[P2P-F] Worker Ownership, Scale of Production, and Use Value

Wed Mar 16 03:49:27 CET 2011

Kevin Carson wrote:
> All the situations you describe involve self-employed artisans
> of one kind or another doing one-off jobs for customers, and
> using their own tools to perform the service.

Hmm...  I see.  But I think this oversight on my part
does not invalidate the question in general.

For example, what if I owned the tools to perform the
service, but hired someone to do the work?

Let's say I own the cable-splicer and whatever else
equipment a network technician would need, and he
used that equipment to network my house.

Should he then become part owner of those tools?

What if I owned all the wrenches and other things
needed to fix my car, or install plumbing but hired
someone else to do the work?

Should he then become part owner of those tools?

If he owned his own tools (the same as the ones I
was offering), notice he would not be able to stop
other potential Workers for reverse-bidding for that
job - even when those other workers did not own
tools themselves, because I would allow those non-
owning worker to access my tools "at cost".  His
ownership would not help him except in cases where
he was vying for a job from a customer that did NOT
own those tools.

I would be 'protected' through my ownership in the
Means of Production from being forced to pay more
than lowest wage any worker would offer.

This seems to indicate that competition between
workers is maximized when consumers own the Means
of Production.

This minimizes Wages and causes Profit to be undefined.