Posted on 03/21/2006 11:37:40 PM PST by Nasty McPhilthy
Subsistance leavel, yes. But it was fairly stable. Remember, a lot of those subsistance farmers got tossed off "their land" and ended up in the chaos of the London slums...
I not only look upon myself as a sole-proprietor, I AM a sole-proprietor. Your decision can be superceded at any time by a hostile takeover. What then? Our decision in who we are able to sell our expertise to is becoming increasingly more limited by corporatism. Those corporations able to provide the most compensation to their employees will be those who act in the most ruthless fashion towards society as a whole. When just that isn't enough, they will turn inwards and become belligerent towards their own employees (outsourcing, downsizing, et c.).
I've actually met people I believe to be the future, or at least a part of it. Basically guys with highly specialized skill sets. They work in the arts and in high tech fields. They aren't company employees in the classic sense. They may work for as little as one day or as long as five years for one company before moving on to the next job. What is interesting is that they ping pong back and forth from seven or eight cities on the globe. One of these guys, I was shocked to learn, hasn't owned a landline for seven years. He just uses a cell phone.
OK, but what about the non corporate rent seekers, the home owners and Social Security recipients? They are abusing one set of "we the people" for their own benefit.
Lots of them left voluntarily, because the opportunities, although slim, were better than those "on the land". I think it is too easy to fall into romantic illusions about pastoral bliss. Life before the industrial revolution was generally, in those famous words, "nasty, brutal and short". It was not even that stable, with the average "commoner" being one bad harvest away from starvation.
Yup. Just as bad. The two sides, corporatism and socialism, point fingers and name-call one another. Meanwhile government just keeps-on growing and becoming more intrusive. I guess one can point to tax-exempt mortgages as another form of preferential treatment (very rare for the middle to actually get any scraps from the table). WtP pay the price in the end.
Hey, I've read Blake!
It was also out of that chaos that marxism was born.
Ever check out the London Poor by Mayhew? -- there are online editions now.
They're just catching crumbs falling off the table. If there was enough volume to actually start a business (like a consulting firm) with more than one or two employees, it would eventually become a multinational corporate hire position, no matter how specialized the skill. Best way for them to drive-down cost.
The corporate animal abhorrs 'free radicals'.
The contractor model only works well for those not trying to raise a family, or keep a marriage together. It's not really a stable lifestyle. Return to the old 'company-store' economy would be more my guess for where America will be in 25 years. Ambition drives innovation. Who's going to have ambition once there's literally no way to 'get-ahead'?
I've personally more-or-less dropped out of the conventional economy myself. I offer services to individuals on a fee basis. I don't make much, but I don't need to at this point. I enjoy it, and I get to help people.
They may be "catching crumbs," but they are integral to many of the businesses that hire them. The business plans depend on a steady flow of talent.
As I've been saying for some time, the old corporate model doesn't make much sense anymore. Too much infrastructure, too many employees, unreliable markets.
A more efficient model is the one used in the movie business. Bring talent together for relatively short periods of time, do the project, and then disband.
"As I've been saying for some time, the old corporate model doesn't make much sense anymore. Too much infrastructure, too many employees, unreliable markets."
As inefficient as the corporate model is, it will continue, until it quits getting preferential treatment under the law. These monstrous corporate entities have taken on a life of their own, and no longer serve their masters. IMHO, they're no longer benign in nature (if they ever were).
Enjoyed the discussion, BTW. :)
I was thinking more of specific functions within the corporate model. For instance -- why do I need a bunch of lab rats on salary to create a new pill for flatulance when I can higher a couple dozen on the open market, toss them together for three to five years, and have my pill.
In the same way, why do I need a large staff of programmers to create a new piece of software?
Corporations are neither bad nor good. They are simply machines. They blindly seek market advantage and increased profits, because that -- despite all the skillful public relations and advertising -- is the reason they exist.
The general well-being and welfare of the population in which they do business is far outside of their concerns and field of expertise.
We the people vote for it, lobby for it and punish politicians who do not deliver. Every Paul is trying to rob Peter, but every Peter is also trying to rob Paul. We can not blame corporations it seems to be part of human nature to want to get something at another's expense. Democracy just means that we all get to play that game.
ping.....
No. You're confusing collectivism with statism, or nationalism. Collectivism is not driven by a perceived duty to the state. Collectivism is driven by social herd-instinct. In the case of Communism, it was initiated by the masses in reaction to perceived slights by the elites. In the case of Stalinism, it's driven by the elites in an effort to keep down the masses. Both forms abhorr individualism and personal freedom. Don't kid yourself... Corporatism is fascism with a new haircut and wardrobe.
May I ask what state you live in?
>>>
Hey, I've read Blake!
<<<
It appears that I have not, who is he?
>>>
It was also out of that chaos that marxism was born.
<<<
True, but only because capitalism lifted many, but not all, people from grinding poverty. Those who were not lifted from poverty looked for some reason outside of themselves for their outcome. The creation of a middle class gave others a new point of comparison. Where before, just about everybody was poor, now the remaining poor had a middle class of which to be jealous.
I will look up Mayhew's book.
Here is mayhew..
http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/MayLond.html
William Blake -- poet in the early 1800s -- here's a poem...
I wandered through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear:
How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appals,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls.
But most, through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.
I gathered that the creative definition of collectivism means "a group of people with a shared interest." Any guesses what the new definition of "corporatism" means? "Anything related to an organization that issues stock to raise capital" is mine, but I can't really put my finger on it.
I should point out that I had heard of William Blake. However, being a techie sort, English poets are not top of my mind, so I did not figure him from the context (I was thinking historian or economist etc).
It may also explain how I got Thomas Hobbes quote wrong. Hobbes described the life of man as being "[solitary, poor], nasty, *brutish*, and short."
LOL
If that was truly the case (I'm laughing as I type), why don't pushers/gangs/whatever incorporate? Wouldn't that make their backers legally bullet-proof?
You'd better think twice the next time you see someone buy shotgun shells. If you own stock in Winchester (or its parent), you might be liable if they're used in a criminal or negligent fashion.
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