Plantation Economics: a Fishbowl Many Don't Know We Live in
Capitalism can be better, and it starts with you.
I bought a book called Better Capitalism.
The main idea of the book is that we currently live in a capitalistic system that operates on a “plantation-style” foundation. However, this system is outdated, and destructive for both the poor and the rich.
I’d like to explain what plantation economics is and how Amazon is exemplar of this system.
What is Plantation Economics?
Most of our current business & economical systems operate like a plantation would.
The workers work and are compensated, but they have no real stake in the ownership or the success of the business. In other words, there is no mutual partnership occurring that allows both parties to benefits from one another.
Its more of a one way street on which the poor make the rich richer.
The lack of true, mutual partnership is one of the biggest problems with our current regulated capitalistic systems. Thankfully, more of society has been realizing that there has to be a better way.
COVID Has Made it More Obvious
COVID has made more obvious the problems with a capitalistic system that values one way profits over mutual exchanges.
Amazon warehouse workers have experienced pressure because of the increased demand for delivered goods due to COVID. They were one of many groups that experienced heightened stress due to shifting public demands.
Amazon warehouse workers are a Prime example (pun intended) that our current systems are purely plantationlike. Warehouse workers at Amazon experiences a turnover rate of 150% a year. That’s about 3% of their warehouse workforce quitting each week!
That statistic just screams problems. Likely that turnover rate is so ridiculously high because of the lack of healthy working conditions and because of Jeff Bezos’ bad philosophy regarding worker compensation.
In this article it affirms that Jeff Bezos “discovered what he thought was another inefficiency worth eliminating: hourly employees who spent years working for the same company.”
Rather than increase the compensation of committed and “less efficient” workers, Jeff Bezos discards them in lieu of a new face that doesn’t require a pay raise. Apparently, this is more efficient according to Jeff Bezos.
And he’s right, if what he’s after is profits and 1-day shipping.
Is the Fishbowl Obvious Yet?
My purpose of writing this is to identify an obvious plantationlike system, like Bezos’, so you may further identify other systems that uphold this type of one-way exchange.
I experienced such a system while working at Chick-Fil-A (a fast food restaurant) and thankfully my current job is a lot closer to ethical capitalism then what I think more Americans experience. I’m grateful for that.
A better system starts with everyone speaking up and looking at the actual numbers. I think a common misconception is that the government should take hold of this movement, but that played out terribly in places like Russia, China, or Venezuela. So, yeah, let’s not do that.
We all live in fishbowls. The fishbowl usually is the problem.
What type of fishbowl do you live in?