Chris Herrington, Contributing Writer
Although derivatives are an item to be bought and sold in the real world of finances, they are in fact a hard currency metaphor for an ideology of the business cycle: We project, or bet, on the future value of things by investing in them in as close to the bottom floor as possible, and then we sell them when they have reached some value at which we believe that we have made the maximized profit. In short then, in buying low and selling high, the truth is that there is a time limit for every business transaction, and the point is to control the sale such that we can maximize profit.
The real world problem is that the entire project of capitalization, the capacity for using the business cycle, is built on the simple idea that in the supply and demand curve, by controlling the fluxuation, we can fool people into playing longer than they would if they had all the facts, and then we can get out just before they do. Employees will work more hours, give more of their lives, hope to retire, depend on a corporation, to the extent that they believe they will be able to survive and even thrive because of their relationship with the corporation. Really?
Corporations make money by selling a product or service for more than it cost them. They can lower costs by paying employees less, by getting resources cheaper, by automation, by increasing output with labor saving devices or systems, or by outsourcing to those who can do the job more inexpensively and then middle-manning part or the entire service. They can raise the price of the product or service, but competition and supply will work against higher prices. There are upper limits depending on circumstances that may be beyond the corporation’s control. In short then, the company plan is to make the most from the least, to maximize profits.
This has always been the case. IF anything, this is the single most honest thing about businesses; they are here to make money off of you, and they will tell you that to your face. Derivative evaluation is the point of view of the investor, and of the corporation, and now the employee, who has lately learned that the magic of getting a job is subject to derivative evaluation, has learned this very hard lesson on the global scale. This is a point of ignorance and self-duplicity that has gone on long enough anyways. There are no guarantees. The corporation owes no one anything. It will do the least to make the most. This is its reason for existing. It is a person without a conscience. Some corporations are serial killers. Some are little old grandmothers with extra cookies. In fact, they are like the general population of human beings.
If we think for a moment that they cannot transform, we have only to look at the last 75 years. We have gone through the cycle of their moving us to the cities they wanted to transform to their laying off millions in order to save capital. If they were parents, when things got tough they would be putting their kids at the fire station and abandoning them there. It’s a fact of life. But we cannot blame the corporations; they were created for this reason. We are the ones who allowed this situation to ripen. It is our fault. The free market is not about relationships and family time. There are some jobs that actually detest child bearing, family outings, anniversaries, and family illness. They prefer to work with machines. And the sooner they can cut the human beings loose, the better. The more lifeless the better.
The CEO’s and the officers make out like bandits, and the stockholders make a killing. They hardly ever put in enough to cover the costs of health care or retirement for the employees, and this has been increasingly so over the last 75 years. Just as “Obamacare” has been shoe horned in to kick in to save the moment in its sloppy way, the corporations are raising co-pays, lowering benefits, and increasing insurance rates. Profit sharing is down, cars and travel perks are disappearing, and in general, employees are being asked to do more for less more and more. We had unions for a reason: To increase employee health and safety, retirement benefits, and general employee awareness. But, anything that costs the corporation money lowers profits.
The derivative value then is the value of the corporation in our thinking, in the future. Employees are not necessary for the most part. 2 men can do the work of what used to take 200 men in 1/10 the time. We will need less and less as productivity increases. That’s what increased productivity means, less time, energy, money, and personnel to make the same amount of products. Every time we increase productivity, someone loses a job. This is not bad, and it is not wrong; it is, however, the way it is.
Here are three things you will need to survive into the 22nd Century:
1. The willingness to be looking for alternative ways of making a living, because whatever you are doing now will be replaced, and so you will be replaced; face it.
2. The willingness to be constantly learning to keep up with the technology and social changes that are occurring in the world; you do not have to change religions, eat tofu, or go solar, but whatever is in the news and in the wake of whatever is happening better not be a total shock to you or you will be lost come the next revolution in technology.
3. Open your mind; view media in a broad way and really use the brain you have to reflect on the expanding horizon in front of you: Work on yourself, not only to update your skills, but to better understand yourself as an individual.
The world owes you nothing, and it is not going to continue handing you all that good stuff just because it likes your youth or curves or friends. When you are past your prime and need to make a difference, you will only have who you have become to depend on. Make an effort to have something to present to yourself at that time; you will be all you have to work with.
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