/* */

PDA

View Full Version : Microsoft "Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes"



islamirama
04-19-2010, 09:14 PM
Microsoft “Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes”

April 13, 2010

A report condemning Microsoft for using Chinese suppliers who employ children in sweatshop conditions to make its hardware products has recently surfaced.



"We are like prisoners... We do not have a life, only work." - Teenaged Microsoft Worker

The factory itself manufactures goods for a variety of clients, with Microsoft said to be their largest customer. Amongst other things, they reportedly make controllers for the Xbox 360 and many of Microsoft’s hardware products.

The extremely lengthy report, summarises facts about the workers at Microsoft’s factory:

* KYE recruits hundreds-even up to 1,000-”work study students” 16 and 17 years of age, who work 15-hour shifts, six and seven days a week. In 2007 and 2008, dozens of the work study students were reported to be just 14 and 15 years old. A typical shift is from 7:45 a.m. to 10:55 p.m.

* In 2007 and 2008, before the worldwide recession, workers were at the factory 97 hours a week while working 80 ½ hours. In 2009, workers report being at the factory 83 hours a week, while working 68 hours.

* Workers are paid 65 cents an hour, which falls to a take-home wage of 52 cents after deductions for factory food.

* Workers are prohibited from talking, listening to music or using the bathroom during working hours. As punishment, workers who make mistakes are made to clean the bathrooms.

* Fourteen workers share each primitive dorm room, sleeping on narrow double-level bunk beds. To “shower,” workers fetch hot water in a small plastic bucket to take a sponge bath. Workers describe factory food as awful.

* Not only are the hours long, but the work pace is grueling as workers race frantically to complete their mandatory goal of 2,000 Microsoft mice per shift. During the long summer months when factory temperatures routinely reach 86 degrees, workers are drenched in sweat.

* The workers have no rights, as every single labor law in China is violated. Microsoft’s and other companies’ codes of conduct have zero impact.


Although this case specifically singles out Microsoft, such labour conditions form the basis of China’s manufacturing success and most companies outsourcing manufacturing to China can be expected to be employing workers under similar conditions at some stage in their production process.

full report at: http://www.nlcnet.org/reports?id=0034#comp
Reply

Login/Register to hide ads. Scroll down for more posts
ardianto
04-20-2010, 04:43 AM
Contrast with children who play Xboxes.
Reply

Karl
04-20-2010, 05:49 AM
No slaves or Children in this report. Totally sensationilst media nonsence of no substance, only for propaganda purposes.
Reply

Supreme
04-20-2010, 03:34 PM
Well, I only buy Nintendo products.
Reply

Welcome, Guest!
Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.

When you create an account, you can participate in the discussions and share your thoughts. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and make new friends.
Sign Up
islamirama
04-20-2010, 04:27 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Karl
No slaves or Children in this report. Totally sensationilst media nonsence of no substance, only for propaganda purposes.
Why don't you visit the link and actually read the report before making a comment.
Reply

Karl
04-21-2010, 12:20 AM
Read the report... the American business way is to lower costs and increase production to make maximum profits. This dosn't work in the USA anymore because of strong unions, high wages and a Demo Socialist government. So nearly all labour and manufacturing has moved to China. Globalization is perfect for the plutocrats.

No slaves or Children in this report. Totally sensationilst media nonsence of no substance, only for propaganda purposes.
America has two faces working together to make them seem good, the big bad multi death corporations exploiting the poor and causing wars all over the place and the bleeding heart organisations moaning about it, and making money with hype and propaganda "what about the children?" rubbish. It's all a farce, don't be conned by it.

