When governments don’t interfere with the labour market, for example by enacting employment protection laws, it becomes a meritocracy.
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When governments don’t interfere with the labour market, for example by enacting employment protection laws, it becomes an abusive kleptocracy
Fixed that for you.
In the heyday of George Pullman before that "interference" came about being an employee was barely a step removed from chattel slavery. He trapped his workers in a system where he paid in currency only his own facilities would take and everything in his company stores was priced like a college textbook. It was impossible to "shop around" and saving for retirement was equally out of the question, as scrip was worthless anywhere else. Plus he made a habit of barging into people's homes and running snap inspections, docking pay if it wasn't up to his aesthetic standards. With punitive measures slipped in to nearly every facet of life ranging from the intrusive to the ridiculous costing real money along with the fake money he paid with at the end of the day someone who worked themselves to the bone without a break and a good chance of losing a limb could see their income for their hours worked not just zero dollars, but potentially a negative amount. Between the worthlessness of their pay, extortionate living expenses, and completely absurd fines keeping workers in debt it was impossible to leave to find less abusive work. If anyone complained hired goons would sort them.
Had to be buried in a vault filled with cement to keep people from defiling his corpse. Or at least that's the official story, I'm not convinced the people who buried him weren't afraid a stake through the heart would fail to keep him from rising again to drag the living to Hell and just wanted to be sure he stayed put.
But nepotism? That was rampant then and it remains popular today. And child labourers? Oh dear sweet merciful crapfuck they somehow actually had it worse.
Considering industry today resents having to pay people for the merits of their work believing it would birth a meritocracy to completely strip protective laws is beyond the scope of mere stupidity even before you flip through a history book to find out why those laws exist in the first place.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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