Interesting story
"Cory Pein's profile of economist Samuel Bowles:
"Inequality," she says, "really holds us back."
Bowles offers a key reason why this is so. "Inequality breeds conflict, and conflict breeds wasted resources," he says.
In short, in a very unequal society, the people at the top have to spend a lot of time and energy keeping the lower classes obedient and productive.
Inequality leads to an excess of what Bowles calls "guard labor." In a 2007 paper on the subject, he and co-author Arjun Jayadev, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts, make an astonishing claim: Roughly 1 in 4 Americans is employed to keep fellow citizens in line and protect private wealth from would-be Robin Hoods.
The job descriptions of guard labor range from "imposing work discipline"-think of the corporate IT spies who keep desk jockeys from slacking off online-to enforcing laws, like the officers in the Santa Fe Police Department paddy wagon parked outside of Walmart.
The greater the inequalities in a society, the more guard labor it requires, Bowles finds. This holds true among US states, with relatively unequal states like New Mexico employing a greater share of guard labor than relatively egalitarian states like Wisconsin.
The problem, Bowles argues, is that too much guard labor sustains "illegitimate inequalities," creating a drag on the economy. All of the people in guard labor jobs could be doing something more productive with their time-perhaps starting their own businesses or helping to reduce the US trade deficit with China.
And think off all the service workers laboring to justify the inequities of our system. Like the Montana Main Street blog. Why, Fox News, too, is essentially "guard labor," isn't it? Working tirelessly to protect the status quo and its economic inequities, producing nothing of actual value?
Bowles' suggestion is a one-time sum of $250,000 for every American when they turn 18, allowing them to go to college or start a business and break individuals out of the rut of poverty. Not sure if I'd go there, but a nice alternative would be to give generous tax breaks to those in the lower strata of tax brackets while levying higher taxes on those that earn more." |
| Sockalism. Pure sockalism. Why would you want to make the Saracuda cry like that? |
Why, Fox News, too, is essentially "guard labor," isn't it? Working tirelessly to protect the status quo and its economic inequities, producing nothing of actual value?
Just curious, Stone... are you able to read stuff like this with a straight face? |
Ya! You once again managed to pick out the one sentence in the article that is opinion and ignore the facts.
Fact- there is a billion dollar industry for protecting and providing security to the rich and a billion dollar cottage industry battling against labor. It reminds me of the robber barons who were willing and able to gun down women and children that were involved in a mine strike in Ludlow CO. Just one example of the rich controlling and having their own police force. |
| My husband is retired from the company that was involved in the Ludlow massacre...Today there is a sign there remembering it but so many people aren't even aware of it...Sad indeed...that company ultimately went bankrupt and the pensions all went to golden parachutes...they were a rip off to the end... |
Fact- there is a billion dollar industry for protecting and providing security to the rich and a billion dollar cottage industry battling against labor.
Stone, can you provide some of these "facts" you claim are so prevelant? Upon reading the article all I come up with is one incident of outrageous conduct. The rest, such as cops outside of Walmart and people informing the boss of their fellow employees sleeping on the job seem more like productivity & criminal issues rather than some shadow industry looking to keep everyone in their place. |
Kyle the above article talks about the industry of protecting the rich, which reminds me of the Pinkertons and such.
But to get back on topic this private police force reminded me of the business of busting labor and yes it is very lucrative (just ask the union buster that works for MC).
I believe that having a private police force and or a private army does not fall under the right to bear arms and should be unconstitutional. The history of atrocities by people of this nature is long, even in the United States. Although this article is not about labor it is easy to find correlations between subjects and to fear for the future in a world where the rich are armed and the rest are not- at least not as well armed. If you want me to look up exactly how much money is being generated in the private security business I guess that is my next step then I could look up how much money is being generated fighting labor then your above statement questioning my statement will be answered. But I have neither the time nor the inclination at this moment to look those figures up to continue this debate. Maybe later. |
keep us safe, Stone, 2/4/2010 7:47:13 PM
RE: keep us safe, Bridgier, 2/5/2010 8:38:26 AM
- MT