In todays article we are calling out the daily wire and their affiliate. The daily wire has proven that they do not have our best interests at heart, for they are blatantly lying to us. Recently I came across an article on the daily wire’s website entitled:
“5 Statistics Showing How Capitalism Solves Poverty” written by a Mr. Aaron Bandler that I would like to respond to as this article serves only to domesticate the proletariat.
He begins the article by claiming that capitalism does in fact “solve” poverty and that advocating otherwise is asinine. Mr. Bandler demonizes a Mr. Jesse Singal for stating “I actually do think "poverty can be solved through capitalism" is a pretty heinous view. Capitalism is not designed to do that.”
Mr. Bandler continues by claiming that Mr. Signal lacks a proper understanding about free market capitalism. How insulting considering Mr. Signal is speaking truth, capitalism is not designed to end poverty. I do believe Mr. Bandler knows the facts of the matter, and I do believe Mr. Bandler is intentionally trying to mislead us as capitalism, in fact, relies on poverty and unemployment. Capitalism uses the fear of unemployment and the fear of poverty as a whip in its hand to compel us, the proletariat, into working long hours for little pay.
Alexander Berkman puts it quite well in chapter five of his book what is communist anarchism. “I am glad your friend asked the question, for every workingman realises how important this matter of unemployment is to him. You know what your life is when you are out of work; and when you do have a job, how the fear of losing it hangs over you. You are also aware what a danger the standing army of unemployed is to you when you are out on strike for better conditions. You know that strikebreakers are enlisted from the unemployed whom capitalism always keeps on hand, to help break your strike.
‘How does capitalism keep the unemployed on hand?’ you ask.
Simply by compelling you to work long hours and as hard as possible, so as to produce the greatest amount.
All the modern schemes of ‘efficiency’, the Taylor and other systems of ‘economy’ and ‘rationalization’ serve only to squeeze greater profits out of the worker. It is economy in the interest of the employer only. But as concerns you, the worker, this ‘economy’ spells the greatest expenditure of your effort and energy, a fatal waste of your vitality.
It pays the employer to use up and exploit your strength and ability at the highest tension. True, it ruins your health and breaks down your nervous system, makes you a prey to illness and disease (there are even special proletarian diseases), cripples you and brings you to an early grave — but what does your boss care? Are there not thousands of unemployed waiting for your job and ready to take it the moment you are disabled or dead?
That is why it is to the profit of the capitalist to keep an army of unemployed ready at hand. It is part and parcel of the wage system, a necessary and inevitable characteristic of it.
It is in the interest of the people that there should be no unemployed, that all should have an opportunity to work and earn their living; that all should help, each according to his ability and strength, to increase the wealth of the country, so that each should be able to have a greater share of it.
But capitalism is not interested in the welfare of the people. Capitalism, as I have shown before, is interested only in profits. By employing less people and working them long hours larger profits can be made than by giving work to more people at shorter hours.
That is why it is to the interest of your employer, for instance, to have 100 people work 10 hours daily rather than to employ 200 at 5 hours. He would need more room for 200 than for 100 persons — a larger factory, more tools and machinery, and so on. That is, he would require a greater investment of capital. The employment of a larger force at less hours would bring less profits, and that is why your boss will not run his factory or shop on such a plan.
Which means that a system of profit-making is not compatible with considerations of humanity and the well-being of the workers. On the contrary, the harder and more ‘efficiently’ you work and the longer hours you stay at it, the better for your employer and the greater his profits.
You can therefore see that capitalism is not interested in employing all those who want and are able to work. On the contrary: a minimum of ‘hands’ and a maximum of effort is the principle and the profit of the capitalist system. This is the whole secret of all ‘rationalization’ schemes. And that is why you will find thousands of people in every capitalist country willing and anxious to work, yet unable to get employment. This army of unemployed is a constant threat to your standard of living. They are ready to take your place at lower pay, because necessity compels them to it.
That is, of course, very advantageous to the boss: it is a whip in his hands constantly held over you, so you will slave hard for him and ‘behave’ yourself.
You can see for yourself how dangerous and degrading such a situation is for the worker, not to speak of the other evils of the system.
‘Then why not do away with unemployment?’ you demand.
Yes, it would be fine to do away with it. But it could be accomplished only by doing away with the capitalist system and its wage slavery. As long as you have capitalism — or any other system of labor exploitation and profit-making — you will have unemployment. Capitalism can’t exist without it: it is inherent in the wage system. It is the fundamental condition of successful capitalist production. ‘Why?’
Because the capitalist industrial system does not produce for the needs of the people; it produces for profit. Manufacturers do not produce commodities because the people want them and as much of them as is required. They produce what they expect to sell, and sell at a profit.”
