This episode of Fuck The Libertarians is going to be a short one, but I feel like the argument needs to be addressed. It's just so exquisitely stupid. Let's get right to it.
Basically, the rational person will claim that free market capitalism is deeply flawed, in part because it allows corporations to employ workers in unsafe conditions that might be hazardous to their health. Further, it opens up the door for slave wages that no human being could ever hope to live on. Essentially, an unregulated capitalist system fucks over a lot of people, and that's not okay. We need strong regulations to protect the rights of workers, so that nobody, you know, fucking dies.
The fuckwit libertarians will then assert that there is no need to regulate how companies can treat workers, because the workers have the freedom to leave the position. If a business mistreats its employers, no one will apply for jobs there, and the business will go under. See? The system works!
Well, sure, the system works, but only if you're a childish asshole who is allergic to nuance. To further illustrate my objection with the argument, I want to look at a little thought experiment. Libertarians have concocted a fantasy world in their heads already, so it shouldn't be too hard for them to do this with me.
Let's imagine a small child in South America. He workers in a sweatshop for seventeen hours a day, making computer parts for a giant corporation which shall remain nameless. *Cough-Apple-Cough.* Conditions in his factory are hellish, and he only makes about sixteen cents a day. With that money, he can buy a single rotten apple. It isn't much, but it keeps him alive.
The alternative is to starve completely and eventually die.
Do you see what I'm getting at here? Anybody will work a shitty job if they have no other way to survive. And yes, you have the theoretically option to leave, but if that will result in your death, then it isn't really a choice at all. You are effectively trapped in Hell if you work in an area with a low number of job openings.
Fuck that argument, and fuck the libertarians.
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