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Where does it end? This capital flight problem has been discussed since Smith (well, at least). The reality is that there will always be somewhere labor-cheap

Where does it end? This capital flight problem has been discussed since Smith (well, at least). The reality is that there will always be somewhere labor-cheaper for capital to move to. Meanwhile laborers (being physical beings) can’t be globetrotting wizards like digital money can be. The South-East might be cheap enough today. Until somewhere else bids lower…

Jensson 5y ago
The workers are still there as you say, why don't they just produce value? They could organize, create a worker led company, and just produce value without the capital class. Why don't they do that?
- avgcorrection 5y ago
  Worker co-ops are the closest thing to that. And they seem to be most successful in endeavours that don’t demand a lot of capital, for the reason that the sibling comment brought up.
- kentrado 5y ago
  They lack access to the necessary capital.
- salawat 5y ago
  > The workers are still there as you say, why don't they just produce value? They could organize, create a worker led company, and just produce value without the capital class. Why don't they do that? Did you seriously just invoke Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake" logic as applies to capital access? I'm fairly sure you couldn't have meant it, but God bless, that rang across loud and clear on my end, as someone whose been deep in startup culture for a while, and spends many hours trying to help places pull things off workably on shoestring budgets. Workers have been resigning and making startups. They still have to raise capital to pay the overhead costs of getting stuff done. Traditional Capital tends to be more concerned with growth hacking rather than solving problems that society really needs solved, which means access to Capital is typically of the VC or philanthropic type, which both have deleterious consequences on how one has to treat the people they hire to make sure the spigots stay on. The meat grinder, in that sense, is real, and an omni-present threat threat to any workplace daring to deign to raise the bar on Quality. The central gall of the Capital class is that just because of the happy accident of being located astride yesterday's money Hoovers that that means their job is done, and they aren't responsible for keeping that wealth moving, solving problems, and making riskier investments. I'm not saying go play helicopter money, but if you aren't making money move, you're part of the issue.

Jensson 5y ago

The workers are still there as you say, why don't they just produce value? They could organize, create a worker led company, and just produce value without the capital class. Why don't they do that?

avgcorrection 5y ago
Worker co-ops are the closest thing to that. And they seem to be most successful in endeavours that don’t demand a lot of capital, for the reason that the sibling comment brought up.
kentrado 5y ago
They lack access to the necessary capital.
salawat 5y ago
> The workers are still there as you say, why don't they just produce value? They could organize, create a worker led company, and just produce value without the capital class. Why don't they do that? Did you seriously just invoke Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake" logic as applies to capital access? I'm fairly sure you couldn't have meant it, but God bless, that rang across loud and clear on my end, as someone whose been deep in startup culture for a while, and spends many hours trying to help places pull things off workably on shoestring budgets. Workers have been resigning and making startups. They still have to raise capital to pay the overhead costs of getting stuff done. Traditional Capital tends to be more concerned with growth hacking rather than solving problems that society really needs solved, which means access to Capital is typically of the VC or philanthropic type, which both have deleterious consequences on how one has to treat the people they hire to make sure the spigots stay on. The meat grinder, in that sense, is real, and an omni-present threat threat to any workplace daring to deign to raise the bar on Quality. The central gall of the Capital class is that just because of the happy accident of being located astride yesterday's money Hoovers that that means their job is done, and they aren't responsible for keeping that wealth moving, solving problems, and making riskier investments. I'm not saying go play helicopter money, but if you aren't making money move, you're part of the issue.