As capitalism cannot “solve” poverty and unemployment for they are the capitalists greatest tools of exploitation what Mr. Bandler is really saying is that he believes capitalism “solves” poverty and unemployment by using the fear of such as a whip to compel the proletariat into wage slavery. Mr. Bandler is claiming that he believes capitalism is a success because it has “solved” poverty by exploiting an even greater number of toilers between 1970-2006.
As opposed to solving poverty and unemployment by eradicating wage slavery and compulsion by offering all the opportunity to work together like brothers and sisters as to ensure that the needs and wants of our communities are being produced.
I remain skeptical that Mr. Singal is the one lacking an understanding of free market capitalism as Mr. Bandler has demonstrated he is suffering from doublethink in regard to capitalism solving poverty and unemployment.
Mr. Bandler then has the audacity to remind us that we are using the products of capitalism to condemn capitalism, as if the advancement of technological development justifies the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalist class? As if planned obsolescence, also a creation of capitalism, is not inherent in their design? What point he is poorly attempting to make with this statement is lost on me.
Free market capitalism has literally done more to eradicate the freedom of the proletariat than any other socioeconomic system. Ever. Free market capitalism has literally done more to domesticate the proletariat than any other socioeconomic system. Ever. Free market capitalism has literally done more to generationally oppress the proletariat than any other socioeconomic system. Ever.
"1. The number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide declined by 80 percent from 1970 to 2006. People living on a dollar a day or less dramatically fell from 26.8 percent of the global population in 1970 to 5.4 percent in 2006 – an 80 percent decline. It is a truly remarkable achievement that doesn’t receive a lot of media coverage because it highlights the success of capitalism.“It was globalization, free trade, the boom in international entrepreneurship,” American Enterprise Institute (AEI) president Arthur Brooks said in a 2012 speech. “In short, it was the free enterprise system, American style, which is our gift to the world.”
Wage slavery is our gift to the world? What a shameful legacy to hand down to the next generations. Are you not insulted to the point of disgust by this blatant domesticative propaganda? Mr. Bandler would have us believe that the exploitation of the previously impoverished proletariat’s labor demonstrates the success of capitalism, that the exploitation of a greater number of proletariat is something to be celebrated. Something to be perpetuated, encouraged, and condoned.
For context the average man today works about 9 hours a day and the average woman today works about 8 1/2 hours per day.
*Germany-27.7% decrease in hours worked yearly from 1970-2006.
*Australia-8% decrease in hours worked yearly from 1970-2006.
*France-22.4% decrease in hours worked yearly from 1970-2006.
*U.S.A.- 5.4% decrease in hours worked yearly from 1970-2006.
*Belgium- 16.7% decrease in hours worked yearly from 1970-2006.
*United Kingdom-11% decrease in hours worked yearly from 1970-2006.
*Sweden- 6.3% decrease in hours worked yearly from 1970-2006.
In 1886 the proletariat went on strike to demand humane working conditions. Believing they should be working no longer than 8 hours daily. The following is part of an interview by Albert R. Parsons printed in the Chicago Daily News, March 13, 1886 “The movement to reduce the work-hours is intended by its projectors to give a peaceful solution to the difficulties between the capitalists and laborers. I have always held that there were two ways to settle this trouble, either by peaceable means or violent methods. Reduced hours, or eight-hours, is the peace-offering. Fewer hours mean more pay. Reduced hours is the only measure of economic reform which consults the interests of the laborers as consumers.
Now, this means a higher standard of living for the producers, which can only be acquired by possessing and consuming a larger share of their own product. This would diminish the profits of the labor exploiters.”
By 1912 the proletariat advocated for a five hour work day. “Of course the eight-hour day is as antiquated as the craft unions themselves. Today, we should be agitating for a five-hour work day, or six at the most, but the IWW, I presume, has taken up the eight-hour cause on the principle that we must not get too far away from those we wish to influence or our labors are wasted.” The Eight-Hour Strike of 1886 by Lucy E. Parsons.
As early as 1929 the proletariat could justify agitating for a work day no longer than 3 hours. What Mr. Bandler has failed to mention, and I suspect intentionally so, is that it was statistically proven in 1929 that the proletariat should only be working 3 hours a day or less. “It can be statistically proven that three hours’ work a day, at most, is sufficient to feed, shelter, and clothe the world and supply it not only with necessities but also with all modern comforts of life. The point is that not one man in five is to-day doing any productive work. The entire world is supported by a small minority of toilers.” What is communist anarchism by Alexander Berkman.
Nearly a hundred years ago the proletariat should have seen a 70% reduction of the hours of their daily toil. This reality is intentional ignored in this article because it totally destroys the fiction that Mr. Bandler is attempting to domesticate the proletariat with. This reality proves that Capitalism is, in fact, not a success.