Besides what's wrong with children working anyway? Starting work at five years old was the norm before the rise of the milk sopping lefty whimps. Anyone other than the parents stopping children from going to work is nothing but an ageist, busybody authoritarian bigot.
Reply

Sawdah
04-21-2010, 01:41 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by islamirama
"We are like prisoners... We do not have a life, only work." - Teenaged Microsoft Worker
imsad...
* KYE recruits hundreds-even up to 1,000-”work study students” 16 and 17 years of age, who work 15-hour shifts, six and seven days a week. In 2007 and 2008, dozens of the work study students were reported to be just 14 and 15 years old. A typical shift is from 7:45 a.m. to 10:55 p.m.
* Workers are prohibited from talking, listening to music or using the bathroom during working hours. As punishment, workers who make mistakes are made to clean the bathrooms.
Horrible, just horrible. Tsk.
* Fourteen workers share each primitive dorm room, sleeping on narrow double-level bunk beds. To “shower,” workers fetch hot water in a small plastic bucket to take a sponge bath. Workers describe factory food as awful.
* The workers have no rights, as every single labor law in China is violated. Microsoft’s and other companies’ codes of conduct have zero impact.
Such slave drivers, seriously. Everything I read from this article sounds awful. If not, worse.
Reply

islamirama
04-21-2010, 02:27 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by seekerofjannah

Such slave drivers, seriously. Everything I read from this article sounds awful. If not, worse.
visit the link and look at the report, read what one girl writes of her daily life...
Reply

ardianto
04-21-2010, 03:24 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Karl

Besides what's wrong with children working anyway? Starting work at five years old was the norm before the rise of the milk sopping lefty whimps. Anyone other than the parents stopping children from going to work is nothing but an ageist, busybody authoritarian bigot.
They are not children who work in the shop or farm after school hours. But they are children who must say goodbye to the school.

They would trapped in poverty and ignorance in the rest of their life.
Reply

islamirama
04-21-2010, 05:09 AM
Don't bother replying to him ardianto, he lives in his own weird world...
Reply

'Abd Al-Maajid
04-21-2010, 05:58 AM
This is one of the reasons I hate Microsoft, they (the higher-ups) should know who works in their companies and what pay does they get. It's not just Microsoft...many factories here also employs children who don't get a chance to study and grow up uneducated, they just know how to solder but don't know how much transistors are fabricated into the IC and how does it work and it's characteristics. Around USD100 per month is very low for a 15 hour shift...
Reply

Eric H
04-21-2010, 07:54 AM
Greetings and peace be with you Karl;

Besides what's wrong with children working anyway? Starting work at five years old was the norm before the rise of the milk sopping lefty whimps. Anyone other than the parents stopping children from going to work is nothing but an ageist, busybody authoritarian bigot.
It sounds like you had a really tough childhood, being forced to work long hours, under dangerous conditions.

In the spirit of searching for justice for all people

Eric
Reply

Danah
04-21-2010, 12:23 PM
I read this from the link:

Fined for losing a finger: A worker from Shanxi Province had his index finger chopped off while operating a hole punch press machine while working on an internet camera. Management did rush him to the hospital for emergency treatment. However, after an investigation, management determined that the worker had disobeyed regulations related to operating the punch press machine, so the worker was fined 200 RMB ($29.26) and fired! The foreman and section chief in that department were also fined. Management then rehired the injured worker as a security guard.
Workers injured at KYE are generally fined, as management accuses them of violating regulations on safe production methods.
No Comment !!




This Image is very awful!!!! what kind of treatment is this?


From the photographs you can see how exhausted the work study students were, as they immediately fell asleep during their ten-minute breaks, slumping over to rest their heads on the assembly line.
Reply

Sawdah
04-22-2010, 12:24 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by islamirama
visit the link and look at the report, read what one girl writes of her daily life...
:sl:
Are you talking about this?
A Day in the Life of a young Microsoft Worker-A 16 ½ hour day-

This young worker gets up at 6:30 a.m., washes quickly, eats a few crackers on the run, works a 15-hour shift, returns to his primitive dorm room at 10:30 p.m., "showers" using a small plastic bucket of hot water, and falls asleep exhausted as the dorm lights are shut off at 11:00 p.m.

I woke up to the sound of the alarm. My body felt tired and unwilling. I knew that not getting up was not an option. Many other workers were getting up now, and if I didn't hurry up and wash my face and brush my teeth, there would be a huge crowd at the sink in the washroom and a long wait, which would make me late for work. I start work at 7:30 a.m. I quickly dressed, grabbed a towel, and rushed to the bathroom. Wow! There were so many people there already. I pushed to the front and after five minutes of struggle, was able to get to a faucet...
Just read it, very sad subhanAllah. I really hate how the foreman seems to order them around for everything:

In a short while, the foreman started shouting: "Everybody attention! Stand straight! Turn right!"...

