I’ve made this point before. It’s worth repeating.
Everyone is referring to the gig economy as neofeudalism. The personalities are unquestionably feudal, the same insane inbred incestuous imbecilic aristocrats who ruled Europe for 500 years.
The system is the exact opposite. Feudalism was based on TWO-WAY OBLIGATIONS. The lord was required to support his serfs for life, including the children who weren’t working yet and the wrinklies who were too old to work. The peasants were obliged to work whenever they were capable, but generally they worked only part of each year and had frequent religious holidays.
When the London sweatshoppers took over in 1700, they instantly zeroed out the obligations on their side and doubled the obligations on the peasant side. In sweatshop world the peasants were “free” to work 16-hour days and 7-day weeks, and the lords were free (no quotes) to toss the peasants aside as soon as they got sick or old, or for any reason or no reason.
From 1910 to 1940 we brought back a considerable part of the feudal system. Social economics (eg Henry Ford) and the unions worked together to restore corporate care and pensions for peasants, and to limit the working hours and weeks. FDR placed new restrictions on stock gambling by lords, and created a government pension system to fill in the gaps between corporate pensions. He was copying the Soviet system because the Soviet system was feudal.
Gig world is identical to sweatshop world. The tech tyrants have eliminated all of FDR’s obligations on their side, and brought back stock wealth based on pure betting and number play. They don’t need to withhold taxes or pay for health care or pensions. They just pay by the piece, or ideally don’t pay at all, after cultivating the hope of salvation when the peasant stock options (indulgences) can be cashed in.
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The same change happened with property, including intellectual property.
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The overall pattern, true for everything from land to telephones, has three steps:
1. Feudal relationships came first. A two-way loyalty between the seller and customer, or landlord and tenant. The land or product was in the hands of the customer but owned by the landlord. Rental created a lifetime connection, with personal OBLIGATIONS on both sides.
2. The myth of private property came along with the myths of “natural rights” and meritocracy. These myths served to DECOUPLE the aristocrat from the peasant. After paying interest for 20 or 30 years, the peasant “owned” the land or car or computer. He was then free to sell the item for much less than he had paid in interest. The landlords no longer had any obligations to keep the peasants alive, no obligation to take care of the property, and no obligation to employ local peasants. They could ship the work offshore and ignore all service calls. (See ‘let the fires burn’.)
3. After deleting the two-way obligations, we’ve returned to renting with a one-way obligation. Now the landlord has total control of your land or computer, and has no need to take care of it or insure that you can even use it. The landlord has no vested interest in your survival or purchasing power or employability or skills.
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Polistra's Mill 