Saturday, October 29, 2011

How the Ruling Elite of ONE Percent Enslaved Americans

by Len Hart, The Existentialist Cowboy

Despite right wing lies and distortions, it was Adam Smith --a 'conservative' --who espoused a LABOR THEORY of VALUE not unlike that of KARL MARX who is a favorite target of wingnuts and morons. We should not be surprised that a 'class' that supported Ronald Reagan et al would revere Smith while demonizing Marx. Not surprisingly, the GOP have completely misunderstood Smith. Smith and Marx both subscribed to a 'Labor Theory of Value'.

Here's what the conserative's 'darling' (Smith) had to say asbout the Labor Theory of Value:

"The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What every thing is really worth to the man who has acquired it, and who wants to dispose of it or exchange it for something else, is the toil and trouble which it can save to himself, and which it can impose upon other people.

--Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations Book 1, chapter V
In other words, what would it cost a person who wished to have a ditch if he were required to dig it himself? What would it cost a person who wished to furnish his home with chairs, a sofa, et al if he were required to make them himself? What is the value of any commodity but the cost that would be incurred should it be necessary to hire the labor to do it?

Being Forced to Work for Someone for Free is Called 'Slavery'

But having to work for a 'ruling elite' which conspires to suppress the value of labor is, at the very least, a form of slavery itself. When an elite controls the means of production and distribution and --at the same time and in various ways --depresses wages and worker rights, the effect is indistinguishable from slavery.

Adam Smith clearly states that the value of a 'thing' produced is equal to the 'toil and trouble' that, say, a capitalist might have expended himself had he not hired someone to do it for him. Or --had he not enslaved someone to do it! Or --had he not depressed wages to do it! Ergo: those who enrich themselves, claiming for themselves all profits as well as special and/or unfair taxation or --worse--NO taxation whatsoever for themselves are, in effect, demanding that others work for them for free.

Plantation owners were expert at this scam. Cotton was, what we would call today, 'labor intensive'. It most certainly would never have been profitable had plantation owners been required to pay laborers their true worth. Were it not for slavery, the antebellum south could not have made a living. Cotton was a source of great riches but only if it could be picked, ginned, and sent to market. It was slave labor that made possible a class called: Southern Aristocracy.

In a modern, industrial society the only way to address the PRIVILEGES that 'capital' now claims for itself is by TAXING them fairly. After all, there is NO production without labor of any sort. A society in which just 1 percent alone has benefited form the labors of millions is a one-legged man and will fall! We are witnessing that fall right now.

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8 comments:

SadButTrue said...

Not to blogwhore or anything, but you might like this:Les Enragés: What's Really Wrong With the Economy An oldie but a goodie, and it also centres on the works of Adam Smith.

Unknown said...

SadButTrue said...

An oldie but a goodie, and it also centres on the works of Adam Smith.

'Blogwhoring' has been legalized but --alas --there's not a lot of money in it! In any case, your comments and articles are always right on the money and always welcome.

Eric said...

Great post and a great site. I paid a little homage to it (if you go down to the end of the post) to your site. Click here to see: http://liberationfromthelie.com/2011/10/the-meaning-of-love/

Unknown said...

Eric said...

Great post and a great site.

I am honored, Eric. I have posted your great site on Facebook. If you're on FB, let's me friends. I am not 'Existentialist Cowboy' on FB, just "Len Hart".

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget the Central banks and the Rothschilds.

Unknown said...

It's beyond the scope of a short article to list 'elites' even though they constitute just 1 percent of the total population. You will find many articles here about the concentration of wealth in few hands but the point here is that all of the elite and those who are complicit with them are hypocrites to a person. They have lied about the very nature of the economy, promoted BULLSHIT like 'supply-side' economics, and have conspired to buy (literally via K-Street) the apparatus of government, much as did Didius Julianus who literally purchased Rome from the Praetorian Guard --the Military-Industrial complex of its day. Those lying about the 'ruling elite' share all their guilt. It was Bertolt Brecht who said: "A man who does not know the truth is just an idiot but a man who knows the truth and calls it a lie is a crook!"

MarkH said...

I don't think we'll hear anything like this post on the MSM. Sadly, that just shows how the Right and the Rich refuse to allow discussion of the realities of our world. For them we are only Mr. Anderson coppertops (from Matrix) -- energy for the economic machine.

Be careful Len, if they discover you have an audience for this radical talk you may be in danger. The Truth has a very Liberal bias.

Unknown said...

Mark H said..

...that just shows how the Right and the Rich refuse to allow discussion of the realities of our world.

And by refusing to face reality, the ruling elite has literally ASKED FOR a revolution! It would appear that they have gotten one --the 'occupation' movement! Predictably, 'they' will resort to violence. I recall Kent State! The lesson of Kent State is that 'they' will shoot to kill. The fact of the matter is that NONE of the protesters at Kent State posed a threat to either the members of the national guard, the faculty, the buildings, the administration! It was a case of murder --pure and simple! And it was, of course, state sanctioned!

...Be careful Len, if they discover you have an audience for this radical talk you may be in danger.

MarkH, the truth is always radical. As you know, I have been writing about the completely immoral, absurd, and obvious transfers of wealth for years now. Before the advent of blogs, I was, during the Reagan/Bush regime, writing letters to editors. The MSM, of course, was asleep at the switch and/or complicit being the beneficiary of Reagan's 'relaxation' of rules restricting media concentration and requiring 'equal time' to dissenters. The GOP/right wing/establishment hated that measure most of all!