...The foreman then calls out commands for workers to: "stand at attention, turn right" and sums up the day's work...
Ugh, so annoying.

Even though they get a few breaks, it's horrible. I mean, look at them! They clearly can't do much, they're restricted from a lot. Plus that lecture at the end of the day? Ya Allah!

...a short while, the foreman started shouting: "Everybody attention! Stand straight! Turn right!" Afterwards, the manager shouted: "Everybody pay attention: while at work, everyone should be full of vigor. Everyone must strictly follow the 6S system! You are not allowed to talk at work. You cannot drop products on the floor. Can you hear me?!" We respond, "we hear you!" but some of my colleagues didn't answer with much enthusiasm. "Why are you all so tired? Do you all want to go back to the dorm to sleep? Do you want me to make you come back when your energy has returned? Let's try again: Can you hear me?!" We shout back, "We hear you!" I can hear everybody's irritation at the foreman as they shout back. "Everybody split up and return to your work stations!"
Again, slave drivers...
Reply

islamirama
04-22-2010, 12:53 AM
Yup, that's not work. That's slave labor, and child labor at that. We should boycott these corporations much as we can.
Reply

Al-Indunisiy
04-22-2010, 11:37 AM
:sl:

Hate to be pessimistic but:
Reply

aamirsaab
04-22-2010, 12:31 PM
I understand minimum wage doesn't actually apply to their workers (what with them being under 18), but for God's sake, taking a leak is not allowed?
Reply

Argamemnon
04-22-2010, 03:16 PM
format_quote Originally Posted by Karl
Read the report... the American business way is to lower costs and increase production to make maximum profits.
Any such system is doomed to collapse, it is nothing but exploitation of human beings which is totally unacceptable in Islam. Hopefully we will live to see the end of this inhumane and satanic system i.e. making 'maximum profit' at the expense of workers and the environment.
Reply

Argamemnon
04-22-2010, 03:50 PM
Destruction of Value Marks Capitalism's End

Capitalism is the economic system of buying and selling based on the exploitation of human labor, which is the sole source of value. The elimination of labor power from production is destroying the source of all value, and thus, destroying surplus value, which is the source of all profits stolen from the worker by the capitalist. Without value, surplus value, and profits, capitalism cannot survive as a system. This article will discuss how the destruction of value marks the end of capitalism and of the value system itself, opening the way for a new society based on a new economic system.

The term "value" in political economy really means exchange value; exchange value expresses the ratio at which two different products of human labor exchange for each other. Value (or exchange value) exists in human society where people are organized with a division of labor for the production and distribution of goods and services. Value in this sense does not exist when humans live in isolation, or when a person produces only for his or own personal use.

Thus, value is a social relation that only exists in the process of buying and selling. It serves to allocate labor power and other scarce resources for both production and distribution under conditions where there is insufficient labor power to satisfy the needs of all. As society is able to produce abundance to meet all its needs, value disappears as a means of determining what is produced and who will consume and benefit from the wealth.

In the complex system of capitalism, value allocates scarce human labor to meet the immediate needs of society. It also unleashes the awesome power of human ingenuity to increase labor productivity through technology in production. As a result, society now has immense material wealth sufficient to satisfy human needs. Under capitalism, the capitalists own and control all the fruits of this increased labor productivity. Today, 567 million people live in countries whose gross domestic product is less than the wealth of the world's seven richest people combined. The polarity between wealth and poverty has never been greater.

Yet, labor is the one and only source of all value. The value of every commodity is determined by the amount of socially necessary labor time utilized in production. Socially necessary labor time is the quantity of labor necessary for production under average social conditions. The amount of value in a commodity over and above the wages paid to the worker is surplus value, all of which is created by labor, but stolen by the owner of the means of production, the capitalist, as the source of profit.

With capital striving for higher profits from the stolen surplus value, labor is in constant battle against capital's unrelenting drive to lower wages below a living wage. These wages are a monetary expression of the cost of labor power. Labor power is the worker; the worker is the source of potential or actual labor power; like the horse is the source of horsepower. Thus, the cost of labor power is the cost of maintaining a worker and his or her family, and capitalism as a system locks the worker onto a treadmill of poverty or the threat of poverty.

From capitalism's earliest beginnings in the textile factories of England to its domination of the global society, capitalists have been, and are, driven by competition to maximize their rate of profit in competition with other capitalists at the expense of the working class, and without concern for the consequence for human society. The highest rate of profit is the bottom line for all activities for an individual member of the capitalist class. As a consequence of this competition, each capitalist drives down the cost of production to increase profits through greater exploitation of labor and introduces new technology to cut labor costs and increase productivity.

The introduction of technology gives a competitive edge to the capitalist who first introduces the technology. But as the new technology is adopted by competitors, and the increased productivity and lower labor costs spread across the whole product line, the price falls in accord with the lower value and less surplus value is expropriated in the process of production. Thus, the rate of profit falls for all.

Capital's drive for maximum profits has led to the introduction of a revolutionary new means of production, thus opening up an era of social revolution. Previous technological advances were labor-saving. Electronic technology in production replaces labor. It lowers labor costs by replacing human labor with robots and with computer technology that controls and operates machinery.

Without any labor costs to the capitalists, robots on the assembly line work more efficiently than workers, and computer-operated tool and die makers are faster and more accurate than skilled mechanists. Labor is being eliminated from production, and thus the source of value and surplus value is being eliminated. The value of the labor power of workers whose job is performed by a robot or computer-operated machine is nothing to the capitalist class.

Further, these revolutionary new means of production cause a breakdown in the process of buying and selling that is essential to capitalism. Robots and computer-operated machinery aren't paid wages and don't buy anything; they produce but they don't consume. And, workers replaced by these means of production don't have paychecks. When workers are unable to buy, the capitalist is unable to realize a profit. The overall impact of the new technology is to drive the rate of profit down to zero.

As electronics eliminates human labor, it destroys the source of all value, and thus ends a system of production and distribution based on the exploitation of human labor power. Zero rate of profit and zero value of human labor power mark the end of the capitalist system of production and distribution, and thus the end of value as the means for determining what is produced and consumed.

Capitalism has come to its end. Something new is struggling to be born. For the first time in human history, abundance, not scarcity, can define human society. Only people can determine whether that abundance will be owned by a handful of capitalists, or by, and for, the good of the community as a whole.

http://www.lrna.org/2-pt/v19ed1art3.html
Reply

Karl
04-23-2010, 01:08 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by ardianto
They are not children who work in the shop or farm after school hours. But they are children who must say goodbye to the school.

They would trapped in poverty and ignorance in the rest of their life.
These guys are not children they are teenagers (young adults) doing some work experiance.
These guys are probably stupid cos they are working in a factory, they're not academics.
Most people are trapped in poverty and ignorance even with an education, only the intelligent people get ahead.
Don't fall for that lefty rubbish that if you get an education you will be somebody. You are lucky if you can get a job. That's why if a child of 5 years old can get a job they should take it and do their studies in their own time. If they have got the wits and the will they will improve their lot in life.
The vast majority of people are not intelligent enough to be highly paid professionals and that is good because we don't need a billion lawyers and a billion rocket scientists and 5 billion university nerds with their heads buried in books all day, many of whom still haven't learned how to do up their shoelaces. We need farmers, factory workers and tradesmen and all other essential jobs to make the world go around.
Reply

Alchemist
04-23-2010, 01:14 AM
Wow.. that's interesting..
Reply

Karl
04-23-2010, 01:19 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Argamemnon
Destruction of Value Marks Capitalism's End

Capitalism is the economic system of buying and selling based on the exploitation of human labor, which is the sole source of value. The elimination of labor power from production is destroying the source of all value, and thus, destroying surplus value, which is the source of all profits stolen from the worker by the capitalist. Without value, surplus value, and profits, capitalism cannot survive as a system. This article will discuss how the destruction of value marks the end of capitalism and of the value system itself, opening the way for a new society based on a new economic system.

