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Originally posted by Aloysius the Gaul
Exposed: the myth of a 'culture of worklessness'
www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)
Together with Andy Furlong at Glasgow University and researchers Johann Roden and Robert Crow, we undertook fieldwork in very deprived neighbourhoods of Glasgow and Middlesbrough. We used every method available to try to locate families with three generations that had never worked, such as spending days surveying clients of job centres, interviewing dozens of organisations that worked in these neighbourhoods, advertising via posters, newsletters and newspaper stories through leafleting and door-knocking and spending months in these neighbourhoods talking to hundreds of residents.
Despite
Mass unemployment has been a feature of capitalism since it emerged as the dominant social system in 17th century England and spread throughout the world. It is also an essential part of the system -- the misery of the unemployed and underemployed fuels the profits, which keep the capitalist economy going.
Originally posted by ANOK
Of course people want to work, we are sold the myth of the lazy scrounger in order to hide the fact that capitalism requires unemployment.
It is a reserve pool of labour but it also serves to help reduce wages, or at least reduce wage increases, and motivates those that are working to not make any demands on their employers.
It decreases the power of the working class. If there was full employment employers would have to continually increase wages, and improve working conditions, because workers could easily find other employment.
Mass unemployment has been a feature of capitalism since it emerged as the dominant social system in 17th century England and spread throughout the world. It is also an essential part of the system -- the misery of the unemployed and underemployed fuels the profits, which keep the capitalist economy going.
Capitalism and unemployment
Originally posted by Aloysius the Gaul
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan
That is rubbish - the only right you have by virtue of being "created" is the right to die.
Every other right we suppose we have is guaranteed by the society that grants them to us.
Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
I would be remiss if i didn't call out your source for the quote you provided above.
Capitalism is an economic system, not a social system.
Capitalism, in its purest form, is just people observing market values for things...
The cost of labor is about half of your business operations, typically in most industries. So there is no doubt that incremental revenue (which flows right into the bottom line) cannot be had by controlling labor costs. Do corporations collude to do this? You betcha. And We The People empower them in this action by buying their stuff.
BUT....is it a requirement of capitalism? Absolutely not.
Manufacturing job losses in advanced economies have been concentrated in labor-intensive and highly tradable (read globalizable) industries such as apparel and electronics assembly. Thanks to the increased productivity and a 'high' credit-enabled standard-of-living, the US has simply priced itself out of the global manufacturing business...
Originally posted by ANOK
Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
I would be remiss if i didn't call out your source for the quote you provided above.
Well forget the source it wasn't where I got my info from, it was just something else that supports my own thinking.
Capitalism is an economic system, not a social system.
I know capitalism is an economic system, but it also effects us socially and politically. Our social structure has been completely changed by capitalism.
Capitalism, in its purest form, is just people observing market values for things...
There is no pure form of capitalism, it is simply the private ownership of the means of production. There are no rules other than those imposed on it by the state.
The term Capitalism was coined by a French SOCIALIST, Louis Blanc. He interpenetrated as, "the appropriation of capital by some to the exclusion of others." It was later refined to the 'private ownership of the means of production'.
It is not "free-market" as people claim. There is no freedom for non-property owners. Yes we are all free to become capitalists in theory, but in practice only a minority can be capitalists. The capitalist market can only sustain so many businesses. The majority will always be people who rely on capitalists to supply "jobs".
Manufacturing has always been traditionally the largest employer, but those jobs are disappearing to automation and outsourcing. Capitalists reduction in labour costs is a reduction in the working class's economy.
The cost of labor is about half of your business operations, typically in most industries. So there is no doubt that incremental revenue (which flows right into the bottom line) cannot be had by controlling labor costs. Do corporations collude to do this? You betcha. And We The People empower them in this action by buying their stuff.
BUT....is it a requirement of capitalism? Absolutely not.
Nothing is a requirement of capitalism other than making profit for the private owner/s. It is not set up to supply "jobs", it is not set up to meet the needs of communities.
On average capitalists make 40% from labour and 60% from investing money made from labour. So Labour has taken second place to investing. Once a company gets big enough the owners make more money from their investments.
Why are capitalists still making mass profits in a down economy? Because it isn't a down economy for the capitalists, only those that rely on capitalists for "jobs". They're making enough money investing now, so they do in fact save money hiring less workers. But of course it's going to make the economy worse for themselves eventually, but they don't care if they can make enough now to cover themselves later.
And of course they increase their profits by outsourcing labour to cheaper labour markets, and not reflect that savings in their prices.
The biggest problem with capitalism is the requirement to make profit, above the needs of people. Poverty is not a lack of money it is a lack of the means to produce, and the resources needed. That means, and the resources, are kept artificially scarce in order to make profits for a minority class.
Manufacturing job losses in advanced economies have been concentrated in labor-intensive and highly tradable (read globalizable) industries such as apparel and electronics assembly. Thanks to the increased productivity and a 'high' credit-enabled standard-of-living, the US has simply priced itself out of the global manufacturing business...
Why The Manufacturing Jobs Are Not Coming Back
edit on 12/22/2012 by ANOK because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
Let me ask you this: what economic system has ever not had scarcity? Typically, this is a conversation about capitalism vs socialism. I am not interested in that conversation, especially if we are trying to talk about not having scarcity.
Definition of STATE CAPITALISM
: an economic system in which private capitalism is modified by a varying degree of government ownership and control