One of the leftist claims going around sounds like this:
Buying and selling is NOT capitalism. That’s trade. Capitalism is an employee generating $1,000 of value an hour but being paid $16.
I reply that an employee selling $1000 of merchandise isn’t the same thing as generating revenue.
An employee doesn’t generate $1000 of value in an hour. Let’s say that employee works at an Apple store. That employee is the clerk who sells a $1000 phone. Did that employee generate $1000 in value? No.
That phone had value when it came into the store. The store had overhead and value.
The owner of that store provided the phone, the store, its operating expenses, the taxes, and the insurance. I point this out, and get this in return:
Awwww did someone never take a business or finance class? Is it hard being so stupid?
It just gets so tedious. Aren’t we at the stage yet where we can toss commies out of helicopters?
3 Comments
Anonymous · April 21, 2026 at 8:03 am
An autoworker might generate $1000 or more per hour, but they do not do it alone. The Company provides the environment, set-up and material inputs, and accordingly needs to retain some of that value to pay the operational costs. Factor in legal costs, the cost of the existence of the UAW, costs of environmental regulation, insurance, and twenty other costs, and sometimes there is little remaining to pay the worker as much as they might ignorantly believe they’re “entitled” to. 🙂
Divemedic · April 21, 2026 at 9:28 am
The conversation where this happened, the poster was specifically talking about retail sales. Then they went on to say that retail should be on commission. That was when I replied that a cashier who sells $1000 on commission would earn perhaps $20 on that sale at 2% commission, but on a slow day they might not earn anything.
Will · April 21, 2026 at 9:14 am
It surely amazes me what people will say when hiding behind a computer that they would never be brave enough to say to your face.