In that Mr. Stoller is too "busy" to answer you in detail (no doubt kept frantic by his ceaseless efforts to stamp out the evils of capitalism, etc.), I thought I might direct a few questions to you, Gee:1) If I am a ‘moving man’, am I a ‘worker’? All I do is arrange for the movement of goods.
2) If I call myself an ‘economic opportunity researcher’, rather than an employer, do I suddenly become a service employee, i.e. a worker?
3) If I go get a haircut, does the barber exploit my ‘surplus wealth’ if he sells the hair clippings? Or is he insulated by the fact that I’ve paid him for the service?
4) If I have a factory that turns plastics and silicon into electronic equipment, all the workers there are ‘exploited’ by me, de facto. The workers, incensed at the thought, strike, making my company unprofitable. I then close shop. Does the subsequent reserve of unprocessed plastics and silicon retain the value of their potential? Or do they become lumps of junk?
Then, of course, there is that critical question: Is Marx an idiot … or what?
One element I can agree with. It is most certainly time to move past this alchemical theory of economics, and onto bigger and better things. One simply doesn’t have enough time in the day.
"Doc" Cruel
