redbloodedamerica:

Why Should My Boss Get All the Profits?

Once there was a gold-seeking prospector.  He funded all of his endeavors with his own money, and paid his diggers for each hole they dug or mined whether or not they found anything.  One day, one of them finally struck gold, and boom he was rich!  His years of working hard and creating jobs were finally being rewarded.

“Not so fast!  Why do you get the entire gold nugget?  After all, I dug the hole.  Shouldn’t we be splitting it 50/50?  Capitalist swine!  Living off my surplus labor!”

Seems silly, right?  Unfortunately it’s happening in the world today.  Many argue that all workers are entitled to a proportional share of their boss’s profits.  But that’s just not right.  Most new business owners go years without ever seeing a profit.  And that’s if they’re lucky enough to get any money.  Most businesses fail after all.  Not only do they need a large share of the profits to compensate for the time and money they spent on the enterprise, they deserve it for the years and year of unpaid labor.

“Nonsense!  But about after they have recouped their loss?  Then any excess money they pull in from their workers is theft.”

No.  Once again, the only reason their workers are able to make any money in this context is someone else built the business.  Not to mention, business owners invest thousands, and sometimes millions or billions, into their enterprises  in order to develop new products and technologies to improve the live’s of their consumers and pull in more capital to pay themselves and their workers.

“Please!  Those rich jerkwads can afford to pay.”

Sorry, but that usually isn’t true either.  Most businesses are small businesses.  And part of why people start them is because they want to be in full control of the value of their labor.  Which is the same thing you want.  But it is not something you are entitled to unless you start a business yourself.  Otherwise, no one would ever start a new business and our economy would stagnate.

“Ah, that’s just economics mumbo-jumbo.  I don’t see why I shouldn’t get equal share of profits.”

Okay, there’s an easier way to settle this.  Are you willing to get paid less on years where profit is down?  And would you go into debt if the business you work for did?

“No.”

That’s why.