REAL REDISTRIBUTION

From CounterPunch:

Beyond Loser Liberalism

Anyone trying to understand the role of the government in the economy should know that whatever it does or does not do by way of redistribution is trivial compared with the actions it takes to determine the initial distribution. Rich people don’t get rich exclusively by virtue of their talents and hard work; they get rich because the government made rules to allow them to get rich.

And

In a similar vein our policy on labor unions is incredibly one-sided in management’s favor. If a company illegally fires a worker for trying to organize a union, the complaint would go to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). It is likely to take months and possibly years before the complaint is settled. Even if the worker can prove their case (employers rarely admit that they fired someone because they were organizing a union) the fine to the company is trivial. As a result, breaking the law and getting rid of agitators can be very profitable for the company.

On the other hand, if workers stage a strike that violates the law, for example a wildcat strike at a time when a contract is in force or a secondary strike in support of other workers, a company can typically get an injunction immediately. If the workers continue their strike, their assets will be seized and their leaders thrown in jail.

Needless to say, this incredible asymmetry tilts the field in management’s favor. It is difficult for workers to organize unions and it is often difficult for organized workers to push for better wages and working conditions. That is not just a market outcome; this is the result of deliberate government policy.

More here.

I've been saying for a few years now in regards to incessant right-wing whining about the evils of "redistribution" that the real redistribution takes place when an employee is first hired. That is, employers essentially dictate what your wage will be, no negotiation, take it or leave it, without any regard to the actual amount of wealth you create on the job. And it's a rigged game: go to a similar company across the street and it's the same thing, fixed wages that wildly undervalue the work you do.

The law, cultural custom going back centuries, the establishment public discourse, and "conventional wisdom" all favor the capital-owning class. The widespread belief is that if you put up the financing, you get to call all the shots--you get to control the people you've enlisted to help you do things with your capital, and you get to decide how much value from the venture these helpers get. But that's only because that's how everybody thinks it ought to be. It's not some law of nature that because it's your toy you get to control utterly everything that happens to it. And that's not even a good metaphor because workers aren't really part of the "toy," which is to say, the capital or financing; rather, workers are human beings who just want to make a living. Why don't workers get more of a say in how they are compensated for the wealth the capitalists could not create without their help?

Because that's the real point here. Without labor, capital is just paper, and nothing more. Who the fuck put the paper-pushers in charge of everything?

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