Every American should be asking themselves these questions... Why am I paying TAXES on my wages? Then paying Sales Tax to spend my money. Then paying Income Taxes on my money they already TAXED and paying Property Taxes after I already paid Sales Tax on said the property

submitted by Orangutan from commonsenseevaluation.com

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[–]StBlops2cel_is_Lord 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (12 children)

I generally agree with your posts and comments, but this time I think your meds hadn't kicked in fully.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/26/majority-of-the-worlds-richest-people-are-self-made-says-new-report.html

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

"Self made" doesn't mean self-made. Oh man, here is Real Economics 101 coming your way:

  1. Most rich people become so from running companies;
  2. A company's profits are sales minus costs;
  3. Sale price of any given good is subject to fairly strict constraints, in most cases;
  4. Costs are: labor and non-human components (parts, buildings, resources, etc);
  5. The price of non-human components are subject to fairly strict constraints, see above;
  6. Therefore, to increase profits, a corporation has extremely limited leeway in sales price and non-human components;
  7. Profits are derived from paying employees less than what their work is worth;
  8. Yes, that's right. If you pay fair price for everybody's work, and for all your inputs, your sale price will be pretty much break-even;

  9. Economies of scale also come with wastes of scale; In other words, they pretty much cancel each other out at most corporate scales, with waste vastly overtaking economies at mega-corporations;

  10. The only market in which there is anything close to perfect competition, in so-called "free market" economies, is THE LABOR MARKET;

  11. Perfect competition in the labor market means that every worker is competing with every other worker for who is desperate enough to do more for less. As such, there is a continual and relentless downward pressure on compensation IN REAL TERMS;

  12. In 1969, third-quintile (more or less median) per-household income was $60,243 when converted in 2018 dollars;

  13. In 2018, 49 years later, it was $79,542, a 32% increase; https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-households.html

  14. In 1969, there was on average roughly ONE income earner per household; In 2018 there were almost two;

  15. This means that in real terms, the wageslave earns roughly 30% LESS than in 1969;

  16. Since 1969, worker productivity has increased by roughly 140%; https://files.epi.org/2013/ib388-figurea.jpg

The conclusion is obvious: the super-billionaires "self-make" by SIPHONING THE VALUE CREATED BY WORKERS into their pockets.

How else do you explain that people produce 2.4x as much as they did 49 years ago, yet earn 30% less, and now we have super-billionaires, which didn't exist back when life was decent?

Agreeing with me means you are smart and well-informed. Disagreeing means the contrary. Oh, BTW: all MSM is shite and CNBC isn't any different.

[–]StBlops2cel_is_Lord 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (8 children)

You do sound well-informed, but I also detect a bit of wealth envy. Rich people hire non-rich people to do stuff, right? As a contractor, I have never been hired to remodel a poor person's house. I LOVE rich people. I don't resent my neighbor for buying a new car, I aspire to do better so I can buy a new car (if that's what turns me on).

--I can't stand Oprah, but she is one example of a poor person becoming insanely rich, JK Rowling is another one. They worked hard, and offered something that a lot of people wanted. They didn't steal it, or exploit anyone (well, there was Oprah's South African girls's school, but I digress..)

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

I am more than "well informed". I also have no rich envy at all, as a matter of fact I have made a number of people millionaires in my life. I make money by trading the stock market instead of "working". One could say that's a rich man's lifestyle, although I do this out of health problems more than being actually wealthy.

Also, reread what I wrote above. It spells it out perfectly: with a few very rare exceptions, JK Rowling being possibly one of them, billionaires do not get so rich without STEALING value created by others. It's the same as the laws of physics: nobody can circumvent them. The only way to become a true self-made billionaire is by creating something so worthwhile, so universally acclaimed that you basically change the world. In Rowling's case that might be hyperbole, but not by much: whole generations are steeped into the Harry Potter universe.

But at the same time, you can't say that of Bezos, Gates, Zuckerberg, Branson, Musk, etc. They're all thieves and exploiters. Nothing they themselves have done is worth even one billion, let alone how many these guys are worth.

What's the difference between a tree and a beautiful dining room set? WORK! It is work that creates value. Not just mindless labor of course: intellectual work is still work. When I trade a stock and make $100k through astute decision-making, that astute decision-making is worth something.

[–]StBlops2cel_is_Lord 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (6 children)

Devil's advocate here...all those rich cunts hire lots of poor cunts. How is that bad? They are not slaves, they WANT those jobs.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

LOL they want those jobs because it's either those jobs or starvation, crime, jail. The problem is the "natural conspiracy" if you will, of employers to always pay less and demand more.

The economics of capitalism are really really simple:

  1. You take raw materials;

  2. You add work;

  3. Take into account how much that work is being helped by installations, equipment, etc.;

  4. Sell the finished product;

  5. Divide the proceeds proportionately between the owner, whose equipment and installations have benefited the work by this much, and the employees WHOSE WORK CREATES THE VALUE OF THE FINISHED GOODS;

  6. THERE ALWAYS REMAINS ZERO FOR THE CORPORATION. If it makes profit, the employees are underpaid.

In other words, there is no competition in this so-called "free market" system, EXCEPT between workers vying for the same job. This seemingly infinite elasticity of offer of work means its price, over the infinitely long term, will reach zero. But of course the system will break before then.

[–]StBlops2cel_is_Lord 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

it's either those jobs or starvation, crime, jail

So, according to you, the employers are heroes...benefactors of Mankind. Right? We should be praising them for saving so many people.

Also, it's total horseshit. If you can stock shelves at Walmart, you can do the same at another store. Get real.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Another store that doesn't pay more, can't afford to pay minimum wage and ends up getting put out of business by the mega giants. Yes.

[–]StBlops2cel_is_Lord 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

People WANT those jobs. They may not LOVE those jobs, but they WANT them, and according to you, would starve without them. How is this bad?

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

THE VALUE THEY CREATE IS BEING STOLEN. <--- This is a criminal act, which SHOULD be illegal for all the good reasons and is certainly and absolutely immoral. It is by definition "bad".

You are seemingly incapable of understanding the very simple equation of:

proceeds of sale (value of finished goods) [MINUS] cost of inputs [MINUS] value created by labor (as magnified by capital) = ZERO

or

cost of inputs [PLUS] value created by labor (as magnified by capital) = value of finished goods (proceeds from sale). THERE IS NOTHING ELSE. If it doesn't add up, SOMEBODY IS STEALING FROM SOMEBODY ELSE. And it's always the employer filling his pockets while his employees live thin, and ever thinner.

As such, I can't argue at your level and will stop responding.

[–]Jesus 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I had to post... you get it. I still will lurk. But nice post. Belloc's book "The Servile State" illustrates what's going on.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks! <3