Another insight
Friday, September 28th, 2001 01:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flwydThe basic concept of free market capitalism is the supply and demand curve. The supplier's hope is to produce only so much of a product so that it intersects the demand curve. Producing too much of a product devalues it, and the supplier doesn't get as much money for it.
If the proletariat is to play by the rules, such as they are, of capitalism, it is in the interest of factory workers, say, to keep the number of potential factory workers at, or slightly below, the demand for such workers. Rather than unionizing the laborers within a group to try to affect change within the company, says the labour capitalist, workers should bond together to keep other folks out of their line of work or to increase the number of positions open. As the supply of workers dwindles, the workers' labor is more valued, and they can demand more benefits. This is, I think, a significant factor in why computer professionals had, and to a very significant extent still have, very good working conditions, benefits, and so on -- they have power where the overrepresented do not.
As a correlary, it is in the bosses' interest to keep unemployment high. I heard on the radio a few years ago that a big wig economist, presenting to a top government agency, showed his findings that unemployment was too low, and should be increased. When the government takes steps to keep unemployment up, the least they could do is have a good welfare program. Farmers are paid not to grow crops, why can't more people be paid not to work?
And could I pay someone so that I could fall asleep?
If the proletariat is to play by the rules, such as they are, of capitalism, it is in the interest of factory workers, say, to keep the number of potential factory workers at, or slightly below, the demand for such workers. Rather than unionizing the laborers within a group to try to affect change within the company, says the labour capitalist, workers should bond together to keep other folks out of their line of work or to increase the number of positions open. As the supply of workers dwindles, the workers' labor is more valued, and they can demand more benefits. This is, I think, a significant factor in why computer professionals had, and to a very significant extent still have, very good working conditions, benefits, and so on -- they have power where the overrepresented do not.
As a correlary, it is in the bosses' interest to keep unemployment high. I heard on the radio a few years ago that a big wig economist, presenting to a top government agency, showed his findings that unemployment was too low, and should be increased. When the government takes steps to keep unemployment up, the least they could do is have a good welfare program. Farmers are paid not to grow crops, why can't more people be paid not to work?
And could I pay someone so that I could fall asleep?
