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=== Risk taken by capitalist === | === Risk taken by capitalist === | ||
The idea that profit is a reward for the amount of risk taken by someone in starting a business (willingness to sacrifice their own savings or go into [[debt]]) is silly for five reasons: | |||
# The returns on property income are utterly independent on the amount of risk involved. Secondly, | |||
# All human acts involve risk of some kind and so why should property owners gain exclusively from it? Thirdly, | |||
# Risk as such it not rewarded, only <strong>successful</strong> risks are and what constitutes success is dependent on production, i.e. | |||
<nowiki> </nowiki>exploiting labour. | |||
# Most “risk” related non-labour income today plays <strong>no</strong> part in aiding production and, indeed, is simply not that risky due to state intervention. | |||
# Fifthly, risk in this context is not independent of owning capital and, consequently, the arguments against “waiting” and innovation apply equally to this rationale. In other words, “risk” is simply yet another excuse to reward the rich for being wealthy. | |||
[[Category:Concepts]] | [[Category:Concepts]] | ||
[[Category:Libertarian Socialist Wiki]] | [[Category:Libertarian Socialist Wiki]] | ||
[[Category:Marxism]] | [[Category:Marxism]] | ||
Revision as of 15:16, 16 March 2019
Surplus Value (sometimes called Profit) is a key concept in socialist (and especially marxist) understanding at how capitalism operates. It refers to the difference of money generated for a business by its workers and the amount of money that is actually paid to workers in the form of wages.
Justifications
Risk taken by capitalist
The idea that profit is a reward for the amount of risk taken by someone in starting a business (willingness to sacrifice their own savings or go into debt) is silly for five reasons:
- The returns on property income are utterly independent on the amount of risk involved. Secondly,
- All human acts involve risk of some kind and so why should property owners gain exclusively from it? Thirdly,
- Risk as such it not rewarded, only successful risks are and what constitutes success is dependent on production, i.e.
exploiting labour.
- Most “risk” related non-labour income today plays no part in aiding production and, indeed, is simply not that risky due to state intervention.
- Fifthly, risk in this context is not independent of owning capital and, consequently, the arguments against “waiting” and innovation apply equally to this rationale. In other words, “risk” is simply yet another excuse to reward the rich for being wealthy.