this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2024
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My issue with this line of reasoning is that it largely ignores risk. The risk an employee takes is the risk of missing future wages if the venture fails, but they have no risk of losing past wages. The risk an employer takes is loss of invested capital and thus loss of past wages and the ability to continue the venture.
The problem, IMO, is that we've overly protected the employer so their risk is mitigated, but we have done little to protect the employee. Likewise, wages can become uncompetitive because our legal system tends to benefit larger companies over smaller companies, so it becomes incredibly difficult to unseat a dominant company, even if your product is better (large company can waste smaller companies' capital with frivolous lawsuits and unnecessary red tape).
That said, if employees want to take on the risk an employer takes on, they can either become an employer themselves (i.e. start a business) or form a co-op with other workers. However, many are uncomfortable with taking on that risk, so they apply for jobs instead of creating their own.
If we go with a socialist system, we'll still have employers and employees, but we'll just socialize the risk and dilute the profit motive, which I think will stifle productivity. Why work hard if the potential upside to you for outperformance is small? Let's say you're in a co-op with 9 other people with equal split of profits and you're twice as productive, you'll only see 1/10 of that come back to you. Why do that when you could be the employer and see a much larger share of the profits?
The issue here isn't with capitalism as an idea, but that we've allowed such a disparity between productive work and profits, and I think the reason for that is government protectionism, not capitalism.
Exactly, the problem isn't capitalism, but government. If we swap capitalism for socialism but leave the government structure in place, we'll have the same problem. If you think shareholders are bad, you won't want to see what happens when politicians run businesses...
4/5
It is irrelevant that some workers don't want to be held responsible for the positive and negative results of their actions (the whole result of production). Responsibility can't be transferred even with consent. If an employer-employee cooperate to commit a crime, both are responsible. This argument is establishes an inalienable right i.e. a right that can't be given up or transferred even with consent like political voting rights today
Sure, if they're both aware of and complicit in committing the crime. But in most cases, the employee is unaware of the crime, or commits it under duress. If the employer orders the employee to commit the crime as part of their job, the employer should take the larger (if not total) share of the consequences due to the power dynamic.
A huge part of prosecuting a crime is establishing motive, and duress should move most, if not all, of the guilt onto the employer.
1/2
A group of people is de facto responsible for a result if it is a purposeful result of their intentional joint actions. The pure application of the norm that legal and de facto responsibility match is to deliberate actions. The workers joint actions that use up inputs to produce outputs are planned and deliberate. They meet the criteria for being premeditated. The workers are not under duress in normal work, and consent to the employer-employee contract.
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