They tried that with me, but I didn’t fall for it. I became self-employed 30 years ago. I’m just as poor as when I worked for someone else, but I don’t work for someone else. That’s worth the trouble right there.
Of course, I can’t quit my job, no matter how much of a moron my boss is. And I’m a moron.
Mmm… capitalism, the scam
Without being a capitalism apologist, I opted into being employed after years of being self-employed or a freelance contractors. I don’t have to do the admin and work gets delivered to me on a platter. The pay isn’t as good as it could be but I also don’t have to worry about taking time off for illness and I get holiday time too.
Crucially though, I opted into it. It wasn’t my only option.
As a current freelancer, it’s still bullshit. I’m supposedly my own boss, but really I have like 10 bosses that like to call me without paying me.
The only real benefit is that I can say “I’m busy” when what I really mean is that I’m planning a day to sit on the couch in my gonch doing fuuuuuuuck all.
Division of labor and specialization is generally just more efficient. In our society, though, it also entails heightened exploitation and alienation. Hopefully we can eventually reconcile the contradiction.
Same here. I tolerate doing the work, sometimes even happy to do it, but the overhead, negotiation, paperwork, accounting, taxes, support, etc, is the absolute worst. Now I can turn off my phone on weekends and holidays while the pay check keeps coming in.
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“Now look how the bosses do things! They have a good wish to make out like honest people with the worker from whom they buy labor power, with the merchant from whom they buy raw materials, but they have an eternal flaw, and the rest of us workers, who know how the industry works, shall go on strike. But to sell a commodity for more than it is worth is like selling with false weights, which is illegal. Therefore, if the workers were to expose their bosses’ tricks, they would be forced to close their factories; and to produce goods based on need, maybe they would open large government facilities; that would be much better.”
So the daydreaming worker arrived at home; and there, dined, went to bed, and slept deeply, dreaming of the disappearance of bosses and the creation of government workshops.
Sleep, poor friend, sleep in peace, while hope still rests within you. Sleep in peace, for the disappointing day will soon come. Soon you will learn how your boss can sell their goods for profit, without defrauding anyone. He will make you see how one becomes a capitalist, and a large capitalist, while remaining perfectly honest.
Now your dreams will never again be so peaceful. You will see capital in your nights, like a nightmare, that presses you and threatens to crush you. With terrified eyes you will see it get fatter, like a monster with one hundred proboscises that feverishly search the pores of your body to suck your blood. And finally you will learn to assume its boundless and gigantic proportions, its appearance dark and terrible, with eyes and mouth of fire, morphing its suckers into enormous hopeful trumpets, within which you’ll see thousands of human beings disappear: men, women, children. Down your face will trickle the sweat of death, because your time, and that of your wife and your children will soon arrive. And your final moan will be drowned out by the happy sneering of the monster, glad with your state, so much richer, so much more inhumane.
Okay, I’ll take the bait. The company who hires you is also taking all the risks. Broken machine? The boss has to pay. Sick employee? In my country you still get paid.
Have a shitty month with very little profit? People still want to get paid. Need to invest in better machines, tools, buildings? Guess what, you’re now committed to making that money back.
An employee makes a very expensive mistake? Guess who’s going to pay for that.
All in all, at least in my situation I can say my boss carries a significant risk for personal finance ruin. He puts his money on the line, and gets to collect the rewards.
I get to go home when it’s time. He pays me a very reasonable salary, takes care of his employees and I get payed every month. Doesn’t matter if it is a good month or 3 customers went bankrupt and left him with a 200000 dollar bill unpaid.
I am not complaining. If I want, I can quit and start my own company. That is, if I have the skills to:
- Know everything there is to know in a specific field
- Have the skills to work with clients
- Have enough insight to know what to charge customers
- Have the skills to work with suppliers and work out deals
- Have the skills to put a long term plan together for the future of the company and keep track of that, while also keeping back up options in mind
- Still be able to relax a bit so I don’t go into a burnout
- Lots more
Some people here act like communism is everything. It’s not and it will not work.
The company I work at, has a lot of skilled people working there. I believe 30% may be able to make a living om their own if they really struggle. The rest cannot do that without working together with others to get work, or get work done. They are skilled in specific things that help the company as a whole, but on it’s own are not enough to survive.
The government is not capable of organizing things like companies do. We’re seeing massive amounts of money wasted each year in my country and it’s not a third world country. I do not believe goverment owned companies will make the world better, it will just be more expensive.
And people will still find ways to enrich themselves while others work for that money. It is human nature.
