Richard Wolff: How You Are Being Exploited 

Thank you for doing important work and especially for actually having facts.

Can we recommend topics? Or pass along self-written academic essays on related subjects?

Already did so!

The 3 d art u guys have is really good 👍

you should add hashtags for the video! so more find it. and stan nct 127 and check out their music 🌹

yooo geosquare in the gravel institute comments lfg

Geosquare in the socialist comment section? Amazing!

Based Minecraft speedrun moderator?

Woah based minecrafter

double based

what is that actually him

@@jeppekjr349 yea it is, p sure he said it as a joke tho

@@jeppekjr349 yeah it's him

@@zack-ne1li oh no its just that it's taken out of context, it was meant to represent how people who don't know about socialism view it

Professor Richard Wolff a pretty famous economist and socialist. The phrase from the meme is a satirical statement during a 1hr lecture on the history of socialism

If that happens you'll get fired.

Yes, if you were to own the means of production and your factory doesn't make a profit, you would not get any compensation, assuming there is no welfare available to you. But if the factory does turn a profit, as it usually does, you would see every bit of those rewards. However, under capitalism, if the business doesn't turn a profit, you would get laid off or fired, and if the company does turn a profit, you are not entitled to all of the value you've produced. Either way you get the short end of the stick.

no, you would still have the goods in stock for the next week. the scenario in question had a gross profit of $3,000, meaning there is still $2,000 worth of food items that have not yet been sold

Solution: buy stock in the company.

I think that as the working class we need to start starving the ultra rich. Stop buying their products (if you are able), buy locally (online or brick and mortar), learn to become self sufficient and grow some or all of your own food if you can, start relying on small community commerce, dont be afraid to quit a job that's exploiting you (again, if you're in a position to do so that wont kill you). Anything counts because if we had millions of ppl doing 1, some or all of these things we'd eventually start seeing the billionaires cave in

@@ExPwner Love the elaboration here. Really added a lot.

Solution: Read anything post-1870s.

This is a grossly misleading video. The worker didn't add the whole $2k difference on the ingredients cost, unless the business gets free electricity, pays no rent for the premises, has no HP to pay for the cookers and other equipment, does no advertising, pays no local or federal taxes, has nobody to do the accounts and other admin like ordering fresh supplies - the list goes on. The 2k is akin to gross profit, from which many costs are deducted, not just wages. The business would be closed in a day if run on the lines suggested. This channel is pumping out some pretty disgusting disinformation of its own here. If this guy is a real professsor, Dr. Dre can do your next surgery.

And when it does a real lot of theft, it uses resources and cheap labor from other countries in order to get richer and that's imperialism

a popular channel's comment with only 18 likes? weird comments section btw you make good video essays, i watch them sometimes

Socialism is when the government does stuff, and it's more socialism the more stuff it does, and if does a whole lot of stuff, its communism.

Bingo!

I liked this before seeing who it was, whaat

And when they do nothing at all...

@@telexghoulie it's lassefaire

I fucking hate it when you're working and some guy comes into the room with his hands in his pockets and says things like "I need this to be done by Monday," all the while with no idea that he could take his hands out of his pockets if it was that important.

That's not necessarily true, most bosses are hired by capitalists. The capitalist is the person or entity that holds the capital necessary to jumpstart a process to extract profit.

@@poofypoof6508 yes he should've said the owners, the bosse are merely enablers and isolation layer between the capitalist n workers who get compensated better for being so.

@@ExPwner but if the chef created 2000$ of value and isn't receiving that amount, is he not being exploited?

@@Zzzron135 Of course not. The worker did not create $2,000 dollars of value. The combination of labor+capital created $2,000 dollars of value. After all, if labor is able to create value by itself, why is labor deciding to work with someone else instead of working alone. If capital is adding no value, then labor should just go on its own. But you will never see a chef without the use of capital (tables, spoons, investments in a nice kitchen, etc).

This video is a load of shit. The workers value is not $2000. The reason that that burgers produced by the worker could be sold for $3000 was not SOLELY because of $1000 in raw ingredients, it was: - the commercial kitchen and equipment - the rent that was paid (or property that was purchased) to have a location to both make and seller burgers - the furniture that customers can sit at to eat after purchasing the burgers - the marketing and overhead to drive customers to the burger joint - the utilities (gas, electric, and water) to keep the place open The list is quite literally endless. I typically love this RU-vid channel, but this video was so poorly thought out.

​@@Iniestoteles yeah but there's also a problem we don't know the exact value of his labor and the establishment is huge ( consider it as large business) now the owner is making profit from each establishment but while the worker can work at only one the income inequality rise from the scale of business small business owners are not the problem as they work along side workers or receive only less profits i.e enough to live a nice living that's all but big businesses receive a lot of money more than the owner can spend which causes concentration of wealth and all side effects To combat this we can reduce the market share of each big business by breaking it down like the monopoly act does or by imposing a wealth tax

Without profit we would all still be living in caves.

Unlike PragerU, which continues to use it’s bathroom door character designs

i really liked this new art style! it gives more personality to the video!

@@charliestoops8815 I'm sure they outsource their work to exploited workers.

