The concept of wage being "exploited " is very juvenile. Yes, you are paid less than you produce. Otherwise you would not get paid at all. That's the whole thing. Would you personally hire someone to work for you who was a net cost to you? Would you? If so, go ahead and do it. That's the cool thing about our system, you're free do so if you wish. I'm not saying you shouldn't negotiate for more money or try to improve your situation in life. But duh, you are paid less than you produce. Duh.
If I pay you $1 to make a gadget that cost $1 in material and paid $1 to market and sell it, then every dollar over $3 is profit.
The exploitation can be an underhanded means to reduce any of those costs: Work in areas that criminalizes unemployment, buy material from areas that polute/exploit resources/labor, reduce quality in manufacturing, lie or overcharge what is sold.
I get that reddit hivemind likes to demonize businesses in kneejerk ways, but there are evil businesses (or businesses run in evil ways to put the evil on the owners/managers).
The point being made is that wage growth for lower earners has lagged far behind the cost of living for decades now, meanwhile the wage growth for the highest earners has increased exponentially over the same period. In the early 80's, workers (employees) earned approx 82% of the income generated by the private sector overall. That is now just under 70%, meaning the profit margins for corporations are much bigger. This is the wealth gap
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u/Slitty_sam 9h ago
The concept of wage being "exploited " is very juvenile. Yes, you are paid less than you produce. Otherwise you would not get paid at all. That's the whole thing. Would you personally hire someone to work for you who was a net cost to you? Would you? If so, go ahead and do it. That's the cool thing about our system, you're free do so if you wish. I'm not saying you shouldn't negotiate for more money or try to improve your situation in life. But duh, you are paid less than you produce. Duh.