[OPE] "Parasitism"

Jerry

You just proved my point exactly, with your emotional "I don't give a fuck" statement. I do give a fuck. I refer back to Marx, because this is a Marxian discussion list, and it's very important to understand the huge difference between Marx and Marxism.

In more than a hundred years time, Marxism failed to solve the key problems of socialist construction. Isn't it high time then, to stop giving credence to the Marxist forgeries of what Marx really argued and believed, so that we can find better solutions?

If we just go around with emotional hostility calling people "parasites" willy-nilly, without proof, we just damage our own credibility and invite the charge of "class racism".

If it was true that all capitalists were simply parasites, then capitalism would have been overthrown long ago. Point is, Marx himself recognised that the "managerial function" combines a productive function with a social control function in various admixtures. Thus, managers are not by definition parasitic, it depends very much on the nature of the function.

Jurriaan

PS - I provide here again my 2002 estimates of what the "total American population" actually did in 2002, in rounded figures and broad categories - you can see better who lives off whom:

Children (under 16, not working for pay) 64 million
Retired (over 65, not in the labour force) 28 million
Fulltime housewives, house-husbands and idle not working for pay 22 million
Industrial production workers 26.2 million
Managers and executives 15.8 million
Clerical and administrative workers 15.3 million
Sales workers 15 million
Reserve army of unemployed 13 million
Engineers, architects, technicians, programmers and scientists 10.5 million
Employers of workers, all kinds 9.8 million
Supervisors of workers, all kinds 9.1 million
Teachers, professional childcare workers and paid childcare assistants 8 million
Transport workers 5 million
Unskilled labourers, handlers and helpers 4.8 million
Aides, ushers, guides, orderlies, and attendants 4.8 million
Personal care, health and medical workers 4.3 million
Cleaners, janitors, private cooks, maids & housekeepers 3.7 million
Accountants, auditors, underwriters, and financial officers 2.6 million
Adults in institutional care n.e.c. 2.5 million
Specialists & consultants in human resources, PR and labour relations 2.1 million
Prison & jail inmates 2 million
Artists, entertainers & designers, photographers, professional athletes, recreational services 1.6 million
Nursing home residents 1.6 million
Fulltime criminals and lumpenised, not in corrective institutions 1.5 million
Lawyers, judges and legal assistants 1.3 million
Therapists, counselors, social workers and welfare service aides 1.2 million
Police, detective, and law enforcement officers 1.2 million
Medical doctors, dentists, vetinarians, optometrists, and podiatrists 1.1 million
Military personnel, domestic 1.1 million
Groundskeepers, gardeners, animal caretakers (non-farm) 1.1 million
Security guards 1 million
Farm operatives 1 million
Prostitutes 1 million
Working children (under 16) 1 million
Inspectors (construction, production and compliance) 0.9 million
Editors, writers, reporters, proofreaders, librarians, archivists, and curators 0.6 million
Adult hospital patients 0.5 million
Religious clergy, and employees of religious institutions 0.4 million
Corrective institution & prison officers 0.3 million
Firefighting, fire prevention and pest control workers 0.3 million
Water, sewage and electricity workers 0.2 million
Hospice inpatients 0.1 million
Adult psychiatric patients 0.2 million

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Received on Sun Jan 25 10:26:43 2009