@@MrAustinhoch hahahaha

Sounds about right

It's crazy, isn't it? What had to happen to people for them to deny when they are being taken advantage of? 😭 Edit: I though original comment meant telling working ppl that they are being screwed.

@@carlogaytan7010 being told that one day they can take advantage of others

My guess is that people who could ask for a higher wage are scared their employer goes bankrupt, or they are fired. I am one of these kind of people, but I can't lay the finger on why I become defensive when I'm told about this, maybe because my boss works ~90 hours per week and earns an average wage, instead of some CEO making millions. Maybe because I'm rolling in the money because I don't spend any of it.

@@cy4069 That's it exactly. It's what lies at the true heart of the "American Dream". To someday become successful enough to screw other people like you're being screwed now.

lmao!!

There’s also rent, utilities, insurance, taxes, legal, maintenance, renovations, the list goes on and on. Also what happens if you lose money??😂😂

@@mike_7294 even if there weren't these costs , even then , the fact that the wage is certain creates a time differential where there is a place for bonus margin aka interest.

True. And Harold got a lot more than $2k before paying up.

At 60 hours a week I barely took home $900 every 2 weeks for some jobs in the past. Nobody should be working 60 hours a week, and only make $900 every 2 weeks. This was a job where I was a representative of a corporation. Selling products to other corporations, who would sell them in turn to consumers. I was selling over $60k a week in profit for the corporation I worked for. Yet compensated less than $1000 every other week. Despite such lengthy work weeks, and rather hard manual labor due to the types of products. Yet people get paid far less, for far worse jobs. None of this should be happening anywhere, its inhumane.

@@user-gz4ve8mw9l i hope your life get better man your situation is the proof of how cruel and unjust capitalism is

@@user-gz4ve8mw9l You were paid basically 7 dollars and 50 cents an hour... 2 week payroll... (minimum wage?) selling over $60,000 every 7 business days... rather hard physical labor... I could guess your job wasn't to sell to businesses customers at all. If anything, I would guess you never would even know the names of the companies which bought the products your company sold to them.

@@argosgiovanni5988 social justice is injust

PragerU got nothing on these guys

@@joshuaramirez5399 seriously. The visuals of this have much more effort put into them too, unlike PragerU's that look like they took ten minutes to throw together.

This is actually their best video yet The concept is so simple Next up, workplace democracy!

Spread the word. UNDER CAPITALISM, EVERY PENNY OF A BILLIONAIRES FORTUNE IS A PENNY OF UNPAID WORK THAT SOMEONE ELSE PERFORMED. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THINK, PROFITS ARE UNEARNED INCOME, YOU DON'T GET IT ! or ? ( POW = play on words ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Our economy is based on the failure of the ROMAN Empire. THE FINANCIAL SECTOR’S PRODUCT IS DEBT THEY ARE THE FASTEST GROWING SECTOR OF OUR ECONOMY DOLLAR CRASH IN PROCESS NEOLIBERALISM - WE WANT YOU BANKRUPT - - - - - - ECONOMIC - - - THOUGHTS - - - - - YOU HAVE BEEN OUT MANEUVERED BY THE 1% ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--ELQf7aBLLM.html WE ARE WAGE SLAVES IN A DEMOCRACY

@@tareke586 I would love them to do that next! It's such an important topic that could benefit a lot of people, especially if it talks about worker-cooperatives!

In India such a firm is called a cooperative society

Worker Co-op

Just wondering if the company gets sued and has to pay does every one pay from the boss to apprentice. Just wondering does everyone from boss and apprentice put the same money into the business to be successful. Just wondering everyone

@@bm101ful no, that would be the company it self or the person responsible, the idea is that in some places people do about an equal amount of work

That's a bad system, the inequality should be reduced but when everyone gets paid the same amount, it kills the desire for any higher education attainment even if it is tax-funded

Exactly

At least someone has a decent idea

Thank you! We're going to be bringing in new animators and experimenting with new styles for the next few weeks.

@@TheGravelInstitute This was absolutely gorgeous. Are you free to disclose which artist(s) animated this one?

no the visuals are great!

@@masonmichalec2942 The animators are credited at the very end! They're Austin Hochstatter, b_see_d, and Alex Noelke :)

@@TheGravelInstitute 👍great👍video👍

Yes

Prageru: but.... but.. Eh vuvuzela, no iphone, 100 gazillion people, janitor=doctor,

@@1homelander179 lol

@@1homelander179 uhh u forgot my human nature king

Don't increase the PragerU engagement scores by commenting on their videos.

There is still the fact that the capitalist doesn't create all the value alone. In the example he does as much as a manager and/or a marketing specialist, who also can be hired to work for a wage instead of gaining access to all the money in the company. Why?

Namaste, Mr. Watts. Nice to see you here.

😏😁

Bulky gimmicky piece of shit

@@antrim7008 eh, if it even takes even a fraction of the insane American pickup market it'll be better for the environment. At the end we can't expect too much from the country that can't even bother having proper public transport

@@manaspradhan8041 The improvement will be marginal. The environment can only be saved through systemic change.

its good to see it explained simply!

