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The optimist in me hopes this sort of thing will increase class consciousness. Another example going around is billionaire Starwood Capital CEO Barry Sternlicht

by jmyeet 3y ago

The optimist in me hopes this sort of thing will increase class consciousness. Another example going around is billionaire Starwood Capital CEO Barry Sternlicht saying a "nice little recession" will bring people back to the office [1]. Raising interest rates, saddling people with various forms of debt (student, medical, housing) and increasing unemployment are all part of the same strategy to suppress wages and disempower labor. Unions and the importance of labor were largely accepted a century ago. Compare Marx's Labor Theory of Value [2] to this quote from Abraham Lincoln [3]: > Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. What we've seen in recent times is the capital-owning class just coming out and saying the quiet part out loud. Crushing working from home is just another way of extracting even more surplus value from labor. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos would literally melt you into bio-matter if there was an uptick in profits. They would starve you and put you out on the street if there was an uptick in profits. I hope more people realize this. Stop defending billionaires. [1]: https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/personal-finance/articles/billionaire-ceo-says-remote-workers-just-need-a-nice-little-recession-to-return-to-the-office/ https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/personal-finance/articles/bi... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_theory_of_value https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_theory_of_value [3]: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/first-annual-message-9 https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/first-annual-messa...

missedthecue 3y ago
What is the relevance of the Abraham Lincoln quote? He is not noted for his economic policy. In fact most presidents of his era had very bad economic policy and engaged in a great deal of protectionism, colonialism, cronyism, and inefficient agricultural subsidies, among other harmful measures.
- jmyeet 3y ago
  Because most people don't realize Lincoln was basically a Marxist. The pendulum has swung so far from that norm in the modern day, thanks largely to an Ayn Rand objectivism-fuelled orgy of biollionaire "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" propaganda.
  - missedthecue 3y ago
    I think it's rather due to the fact that like most other disciplines, the economic sciences have been further fleshed out since 1858. We no longer re-use unwashed surgical instruments, and we no longer subscribe to marxist ideology. No one likes Lincoln for his economic opinions.

by jmyeet 3y ago

missedthecue 3y ago

What is the relevance of the Abraham Lincoln quote? He is not noted for his economic policy. In fact most presidents of his era had very bad economic policy and engaged in a great deal of protectionism, colonialism, cronyism, and inefficient agricultural subsidies, among other harmful measures.

jmyeet 3y ago
Because most people don't realize Lincoln was basically a Marxist. The pendulum has swung so far from that norm in the modern day, thanks largely to an Ayn Rand objectivism-fuelled orgy of biollionaire "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" propaganda.
- missedthecue 3y ago
  I think it's rather due to the fact that like most other disciplines, the economic sciences have been further fleshed out since 1858. We no longer re-use unwashed surgical instruments, and we no longer subscribe to marxist ideology. No one likes Lincoln for his economic opinions.