Be careful about confusing what you want people to value with what they actually value because that's how you get Marxism.
I hired a cheap startup cleaning company (an internal startup within a larger organization). Flaky, unprofessional management; cleaners who sucked at their jobs... going by my and my friends' experiences, finding a good cleaner is pretty hard and (this is a big 'in general') the more expensive ones are more reliable. Information, quality assurance, and good management are all scarce--a lot scarcer than most people tend to assume--and cost money.
The other part is that the employers aren't "extracting as much surplus value" as you think from the sell side either. For instance, most programmers are content to work for the Man, losing significant amounts of "surplus-value". Independent contractors appreciate the freedom, the money, the flexibility, the power to say no, but it's not for everyone, because managing yourself is also a giant pain in the ass for a large number of reasons.
Finally, I think you're being down voted because all this is probably common knowledge on a forum for smart, startup-minded hackers. When you talk about "extracting surplus-value" there are prominent members of this community who do that for a living.
> Information, quality assurance, and good management are all scarce
I acknowledge that. Read my comment below - these skills are picked up on the go by startup founders, the same way those in a cooperative could. Professionalism is unrelated to having one head or twenty at the top.
> For instance, most programmers are content to work for the Man
Most workers in any field are "working for the Man*, not just programmers. The adoption of the agency model varies across the economy, but is less common as you go higher (think doctors, lawyers, architects, etc). We could get into a yearlong discussion about distribution (or concentration) of wealth, but I don't think this is the place and I'm not that qualified.
> I think you're being down voted because all this is probably common knowledge on a forum for smart, startup-minded hackers.
Isn't almost everything common knowledge in a community like this? I don't think that's the reason, downvoting for simply disagreeing is becoming increasingly common.
> When you talk about "extracting surplus-value" there are prominent members of this community who do that for a living.
So? I'm not picking a fight or attacking anyone, just musing on capitalism. Is it taboo? I'm sure they don't feel the need to justify what they do.
>> Information, quality assurance, and good management are all scarce
>I acknowledge that. Read my comment below
Well, your surplus-value is everyone else's value-added. There are probably more efficient ways to do things in the information age. I'd like to see a smart bunch of hackers disrupt the maid service industry. But I don't think the current method is unjustifiable and I don't think it's correct to question someone doing things the old way in a good way.
You might have missed the last line in that comment. I'll repeat: I'm not questioning the validity of the business (that would be me against the world), it's just wishful thinking.
> When you talk about "extracting surplus-value" there are prominent members of this community who do that for a living.
On the other hand, there are also prominent members of this community who focus on recognizing cases of surplus-value-extraction and thinking about how to disrupt/disintermediate those markets. :)
I hired a cheap startup cleaning company (an internal startup within a larger organization). Flaky, unprofessional management; cleaners who sucked at their jobs... going by my and my friends' experiences, finding a good cleaner is pretty hard and (this is a big 'in general') the more expensive ones are more reliable. Information, quality assurance, and good management are all scarce--a lot scarcer than most people tend to assume--and cost money.
The other part is that the employers aren't "extracting as much surplus value" as you think from the sell side either. For instance, most programmers are content to work for the Man, losing significant amounts of "surplus-value". Independent contractors appreciate the freedom, the money, the flexibility, the power to say no, but it's not for everyone, because managing yourself is also a giant pain in the ass for a large number of reasons.
Finally, I think you're being down voted because all this is probably common knowledge on a forum for smart, startup-minded hackers. When you talk about "extracting surplus-value" there are prominent members of this community who do that for a living.