Problem 😳

@@memelord9232 A bit too simply. Repeat it like this, without the additional necessary knowledge and information, and any rightwinger and/or capitalist will laugh you out of town. There should be more info on capital goods, AKA the dreaded "means of production", besides just mentioning capital as "money used to set production into motion". I.e. That "chain of buildings full of kitchens" that Harold owns is QUITE LITERALLY where his part of the profit comes from. Sure, you flip the burgers - but you need a stove for that. And a building for that stove. And something to create the heat to fry those burgers. And a fridge for the meat. And a license of some kind. And somewhere to sell those burgers, preferably with some chairs and tables and pictures of happy cartoon animals devouring all those slaughtered cows. All of that has to be paid for BEFORE burgers can be made and sold. And since it's not the worker who pays for that but Harold - Harold gets a large chunk of the money made from the sale of the burgers. After all, it's Harold, the capitalist, who provided all of the conditions for the production of burgers - not the lowly burger flipper. It is only fair for him to take the biggest share. Dude's got expenses to pay in order to provide the burger flipper with a privilege of having a job. Isn't Harold after all a sort of a philanthropist? A job provider? In this economy? Not a thief but a saint? Saint Harold, the patron saint of burger flippers? Or even better, what if Harold actually knew the secret art of burger flipping? What if when his parents were trampled by a bull in a dark Pamplona alley, he vowed to revenge their deaths by grinding cows into burgers? What if Harold is secretly - The Burgerflipperman? And what if Harold's childhood trauma demanded him to do all the burger flipping all on his own? All of the above still applying, does that make Harold not just a saint (and sort of a superhero) but doesn't it also wash the entire system of any guilt? After all, is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? And aren't we all, deep down, small businessmen, like Harold? Yeah... well... The thing is... There's this pandemic going round and there's no profit created, so there's no money to share. Any burger flipper Harold might have hired is now out of a job. Even The Burgerflipperman himself isn't making any money. But get this. While the worker's ability to create the profit is gone, Harold gets to keep HIS - cause his share doesn't come from a skill or ability but from something he owns. Harold's REAL superpower is owning property. As in - the means of production. And a might superpower is that. Cause, while Burgerflipperman must actively use his skills and abilities to create profit, actively investing his time and strength into ever burger that he flips - Harold only needs to pay for the means of production once. And once the cost of said means of production is paid off, Harold still gets to keep the biggest share of the profit. After all, it is created by the means of production - and he owns them. And after all is said and done - he can still sell them. I.e. By being the owner of the means of production, Harold gets to eat his burger (profit) AND have it too. Many times over. While the worker he hired to flip burgers only gets to have profit from the labor he invests directly into flipping burgers. AND THAT IS WHERE THE THEFT TAKES PLACE! Not by Harold taking profit the worker worked for. Harold DOES really own a part of it, fair and square. It is in the fact that once the upfront investment in the means of production is recouped - Harold keeps both the means of production AND the entire share of the profit from said means. While the worker's investment of labor in that entire process, which provided profits to recoup those investments in the means of production - gets the worker NOTHING. That's where the theft takes place. Worker's work created the profit that paid for the means of production. But when it came time to benefit from the fruits of that labor, Harold kept both the means of production and the share they provided - making himself richer while leaving the worker where he started. Only older and tired and still stuck flipping burgers for Harold. That's why the capitalist system is corrupt at its core. Cause it is designed to favor ownership and wealth as opposed to work and skill. Any skill you can study or be taught to an expert level or even raw talent is meaningless compared to dumb luck of being born into a rich family. And that's not a system designed for justice or moral values. That's gambling. And that's without going into that whole greed stuff the capitalism runs on, favoring ownership and wealth over all else and all that.

@@d3nza482 I don't understand Marxist labor theory of value and this profit = theft stuff. I guess it rests on the assumption that property is theft, and that owners of land and capital contribute nothing of their own to productive enterprise. For the most part I think this is a faulty premise. Property owners add value by arranging other factors of production in such a way that they generate a profit. Profit is the income they receive for their efforts, and the risks they take (it is possible for entrepreneurs to fail, most do). So when Professor Wolff says that the capitalist is essentially stealing from his workers whenever he is operating at a profit, does this mean that the workers are stealing from the capitalist if he is operating at a loss? There are many conundrums and contradictions in capitalism, I am well aware of this. But I think there are just as many in Marxist theory, and the labor theory of value is usually at the center of these contradictions.

@@d3nza482 I think Marxist criticism of capitalism might've applied in the 19th century when private property rights were really private, and almost entirely absolute. By the turn of the 20th century none of these critiques apply. The capitalist as property-owner is now the capitalist as co-partner with the state in organizing the means of production to meet certain ends: productivity, efficiency, employment, health and safety, welfare, ect. That's why Marx's predictions never panned out. They probably would have, but the state interceded and we got liberal democratic capitalism, rather than classical liberal propertarianism. By regulating private property and market exchange, plus taking on the responsibility of providing for some degree of social welfare, the state prevented classical liberal propertarian capitalism from collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions.

Because as long as you depend on a paycheck, you'll still be a member of the working class. You ain't one of them capitalists.

@@ExPwner Discredited? LMAO discredited by who?

So? If you use the right terminology, you'll just unnecessarily turn of people who have been brainwashed by the red scare, when they should be way more terrified by capitalism.

