Wrote this a while ago, but someone just brought back the same tired argument 16 years later (goddamn!) so I felt it was a good time to repost.
Putting it another way, what’s being described here is not a capitalist. It is a bank or other form of money lender. When you take out a loan the bank is taking a risk that you won’t pay them back, but if you do they get a little extra in the form of interest. You don’t, however, keep paying them for the rest of your life even once the loan is paid off.
No it’s describing the capitalists as well, or more accurately the arguments right libertarians make to argue that capitalists deserve profit for the “risks” of investing their capital.
AnCap here. This was a pretty good read, though I do take issue with your point in workers taking a risk too.
I’ve owned a company, I’ve lost my investment in that company. My family has gone in assistance because I had employees to pay and could not pay myself.
The risk an employee takes when taking a job is the same type of risk that they take when they cross the street. Yes it could go badly.
Morality dictates that those who choose to work for me get paid first. Even if there were no such morality, the law dictates that my employees get paid first (at least in the States).
Your other points are pretty interesting.
