According to news reports, Walmart
is closing a number of stores due to “plumbing problems,” whatever that
means. Not unnaturally, Walmart — which
is practically the “poster child” for how capitalism oppresses workers (nobody
ever seems to mention how socialism oppresses everyone) — is coming under fire
for laying people off jobs that they were formerly criticized for hiring them
for (a little tangled syntax there, but not as complicated as the situation).
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| Coincidence? I think not! |
Also not unnaturally, Walmart is being accused of a
conspiracy to shut down its own stores to get rid of workers. For this, Walmart is in part to blame — its
defense of its hiring and compensation policies has always smacked of,
“Capitalism: It’s Not Quite As Bad As Socialism.” It’s only natural that some people will
believe the worst they can.
Plus, defending capitalism always seems a little like
pointing out the benefits of being slowly strangled instead of hanged. Hey, at least you’re alive a little longer. .
. .
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| Hilaire Belloc |
The situation is getting just a trifle surreal. Back in 1912, Hilaire Belloc wrote a book, The Servile State, in which he predicted
that the time was coming when people would be compelled to have a job for
income, whether or not they wanted to work.
This was (obviously) “the Servile State,” in which most people would be
dependents of the government or the large corporations, and capitalism and
socialism would start to merge.
What we actually have today is pretty much the opposite of what Belloc predicted . . . except that the result is the same. Instead of people being forced to do servile work (defined as “work performed at the behest of another” — how often do you get to use the word “behest”?), the problem today is that governments and corporations cannot provide all the jobs that people want or the income they need.
What we actually have today is pretty much the opposite of what Belloc predicted . . . except that the result is the same. Instead of people being forced to do servile work (defined as “work performed at the behest of another” — how often do you get to use the word “behest”?), the problem today is that governments and corporations cannot provide all the jobs that people want or the income they need.
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| Servile State, Version 1.0 |
What happened is the confluence (another word we’ve been dying to
use) of two developments: 1) advancing technology that displaces human labor
from the production process, and 2) financing of the new technology in ways
that concentrate ownership in the hands of the already-wealthy without
spreading it out.
Thus, the problem of the Servile State would solve itself if (and only if) ordinary people had the opportunity and means to own the capital that replaces them and drives down the value of their labor instead of relying on government or the corporations for their income. If people could become capital owners on easy terms without redistributing existing wealth, getting rid of the Sprawlmarts would be a blessing instead of a curse. Something like Capital Homesteading could do this very easily.
Thus, the problem of the Servile State would solve itself if (and only if) ordinary people had the opportunity and means to own the capital that replaces them and drives down the value of their labor instead of relying on government or the corporations for their income. If people could become capital owners on easy terms without redistributing existing wealth, getting rid of the Sprawlmarts would be a blessing instead of a curse. Something like Capital Homesteading could do this very easily.
As an added benefit, the family would not be under constant
attack — or, if it were, it would be able to fight back. Keep in mind that, as Daniel Webster said, “Power
naturally and necessarily follows property.” We need to put ordinary people and
the family, the basic unit of society, back in control.
That’s why we’ve started the “Five
for the Family“ campaign to bring certain ideas to the attention of the
powers-that-be. You might want to visit the fundraising webpage for the
campaign so you can “share” or “tweet” it to your networks, and possibly
even make a small contribution.
See you there.