Not really his but rather Marx' take, but I agree

This is just the second of many videos to come with Professor Wolff! We're gonna do a whole course on economics with him.

UNDER CAPITALISM, EVERY PENNY OF A BILLIONAIRES FORTUNE IS A PENNY OF UNPAID WORK THAT SOMEONE ELSE PERFORMED. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THINK, PROFITS ARE UNEARNED INCOME, YOU DON'T GET IT ! or ? ( POW = play on words ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Our economy is based on the failure of the ROMAN Empire. THE FINANCIAL SECTOR’S PRODUCT IS DEBT THEY ARE THE FASTEST GROWING SECTOR OF OUR ECONOMY DOLLAR CRASH IN PROCESS NEOLIBERALISM - WE WANT YOU BANKRUPT - - - - - - ECONOMIC - - - THOUGHTS - - - - - YOU HAVE BEEN OUT MANEUVERED BY THE 1% ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--ELQf7aBLLM.html WE ARE WAGE SLAVES IN A DEMOCRACY

@@TheGravelInstitute OMG I'm in love

@@arschessen4000 Claiming Marx owns the theory of communism is like claiming Newton owns the theory of gravity. Neither own the phenomenon; both only receive credit for putting to words something that already existed in the real world.

Then help them!

I just want to see it explode.

sharing is caring

They need more regular content for that to happen

@@arnedarvin3507 Unless it's STDs...

No, and why would they? No one who advocates for this stuff has ever run a business. Do they realize if workers own the means of production, that when the company loses money, they also lose money? Even consider a startup tech company, which requires investment capital so the company can pay the workers to design a product for future profits. Technically they are losing (spending) money on the labour to build a product to sell for a potential profit, and that product fails. All the workers who own those means of production just lost their shirts.

prageru; the more i dont like, the more socialism it is!

Right wingers of every flavor: socialism is everything I don't like.

Prageru: asking the wealthy to endure any slight inconvenience whatsoever in order to help other people is evil.

PragerU be like: NO ALL YOU'VE JUST DESCRIBED IS SOCIALISM! Good American values are great!

@@gwills9337 And if I really don't like it, then it's communism.

Liked and commented for the algorithm

yes please!

We are all doing our part, no matter how big or small. ✌️

paying my tribute to the algorithm

Pageru they are capitalist They are earning profit from their patreon 😂

@@3Infinity aNd yEt yOu liVe iN sOcIEty damn bro you really thought you were onto something here

@@EricSandwich what do you mean 😅

Seconded. Getting the word out on those would genuinely do some good.

That would be a good video

Boosttttt

who's in charge of the companies success? Who tells who what roles to follow? There is no incentive to produce if you can't get a raise or get a promotion. We need hierarchy and inequality, why? because we need responsibility and drive, which only come through climbing the ranks.

If we were to produce less than our labor then how could a business operate!??!? we must produce more than what we earn so that the business can succeed, of course someone above me has a bigger slice of the pie, but if that means that he has more responsibilities, more risk, and overall more investment into the stock, then doesn't that constitute as fair share?

Real theft in capitalism happens when Harold misjudges his contribution to the profit and over estimates his own work value

i think you miss the big picture. harold has already have the money, so that he can set up works with the money he has, because the distribution of wealth is constructed to flow in capitalist way. but the chef has no capital(money) to set up a business. so he has no alternative way than selling his own labor, he has to do so. and the system always shows us that capitalist do anything to reach higher profits. there must be labor institutions for workers to say some about the system which is run by their labor. otherwise it is all big multinational corparations that runs the entire global system without any moral, economic, enviromential restrictions.

Its clear why they like preaching the boot strap method so much, the harder you work, the more they make!

Most raises are between 2-4% That doesn't even make up for inflation and cost of living adjustment

@@benjaminschooley3108 bingo

Hahaha, a "raise"?? The only thing close to a raise I've ever gotten is when they raise the minimum wage and force my boss to pay me more.

@@RoguSpanish Well then the situation is even more simple. Has a minimum wage increase in your life ever matched the cost of inflation or rising cost of living? If not, you are working either the same of more every year for less. I bet your government felt very good about themselves when they gave you back your own tax money after doing this to you. And if you eventually get a salaried job? You end up in the first scenario. And if you start a business? There's a 99.999% chance you lose your life savings and food/housing security, and a .001% chance you get to do this whole fucked up scheme to someone else. People are sick of this.

I like the 2D art style that was used with Zephyr Teachout and Briahna Joy Gray better. But that's just my opinion

Regardless, the art styles used in these videos don't use corporate language.

I prefer the 2d one, but I like this one well enough

No matter the style they have consistently been very slick and pleasing. This is what they need to make a good counter to the slick and big prageru. I do like this a lot but I have not come away from any video from this channel and said "wow this is shody" they are doing great work no matter the art direction

The animation done contains way more personality than PragerU

"wont pay us fairly" ... what does this mean? What's "fair" to you?

@@phonkphonk i think fair is enough to not have to worry about food, water, and shelter. you know, human necessities?

Then start your own business. Or get a better paying profession, like engineer or software developer.

Why would they? Home Depot just like other businesses primary focus is bring profit to shareholders/owners. That is main reason why companies stay in businesses. No Profit businesses will shutdown.

