A popular coal-miner’s riddle from the 1930s summarizes one of capitalism’s most visible and absurd contradictions. After a daughter asks her father why their home is so cold, he tells her they don’t have any money to purchase coal. He explains they don’t have money because he lost his job at the coal mine. When the daughter asks why he lost his job, the father answers: “Because we produced too much coal”.
For a contemporary example, how many of us have, through a religious institution, school, mutual aid organization, or other community group, participated in a clothing drive, soliciting gently-used clothing to give to those in need? How many of us need to borrow (or bargain-shop for) nice clothes for job interviews or court appearances? One would think the world is short on clothing. The truth is that the majority of the garments we produce go to landfills instead of other workers. In 2018, 60 percent of 100 billion clothing items were trashed. Despite the immense data-tracking technologies, even garment specialists don’t know how many clothes we produce each year, according to a 2024 article in The Guardian. Based on accessible information, however, “between 80bn and 150bn garments are made” annually, and 10 – 40 percent (or up to 60 billion clothing items) aren’t sold.
A November 2024 study by United Way NCA provides a more contemporary and data-based illustration of the inhumanity of capitalist overproduction. Analyzing data from the U.S. Census and the Department of Housing & Urban Development, they found “there are currently 28 vacant homes for every one person experiencing homelessness in the U.S.”.
There are countless other examples, some more dramatic than others, that show the absurdity of the capitalist system through one of its fundamental contradictions: overproduction. Generally speaking, overproduction occurs when too much is produced compared to how much can be sold at a profit.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/overproduction/
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A popular coal-miner’s riddle from the 1930s summarizes one of capitalism’s most visible and absurd contradictions. After a daughter asks her father why their home is so cold, he tells her they don’t have any money to purchase coal. He explains they don’t have money because he lost his job at the coal mine. When the daughter asks why he lost his job, the father answers: “Because we produced too much coal”.
For a contemporary example, how many of us have, through a religious institution, school, mutual aid organization, or other community group, participated in a clothing drive, soliciting gently-used clothing to give to those in need? How many of us need to borrow (or bargain-shop for) nice clothes for job interviews or court appearances? One would think the world is short on clothing. The truth is that the majority of the garments we produce go to landfills instead of other workers. In 2018, 60 percent of 100 billion clothing items were trashed. Despite the immense data-tracking technologies, even garment specialists don’t know how many clothes we produce each year, according to a 2024 article in The Guardian. Based on accessible information, however, “between 80bn and 150bn garments are made” annually, and 10 – 40 percent (or up to 60 billion clothing items) aren’t sold.
A November 2024 study by United Way NCA provides a more contemporary and data-based illustration of the inhumanity of capitalist overproduction. Analyzing data from the U.S. Census and the Department of Housing & Urban Development, they found “there are currently 28 vacant homes for every one person experiencing homelessness in the U.S.”.
There are countless other examples, some more dramatic than others, that show the absurdity of the capitalist system through one of its fundamental contradictions: overproduction. Generally speaking, overproduction occurs when too much is produced compared to how much can be sold at a profit.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/overproduction/
Corporate personhood, monopoly capital, and the precedent that wasn’t: The 1886 “Santa Clara” case
Liberation Audio
20 minutes 36 seconds
2 years ago
Corporate personhood, monopoly capital, and the precedent that wasn’t: The 1886 “Santa Clara” case
How do the actual people in charge of corporations manage to remain protected from the consequences of the countless crimes they commit year after year? How is it that when CEOs make clear and obvious decisions that habitually violate every existing worker-won regulation, from the Clean Air Act to the Civil Rights Act, with very few exceptions, they charge the corporation—the “artificial” or “unnatural” person—instead of the CEO—the actual, “natural person” who made those decisions?
The legal grounds that corporations have the same protections and rights as “natural persons” is commonly justified by the 1886 Supreme Court ruling in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company. As we’ll see, the Court’s decision in the case didn’t establish any precedent for corporate personhood, nor did the Court make any ruling on it. To the extent that the Supreme Court even debated “artificial,” “corporate,” and other kinds of personhood, they did so to facilitate the transition from “free competition” to monopoly capitalism in the country.
In this article, we explore the Santa Clara case before turning to debates within the institutions of power in the U.S. over the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. These debates can only be understood if situated within their historical, political, and economic context: the transition to monopoly capital in the U.S. To conclude, we explore the case’s destructive legacy, or the way it was illegitimately used to set precedent for the growth of monopoly capital.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/corporate-personhood-monopoly-capital-and-the-precedent-that-wasnt-the-1866-santa-clara-case/
Liberation Audio
A popular coal-miner’s riddle from the 1930s summarizes one of capitalism’s most visible and absurd contradictions. After a daughter asks her father why their home is so cold, he tells her they don’t have any money to purchase coal. He explains they don’t have money because he lost his job at the coal mine. When the daughter asks why he lost his job, the father answers: “Because we produced too much coal”.
For a contemporary example, how many of us have, through a religious institution, school, mutual aid organization, or other community group, participated in a clothing drive, soliciting gently-used clothing to give to those in need? How many of us need to borrow (or bargain-shop for) nice clothes for job interviews or court appearances? One would think the world is short on clothing. The truth is that the majority of the garments we produce go to landfills instead of other workers. In 2018, 60 percent of 100 billion clothing items were trashed. Despite the immense data-tracking technologies, even garment specialists don’t know how many clothes we produce each year, according to a 2024 article in The Guardian. Based on accessible information, however, “between 80bn and 150bn garments are made” annually, and 10 – 40 percent (or up to 60 billion clothing items) aren’t sold.
A November 2024 study by United Way NCA provides a more contemporary and data-based illustration of the inhumanity of capitalist overproduction. Analyzing data from the U.S. Census and the Department of Housing & Urban Development, they found “there are currently 28 vacant homes for every one person experiencing homelessness in the U.S.”.
There are countless other examples, some more dramatic than others, that show the absurdity of the capitalist system through one of its fundamental contradictions: overproduction. Generally speaking, overproduction occurs when too much is produced compared to how much can be sold at a profit.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/overproduction/
