All the freedom you could want (as long as it doesn’t hurt the economy).

I love the contradictions given by the defenders of capitalism. They will go on and on about how capitalism is about giving us all freedom. However, when workers start expressing certain freedoms that don’t fit so well capitalism, like collective action, which impose on the freedoms of bosses to exploit (a freedom essential to capitalism), then talk of freedom is put to one side and it is replaced with how we must submit to economic determinism.

Here is an example from David “capitalism = freedom” Farrar talking about the campaign to get a pay rise for NZ Bunnings workers who are payed only NZ$12/hr while in Australia those same worker would be payed NZ$19/hr;

"The questions I would ask is what is the EBITDA for the NZ and Australian operations, and also what are the gross revenue and staff numbers for each side of the Tasman. And what is the cost of living in each country.
Without that info, I can’t really offer an informed view as to whether Bunnings pay rates are reasonable in NZ compared to Australia or not."


You will be payed what the EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, I had to google it) says you will be payed. David puts a lot stock in this EBITDA thing (after all it should determine what poor people, who David have never meet, should be payed). I think he is in love with EBITDA. I think he should marry EBITDA and have babies with EBITDA. Oh wait, EBITDA is not a human being, its an abstract accounting principle. So why is it determining wages? Because capitalism isn’t about freedom for humans, it’s about freedom for capital. Workers relationship to the economy is not all that different from that of the Hebrew’s to the Pharaoh’s. The Pharaoh wants a pyramid, the slaves build a pyramid, the economy needs lower wages, workers get lower wages. Now you might say the Hebrew were slaves and had to work for the Pharaoh and modern workers can choose their boss. Firstly, there is not that many options when it comes to looking for work right now. Secondly, and most importantly, its not about individual bosses its about how no matter where you work its always in the same economy and it will be the same abstract accounting principles. If there is no other option than working for the capitalist economy then that is a form of slavery.

Under capitalism the economy is king or Pharaoh. It’s needs, which are more often than not are different (if not the complete opposite) to the needs of the majority of the human race, always come first. Because of this you will hear a pro capitalist say out one side of their mouths that the system give us freedom, then out the other side of their mouths comes the stuff about how you can’t buck the system. You can’t get a wage rise because of the economy, you lose your job because of the economy, and you have to work longer hours because of the economy. So not so much with the freedom talk out that side of the mouth.

No matter what the economy is doing or what the EBITDA is, there is only one way the working class will ever get higher wages. Getting organized and taking collective action, and anybody who does that will get a small taste of the freedom that is waiting beyond capitalism.