Because the primary focus of companies is maximize profits for shareholders and owners. Not to pay a fair-wage to employees . Pay is low is because shareholders and owners want it low so, the CEO has to follow orders. CEO has to hit a certain percentage in profit or will be terminated.

This reply has been sacrificed for the algorithm

May I offer this reply up as well?

Here’s a reply to soothe the beast. 😌

All hail the mighty algorithm!

reply

Taxes actually go towards improving the community and people's lives. Profit doesn't.

How is our current form of taxation not theft

@@stuarthartman4502 LOL go cry to your idol Ayn Rand. If you don't like taxes then shove off to Somalia or Papua New Guinea since that's your idea of paradise in your delusional mind.

@@ForeverTraitor That's just a band-aid on a gut wound and a form of escape from the responsibility of getting directly involved.

@@stuarthartman4502 taxation is indeed theft. But so are capitalist profits. And its those taxes that are used to uphold this economic system that allows those profits to happen. Theft to uphold theft.

Monarchies are dead. Royalist/Monarchist are conservatives.

@@bradleyp3655 Ah, my bad. Richard Wolff, the democratically elected leader who holds high regard among citizens

I think he would resent that without some additional qualifiers

Michael Hudson the Queen. UNDER CAPITALISM, EVERY PENNY OF A BILLIONAIRES FORTUNE IS A PENNY OF UNPAID WORK THAT SOMEONE ELSE PERFORMED. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - THINK, PROFITS ARE UNEARNED INCOME, YOU DON'T GET IT ! or ? ( POW = play on words ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Our economy of capitalism is based on the failure of the ROMAN Empire. THE FINANCIAL SECTOR’S PRODUCT IS DEBT THEY ARE THE FASTEST GROWING SECTOR OF OUR ECONOMY DOLLAR CRASH IN PROCESS NEOLIBERALISM - WE WANT YOU BANKRUPT - - - - - - ECONOMIC - - - THOUGHTS - - - - - YOU HAVE BEEN OUT MANEUVERED BY THE 1% ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--ELQf7aBLLM.html WE ARE WAGE SLAVES IN A DEMOCRACY

you say you're a socialist, yet you believe in monarchy. Interesting 🤔

Your not getting the real value for your sacrifice- the algorithm is exploiting you.

I am hereby interacting with this content. Very engaging!

Wow so many good points.

Good boy points

It’s only theft when it’s used to benefit the collective good that one person would not be able to provide to themselves or others

Is that a good thing?

Don’t think they’ll ever do anything on Lenin, it’s too controversial for American audiences.

@@antrim7008 unfortunately you’re probably right

Please 😩

Blackshirts and Reds is just reading

A must read*

Well PragerU is also fairly simple, kid-oriented introductions to concepts, just right-wing concepts instead, and sadly it sometimes is used in schools (and probably more often by homeschoolers).

@@jacobkissinger5540 Holy shit, how is it used in schools? This is awful. Most of the data they present are either easily proven false or misrepresenting and their arguments are 90% fallacies.

@@hindigente Well, it’s not part of any official curricula or anything, but I’ve heard stories of econ or government or history teachers using PragerU videos on occasion. Teachers usually have a bit of leeway as to how they’re going to teach things, and a teacher might find PragerU, think it looks educational and not recognize that it’s propaganda, especially if the teacher already has a right-leaning bias.

@@hindigente They recently made a video casting slavery abolitionists as the bad guys, they are bottom of the barrel bad.

@@jacobkissinger5540 This is really upsetting. If this had ever happened to me, specially during my rebel teenager years, I'd probably make a fuss, talk over the video, and leave the classroom. @Laughing Gas Oh, wow, that is so appalling. Did they frame that as "States Rights"? Probably, just like companies, states are people too (when it's convenient to them, that is).

another fine point.

Because it isn't relevant. Because A: the risk isn't *that* high, yes money would be lost in case of bankruptcy but it is very rare for the owner to actually go into poverty. And B: in a system without labour exploitation by capitalists the system would need to be set up in such a way that the initial investment isn't necessary because there wouldn't be a need to start businesses. In essence, we would need to move beyond a market based economy.

@@gijsbrans2338 Even if the person didn't go into bankruptcy, they could stand to lose a great deal, and since half of all new businesses fail the risk is quite high.

@@howardpalys6929 but it isn't the same as the position the proletarian is in by having to sell his labour. To be in a position where you can start a business is simply one of privilege most do not have.

Because he's a communist liar.

Appropriate, after Elon just became the richest capitalist on earth.

why don't you create your own company then?

@@charlesparent-spioneck9928 Because to do so I need money that I don't have. You can't just open a company with some loose change

@@eduardoazevedosarnento4295 Put together a business plan and shop around for business loans and investors.

@@hamnchee just take a loan, as if college loans and mortgages weren't enough. Realistically speaking, opening a business is only accessible for those privileged with enough money, connections, and time to "shop around". Even then, had I the resources to open up my own company, it would still not change the fact that wage exploitation is happening to hundreds of thousands of people. What do you people suggest? Should every single person open up a business?

