Re:Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate...
by donw on Sunday April 11, 2021 @04:50AM
(#26768663)
> The wealthiest [Romans] were land owners taking in the profits of slave labor
Not exactly.
Crassus amassed his fortune first through conquest, and then through real estate speculation. Caesar and Pompey's fortunes were a mixture of family wealth and the spoils of war.
There was certainly a class of wealthy Romans that derived their wealth -- and Rome's food supply! -- from land worked by slaves (mostly captured in war and brought in from all over Europe). But the wealthiest were, by far, the political-military ruling class, who accrued their wealth through bribes and conquest.
Re:Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate...
by indigo945 on Sunday April 11, 2021 @03:56PM
(#26772918)
I mean, you are right, but this is nitpicking and doesn't really relate to my argument. Exploiting slaves and robbing Gallia aren't that far apart, as far as technological sophistication goes.
Re:Min wage would be $44 / hour if it had grown at same rate...
by TheCoelacanth on Monday April 12, 2021 @12:30PM
(#26781424)
How do you think conquest made someone wealthy?
It was through gaining ownership of land and by capturing slaves.
Of course, the same is true for modern society. Even so-called "tech entrepreneurs" like Elon Musk do much better at seeking profits than "leveraging technologies" -- as paying people to develop technologies isn't the same thing as leveraging them for increasing the productivity of oneself, at all.
However, of course, the argument is hardly surprising. After all, much of the ideology of modern capitalism rests on the ideal of the Iron Man, the genius inventor who, by his smartness (and benevolent white masculinity) embodies the excuse for the exploitation of the Earth's natural resources, for the creeping destruction of our democracy and the huge disparities in wealth and power that go along with it. You just have to believe this is real, otherwise all you ever learned from Coca Cola advertising would be wrong, at that is too painful to admit.