OTTAWA — Today, NDP Leader Avi Lewis announced the tabling of a motion in Parliament to ban “surveillance pricing,” the use of personal data to charge Canadians different prices for the same products.
While surveillance pricing maximizes profit for the business owner, which is optimized capitalism, it also reduces the gap between wealthier buyers and poorer buyers, which is a socialist purpose. So we’re making a distinction here between business owners, wealthier buyers and poorer buyers. Now I don’t know how and where exactly left-leaning parties are looking to reduce the wealth gaps these days. The gap with business owners or the gap with wealthier buyers? Both I suppose, but with surveillance pricing, there’s a tradeoff.
Comrade, socialism isn’t about reducing wealth inequality within the classes who get paid for their labour. Whether that’s labour done for a decent salary or minimum hourly wage. Socialism is about people getting paid what the businesd owners withold above what people get paid. Tackling intra-working class wealth equality is a misc matter for socialism or perhaps a communist matter that is counterproductive to tackle before we’ve gotten our surplus value back.
E: But I do understand your point about how algo pricing can provide more product to wider parts of society by essentially flattening their purchase power and therefore real incomes. That’s actually a very interesting perspective. If we didn’t have the other problem I mentioned this could be interesting to consider as a way to distribute produced goods and services.
Yes, “flattening purchase power” is how I would summarize socialism in a few words. Because many working class people actually do make more than many small business owners. Based on an NDP business owner and other people I know.
While surveillance pricing maximizes profit for the business owner, which is optimized capitalism, it also reduces the gap between wealthier buyers and poorer buyers, which is a socialist purpose. So we’re making a distinction here between business owners, wealthier buyers and poorer buyers. Now I don’t know how and where exactly left-leaning parties are looking to reduce the wealth gaps these days. The gap with business owners or the gap with wealthier buyers? Both I suppose, but with surveillance pricing, there’s a tradeoff.
Comrade, socialism isn’t about reducing wealth inequality within the classes who get paid for their labour. Whether that’s labour done for a decent salary or minimum hourly wage. Socialism is about people getting paid what the businesd owners withold above what people get paid. Tackling intra-working class wealth equality is a misc matter for socialism or perhaps a communist matter that is counterproductive to tackle before we’ve gotten our surplus value back.
E: But I do understand your point about how algo pricing can provide more product to wider parts of society by essentially flattening their purchase power and therefore real incomes. That’s actually a very interesting perspective. If we didn’t have the other problem I mentioned this could be interesting to consider as a way to distribute produced goods and services.
Yes, “flattening purchase power” is how I would summarize socialism in a few words. Because many working class people actually do make more than many small business owners. Based on an NDP business owner and other people I know.