@@hamnchee That's the problem, the only way for him to survive in this current market, is to make a PROFIT. And that means EXPLOITING someone else. In our current system we have two choices: Be Exploited Or Be the Exploiter Most people can't even be the Exploiter anyway, 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. And lack education, time, and would be crushed in the competitive market. And if he starts a Worker Coop, other capitalist companies, banks, and investors will attempt to crush his business, the same way Feudal Lords stopped capitalism from forming because it threatened their way of life, EVEN though it was a more functional system.

Right, because the capitalist is the one that must employ labor-saving technology, otherwise they can't adjust wages accordingly. The employer is upset that you're getting more than was bargained for, and from their perspective it's taking away from their potential profit.

The capitalist is mad he didn't think of it first so he didn't have to pay you

Is that seriously something which has happened to you? If so, that's ridiculous. If you can write software which saves money and time you should be promoted. I hope you can get into a field where your programming skills are valued.

@@iAmTheSquidThing Yeah, it did. Since my performance has a proven track record, I was only given a warning and currently still work for the company, but future use or distribution of any scripts would result in termination. I'm currently looking into the software field for something entry level. Fingers crossed 🤞

What in the actual FUCK?! What company is this and how do we burn down the building and kill the owners?

Why can’t Harold give his boss the finger and cook his own food? He can’t in order for his labor to be productive there must be capital provided from the employer.

Yes, he bring value in starting the business but, it is still exploitation.

@@user-lu6yg3vk9zit’s not exploitation the worker agreed to this and well no business would start if we got rid of profit

He just pointed out profits come after expenses. Look at Harold he spent for the 1000$ food expenses, gave 1000$ to his Employee, and Keep the remaining 1000$ for himself.

@@nathanwi1147 But Harold had to, at the very least, put away $2000 for a certain amount of time. For a year, he could not use that money to buy things he liked because he had invested in his business. It's also possible he would have never got that money back, because not enough people would want to buy his burgers. Will you give me $2000 just to get $2000 back a year later? If so, prove it. Got a PayPal Account?

This is a brilliant and sobering comment. Thank you.

To clarify, labor itself isn't exploitative by definition. There will always be labor. Labor under capitalism, on the other hand...

How is it exploration if you agree to something it's not exploiting you. You have agreed to a contract and can withdraw your self. On top of that you don't get paid what you make as you personally aren't exposed to the risk of the market and will be paid regardless of performance

uh oh, a brain Current neoliberal economics Torpedoed . . . . . The American Dream michael-hudson.com/2018/05/an-overview-welcome-words/ The economics taught today is known as neoliberal. This economics differs fundamentally from classical economics. For example, classical economics stresses taxing economic rent instead of labor and real investment, while neo-liberal economics does the opposite. An economic rent is unearned income that accrues to an owner from an increase in value that he did nothing to produce. For example, a new road is built at public expense that opens land to development and raises its value, or a transportation system is constructed in a city that raises the value of nearby properties. These increases in values are economic rents. Classical economists would tax away the increase in values in order to pay for the road or transportation system. Neoliberal economists redefined all income as earned. This enables the financial system to capitalize economic rents into mortgages that pay interest. The higher property values created by the road or transportation system boost the mortgage value of the properties. The financialization of the economy is the process of drawing income away from the purchases of goods and services into interest and fees to financial entities such as banks. Indebtedness and debt accumulate, drawing more income into their service until there is no purchasing power left to drive the economy. For example, formerly in the US lenders would provide a home mortgage whose service required up to 25% of the family’s monthly income. That left 75% of the family’s income for other purchases. Today lenders will provide mortgages that eat up half of the monthly income in mortgage service, leaving only 50% of family income for other purchases. In other words, a financialized economy is one that diverts purchasing power away from productive enterprise into debt service.

@@harrynimbley8901 You so thoroughly missed the point that it's jarring, but to summarize, the idea that you "agreed" to it and can quit are irrelevant and extremely misleading. It's not like you can quit your exploitative job and find a fair one, ALL labor in a capitalist system MUST be exploitative by design. The only way around it is to not work, which isn't an actual option for most people- it's not like we have UBI or something. So basically, you HAVE to get an exploitative job. The idea that you "agreeing" to it means it's not exploiting you is ridiculous- people don't have a choice. They HAVE to agree to it, they've got you by the balls.

spot on

I agree. Having it be more cartoonish made it look cooler. But the interjection of professor Wolff himself is solid

We're changing it up often! Old style will be back, along with this one and new ones!

It’s really cool that they bother trying unique/different art styles though, unlike prager who has the same boring as fuck art

I enjoy how they change the style around but keep a constant palate to tie them all together

@@TymonBrownTV pog

@@MrYoda-sx6nc your vote matters if the two running presidents aren’t complete idiots. If that’s the case, it’s only a matter of how they will mess up your country, not if.

@@mihneacireasa4613 No your not getting it obviously.. Your vote never mattered especially since this last election proved it

Actually, that’s a translated quote from Kurt Tucholsky. It was just attributed to Mark Twain in American memes because people know him better.

@@MrYoda-sx6nc the thing is America actually does make efforts to prevent certain groups of people voting lol

@@molime4717 that’s their point.

the venus project.

Guys like Jeff Bezoss decide how much you’re worth.

