Over the years as I have joined the ranks of the American worker bees, something so basic and yet so unquestioned has occurred to me, a question I cannot understand has not been asked and answered, at least to my understanding. The question is this, quite simply.......what is the true purpose of business? Why does a company, a corporation, any entity that employs workers exist?
Yes, I can hear the pre-programed, indoctrinated, capitalist bread and butter answers spewing from your minds; To produce products, to provide return on investment for stockholders, to provide capital for the purchase of all those yachts those billionaires need to ski behind. Ah, yes, those are just some of the "reasons" we need to justify the existence of these institutions which have in essence enslaved us all, to whom we all pledge our fidelity in one way or another. But, really, let's face the truth of the matter and admit to ourselves that these definitions are all one big crock.
The only reason you get up in the morning and put yourselves thru some awful commute to spend any number of hours in a place most of you truly despise is that you require food, shelter, clothing, all that extra bling, and perhaps some purpose in life. That business exists only because you need a job. Pure and simple. Without the need for money to provide those needs, you lose any real reason to be there. Without the need for money you have no reason to take orders from clueless individuals with half your intelligence who's main purpose in life seems merely to exercise some form of perverse power over you. Well hold on there partner, you say, I don't have to put up with that kind of crap, I am free to leave and work elsewhere! Sure you do, but you won't. You will endure a hell of a lot of abuse before you entertain the idea of losing your seniority, your vesting, the pay you are used to getting, the familiarity of your job, the friends you made, all those things we glean from these places we spend so much of our lives in, not to mention avoiding the hassle of another job search, which might take months or even years, with no guarantee that you won't be starting over completely from scratch. No, you may think you have freedom, but you know better. That freedom you imagine is ethereal.
So, ask yourself that question again. Why does business exist? It exists for the workers, my friends, so why is it we have allowed this one major aspect of all our lives to be hijacked for the enrichment of so few, to be used as a gun at our heads if we don't toe the line, to become the monster that chews up and spits out so many of us? Ah, that is the question, isn't it?
Now you're thinking, ah, these are the rantings of some "disgruntled" closet communist, who would love nothing more to see us all toiling away in another "workers paradise", as in the old Soviet Union. Nothing could be further from the truth. All I wish I could see in this lifetime is the emphasis placed once and for all where it belonged. The places we go to every day to earn our bread and butter should be run by the people actually need it, with the fruits of our labors divided fairly between us, the workers, rather than having all those profits siphoned off by stockholders and greedy executives who command far more return on their contributions than they have ever earned. That might sound like a socialist idea, my friends, but when you think about it, it sounds more like justice. Or do we need to examine the definition of justice, as well?
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2 comments:
Just a minute, Michael. I need to see if I can possibly disagree with you more.
Nope. I'm not capable of disagreeing any more than I already disagree.
Business, enterprise, is the bedrock of civilization. It flourishes because of a need or desire of the consumer.
First there is need. Then there is an individual that sees the need and knows a way to fulfill that need. With luck and hard work the individual is no longer able to keep up with the demand, thus seeks out apprentices.
True, there is a symbionic relationship between the worker and the business. In point of fact, each worker is an independant business. Their product is their labor. If they feel there product isn't delivering a large enough return they either sell it elsewhere or band together with others possessing the same skills and threaten to withhold their product if the consumer - the business owner - doesn't pay more for their product.
People do get 'trapped' into jobs. Often they are trapped by their lack of ability, a poor market for their skills, a generally bad economy or reluctance to change.
Can business be viscious and unfair? You bet your butt.
Can labor be unfair? Yep. Sure can.
We work to survive. We work to fulfill our dreams. We work for our egos. Now we go into the world with briefcases and tools in hand rather than a spear and club.
We in essence really don't disagree that much, Buf. BIG business exists because the individual is for the most part not capable of providing enough product or service to satisfy such a huge market, as was possible back when the village was the market and one Smithy, one baker, one barber was able to be his own master in that regard. As far as each individual today being classified as his own business, well, there are those with the entrepanarial spirit and drive, and those without, but those of us who for whatever reason "contracts" out our services to a larger entity should not be exploited for doing so. In these "right to work" states, the inference is that because you have the choice to take your labor elsewhere, then the employer has the choice to tell you "take it or leave it", or suddenly decide to take it anyway without any justification whatsoever. My, according to that reasoning, I must feel sorry for those people not living in "right to work" states where apparently slavery is the order of the day. And thanks to the republican and corporate attack on the labor movement, labor unions are steadily losing the clout they once had to represent the worker. Yes, they tended to overdo it, but what little rights remain to us today as workers were litterally paid for in blood, and we can easily return to those days if people don't start paying attention. If we fall prey to the "that's just the way it is" mentality, we get what we deserve, whatever "the way it is" turns out to be.
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