You're viewing a single thread.
Stakeholder of a variety of agriculture and food manufacturing corporations here.
How 'bout nah? I'd rather make a profit and let the government also buy food from me to feed the needy if the government wants to do that this election cycle.
You're perpetuating a system that causes 9 million deaths per year.
I'm pepetuating a system that feeds billions
Food is produced through agriculture.
Food produced through agriculture within capitalist society is distributed such that some have plenty while others are needlessly deprived.
So let's get some food stamp programs going. Idk what else to tell you
No one needs your advice.
You already conceded you have no wish to make any contribution to society.
Workers would be fine without parasites like you.
You think we're different 😂
I am not a parasite boasting about my blood sucking.
It's the government's responsibility to feed the people that elected them. This is not the responsibility of producers. Producers have a right to make money from their work.
Let me repeat myself. Profit seeking in agribusiness kills 9 million people per year.
How and where?
Everywhere, you dimwit
How are they dying? Is it due to issues in quality control? Worker safety? Or are you attributing world hunger deaths to the agricultural industry? Big numbers are cool, but they're awesome when they are elaborated.
Starvation, numbnuts.
People are dying of starvation.
Try to follow along. I know it's hard, but please try.
That's caused by things much bigger than the food industry. This has its roots deep in human psyche.
The uncomfortable truth is that we are all responsible for the food crisis. Inaction is the biggest cause.
Only by changing global and local policies will we begin to solve this.
Your method for changing them is yours to choose. History has shown a myriad of options. All stem from individuals teaming up, deciding a course of action and acting on it.
The first step to teaming up is learning social skills. Calling people names is very detrimental. Especially the people who might join you.
Food production and distribution is controlled through an immense concentration of power.
The food industry has no social value if not to prevent needless suffering and death from food not being available to everyone.
The current system is lacking any social legitimacy. It exists for profit, not people.
The problem is the system, not "the human psyche".
You were called names because you continue to make objections that are inane and obstructive.
If you support the right of money to be earned by work, then why do support private owners claiming profit, by depriving workers of the full value generated by their labor?
Is profit not antagonist to the values you espouse?
What is the full value of a workers labor?
The value of products realized at the point of sale, minus the costs of (non-labor) inputs and operating expenses, is the value generated by the labor of workers in a business.
If a business is privately owned for the profit of its owners, then the profit is a share of the value generated by the workers, but claimed by owners, who contribute no labor toward generating the value.
Suppose there is a a construction company that wins a million dollar contract to build parking lots. How should the owner compensate workers? What about subcontractors and suppliers?
I am not offering anyone business advice.
That's a common issue with arguments like this: no plan for implementation.
In life, it's easy to point out the problems. Much harder to develop solutions, even harder to implement them.
Don't do what is easy, play on hard mode. Play to win
Your objection is dishonest.
I never expressed any intention to implement a construction company.
You asked how someone else ought to implement a construction company.
What answer might you expect, other than it's not my business?
You see, business is private, not public. Your question is meaningless with respect to the context, of supporting the public interest.
Farmers where I come from are generally the owner and the worker. They already get the "full" value generated.
Funnily enough due to the government paying them, this allows the manufacturers and stores to drive down the price of goods (when bought from the producer).
The main idea behind this was to drive down the value of goods for the consumer and to ensure the EU produces food locally, but it has created an ugly transfer of wealth where manufacturers and stores now earn more. Consumer barely sees the difference.
So most likely something should change for manufacture and vendors as well if the system was to be made fair.
Locking prices for manufacture and vendors is not a thing. Giving subsidies to them will stifle competition.
Agriculture subsidies do help producers compete with China, US and other outside markets, but at the cost of reward for labor.
I think the system is not oppressive, but it certainly is not fair. Issues crop up in the middle of the value chain and there are no easy solutions.
If farmers produce food by working lands they own, then they are not being exploited by land owners.
However, as you observe, under our currrent systems, the value they realize from their labor is determined by food prices, as resolved by markets through which food is commodified.
Businesses that exploit workers also participate in commodity food markets.
Thus, as long as food is produced by profiting from worker exploitation, and is exchanged through commodity markets, all food production and distribution is bound to the profit motive, and therefore subject to distortion away from satisfaction of human need for survival and flourishing.
I believe practices such as the one you describe, in principle may serve to mitigate some such distortions, and to advance the interests of the working class.
Unfortunately, EU states, as other states around the world, have now fallen under neoliberalism, which simply exacerbates the wealth transfer from workers to large owners that is already inevitable as a structural consequence of relations under capitalist production and distribution.
Now, you have not answered my question.
Is profit not antagonist to the values you espouse?
Yeah, EU is slipping. We need to pay attention to the flaws that we've been introducing.
I don't find profit to be an inherent antagonist. I believe that workers (even CEOs) need to be rewarded for good work. This is where profit comes in. Without profit there can be no pay rises when job experience and responsibilities increase.
Unchecked profits on the other hand... This comes in many shapes. Tax havens and top-heavy distribution of profit spring to mind immediately. These are counter-intuitive.
It is acceptable for the company owners to receive most profit as they have taken the largest risks in terms of capital. However, things like inheritance, bonuses and stock options can distort the degree of risk taken. A newly-hired megacorp CEO will not have taken significant monetary risk relative to the founder.
Systems should be in place to reduce unfair wealth distribution. Eg. Stock options should be given to the entire company workforce rather than just the top dogs. Annual bonuses should apply to all.
Profit-seeking drives innovation and efficiency. These to me are good values as we look for incentives to fight climate change or improving working conditions. Obviously legislation must follow suit and ensure it provides structures that encourage this while protecting people from skewed power hierarchies.
Profit is not pay for work.
Profit is the share of value removed from wages, that is, removed from pay given to workers, who provide the labor that generated the value in a business, by business owners, who contribute no labor for generating the value in the business.
Profit is generally speaking invested back into the business. This manifests in various forms. You hire more staff next year, increase pay of existing staff, buy repairs, invest in new tools and so forth.
Sure some profit is paid to stock owners in dividends, however this stock was bought from the company at some point. In exchange the company had received money to sustain its workforce and business. It is a fair exchange for the risk the investor was willing to take.
Profit isn't a boogieman.
Stock is not bought from a business, and purchases of stock, and making an investment, are not acts of providing funds to a business.
You are expressing a misconception, by representing a business as an autonomous entity, separate from its owners, and in a relationship with them.
A business cannot benefit separately from its owners.
A business is simply that which is owned by its owners.
A business benefits from being purchased by its owners no more than your shoes benefit from being purchased by you.
Business exists for one reason only, profit.
The profit motive is the driving force behind every business, and distorts and constrains all possibility within it.
You're only thinking of very large businesses. Not all companies are on the stockmarket. Numerically, most are not.
All stock originates from the business. Even big business. It was all bought from it at some point. If you don't know how stocks work, please go read. It'll help you understand.
A business benefits greatly from being bought. Many fledgling companies get funded by investors buying stock. Often these investors will also act as advisors and critical connections to the company's target markets. This helps companies grow enough to be able to provide jobs which generate more wealth.
Publicly traded companies still experience similar benefits even though at this point most stock gets traded. However, public trading can increase company value. Increase in company value gives possibilities where they might dilute the value of stock by creating more. There are many methods for this, which I don't have the energy to teach you.
However, the process of creating and selling these stocks acts as a cash injection for company.
If you want to dismantle or regulate this system, you better learn how it is built. Not knowing about this will not do anyone any favours. Your ignorance makes you complicit.
Know your enemy.