Profit is only theft under capitalism. The alternative is cooperative ownership of the means of production, which would allow the surplus value to go back to the workers rather than lazy stockholders who sit on their butts and make money doing nothing.

@@Glumclam Actually his consumers do. His consumers determine how much revenue his company brings in, and this determines how much he can pay you. Amazon's profit margin is only 5.02%.

Unions baby

And decolonization :)

@@richjuin9504 lol, you crearly never lived in a country with unions in government

Harold can get a pay cut, forced to work harder for the same pay. Also this doesn’t take away from the basic point of profit generation regardless

There is cushion built into the business. The business can survive losses for a year, two years before being shut down.

@@ericsmith1801 we borrow more money from bank moron to keep business alive

Harold does share risk. He’s at risk of being laid off.

@@danielnaples5930 there is already a contract signed, therefore, to reduce worker's pay, you would need to either sign another contract, or just fire him and get a new guy, which assuming other businessed not paying more, lets say the worker stays, if his pay is getting down graded, that is to assume he isnt working at minimum wage, he can choose another job.

Except you can't start an enterprise without money and unless your born into wealth yku need to work for someone else to get money. Said money us then spent in rent food and bills and taxes and by the end you don't have enough to invest into your own business. It would take years for a working class person to buy their own shitty 1 bedroom home on minimum wage. How do you think they can afford to start a business

Or will what you want into existence.

⁠@@astheroseblooms5645 I did that on the toilet today.

15$ an hour is a pittance.

@@ScottDavis-nu5uu First world problems huh?.... $15 is indeed a pittance if you wish to buy a luxurious yacht or something.

@@Warren_Peace an honest paiment, counting inflation and all is 30 an hour. And before you say anything, yes every job must permit a man alone to build a family, even if the job is "flipping burgers" or some bullshit. And if you think this is a radical idea,the idea of a many building a family out of his job, whatever it may be, it's a idea teddy roosevelt advocated for.

@@sov7513 Well if you got a problem with that, blame whoever thought that imposing minimum wage is a good idea, since that nonsense killed any incentive to increase wages naturally... And also, learn the value of saving money and not spending it as fast as you earn them, because I don't think Teddy advocated for being a spendthrift.

@@Warren_Peace except when capitalists prey on necessities and other things required to survive and also use human well being as a funnel for profit so you literally can't buy or save living pay check to paycheck just to have a roof and food OH WAIT minimum wage (the minimum supposedly required to pay for a full life) doesn't even barely cover the jacked up prices of food and lets not even get started on rent. You're what's wrong with the world see yourself out

There's only so much getting bread crumbs for your hard work that you can take. It's why I never lasted more than a couple years at most retail jobs. You just just feel the weight of the fat cats shitting on your work and getting paid much more to look down on you

And so, did you, as an anti-capitalist, take your super valuable labor and quit? Did you sell your instructions on your own at more that $5 to recover some of that stolen value? Or did you stay with the company that hired you, and continued enriching those dirty capitalists that are enslaving us all?

@@GoldenRockefeller lol no I demanded a 100% raise and was basically laughed at and was offered a $1 raise. So me and my girlfriend who also worked there at the time were able to take some of the costumers and start our own private teaching instruction. After that I worked a lot less and was making more money.

@@kitty7184 So now you are running your own business like capitalist. If your business grow and you need more employees are you going to pay them the same money?

@@kitty7184 pretty hilarious case study of why capitalism is great.

The point is the chef is being compensated less than the full value of his labour in order for Harold to turn a profit, nothing you said disbutes that point.

i’m sorry but that quote is so dumb. capitalism does exactly what it is designed to do which is to extract value from the working class. socialism isn’t what made capitalists rich.

@@jesse7328 how do you explain their constant government bailouts throughout this pandemic while small businesses got next to nothing? A lot of critics of socialism describe it as government handouts, so..

@@TheFoxfires socialism isn't when the government does stuff 🤦‍♀️ When big companies get bailouts like that, thats a part of capitalism.

@@TheFoxfires Absolutely. Plus, no one complains when big companies form coalitions and cartels (Unionizing) to dominate the market.

@@AlOlexy socialism is not when the government does stuff or when people give each other free money. it’s a transition state into a stateless moneyless society. you clearly don’t understand what your talking about

How were they suppose to know? Did somebody tell them? Or were they just supposed to guess. I'm sorry for your dad, though.

Of Course they don’t care. Your dad was just a tool to exploit and make money of him. If you’re dies remember the company would just replace him with another driver and move on.

But bosses are just printing money for free off our hard work!!!! 🤪🤪🤪

All of those costs, in the context of the thought experiment presented here, are included in the cost of 'ingredients.' Those are all things necessary to create the burger, and the capitalist pays for them. When the capitalist makes profit though, that is the revenue minus the cost of 'ingredients,' or all those costs you brought up. They still make a profit. They still take the value of your labor. You are still exploited.

