Reflections From a Murky Pond

It’s a hard truth that most won’t conscious accept and all the Socialist sorts will violently deny that it is the work that is worth the wage, not the worker. No worker has any intrinsic value, on their work does. And, Ladies, Gentlemen, and Leftists, this is true for exactly 100% of us, irrespective of what sort of labor we perform or for whom.

And yes, that sucks! Then, more often than not, the objective truth sucks for somebody because they’re on the down side of it.

It’s truly simple. It’s the work you do – the product you produce or the service you provide – that has value to the consumer and, hence to the business, be it your employer or your own business. You, yourself are worthless in this equation; you have no value. You are replaceable, either by another worker or, as is more and more common, by an automated process.

But remember, as I said, this applies to all of us. This is totally equal and egalitarian, spanning both genders, all races, and all social classes.

If what you do and the amount of it you do isn’t worth both your wage and your amortized share of materials costs and overhead, you won’t be likely to have a wage anymore. And, by “wage” I do mean your total compensation package, every single dime that an employer has to spend upon you. Your employer – or you, if you own your own business – has to be able to sell the fruits of your labor for enough more than the fully-weighted cost of producing or providing it to make it worth doing so in the first place. Or the business will fail and you will have no wage.

Honestly, this is Economics 101R, but it seems to need to be taught again, and again, and again, because way too many people have serious and deep-seated illusions of worth.

But, and this is both a big and important but, a worker’s work may have more value than the employer either knows or is willing to admit in the absence of force. The effects upon both prices and profits at McDonald’s indicates that some employers can bear to pay more for the work their employees provide.

So, the correct way of thinking is what ones work is actually worth, not pretending that one as a worker has intrinsic worth in a business context.

Tags: America | Democrats | Economics | Employers | Employment | Liberals | Progressives | Socialism | Socialists | Society | Truth | Workers

This entry was posted on Monday, July 25th, 2022 at 8:30 am and is filed under Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Meetings, normally via Skype or Zoom, are the one bit of corporate interpersonal interaction left for many in these ongoing months of the COVID-19 pandemic panic. They’re important! So, remember to change out of your new-normal businesswear and into your approved meeting attire. 😆

Tags: America | Business | Coronavirus | Corporations | COVID-19 | Employers | Employment | Fashion | Future Shock | Humor | Meetings | Sarcasm | Social Distancing | Society | Telecommuting | Work | Workplace

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 5th, 2020 at 11:15 am and is filed under Humor, Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Yeah, we can all forget about suits and ties. We can say goodbye to sport coats or blazers with a button-down shirt and slacks. We’ll even need to leave our polo shirts and chinos in the closet. The days of the various businesswear dress codes are over.

Yes, the new businesswear for Coronavirus and beyond is and will be pajamas, a comfy robe, and slippers. There’s no point in anything, given that telecommuting / remote work is currently “required” for most people and that is not going to change even after the panic over this disease fades in favor of the media’s next trick.

This Is Our New “Reality”

Don’t expect things to go back to how they were before. This is our new normal. There may be a short term rush back to the office, but it won’t last for most of us. We’ll fairly quickly be heading back home to telecommute.

Companies in several verticals have now learned that they can have mostly remote workers and they’ll quickly realize that it is cheaper and more profitable to continue this.

And there’s even the perfect, recurring rationale for it. COVID-19 is functionally “just” a severe seasonal flu. So, next year’s flu season has just as much “need” for self-quarantining, social distancing, and sheltering in place to some extent. The seasonal flu does, after all, kill 12,000 – 61,000 Americans every year and hospitalizes another 140,000 – 810,000.

So yeah, better for the companies’ bottom line and easily rationalized as a responsible and compassionate course of action. Get used to your jammies, robe, and slippers, my friends. 😉

Tags: America | Business | Coronavirus | Corporations | COVID-19 | Employers | Employment | Fashion | Future Shock | Humor | Sarcasm | Social Distancing | Society | Telecommuting | Work | Workplace

This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2020 at 9:52 am and is filed under Humor, Society. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.