The Waste of the Profit System

Capitalism has an odd way of producing goods in today’s world. The sheer amount of waste created by the capitalist system would almost be unexplainable if it weren’t understood that goods are only produced for a profit. When you look at the industries that have nothing to do with the production of goods to satisfy human needs this becomes apparent. The marketing industry in the United States is an excellent example of how labour is being wasted at an unprecedented scale.

 In 2004 the communications and research company, Blackfriars Communications, Inc. projected that marketing spending in the U.S. alone would near $1.074 trillion in 2005. That accounts for nearly 9% percent of the gross domestic product for that year. They found that manufacturers spent the most on the marketing of all the industries, almost $120 billion, which was spent on advertising, direct marketing, events and other activities. The sheer amount of labour hours wasted in this industry alone is astonishing. Let's take a look at some of the other industries that have nothing to do with the production of goods for human need. A breakdown of the American economy for 2007 shows that the labour pool, that is all employed workers in America, is approximately 134 million people. Of that number approximately 60 million are employed in industries that are involved in the production of goods that can be consumed or used. This figure is the added approximate number of workers employed in industries such as mining, utilities, construction, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, scientific and technical services, education, health care and arts and entertainment. That leaves approximately 72 million workers employed in industries that have little or nothing to do with the production of goods for use or consumption. Industries such as wholesale, retail, information, finance, and insurance, real estate, management, administration and food service. Not to mention the number of workers employed by the armed forces and the police. It is striking to see that the number of workers employed in fields devoted to the selling of goods produced is much higher than those employed in sectors that actually produce wealth. This odd balance is only part of the unavoidable structure of the capitalist system.

 In a world of private ownership, the wealth produced is owned and controlled by a small minority of people. Jobs are available only when there is a profit to be made in that sector and goods can be had only if you have the money to buy them. It is the profit making system that creates a society of scarcity. It is not scarcity that creates the profit system. In the capitalist society, goods can only be produced if there is an expectation of making a profit. The capitalist class, who owns all of the wealth produced, sells the goods back to those who produce them in the first place. The wage or salary paid to the worker is always less than the value of what he or she produces. It is this surplus that creates profit. In this respect, profit can be considered as unpaid labour. In a society of common ownership, labour would be directly involved only in the production of wealth for use. Only the work that is involved in the production of goods would remain. That would leave more than half of the entire labour pool that could be immediately used to increase the productive capacities of wealth in society, greatly reducing the man-hours of each worker in the production of goods. Gone would be the countless numbers of jobs that only exist to administer the profit system. It has been argued that it is the competition that exists in the profit system that is responsible for all technological advancements.

 While this may true in some respects, it is also the profit system that is responsible for the hindering of many technological and productive advancements. For example, the know-how and will exist to create an automobile that can run on hydrogen power alone, i.e. water.2 Unfortunate, however, is the fact that there is no profit to be made in selling a car that runs for free. Another thing to consider is the production of shoddy goods that break down not long after they are used. Again, using the automobile as an example, it is not that we cannot build a car that would run for 20 years without having to be replaced, but it is the fact that there is no profit in selling a car that would last that long. Much more profitable to the owning class is to sell a car that breaks down after five or six years so that another car must replace it. Without the hindrance of the capital seeking system of production, the working class would be free to increase its efficiency and productive capacities to satisfy each human being to live a full life of abundance. It is only when the working class organizes politically and consciously to take the wealth of their labour into their own hands that the waste and exploitation of labour will end.