Another Capitalist Example Of People Working At Contradictory Purposes

Having a situation where great difficulty is structurally perpetuated in a system, when it doesn't have to be is repeated so often in Capitalist society that it's very ubiquitousness makes it almost impossible to see sometimes. And the thing is, it's quite understandable, from a human nature point of view.

What we're talking about here is where we continue to do things in a certain way not because it is beneficial to us necessarily, or, in fact, if it is actually beneficial at all, but because the of the fact that it represents the livelihoods of a significant group of others. Most usually others involved in a lucrative industry. And because it is a lucrative industry the folks whose capital is wrapped up in it can afford to engage in the process, both with government persuasion, and with what is most charitably described as obfuscation towards the rest of us, to keep things as they are.

The example here is with the tax prep industry, but it applies across the board with the rest of Capitalism. This is a big reason why not polluting is still a big problem. This is a big reason why Healthcare is still a big problem. This is a reason why setting national priorities is a very big problem.

You combine this with the fact that the rest of us, as wage slaves, are facing the prospect of ever less competitive wage rates, as a structural matter as far as cost effectiveness goes with either third world labor, or automation, and you end up with a major group not able to play the winning hand that those in the lucrative industries have learned how to do for decades now. And whether it's an aspect of human nature, or not, or whether it's understandable, or not, is it really in the interests of the rest of us to continue with it?


You think on that for a while. Draw your own conclusions.

TurboTax, H&R Block Spend Big Bucks Lobbying for Us to Keep Doing Our Own Taxes

by BEN POPKEN