And so now, let’s tug on that loose thread… I’m sure many of my left-leaning readers will say, “This is obvious, we have been talking about it for YEARS!” Yes, many of you have; but you were using language of emotion (“Pay a living wage!”) rather than showing the math.
I gotta say, anyone who critiques leftism by claiming the leftists don’t show the math hasn’t ever actually read Marx. Nevermind Piketty or Graeber or Wolff.
“Workers should have a greater share of their surplus value” is textbook Marxism. The idea of a “living wage” is tied back to the goal of de-fetishizing commodities. You want to recognize that stuff comes from people and pay them enough to exist in the world you’ve built. You don’t want at team of workers producing a commodity (for instance, winter coats) in such a way that certain individuals in the manufacturing chain can’t afford to live near the factory or purchase the output.
I gotta say, anyone who critiques leftism by claiming the leftists don’t show the math hasn’t ever actually read Marx. Nevermind Piketty or Graeber or Wolff.
Tbh Vanilla Marx is a pretty far cry from modern American leftist. “Pay a living wage” is itself about as anti-Marxist a statement one can make
“Workers should have a greater share of their surplus value” is textbook Marxism. The idea of a “living wage” is tied back to the goal of de-fetishizing commodities. You want to recognize that stuff comes from people and pay them enough to exist in the world you’ve built. You don’t want at team of workers producing a commodity (for instance, winter coats) in such a way that certain individuals in the manufacturing chain can’t afford to live near the factory or purchase the output.
Or anyone online who ever took a month’s rent in a no frills apartment and multiplied by 3