The term "value" in political economy really means exchange value; exchange value expresses the ratio at which two different products of human labor exchange for each other. Value (or exchange value) exists in human society where people are organized with a division of labor for the production and distribution of goods and services. Value in this sense does not exist when humans live in isolation, or when a person produces only for his or own personal use.

Thus, value is a social relation that only exists in the process of buying and selling. It serves to allocate labor power and other scarce resources for both production and distribution under conditions where there is insufficient labor power to satisfy the needs of all. As society is able to produce abundance to meet all its needs, value disappears as a means of determining what is produced and who will consume and benefit from the wealth.

In the complex system of capitalism, value allocates scarce human labor to meet the immediate needs of society. It also unleashes the awesome power of human ingenuity to increase labor productivity through technology in production. As a result, society now has immense material wealth sufficient to satisfy human needs. Under capitalism, the capitalists own and control all the fruits of this increased labor productivity. Today, 567 million people live in countries whose gross domestic product is less than the wealth of the world's seven richest people combined. The polarity between wealth and poverty has never been greater.

Yet, labor is the one and only source of all value. The value of every commodity is determined by the amount of socially necessary labor time utilized in production. Socially necessary labor time is the quantity of labor necessary for production under average social conditions. The amount of value in a commodity over and above the wages paid to the worker is surplus value, all of which is created by labor, but stolen by the owner of the means of production, the capitalist, as the source of profit.

With capital striving for higher profits from the stolen surplus value, labor is in constant battle against capital's unrelenting drive to lower wages below a living wage. These wages are a monetary expression of the cost of labor power. Labor power is the worker; the worker is the source of potential or actual labor power; like the horse is the source of horsepower. Thus, the cost of labor power is the cost of maintaining a worker and his or her family, and capitalism as a system locks the worker onto a treadmill of poverty or the threat of poverty.

From capitalism's earliest beginnings in the textile factories of England to its domination of the global society, capitalists have been, and are, driven by competition to maximize their rate of profit in competition with other capitalists at the expense of the working class, and without concern for the consequence for human society. The highest rate of profit is the bottom line for all activities for an individual member of the capitalist class. As a consequence of this competition, each capitalist drives down the cost of production to increase profits through greater exploitation of labor and introduces new technology to cut labor costs and increase productivity.

The introduction of technology gives a competitive edge to the capitalist who first introduces the technology. But as the new technology is adopted by competitors, and the increased productivity and lower labor costs spread across the whole product line, the price falls in accord with the lower value and less surplus value is expropriated in the process of production. Thus, the rate of profit falls for all.

Capital's drive for maximum profits has led to the introduction of a revolutionary new means of production, thus opening up an era of social revolution. Previous technological advances were labor-saving. Electronic technology in production replaces labor. It lowers labor costs by replacing human labor with robots and with computer technology that controls and operates machinery.

Without any labor costs to the capitalists, robots on the assembly line work more efficiently than workers, and computer-operated tool and die makers are faster and more accurate than skilled mechanists. Labor is being eliminated from production, and thus the source of value and surplus value is being eliminated. The value of the labor power of workers whose job is performed by a robot or computer-operated machine is nothing to the capitalist class.

Further, these revolutionary new means of production cause a breakdown in the process of buying and selling that is essential to capitalism. Robots and computer-operated machinery aren't paid wages and don't buy anything; they produce but they don't consume. And, workers replaced by these means of production don't have paychecks. When workers are unable to buy, the capitalist is unable to realize a profit. The overall impact of the new technology is to drive the rate of profit down to zero.

As electronics eliminates human labor, it destroys the source of all value, and thus ends a system of production and distribution based on the exploitation of human labor power. Zero rate of profit and zero value of human labor power mark the end of the capitalist system of production and distribution, and thus the end of value as the means for determining what is produced and consumed.

