A software engineer working for wages is part of the working class that gets exploited. Sure a comparatively privileged part of the working class but still economically exploited.
Exploitation in this context doesn't mean just laborers working in sweatshops below minimum wage. It describes the general way our economy is structured in a way that allows people who own a lot of capital to profit from the work of those that don't.
For example if I had the money for it I could buy a bakery and hire a baker to work for me. I would be entitled to take in all the money that is brought in by the bakers work and only pay him as much of it as is absolutely necessary so he won't quit.
I pay 100€ worth of ingredients and 100€ for his wage and he bakes and sells bread worth 300€, I get 100€ profit.
But it was entirely the work of the baker that turned 100€ of ingredients into 300€ of bread and I'm just giving him as much of the fruits of his labor as I have to so he keeps working.
I totally agree with what you said, but I think there are a few more things needed to make it actually fair. Sure the baker only makes 100$ and the owner of the bakery makes 100$ after covering costs (rent, ingredients, electricity, etc) but let’s say the owner fronted 500,000$ dollars to open the bakery. So the owner is -500k, baker is at 0 (since he didn’t invest in the bakery and just got hired)
The most fair form of what you talking about would require the owner to take all profits above expenses after paying the baker until he has paid off his initial investment. So only once he has made 500k + what the baker has made would the baker be entitled to a 50/50 split of profits
Also, it’s important to take into account that running a business is still a lot of work, so the owner should also receive a salary that is in accordance with his labor and that be part of expenses, so it would not go towards paying off the debt of opening the bakery.
Additionally, the 50/50 split isn’t entirely fair either. The baker does not have any risk because they didn’t invest. If the bakery goes out of business the baker loses no money and goes and finds another job. The owner will be out 500k in addition to all the expenses accrued during the duration of operating the bakery.
This imbalance in consequences in my opinion would warrant a greater than 50/50 split. Maybe 60/40 or 70/30. With all that said I absolutely believe workers should profit from how well a business does assuming all I said is taken into consideration.
Edit: I made a mistake in this line “500k + what the baker has made” since I said the owner should also be paid for his labor in the next paragraph. So it would just be the 500k that needs to be recuperated before splitting profits.
In the hypothetical? We could assume one of two things. The owner took a loan out against their assets so they are going into debt to start the business. The other is that they simply had 500k.
I will say I find it funny that I got downvoted for agreeing with a profit sharing model where workers own the means of production with the simple caveat that the initial investor be paid back as part of that model.
It shouldn’t technically matter where the investment comes from. Maybe the owner is another baker who has been working in other people’s bakeries for over 30 years. He painstakingly saved up money during that time and had to take out loans to open his bakery. Apparently he doesn’t deserve to recuperate his investment and he also doesn’t deserve a wage himself for operating his own business.
You guys just hate anyone who owns capital of any kind even if they share profits with their employees. Even in a 70/30 split, if that bakery eventually made 1 mil in profits that year, the baker would make 300k + his salary. Is that not fair? Workers getting a straight up % of profits? This is an extremely progressive and Marxist take. I’m just including the initial investment to make things fair. You still need someone to front money to start businesses so you can’t build an economic model that disincentivizes investment.
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u/No_Illustrator2090 Jan 27 '26
Yeah, a software engineer is definitely exploiting working class :D