• cygnus@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      25 days ago

      Work and ownership are not the same. If I hire a plumber to fix something in my house, does he become a part owner of it?

      • queermunist she/her
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        25 days ago

        If you hire a plumber, you do it as a customer and not an employer. Quite a difference!

        A customer pays the full value of the purchase, the plumber is the one in charge and charges as much as possible. That’s how they make profit. That’s why you still own your toilet, the plumber already got the full value they were owed.

        An employer never pays the full value, though! The employer, as the one in charge, pays as little as possible. They pockst the difference as profit. That means the employees are always cheated out of the full value of their labor, they are never paid what they are actually worth.

        • cygnus@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          25 days ago

          A customer pays the full value of the purchase, the plumber is the one in charge and charges as much as possible.

          Except here we’re talking about ownership/shares, not payment for labour. Many in this thread are outraged that not every employee of Broadcast owned shares, and the implication is that as soon as you work for someone, you should receive a share. My plumber example still stands. Should he get a “share” of my house, even though I already paid him for his labour, as Cuban paid his employees?

          An employer never pays the full value, though! The employer, as the one in charge, pays as little as possible.

          Again,we’re talking about shares, not labour. For all you know Cuban was drawing zero salary from the company. The two are completely different. You’re all so doctrinaire that you can’t mentally distinguish labour versus ownership of a thing.

          • queermunist she/her
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            edit-2
            25 days ago

            Your plumber doesn’t own a share of your toilet because you actually paid them what they are worth, because they can demand it from you. They have all the power in that relationship.

            No employee is ever paid what they are worth. They can’t be, if they were then the company could never make a profit. That’s literally where profit comes from - it’s all surplus value created by the workers. Hence, they should get a share of the company.

              • queermunist she/her
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                3
                ·
                edit-2
                24 days ago

                And who got the profit from that sale?

                So the company never operated at a profit - it was profitable in the end, was it not? And who created all of that profit? Who sacrificed for the company and were never paid what they were worth to make it good enough to sell in the first place?

                • cygnus@lemmy.ca
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  24 days ago

                  So if I sell my house at a loss because I’m inept, the plumber should get an even bigger share of the sale money?

                  • queermunist she/her
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    arrow-down
                    3
                    ·
                    24 days ago

                    The plumber was already paid the full value he was worth because the power dynamics are entirely different.

                    A company that can’t turn a profit isn’t doing so because it’s paying the workers the full value of their labor. That’s absurd. Is that what you think happened? Do you think the workers were being paid such extravagant wages that the company couldn’t profit?

                    Obviously not. Why do you think the company became valueable enough to buy in the first place? It took the stolen surplus value created by the workers and reinvested into itself over-and-over, becoming a valuable company even if it couldn’t turn a profit. No one would buy a company because it’s worthless. They do it because it’s valuable, and all the value comes from the workers.