Capitalism has come to its end. Something new is struggling to be born. For the first time in human history, abundance, not scarcity, can define human society. Only people can determine whether that abundance will be owned by a handful of capitalists, or by, and for, the good of the community as a whole.

http://www.lrna.org/2-pt/v19ed1art3.html
Wow sounds like Marxism 101. You haven't converted to Marx as your God have you brother?
Reply

Karl
04-23-2010, 01:44 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by islamirama
Yup, that's not work. That's slave labor, and child labor at that. We should boycott these corporations much as we can.
There is nothing demonstrably and inherently wrong with so-called "child labour" and I am guessing this is why none of the big religions mention anything opposed to it. New age busybody socialism and its milk-sopping wimp ideology might have invented a newly founded morality against this 'child labour' nonsense, but I've never seen "child labour" condemned under any religion including Islam. There is nothing in Islam that condemns so-called "child labour". If you can find it in the quran then please send me to the relevant part!
Reply

Karl
04-23-2010, 01:50 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by islamirama
Don't bother replying to him ardianto, he lives in his own weird world...
Wierd world? Just because I haven't converted to the leftist catch cries that you cling to don't come on here and attack me because of it! Islam is MY real world. I keep away from the kafir and apostate one. Supreme might be one of my most fiercest enemies who preaches nothing but lefty media catch cries all day, but at least he doesn't call himself a Muslim! I thank Allah for that.
Reply

Karl
04-23-2010, 06:10 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Argamemnon
Any such system is doomed to collapse, it is nothing but exploitation of human beings which is totally unacceptable in Islam. Hopefully we will live to see the end of this inhumane and satanic system i.e. making 'maximum profit' at the expense of workers and the environment.
Well this system has been around for ever and hasn't colapsed. It is not all that evil if consent and bargaining is used, also beasts of burden have been used in the past to lift productivity and now machines have taken over in the wealtheir countries. Capitalism can get down and dirty and down right evil but it seems to work the best.
Capitalism is the economy run by private business, private property etc. Socialism is the economy run by the state. Choose wisely, socialism has out eviled capitalism everytime. Islam favours capitalism, with a little moral control. As the Quran states "no one should be under a greater burden than he can bear"
Reply

islamirama
04-23-2010, 04:33 PM
I for one don't buy Microsoft at all! I refused to support these corrupt tyrant corporations.
Reply

Lynx
04-25-2010, 07:56 AM
format_quote Originally Posted by Argamemnon
Destruction of Value Marks Capitalism's End

Capitalism is the economic system of buying and selling based on the exploitation of human labor, which is the sole source of value. The elimination of labor power from production is destroying the source of all value, and thus, destroying surplus value, which is the source of all profits stolen from the worker by the capitalist. Without value, surplus value, and profits, capitalism cannot survive as a system. This article will discuss how the destruction of value marks the end of capitalism and of the value system itself, opening the way for a new society based on a new economic system.

The term "value" in political economy really means exchange value; exchange value expresses the ratio at which two different products of human labor exchange for each other. Value (or exchange value) exists in human society where people are organized with a division of labor for the production and distribution of goods and services. Value in this sense does not exist when humans live in isolation, or when a person produces only for his or own personal use.

Thus, value is a social relation that only exists in the process of buying and selling. It serves to allocate labor power and other scarce resources for both production and distribution under conditions where there is insufficient labor power to satisfy the needs of all. As society is able to produce abundance to meet all its needs, value disappears as a means of determining what is produced and who will consume and benefit from the wealth.

In the complex system of capitalism, value allocates scarce human labor to meet the immediate needs of society. It also unleashes the awesome power of human ingenuity to increase labor productivity through technology in production. As a result, society now has immense material wealth sufficient to satisfy human needs. Under capitalism, the capitalists own and control all the fruits of this increased labor productivity. Today, 567 million people live in countries whose gross domestic product is less than the wealth of the world's seven richest people combined. The polarity between wealth and poverty has never been greater.

Yet, labor is the one and only source of all value. The value of every commodity is determined by the amount of socially necessary labor time utilized in production. Socially necessary labor time is the quantity of labor necessary for production under average social conditions. The amount of value in a commodity over and above the wages paid to the worker is surplus value, all of which is created by labor, but stolen by the owner of the means of production, the capitalist, as the source of profit.

