One sociopolitical issue where I am relatively progressive (at least on the American political spectrum) is when it comes to the rights and interests of workers. I support unions. I support at least many of the legal protections employees have in the United States and believe there are more we should have. I do think regulation (to a point) is necessary because one party is always going to have far more power than the other, and history demonstrates the ill effects of this.
I do believe that generally free markets are important because it is the best way to generate the wealth for society that is necessary to keep everyone fed and out of poverty. But this is for practical reasons, not due to a pure, ideological commitment to the free market.
That said, one value that I hold dear is one that is truly non-partisan, but also one that unfortunately is increasingly becoming considered a conservative value (to the extent that anyone still values it at all). This value is sound, logical analysis apart from one's interests and emotions. It is the value of critical thinking.
This matters so much to me, in no small part, because of the human element to it. Poor thinking leads to bad outcomes that genuinely hurt people. It's not that I care about theoreticals over flesh and blood humans. It is specifically because I care so much about flesh and blood humans that I believe we need to think through these things clearly. People adopting what feels right and kind without caring about the actual result leads to far more suffering and heartache in the end.
The Meme of the Exploited Machinist
The meme below is a bit old, from a deleted page on Mastodon (reposted on Reddit), but the general message behind it still pops up on social media today. Its message, and my response to it, illustrates this concept.
At first glance, this situation seems quite exploitative. Obviously the owner of the business needs a share in the wealth too. And given that they take most of the risks, they should be entitled to more reward as well. But this comes across as such an absurd, extreme situation that this appears to be an act of downright abuse towards this employee (I'm guessing that he's a machinist of some sort). The employee only gets 1/1000th (or 0.1%) of the fruits of his labor? That is unconscionable.
...Or it would be unconscionable, if not for the fact that this meme ignores many relevant factors. And pointing out relevant factors is neither oppression nor word salad. Rather, it is necessary if you care about truth and righteousness at all.
Why These Numbers Are So Deceptive?
The meme has the implicit and obviously false assumption that the employee is entirely responsible for the creation of these rings (I'm not entirely sure what they are). But there are so many resources and so much labor involved in manufacturing beyond the labor of the one employee who assembles the final product.
- The machinist isn't God, so the metal and other raw materials had to come from somewhere.
The metal had to be mined. Other raw materials involved had to be procured. There was, no doubt, some level of processing beyond that before it even hit the factory. For example, if he can crank out 3,000 of those per hour, then he certainly was working with metal that had already been melted down and refined by metallurgists. Transportation workers (e.g. cargo pilots, truck drivers) also had to deliver all of that material tot he factory (which means more labor, fuel, vehicle wear and tear on their vehicles...).
- The machinist isn't just shaping and smoothing out those metal rings with his bare hands.
And if he is making 3,000 units per hour, the process has to be relatively automated. That means he needs not only expensive tools but also very expensive equipment that the owners paid for. Those machines, of course, also took a lot of material resources and labor to produce.
- There are many indirect costs to running a factory/machine shop.
While these costs cannot be 100% traced directly to the production of those rings (that's why they are called "indirect" costs), they still are necessary for those rings to be produced. Some share of the factory's electricity, water, mortgage/rent, machine maintenance and repairs, insurance, management salaries (at least some managers are needed), taxes, and more are all part of what goes into creating those rings.
You don't need to work in cost accounting and business finance like I do in order to be aware of these realities.
The machinist is one step and one part of creating that final product. His labor is not the be all, end all.
If the disparity were anything at all like this meme presents, then the owner of even a small machine shop would be living in a solid gold house.
Not All Wealth Disparity Is Excessive or Unjust
Of course, this does not mean that there is no disparity between how much money the worker makes versus how much the owners make. And that disparity may be excessive. I am vehemently opposed to socialism but I do acknowledge that as income inequality grows too large, it never bodes well for a society.
That said, there will always be some disparity. There needs to be. It is the principle of risk versus reward that exists in all areas of life. To take a risk, one must have the potential for reward. And the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward has to be for someone to be willing to take the risk.
Opening a business takes a lot of effort and at least some risk. If a business owner is going to pay all those costs above and more, all without a guaranteed wage and or a guarantee that they will even make their money back, then there needs to be the potential of at least a reasonably large reward. So long as the business operates, the machinist gets paid his wages whether the company makes money or loses money. The owner/owners don't have that kind of security.
For businesses to exist, they must have the potential of making more money if the company does well or else it isn't worth it. Otherwise, the owner would just go work for another company as an employee - at least until every owner closes shop and there are no more jobs at all.
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