Today the proletariat are working for $7.25 per hour on minimum wage. One can expect to make $65.25 per day for a 9 hour shift. In order to make $65.25 in 3 hours we should be making a minimum wage of $21.75. That is a 200% increase in pay. This reality proves that Capitalism is, in fact, not a success.
2. Poverty worldwide included 94 percent of the world’s population in 1820. In 2011, it was only 17 percent. What is even more incredible is that the global poverty rate was 53 percent in 1981, causing the decline from 53 percent to 17 percent to be “the most rapid reduction in poverty in world history.” “Since the onset of industrialisation – and as a consequence of this, economic growth — the share of people living in poverty started decreasing and kept on falling ever since,” wrote Oxford University’s Martin Roeser, who compiled the aforementioned data.
In other words what this statistic means is that the most rapid increase of the exploitation of the previously impoverished’s labor happened between 1981 and 2011. To reiterate my previous point poverty and unemployment are a direct result of capitalism as capitalism does not care to produce what is wanted and needed by our communities. Capitalism only cares to produce what is expected to be sold at a profit, using the fear of poverty and unemployment as tools to exploite the proletariat’s labor.
Alexander Berkman’s what is communist anarchism continues to shed light on this reality. “If we had a sensible system, we would produce the things which the people want and the quantity they need.Suppose the inhabitants of a certain locality needed 1,000 pairs of shoes; and suppose we’d have 50 shoemakers for the job. Then in 20 hours work those shoemakers would produce the shoes our community needs.
But the shoemaker of to-day does not know and does not care how many pairs of shoes are needed. Thousands of people may need new shoes in your city, but they cannot afford to buy them. So what good is it to the manufacturer to know who needs shoes? What he wants to know is who can buy the shoes he makes: how many pairs he can sell at a profit.
What happens? Well, he will manufacture about as many pairs of shoes as he thinks he will be able to sell. He will try his best to produce them as cheaply and sell them as dearly as he can, so as to make a good profit. He will therefore employ as few workers as possible to manufacture the quantity of shoes he wants, and he will have them work as ‘efficiently’ and hard as he can compel them to.
You see that production for profit means longer hours and fewer persons employed than would be the case if production were for use. Capitalism is the system of production for profit, and that is why capitalism always must have unemployed.”
By what standard are you claiming these people were impoverished in 1820? If the standard Mr. bandler is using to claim one is impoverished is that they live on less than $1 of American currency per day is it logical to claim that 94% of the worlds population lived in poverty in 1820 when American currency in 1820 to 1857 included foreign coins? I think not.
“Before gold and silver were discovered in the West in the mid-1800s, the United States lacked a sufficient quantity of precious metals for minting coins. Thus, a 1793 law permitted Spanish dollars and other foreign coins to be part of the American monetary system. Foreign coins were not banned as legal tender until 1857.” 8 Things You May Not Know About American Money Christopher Klein UPDATED:AUG 22, 2018ORIGINAL:FEB 25, 2013 https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-american-money
Can you now see how desperately Mr. Bandler attempts to twist these statistics as to domesticate us, the proletariat? In the words of Alexander Berkman ”You see, then, that it is to the interests of capital to keep the workers from understanding that they are wage slaves. The ‘identity of interests’ swindle is one of the means of doing it.
But it is not only the capitalist who is interested in thus duping the workers. All those who profit by wage slavery are interested in keeping up the system, and all of them naturally try to prevent the workers from understanding the situation.”
3. Globally, those in the lower and middle income brackets saw increases in pay of 40 percent from 1988 to 2008. According to the Adam Smith’s Institute’s Ben Southwood: Those in the middle and bottom of the world income distribution have all got pay rises of around 40% between 1988-2008. Global inequality of life expectancy and height are narrowing too – showing better nutrition and better healthcare where it matters most. What we should care about is the welfare of the poor, not the wealth of the rich.
What this statistic fails to take into consideration is that the labor saving technological developments over that 20 year period that have allowed the proletariat to produce more in the same amount of time. Thereby increasing the profits of their employers. “The employers keep the factories, the machinery, tools and goods for themselves as their profit. The workers get only wages.
This arrangement is called the wage system. Learned men have figured out that the worker receives as his wage only about one-tenth of what he produces…. What is left then — one-tenth of the real worth of the worker’s labor — is his share, his wage.
Can you guess now why the wise Proudhon said that the possessions of the rich are stolen property?Stolen from the producer, the worker.”
Mr. Bandler am I to believe these people received a proper portion of the fruits of their labor because their pay increased by 40% while inflation increased 82.57%?
As Alexander Berman put it in chapter eleven of his book what is communist anarchism “But how about the increased cost of living in the meantime? Because you are not only a producer, you are also a consumer. And when you go to buy things you will find that they are more expensive than before. Higher wages mean increased cost of living. Because what the employer loses by paying you a greater wage he gets back again by raising the price of his product.
