In Defense of Anagorism

political economy in the non-market, non-state sector

Unemployed need not apply


Absolutely. A pause in moneygrubbing is unassailable evidence of something, whether that something is membership in the leisure class, having squirreled away a nest egg of “fuck you” money, ability to tolerate material discomfort, outside support. There are other plausible explanations, but all point to non-desperation, and employee, after all, is a French word that literally means “used.”
Although it’s right wing propaganda pushing the corrupt union narrative, I think there’s something to the film “On the Waterfront,” where borrowing from the loan shark is a prerequisite for getting placed on assignment by the corrupt union hall. I’ve always wondered whether the real reason employers assert entitlement to applicants’ credit histories isn’t the stated reason of “responsibility” but the more plausible variable I’ll call “indenturability.” In terms of the utility theory of the economists, there is every reason to believe the supply curve for labor has the steepest slope “at the water line,” or the line between solvency and non-solvency. Solvency as incentive gradient sweet spot was also explored in passing by RAW:

If one of the employees in his factories showed initiative or talent, Wing Lee Chee noticed, and that man or woman was quickly promoted to a position of responsibility and solvency. He was no xenophobe; this policy applied even to Japanese, Hindus, and the wretched Unistat refugees.

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