Cannabis Labor Day – Cannabis | weed | marijuana
With cannabis being legal in Canada and 19 American states, today is a day to celebrate cannabis work and its contribution to the industry.
Of course, a government employee strike emptied the cannabis shelves in British Columbia. And this workers’ strike was at the expense of workers in the private sector.
But surely we can all put aside our differences and unite as workers of the world against our imperial capitalist masters… right?
Cannabis Labor Day: Myths and Facts
Everything we know about Labor Day is wrong. And so, Cannabis Labor Day should reflect the reality of the situation.
By the standard account, everything we have we owe to the unions. Five-day week, 8-hour day, occupational health and safety, lunch breaks, sunshine and rainbows, etc.
If it weren’t for the clever administration of government bureaucrats and union thugs, our children would be working in the coal mines for 50 cents an hour 80 hours a week!
This is of course completely false, as it bears no remote relation to reality.
Not surprisingly, those who spread this pro-union nonsense are typically the unironically hammer-sickle-wielding type, denying the genocides in Mao’s China or Stalin’s USSR.
What are the facts?
Cannabis Labor Day: A Little History
Before the economic reforms of the 1920s and 1930s (in response to the Russian Revolution), freedom of contract and freedom of association were essential principles of civilized life.
Workers were free to accept or reject any offer of compensation from an employer. Likewise, an employer was free to accept or reject offers from workers.
No one could prevent workers from exercising their right to work.
So if a group of workers decided to go on strike, they couldn’t disrupt the suppliers’ delivery. Nor could they intimidate consumers or discourage them from shopping.
Contrary to the ideology that this was the Dark Ages, workers were free to strike and picket. But they were not free to violate the rights of others – including the employer’s private property.
This also meant that employers were free to hire them if workers were willing to work for less than the striking workers were asking.
If people are willing to get your work done for less, then maybe your work isn’t as important as you think it is.
This classic Liberal approach to labor began to fade after the 1920s and certainly in the 1930s with the Norris-La Guardia Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act.
These acts essentially legalized union goon tactics. Future Supreme Court decisions made clear the consequences of these actions.
Governments would protect unions from violent activity which, if committed by someone else outside the context of a labor strike, would be prosecuted.
Later, bills like the Wagner Act would (and still are) compelling workers to pay union dues. The individual freedom not to join a union disappeared.
You can find the real story of the labor day online. Tom Wood’s Politically Incorrect Guide to American History is a good place to start.
But what about today? The propaganda surrounding Labor Day has reached the point of absurdity.
Cannabis Labor Day: Growing cannabis with or without a worker
Cannabis Labor Day? No thank you. What about Cannabis Capital Day?
If you could stop working but still paid for everything, would you do it?
Would you pursue a full-time hobby instead of toiling away in an office, retail store, or warehouse?
Most people would. Which brings us to the real point of the work: it is a means to an end.
With that in mind, we should rename Labor Day to Capital Day, as it is about the accumulation of capital that is responsible for our standard of living.
Consider if someone has all of your essential needs covered. So the only work you needed was to take care of your cannabis plants.
Now imagine you have two choices: grow cannabis yourself with some tools (e.g. capital) or do it all by hand with the help of two or three others.
Of course, these two or three workers expect a portion of your cannabis. And why not? You helped it grow.
But how much do they earn? They have provided the land on which the plant grows. You have provided seed, soil and water. And you provided the plant food.
And workers are guaranteed a certain percentage no matter how poorly the facility performs. The workers risk nothing. Not even their time since their wages are guaranteed.
On the other hand, as a capitalist of the cannabis plant, you have to risk your capital before you can achieve any result. And there is no guarantee that you will produce the cannabis buds you were hoping for.
Especially when your employees go on strike in the middle of the process and union laws prevent you from hiring replacements.
Why capital matters
On this day of cannabis work, let’s propose a plan.
Let’s evacuate New York City, tear it down completely, and then rebuild it using only workers and no tools or capital.
Think of all the jobs!
Of course, nothing new is added to the economy. We’re using more resources to rebuild what was already there.
But listen to the economically illiterate “Work is responsible for the weekend!” crowd, and nothing strange happens here.
They lose the idea of opportunity costs or compromises.
We have shorter working days, weekends and no child labor. But that’s not the fault of the unions. That’s because of capitalism.
We have reached a point as a society where we have become so wealthy (through capital accumulation and entrepreneurial innovation) that we no longer have to work as much. Our children can get an education instead of struggling to make ends meet.
(Apart from the fact that more than 100 years of state money printing has lowered our standard of living. And that state education has dumbed down the population).
Rising wages do not mean squat unless the material conditions of wage earners also increase.
Wages are higher in the western world because the capital invested per worker is greater. You’ll get richer if your country doesn’t penalize saving and capital accumulation.
Consider the ban on child labor in Bangladesh. (Also, FYI, the source linked below, is a leftist newspaper.)
The reason children work in Bangladesh is poverty. Everyone in the family has to work to put food on the table. The solution is savings and capital accumulation so that Bangladeshis can lift themselves out of poverty.
What has Bangladesh done? They passed a law prohibiting child labor.
The material conditions of these families have not improved. But now employers are being penalized for hiring children.
What are these children doing now? Prostitution.
Cannabis Capital Day
It’s Cannabis Labor Day 2022. Over thirty years since the breakup of the USSR. And since China opened its society to markets..
Anyone who consciously ignores “right-wing” economists like Thomas Sowell and satisfies their prejudices with economists like Richard Wolff needs a wake-up call.
They promote theories of a flat earth, even though every shred of evidence tells us the earth is round.
Unfortunately, until they become capitalists themselves, these people will never understand what makes an economy grow. And since many are ideologically opposed to capitalism, we are dealing with idiots here.
Should we lead by example? What did the great and wise Overlord Justin Trudeau say? If someone disagrees with your views, instead of trying to convince them or get their point of view, label them racist and misogynistic.
Ask yourself, “Do we tolerate these people?”
Post a comment: