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Comment by fauxpause_ | Hacker News Reader

This is a very confusing article to me.

It features a woman who talked about how her family had no work opportunities. But then had a job as a dental receptionist for 15 years, and got married to a guy with a sales manager job. She has bought a house and a motorbike. And now she does this beauty stuff. And she makes 20% more than her husband?

The rest of it… eh. Seems like they’re suggesting a lot of this is just a middle man inserting themselves into a pre existing market.

Gig work seems like socialized slavery to me. Peel back the sticker and you have all sorts of constraints around what work you have to do to maintain your rights and wages as a worker. Like the reference here of requiring paid retraining if your rating falls too low. In such a system, at purchaser of labor can inflict serious harm to their worker at will. I don’t think this is a mainstream idea but it feels like the natural end game.

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I don't liken it to slavery, but most wage (or salaried) labor looks like this. Making sure your employer thinks well of you (your 'rating'), getting certifications (some employers will pay, but not all).

The risk profile is different though. An employer is going to see you every day. They’re incentivized at least on some level to have a good faith relationship. They can fire you, but that inconveniences them even if you’re totally fungible.

A gig employer is unlikely to work with you again regardless. They don’t have much of a reason to care about you. And if they rate you poorly, that can potentially shut you out of the market entirely. Or cause you to pay for costly and timely retrainings like the article.

It’s a much harsher employment contract imo.

> Gig work seems like socialized slavery to me.

You're not wrong, it's the logical next step for capitalism.

"Again we have diluted ourselves into believing the myth that Capitalism grew and prospered out of the protestant ethic of hard work and sacrifice. The fact is that Capitalism was build on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor – both black and white, both here and abroad. If Negroes and poor whites do not participate in the free flow of wealth within our economy, they will forever be poor, giving their energies, their talents and their limited funds to the consumer market but reaping few benefits and services in return." - Martin Luther King

Well MLK was a theologian, not an economist. Many countries have capitalism and never had slavery. And while they have a mindset that isn’t “Protestant work ethic,” it’s indistinguishable in relevant part. E.g. Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc. https://twitter.com/dnystedt/status/1558863974883823617

> Many countries have capitalism and never had slavery

You ignored the second part of his statement, where he claimed that since slavery ended, capitalism has been propped up by the exploitation of the poor. Those countries may not have slaves but they do have poor people.

All countries have poor people. The capitalist ones have fewest of them, because capitalism makes poor people wealthier, unlike alternatives, which make them starve and die.

> Many countries have capitalism and never had slavery.

Developed countries depend significantly on imports from countries with working conditions equivalent to that of a modern gulag.

I’m not clear what he is talking about here. It sounds like he is referring the lack of the right to hold certain jobs.

Which is I suppose is adjacent to the gig economy controls.

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