The argument comes down to the fact that the market is organized by and for the owners of capital, and that is largely a group you are born into. If you don't control capital, you participate in the market as a commodity.
Functionally, we've got a two-tiered system, and transitioning between those tiers is quite difficult.
Most of us here on hn are at least very expensive commodities, which isn't quite the same as being a capital owner, but it's a lot more comfortable and a lot more free than being an inexpensive commodity, the leasing of which often cannot cover operating expenses.
I personally have spent some time operating as a small time owner of capital... and I should write more about that; Experimentally, I personally am better off as an expensive commodity, precisely because it's quite difficult to make that jump from commodity to capitalist. I wasn't good enough to make it. I can see how if I were a little smarter, a lot more disciplined, if I had more luck or sense, I might have made the jump. but I'm... not average in a whole lot of ways. The average person is going to have a much harder time of it than I did.
This is a great insight and I completely agree about the two class system that capitalism creates. I think capitalist vs commodity is a much more clear framing of my perception of our system than millionaire vs billionaire.
Do you think it is a reality of capitalism that there be these two classes? Certainly capitalists must exist in capitalism but is it possible for us all to be capitalists? I see no reason why not. Can one be both a capitalist and a commodity?
You could argue that all are capitalists, it's just that some of us only own significant capital in the form of our own bodies and minds. My point is just that the game is very different if the 'means of production' you control are something other than your own body and mind.
It is only possible for us all to be capitalists (in the sense that is meaningful to me - that your income comes from the return on capital) in a world where the work is done by robots, or by people do the work for fun or adventure... because, you see, someone needs to do the actual work that keeps things running.
Functionally, we've got a two-tiered system, and transitioning between those tiers is quite difficult.
Most of us here on hn are at least very expensive commodities, which isn't quite the same as being a capital owner, but it's a lot more comfortable and a lot more free than being an inexpensive commodity, the leasing of which often cannot cover operating expenses.
I personally have spent some time operating as a small time owner of capital... and I should write more about that; Experimentally, I personally am better off as an expensive commodity, precisely because it's quite difficult to make that jump from commodity to capitalist. I wasn't good enough to make it. I can see how if I were a little smarter, a lot more disciplined, if I had more luck or sense, I might have made the jump. but I'm... not average in a whole lot of ways. The average person is going to have a much harder time of it than I did.