You can see, then, that the whole idea of higher wages is in reality very misleading. It makes the worker think that he is actually better off when he gets more pay, but the fact is — so far as the whole working class is concerned — that whatever the worker gains by higher wages he loses as a consumer, and in the long run the situation remains the same. At the end of a year of ‘higher wages’ the worker has no more than after a year of ‘lower wages.’ Sometimes he is even worse off, because the cost of living increases much faster than wages.”
As evidence by the fact that inflations increased by 82.57% while wage only increased by 40% from 1988 to 2008.
4. The world is 120 times better off today than in 1800 as a result of capitalism. The Foundation for Economic Education’s (FEE) Steven Horwtiz, citing author Deidre McCloskey, noted that the 120 times figure comes from multiplying “the gains in consumption to the average human by the gain in life expectancy worldwide by 7 (for 7 billion as compared to 1 billion people).” “The competitive market process has also made education, art, and culture available to more and more people,” wrote Horwitz. “Even the poorest of Americans, not to mention many of the global poor, have access through the Internet and TV to concerts, books, and works of art that were exclusively the province of the wealthy for centuries.” Horwitz added capitalism has also resulted in people spending “a much smaller percentage of our lives working for pay” due to the increased value of labor and has produced higher life expectancy “by decades.”
Capitalism has absolutely not “resulted in people spending “a much smaller percentage of our lives working for pay”. What an insulting claim considering that if we had the righteous conditions our elders proved possible, the righteous conditions our elders have fought and died in vain for, we would be working only three hours daily for at least $21.75 per hour. Certainly we are given less than one-tenth of what we produce for the current working conditions are far worse than we know.
The labor saving technology developed over the last century has not served to reduce to toil of the proletariat to under eight hours daily, truly it has served only to increase the profit of the capitalists. The proletariat’s development of labor saving technological advancements over the last century does not justify the exploitation of the proletariat’s labor by the capitalist class. Do not be fooled, the capitalists do not have our best interests at heart.
5. Mortality rates for children under the age of five declined by 49 percent from 1990 to 2013. This is according to World Health Organization (WHO) data, a decline termed “faster than ever.” Capitalism results in lower child mortality rates by producing better access to medicine and standards of living. In sum, the wealth and innovation spurred by capitalism has done more to help the poor than any government program ever could. Singal is simply wrong to suggest that “capitalism is not designed” to solve poverty.
Would it also be wrong to suggest that because capitalism compels us to produce only what is expected to sell for profits if we all instead worked together like brothers and sisters as to produce the needs and wants of our communities we would reduce the infant mortality rate significantly more than capitalism ever could? To reiterate my previous point The advancement of technological development does not justify the exploitation of the proletariat’s labor.
Mr. Bandler is simply wrong to suggest that we can better provide for the needs and wants of our communities by allowing the capitalist class to continue to exploit our labor. Mr. Bandler is simply wrong to suggest that capitalism can solve poverty.
The world being handed to my generation is a steaming pile of rotten garbage to say the least. Over a century ago our elders organized as to offer a peaceable means to resolve our wage slavery. As the capitalists have proven that they will not accept a peaceable means, as the capitalists have proven they’ll resort to a violent means to silence those advocating a peaceable resolution, are we not left with only one option? A violent method?
The capitalists have left us no choice but to use force to defending ourselves for we must not let our elders sacrifices be in vain, we must not allow the capitalists to silence us into submission. We mustn’t allow the domestication of the proletariat to continue. If we continue to stand idly by while this oppression, this evil, runs rampant we will be just as responsible for said oppression.
I’d like to leave you with a final quote from what is communist anarchism by Alexander Berkman.
“But the new laws leave men as they are, and conditions remain, on the whole, the same. Since capitalism and wage slavery began, millions of laws have been passed, but capitalism and wage slavery still remain. The truth is, all the laws serve only to make capitalism stronger and perpetuate the workers’ subjection. It is the business of the politician, the ‘science of politics’, to make you believe that the law protects you and your interests, while it merely serves to keep up the system which robs, dupes, and enslaves you in body and mind.
All the institutions of society have this one object in view: to instil in you respect for law and government, to awe you with its authority and sanctity, and thus support the social framework which rests upon your ignorance and your obedience. The whole secret of the thing is that the masters want to keep their stolen possessions. Law and government are the means by which they do it.”
Cited sources:
8 Things You May Not Know About American Money Christopher Klein UPDATED:AUG 22, 2018ORIGINAL:FEB 25, 2013 https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-american-money
What is communist anarchism by Alexander Berkman. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/alexander-berkman-what-is-communist-anarchism
The 8 hour strike of 1886 by Lucy Parsons.
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