The consumer society

During the last days the EU for the umpteenth time, recommending a reduction in salaries Greek, Spanish and Portuguese workers. The question is More? Really salaries can down more; we can only consider payment zero the lower bound (to pay for work only happens for hobbies). We also may ask when it will take to have servitude contracts (pay for food and lodging) or directly slavery. Down salaries when inflation continues to rise, it seems total nonsense, nonsense that goes against the consumer society in which we operate.

The consumer society is based on the constant consumption of goods. Currently repair or transfer of goods to be completely useless. Everything is throwing, everything has short time in use, consumer goods older in design but not in utility or use, Wasting is the basis of the modern economy, using throwing is the current motto. But this implies that there must be a sufficient mass of potential consumers willing with power to consume; we have consumers, with motivation also, but they are very poor will just consume the minimum to live, which breaks the chain of consumption.

Really have they thought well about lower salaries in the EU? Probably yes. Although considering their ability to Numerical Analysis (Per fer models numèrics cal saber matemàtiques) all could be possible. But we think that the consumer society is heritage of capitalism, in fact capitalism isn’t based on the consumer society; capitalism is based on the capital. Looking operations worldwide observe that the majority (75% of all economic transactions) are a financial-speculative. Capitalism isn’t cheating anybody because capital is about money (Capital), in the previous stage Commercialism was when everything was based on trade. In fact the perfect capitalist enterprise is one that only moves capital, Enron in the USA has gotten the first power company without generating sources, without mass distribution, without marketing units, and without clients (brutal), also we must say that it burned like a torch when the scandal of California energy deficit.

During the economic crisis they raced to save the banks, however they left to fend for people less fortunate. And gradually in the boiler burned where the outcasts of the Earth is beginning to have overbooking, more and more people fall into the spiral that leads to the pit of no return. On the one hand there is an action to carry to precarious the life of ordinary people, which they called middle class, but mostly we are fine to complete lack of idea that makes it even crueler for transit crisis. Instead the help to banks although it seems counterproductive was necessary in front the disaster which was coming, if they allowed down banks the savings, checking accounts, insurance, pension ... had disappeared, crippling the world economy; banks and ultimately capital has kidnapped the economy.

Capitalism fucks the market of goods and services which in principle would be real. Its market is the monetary, of the stock (utterly unrelated companies, goods and other things which are representing their root) and especially speculation gains. For other side industrial production needs to cheap cost to achieve capital gains, to get it first it must cheaper raw materials, and other side lower salaries. The raw materials we could say that they are free, they are in nature and should only collect the cost is the labor to get them (this includes energy production). So everything just cheapening the manpower that can be done in two ways down the number of workers or lowering the wages to pay them. Thanks to mechanization it has happened the first: lower the number of workers, but the desperation of discarded it has also lowered the salary of the few working, companies get total return.

The welfare state, which melts as it passes the crisis, was only a maneuver to stop the advance of communism in the early XX century and which was maintained during the century, while there were socialist countries. After missing the socialist states the welfare state was no longer necessary, and taking advantage of the crisis has begun to dismantle. But the advent of the welfare state grew base of potential consumers which does an increase in demand, what is sometimes called virtuous circle. But the virtuous circle has a limitation, growth can’t be infinite. On the other hand industrial production based on low wages, inconsistent with a consumer population, so they send production to third world were on one side and increased mechanization. But two things were causing the demise of work in the welfare Western, thing that made the current results: not work to people; but without the army of Western consumers and mechanization extreme, current third world will haven't worked soon.

We have a wrong view of the consumer society; capitalism appears in the XIX century and we just read the realistic novels of its current time to check hell where most Europeans of this century had lived. So the consumer society was just a secondary effect of the welfare state, but one side has a better life expectancy, dramatically broken today, and another it has led to an intolerable environmental pressure on the planet it also is about to burst.

To down salaries is the only thing that they should think to the EU to obtain that the salary isn’t so decisive and it able to employ more people. This tactic already done the Franco dictatorship where wages were paupers but there was gotten full employment, but the state had been rescued by the OECD in the 60s. As Karl Marx said, "Capitalism is a giant with feet of clay" and now we return to the situation inexorably nineteenth century neo-liberal prophets might do well to read "Das Capital" if their arrogance and ignorance leave them.