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The idea that “consumers” are a separate class from employees is specious. There’s only labor and Capital owners, with the latter doing a wonderful job of turni

The idea that “consumers” are a separate class from employees is specious. There’s only labor and Capital owners, with the latter doing a wonderful job of turning the former against themselves.

drdeca 8y ago
Perhaps people can benefit from something in their capacity as a consumer while it being a downside in their capacity as an employee, and then on net as a person either benefit from or experience a detriment from the change, depending on which of the two was larger? Like, suppose someone is selling some good and they get paid on commission, as like, some proportion of the purchase cost. If the price of goods of that sort go down (maybe one of the materials needed to manufacture it became more abundant?), then they would receive less income, but also not have to pay as much for different similar goods, and whether they are overall better or worse off would depend on the details.
andrewflnr 8y ago
The roles of consumer, employee and employer are relative with respect to industry. The same person could occupy all three roles in different parts of their life (e.g small business owner who outsources, does GrubHub deliveries when business is slow, and uses Uber when they go out drinking. I'm not saying labor vs capital isn't also a useful perspective, but to say it's the only one ignores the complexity of reality.
jlarocco 8y ago
Well clearly a consumer in one context is usually an employee (or capital owner) in another. In this particular case the consumers who are benefiting are generally a different group than the employees who are losing out, so I don't see why you bothered to point this out.
conanbatt 8y ago
I'd like to see an economist defending this assertion.
- Kalium 8y ago
  You won't. An economist would point out that capital owners are also consumers and often employees, meaning that there's really only one class of people. Which parent would not agree with, as they are offering a straightforward Marxist reading.
  - conanbatt 8y ago
    Even Marx separated consumers from workers.

The idea that “consumers” are a separate class from employees is specious. There’s only labor and Capital owners, with the latter doing a wonderful job of turning the former against themselves.

drdeca 8y ago

Perhaps people can benefit from something in their capacity as a consumer while it being a downside in their capacity as an employee, and then on net as a person either benefit from or experience a detriment from the change, depending on which of the two was larger? Like, suppose someone is selling some good and they get paid on commission, as like, some proportion of the purchase cost. If the price of goods of that sort go down (maybe one of the materials needed to manufacture it became more abundant?), then they would receive less income, but also not have to pay as much for different similar goods, and whether they are overall better or worse off would depend on the details.

andrewflnr 8y ago

The roles of consumer, employee and employer are relative with respect to industry. The same person could occupy all three roles in different parts of their life (e.g small business owner who outsources, does GrubHub deliveries when business is slow, and uses Uber when they go out drinking. I'm not saying labor vs capital isn't also a useful perspective, but to say it's the only one ignores the complexity of reality.

jlarocco 8y ago

Well clearly a consumer in one context is usually an employee (or capital owner) in another. In this particular case the consumers who are benefiting are generally a different group than the employees who are losing out, so I don't see why you bothered to point this out.

conanbatt 8y ago

I'd like to see an economist defending this assertion.

Kalium 8y ago
You won't. An economist would point out that capital owners are also consumers and often employees, meaning that there's really only one class of people. Which parent would not agree with, as they are offering a straightforward Marxist reading.
- conanbatt 8y ago
  Even Marx separated consumers from workers.