@@JFyre what is the opportunity worth?

all the profits gonna pay for every single things you mentioned above and still they make some profit out of your labor

@@4b14s otherwise they wouldn’t create the opportunity

Yes! Imperialism is really important to understand for our modern world. It's basically this situation, but Harold is a rich country, and you're a poor country, though there's definitely some more complexity.

the investment of the capitalist makes the employee worth something at all otherwise he'd be worth nothing

@@ExPwner How about looking at the wikipedia page that he himself referenced

@@marcusniaz3110 And where did the Capitalist get that money to invest? Labor. Labor creates capital. Not the other way around. The Capitalist wouldn't have any capital to invest if Labor didn't create it. Capital is the fruit of Labor. Labor isn't the fruit of capital.

@@reddeadmadness4097 That doesn't really make much sense because labor without capital is worthless. You can't produce anything with labor if you don't have machinery, supplies, factory building, electricity, etc.

How is it "paying you what you're worth" to give you the entirety of the revenue when you could only make money thanks to someone else paying the start up costs. If workers in a business deserve 100% of the revenue, what do people working in a co-op deserve. 110%?

@Hitman that’s true. No one ever lost money or went bankrupt starting a business. I’ve never seen “going out of business” signs.

Why can’t Harold give his boss the finger and cook his own food? He can’t in order for his labor to be productive there must be capital provided from the employer.

Aint that the truth!

Or they define the problem as "crony capitalism", not real, red blooded capitalism 🤪

@@chrisj984 Nothing like democracy though! No matter how many rough edges are smoothed, it is not like democracy. Edit: Capitalism, whether pure or not, is anti-democratic. More democracy is better for more people than less.

Human nature based of biology that has been bouncing around for millions of years??

@@chrisj984 wrong

Bespoke: Property is theft.

*galaxy brain * both are theft.

TAXATION without REPRESENTATION is theft.

Is it possible that they are both theft?

Existance is theft

Completely agree with you see this video only scratch the surface of capitalism Most the people the agree with this video have never owned a company or a business

Exactly, why would a capitalist provide capital without a return? Without that capital there's no hamburgers for the cook to make or the consumer to buy. Govrnments need to provide laws the ensure that everyone recieves a fair return on their investment whether that's capital, labor or innovation. This is where the US government fails so badly and that failure will ultimately destroy the rich people who pay for our government to fail at properly regulating capitalist markets.

Even after paying rent, utilities, advertising, etc, the capitalist STILL extracts a profit from the workers. If we use the example in the video, where ingredients cost 1000$ and the worker is compensated 1000$, the remaining 1000$ for the capitalist is not used to just break even; he pockets the surplus value and either pays his own living or invests and expands his capital empire, leaving the worker in his place while he elevates himself.

@@LordDio The worker literally gets $1000 wtf are you talking about?

@@whitehavencpu6813 and he deserves more

Its why Unions resorted to Mafia tactics against scabs. They were that replaceable without resorting to artificially inflating their position.

There's only one problem Ben, reach to who? Fucking Aquaman?

My mind is on recovery mode after reading that high-level comment.

like Ben Shapiro

@@firelights3675 he did the thing.

nah, maybe?

And that they "create jobs" bringing people out of poverty and creating this "wonderful world" we live in. Where everyone is free to do as they please and no one suffers except by choice.

@@Zaekyr Ikr it's impossible to make a burger if somebody isn't taking all the profit from it

@@wachyfanning If burgers were nationalized, you wouldn't need to make a profit.

The rich didn't get to where they are because they worked harder than everyone else, but rather because their employees did, while they were paid as little as possible for it.

@unarmed blackman All the hardest working people I've ever known earned minimum wage.

This guy thinks is criminal for investors to get their money back. And that is the problem. People who consider themselves ONLY labor...they all think the people who own capital are evil people and should give them everything for free. The only rational people in this subject are people who know that they are part-labor, part-capital. We all own our own labor and most of us some capital. They just like to play victims. And that why they use fancy graphics and emotion provocative speeches. Because their ideas make no mathematical sense at all.

However "the man" let's ya! -not yet 0.o

Thanks Meme Master 06

Yeah, employers constantly committing value theft is pretty bad

@@redj1101 Your Welcome Red Jay TV

I didn't expect a based take from a man called Meme Master 06.

No, in Capitalism the CUSTOMERS pay the boss AND the workers.

For "rent is theft" could you elaborate on that. I understand thinking that about extortionate rates but not in general.

@@franklinkernan6367 It's the same screw but from the other end, the value of your labor is extracted from you so that someone else can make a profit off of the little guy. The value of your work lines someone else's pocket so they don't have to actually labor for their money, and can live as a leech of of yours.

This video is unfair and your examples are unfair too. Profit is required to run a business. It's not not totally accurate to say that the labor is being underpaid because that's not how profits are derived. Profits are the difference in cost of making and selling a product and it's selling price.

@@franklinkernan6367 After a certain point a land lord begins making more money than what they originally paid for the property. They begin profiting through the exploitation of the renter/worker. They produce nothing and give nothing back to society. Their property in of itself does not produce goods and the landlord himself is not providing a service, the property is providing the service, but property is not a person. Profit only comes into the equation when the renter/worker is exploited for money.

@@jackkraken3888 And the majority of the profit goes to the Capitalist who produces nothing. All the profit came from the worker. Commodities do not earn profit without production, that's where the worker comes in. After some point the original capital the capitalist put in, is paid back in full to the Capitalist and some. After that, they are simply exploiting workers.