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"fetishize" is probably the wrong word, but people are certainly a lot more sympathetic towards small businesses. in my city, people are donating tens of thousa

"fetishize" is probably the wrong word, but people are certainly a lot more sympathetic towards small businesses. in my city, people are donating tens of thousands of dollars to local businesses that are closed due to coronavirus. can you imagine someone donating money to keep walmart afloat? as an aside, I've read that jacobin article before and I find it to be a bit myopic. a large part of why small businesses offer comparatively shitty pay and benefits is because they can't really afford to do better. part of this is just inherent efficiencies of scale (generally a good thing), but it's also because the biggest players get to rewrite the rules to make it very difficult to compete with them. it's not unreasonable to think that a friendlier environment for small businesses might lead to better compensation for their employees.

pixelatedindex 7y ago
That’s because companies like Walmart shouldn’t need those donations - bigger operations like them bring in much higher revenue. They also tend to work around tax laws and find loopholes, which a small business can’t do (and even if they did, it would be chump change compared to the behemoths). So it makes sense for the small guys to get that kind of “grassroots” support.
- philh 7y ago
  Revenue seems like a weird thing to look at though. If you only get more profit by hiring more employees, that doesn't change how much you can afford to pay your employees. How do they compare in terms of profit/employee?
willis936 7y ago
That doesn't make the citizens ill-informed or delusional. The donators think the existence of small businesses provide a benefit to society beyond bottom lines. Small businesses always so close to sinking, so conditions will be worse for workers. Small business workers don't need to be in The Party though, and their social credit score won't come into play. One storm could sink every small business, leaving only big businesses to cover the entire market. Businesses that have gone unchecked for half a century and are big enough to keep legislation in regulatory capture.
dogma1138 7y ago
Walmart doesn’t need donations if and will they would the people would have little say in that since they’ll get bailed out and the tax payer will pay for it one way or another.

pixelatedindex 7y ago

That’s because companies like Walmart shouldn’t need those donations - bigger operations like them bring in much higher revenue. They also tend to work around tax laws and find loopholes, which a small business can’t do (and even if they did, it would be chump change compared to the behemoths). So it makes sense for the small guys to get that kind of “grassroots” support.

philh 7y ago
Revenue seems like a weird thing to look at though. If you only get more profit by hiring more employees, that doesn't change how much you can afford to pay your employees. How do they compare in terms of profit/employee?

willis936 7y ago

That doesn't make the citizens ill-informed or delusional. The donators think the existence of small businesses provide a benefit to society beyond bottom lines. Small businesses always so close to sinking, so conditions will be worse for workers. Small business workers don't need to be in The Party though, and their social credit score won't come into play. One storm could sink every small business, leaving only big businesses to cover the entire market. Businesses that have gone unchecked for half a century and are big enough to keep legislation in regulatory capture.

dogma1138 7y ago

Walmart doesn’t need donations if and will they would the people would have little say in that since they’ll get bailed out and the tax payer will pay for it one way or another.