With capital striving for higher profits from the stolen surplus value, labor is in constant battle against capital's unrelenting drive to lower wages below a living wage. These wages are a monetary expression of the cost of labor power. Labor power is the worker; the worker is the source of potential or actual labor power; like the horse is the source of horsepower. Thus, the cost of labor power is the cost of maintaining a worker and his or her family, and capitalism as a system locks the worker onto a treadmill of poverty or the threat of poverty.

From capitalism's earliest beginnings in the textile factories of England to its domination of the global society, capitalists have been, and are, driven by competition to maximize their rate of profit in competition with other capitalists at the expense of the working class, and without concern for the consequence for human society. The highest rate of profit is the bottom line for all activities for an individual member of the capitalist class. As a consequence of this competition, each capitalist drives down the cost of production to increase profits through greater exploitation of labor and introduces new technology to cut labor costs and increase productivity.

The introduction of technology gives a competitive edge to the capitalist who first introduces the technology. But as the new technology is adopted by competitors, and the increased productivity and lower labor costs spread across the whole product line, the price falls in accord with the lower value and less surplus value is expropriated in the process of production. Thus, the rate of profit falls for all.

Capital's drive for maximum profits has led to the introduction of a revolutionary new means of production, thus opening up an era of social revolution. Previous technological advances were labor-saving. Electronic technology in production replaces labor. It lowers labor costs by replacing human labor with robots and with computer technology that controls and operates machinery.

Without any labor costs to the capitalists, robots on the assembly line work more efficiently than workers, and computer-operated tool and die makers are faster and more accurate than skilled mechanists. Labor is being eliminated from production, and thus the source of value and surplus value is being eliminated. The value of the labor power of workers whose job is performed by a robot or computer-operated machine is nothing to the capitalist class.

Further, these revolutionary new means of production cause a breakdown in the process of buying and selling that is essential to capitalism. Robots and computer-operated machinery aren't paid wages and don't buy anything; they produce but they don't consume. And, workers replaced by these means of production don't have paychecks. When workers are unable to buy, the capitalist is unable to realize a profit. The overall impact of the new technology is to drive the rate of profit down to zero.

As electronics eliminates human labor, it destroys the source of all value, and thus ends a system of production and distribution based on the exploitation of human labor power. Zero rate of profit and zero value of human labor power mark the end of the capitalist system of production and distribution, and thus the end of value as the means for determining what is produced and consumed.

Capitalism has come to its end. Something new is struggling to be born. For the first time in human history, abundance, not scarcity, can define human society. Only people can determine whether that abundance will be owned by a handful of capitalists, or by, and for, the good of the community as a whole.



http://www.lrna.org/2-pt/v19ed1art3.html
Marx is always fun !

hmMm, this article seems to be oversimplifying matters a bit. wouldn't the elimination of certain jobs by robots just force people to find different jobs in different areas of production? Marketing, office work, retail etc are all things that will require human labor and maybe the more being produced at an efficient rate by these robots will require more of these secondary jobs which happen to be more pleasant that unskilled labor. So i don't think labor is in any danger of being eliminated; labor will just be displaced. Also, the article seems to be saying that the success of capitalism is responsible for bringing about a world that has gone beyond scarcity. So in other words, capitalism solves the problem of scarcity which happens to be the very point of economics. yay for capitalism?

On a side note, the purpose of Capitalism isn't to be evil. The purpose of capitalism is to bring about social benefits for all through coordinated self-interest. Microsoft wants to cut costs opening up an evil slave camp but guess what? Those people are willingly there. If they were better off not working they wouldn't be working. Furthermore, if you jack up the price of labor there and it's cheaper somewhere else then Microsoft will pack its things up and go somewhere else leaving all those people without a job. That poor rate might be the market clearing price for that particular industry! So I think the problem is more complicated than a matter of evil corporations doing evil things for money. I mean i guess it is evil but free-market liberalism SEEMS to work. China is vastly richer than it has been prior to these practices. The washroom thing is a little odd though so hopefully media exposure might embarrass Microsoft enough to be a little generous.
Reply

Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.

When you create an account, you can participate in the discussions and share your thoughts. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and make new friends.
Sign Up
British Wholesales - Certified Wholesale Linen & Towels | Holiday in the Maldives

IslamicBoard

Experience a richer experience on our mobile app!