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1. 

   Brian

   June 21, 2021 at 5:07 am

   Yeah, that’s terrible. But, honestly? It’s kind of funny watching citizens of a self-described communist nation slowly reinvent Marxism, like how the Bitcoin folks found out the hard way about why finance regulations exist. “Involution” as it’s called here has been a known concept since the early 18th century at least, existing today in Marxism as a small part of immiseration and like theses.

   We also see mentioned a common myth among believers in capitalism: The (capitalist Mode of Production) market will always seek the most efficient forms of organization.

   This is usually explained in a Darwinian fashion, where organizations that are less efficient tend to die out at a higher rate than the leaner, meaner ones. In the opening stages of liberalization, when a market or markets are born, this holds true… briefly.

   As the capitalist MoP develops, markets become stagnant as the means of production coagulate into a shrinking capital (bourgeois) class. At a late stage, formerly competitive markets end with a clear set of winners, these markets congeal, and competition is all but rendered impossible as a newly powerful interest sector ensures its longevity by raising barriers to entry, shutting out newcomers. They have many ways to do this. Bribes, pricing schemes, lobbying, etc… all while propagandizing themselves as competitive titans and any attempts to break their stranglehold as non-competitive.

   The myths and the propaganda is effective, as evidenced by the hapless Chinese citizens. Who, just like their Western counterparts, are dismayed at their circumstances, but still believe that their suffering serves the winner of a natural Darwinian order where anything that promises a better life is eaten, and that this awful way of living is inevitable.

   Free of competition, the heirs of the formerly competitive market winners are now free to demand ridiculous (and, ultimately, self sabotaging) things of their employees, like 60-90 hour work weeks. As Jack Ma was quoted, “the 12-hour work day is a blessing.” He means for him, not for the poor saps who work those shifts. The funny part is… he’s wrong. Having employees work insane hours hurts the competitiveness of the organization… not that competitiveness matters at this stage of capitalism, anyway.

   We’ve known since forever that employee productivity per hour sharply drops after about four hours a day (or 20 hours a week). The increased scheduling burden of hiring two employees to work eight hours a day is more than offset by higher productivity efficiency. Everyone working those silly 60-90 hour weeks is made miserable for no reason, their long workdays counter-productive. This is not punished by the market because it has ceased to be competitive (or never was).

   But alas, humanity’s most popular myth lives: “If a better way was that simple, someone would have done that already.”

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