Post #2843588

2026-03-14 19:43 UTC

@GrahamDowns@mastodon.africa I think you've just described the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_bourgeoisie A small business owner literally owns the means of production. However, they're also operating at the whims of bigger companies who may deign to put them out of business at any moment, sometimes unintentionally. A mechanic who owns a small house and then inherits his mother's house after she dies may now become a landlord. But in both of those situations, do they have more in common with pure wage owners? Or with higher level capitalists? Who are they voting for? What policies are they advocating for? Whose interests do they fight for? Who do they want to protect? Answer that and you answer your question about the "enemy of the working class" If owning some petty stocks was enough to reliably get you out of the working class they wouldn't let us do it. If inheriting a home was a reliable counter to living paycheck to paycheck we'd talk about it. @clarity@xoxo.zone, correct me if I'm taking this in a different direction than desired.

Replies (1)

@GrahamDowns@mastodon.africa 2026-03-14 20:25

@NaClKnight@c.im @clarity@xoxo.zone I was being a lot simpler than that. There are legitimate stories of people (I even know one personally) who grew up, privileged sure, by the modern definition of the word, who started working menial jobs, but were lucky enough to have to have some money squirreled away. Maybe by inheritance, maybe by a lucky night at the casino and they had the fortitude to know when to stop, maybe just by virtue of their upbringing. But they had ambition, and no desire to be a member of the working class for their whole lives. So they bought stocks. Or a house which they never intended to live in. And then a few years later, another. And another. While still living in their parents' homes, or perhaps in a relatively modest flat, while driving a relatively modest car which they serviced themselves. While continuing to squirrel sway money, reinvesting what they earned from their investments, until one day they retired at 40, never having to work again. They were initially privileged, then they got lucky, but they worked hard (perhaps by a different definition of "work", sure), but they were able to capitalize on that luck and privilege. Should they now be punished for it? While other people blew away their luck on expensive cars, restaurants, maybe drugs, and generally extravagent lifestyles, making sure that they would always end up right back where they started, over and over again.... It is possible, with a few strokes of luck, and a lot of discipline, for the average person to break their way out. But for some reason, we like to vilify those people, because we tend to believe that it can never happen to us. And if we can't do it, we don't think anyone should be allowed to do it, so we label those people as "the enemy".

Open ##2843589