker receives $34/hr straight time, $51/hr overtime, just as we do it now. Additionally, each worker receives 1 share for each hour of their labor, and the company periodically buys back those shares by evenly dividing the profits earned during that period. Your regular co-workers earn 40 shares a week; you, the workaholic, earn 70 or 80 shares.
Your criticism that you don't get the direct benefit of your labor is simply wrong: you still earn your hourly wage, you just also earn a profit when the company does.
Exactly: those "negative things" are the value of your labor being transferred away from you, and to the shareholders. When you were self employed, you were the shareholder; you received the value of your labor. When you are part of a co-op, you are also a shareholder. You are more "self-employed" than a worker for a megacorp.
Elaborate, please. The only people who would be poorer are people who put in no work, but expect to be paid anyway: the shareholders in a capitalist society.
Nothing I described requires government involvement in business operations. What I described is a simple "partnership" business model: each of the partners is entitled to a share of the company profits. Government does not define a partnership; the partners do.
The government's involvement is not in the operation, but merely in the incentivization. Tax code could be structured to favor a broad base of owners, and punitively discourage billion-dollar companies from being solely or majority owned by single entities.
Sorry what I said was confusing. I worked the corporate job for 40 hours, then worked 30-40 hours on my own thing.
Negative things - people would complain and I would get no benefit to working hard, just like
The whole society is poorer because people like me would work half the hours at half the effort.
If you guys can do businesses in a way where everything is censual, then good on you, please do that. The issue you will find in partnerships is that people word at different levels and differently, and the direct benefit is just not there the more the partnership is diluted.
How to say you have no clue how the system in China works.
Cuba has been fucked over by the US regime since the revolution dummy.
Owning your own business doesn't benefit you. Just how dumb are you exactly?
China is not communist... You literally dont undestand what any of these systems are. All you do is insult and say nothing.
How does owning my own business not benefit me? I am one of those rich people you are jealous of.
says the guy who's been flaunting his ignorance here. 😂
Oh now I see, you're an exploiter scumbag who owns a capitalist business. Everything makes sense now.
China is communist, you can keep repeating the idea they are, but you are wrong.
I retired in my 30s using only my labor and no one elses. How does owning my own business not benefit me?
I'm not wrong, but you keep on believing whatever you want.
I'm sure you did.
You can not beleive me, but retiring in your 30s is not impossible if you work really hard. Did you notice how you dont answer any of my questions?
What I noticed is that you have really poor reading comprehension because I answered your questions repeatedly. You just keep repeating the same nonsense over and over like a broken record without actually addressing anything I said. It's like talking to a bot.
Please quote what your answer was because I have not seen anything that relates to an answer.
An answer to what?
See this is what I'm talking about. Poor reading comprehension all around. I've addressed this here in detail https://lemmy.ml/comment/9575251
When you are an employee, which is the vast majority of population who do not own businesses, you are being exploited by an owner such as yourself who steals your labor.
A business that actually benefits the workers is a worker owned cooperative where people doing the work get to keep the profits. Evidently this concept is really hard for you to wrap your head around.
You still didnt answer the question. I had no employees, I just worked a lot and am smart so I was able to get people what they wanted. Who was harmed and how was this bad for me?
That's a straw man argument because I never said that being self employed harms anybody. In fact, that's not different from a cooperative with just a single person working in the business. This is completely compatible with communism you get that right?
Once again, you're showing your reading comprehension problems. I love how you keep telling me how smart you are, but then show that you aren't able to parse simple sentences.
The bit you quoted was me mocking you saying that people don't get the benefit of their labor under a mix or cooperative ownership and state enterprise. I feel compelled to reiterate the question from the quote here.
Okay then we are back to why would someone like me who is a hard worker be willing to work hard if I dont get the benefit of my labor?
Oh, so we're back to your straw man because nobody ever suggested anything of the sort. Once again, since you're a little slow, communism is a a mix of private cooperative ownership (which includes being self employed) and state owned industry. What part of that specifically are you objecting to again?
The mode of business communists object to is private enterprise where the capitalist owns the business and hires wage workers.
Gotcha more insults and now actual answers, I am done here. I know you will read this whole comment because this is your lifeline to humanity. You need to stop doing this, you are so lonely that your only attachment to other people is the internet. You are going to end up old, fat, and lonely. You have some good takes on other things so you are not dumb, but you are living in imaginary computer land where there is no reality. I recommend you get out of the house and actual make some friends and dump this depressing lifestyle you have that will put you in the grave. You can respond but I promise you I will not read it so you wont do another pointless rage responce. Have a great night!
You got a clear and direct answer to your nonsense. Really should spend time working on your reading comprehension so you don't keep making a clown of yourself in public. Also, love how you keep projecting onto me being lonely. You're the one who keeps replying with sheer idiocy since I assume you're attention seeking. I'm sorry your life sucks dude and you burnt yourself out by your 30s, and now all you've got left is online trolling. I recommend you take your own advice, because it's just pathetic. Hope you get the help you need.