Just Wages: A Just Wage By St Thomas Aquinas

Smith was very much concerned with the welfare of the community and created The Wealth of Nations, to put forth most of his economic ideas, that are still considered today. The message Adam Smith alleged was that since people satisfied their own self needs, then the economy would work affectively. For example, “When people look to their own self-interests, they contribute unintentionally, by means of an invisible hand , to the welfare of society” (Smith 281). Smith talks about the invisible hand as a guiding tool towards supply and demand within a society and argued the division of labor generates wealth not just for that one person but for the nation as a whole. By selling products that are in demand, for the purpose of earning money people are engaging in within their enterprises. Additionally, the more demands, the more people want to invest, the more people need to work, the harder it is to find a job when the economy is at a low. Today, the invisible-hand theory is often guides free markets and capitalism in the direction of efficiency, through supply and demand and competition for scarce resources.

Marx's theory on Capitalist exploitation is an incredibly deep theory, but to explain it in a nutshell, it is that the working-class people are improperly compensated for their work. The rich, the higher-ups, they continue to expand their wealth by exploiting the working class, the Capitalist system not only allows but effectively demands that Capitalists increase their wealth, long-term or short-term, whether at the cost of the working-class or not. There are three “values” to take into consideration, the use-value, the exchange-value and the

Therefore, it can be simplified down to this: the proletariat is always working not for himself but for the bourgeoisie in order to survive, producing products that will not only be taken away from them but decrease their human value as well. If one is to assign a monetary value to a proletariat’s life, for example a hundred dollars, each time the proletariat works, a dollar will be decreased from his total value and in the end he is basically left with nothing. However, since the bourgeoisie is the capitalist, he gains from the products produced by the proletariat and increases his own wealth as well. This inequality is why Marx believes there should be a classless society because the bourgeoisie will continue to exploit the hard working proletariats until they void themselves of any human value. It is unfair to have a minority ruling wealthy class over a majority class of working laborers. However, Davis and Moore disagree with how it is unfair to have a wealthy class ruling over the working class.

One of the things I did understand though is his idea that the key cause of the wealth of nations is the division of labor and in order to gain wealth or become wealthy, you must be productive. Being wealthy is not about the money. According to Adam Smith, money is the universal commodity which means that it is a universal, useful or valuable thing. Smith uses the example of a pin-factory to show the benefits of the division of labor. Each worker can specialize their own trade to make the making of a pin much faster. Smith gave the example of how to make a pin by giving worker number one the task of drawing out the wire, worker two straightens it, worker three cuts it, worker four points it and worker five makes the head. Dividing the labor up among multiple individuals allows production to constantly flow instead of having one man do all five of those jobs even though he is not specialized in those five tasks. I also agree with this idea of dividing up labor to increase production. If you have one man doing multiple jobs but he is only trained in one of those jobs, production will be much slower than when you hire multiple workers to do their own specialization. He also uses the invisible hand example. The invisible hand is an invisible or hidden “force” that gets people to use their own interests, without their knowledge, to profit society. As these people compete with each other by

In this document, Adam Smith states that people will "[direct] the industry in such a manner as its produce may be of greatest value" and that "he intends only his own gain," (Doc A). Smith believes that people will act on self-gain to benefit themselves. However, this only leads to exploitations of this system when Bourgeoisie abuse the Proletariat's working force. Also, Smith believes that "every individual it is evident, can, in his local situation, judge much better than any statesman or lawgiver can do for him," (Doc A). Despite this, when there was not much government intervention, the Bourgeoisie betrayed us and put us in critically hostile working conditions.

Under capitalism, if you purchase a business and pay people to work there, you are entitled to all of the profits earned. Marx views this as an immoral and an unsustainable socio-political model.

However, the concept of self-interest differs to our understanding of selfishness, as it is considered as the motive that directs one’s action. When everyone achieved what they want, Smith states that it will also lead to the general good of a society. Although Smith highlights that there might be dispute regarding the master and worker’s relationship, he suggested that the problem can be solved when the workers have enough pay. According to a real life worker dispute example, I suggest that it is difficult to make Smith’s theory in practice, as the master often have advantages in the disputes and the worker’s right is often being

Also, in the first book of Wealth of Nations Smith also explains why the wages of individual profession is different.

Marx points out that the means of production are owned by only a small group of the population and most other people do not. These people who don't own the means of production (land, machinery, factories, tools, etc..) are called the proletariat and cannot sell their produce, only their labour-power... that is, they can sell hours of their time to other people. So the profits of their labour always go to those who hire them, and they are left with only a bare minimum wage.

This leads into the final point Carr makes in chapter one that automation is changing society’s perception of work and leisure. Many people would agree that work is not pleasurable and humans like leisure. However, Carr argues that, “thanks to our bias for leisure over work, ease over effort, we overestimate automation’s benefits” (19). Not only does he argue at the end of the chapter that most people are searching for a blend of life and work, but also he argues that people actually enjoy work over leisure because of the sense of accomplishment and productivity they feel afterwards. Carr argues that we overestimate the benefits of technology, when it may not even be what we really want as human beings. Furthermore, the his skeptical beliefs regarding automation, tacit knowledge, and work versus leisure are central to his argument throughout this entire book.

units, and Smith illustrates that a system of fair and accessible trade is necessary for an

The need for a second, less class of citizenry to work is essential and they are referred to by Marx as the labour, Proletariats, or the working class. The working class exists to run the means of production, and they must sell their labour-power to the owning class in order to sustain themselves. Their skills are their only true ‘value’ in the alienated minds of the capitalists. The worker is limited with what they have to offer the capitalist and that is themselves and their individual skills as a commodity.

The philosophy of Karl Marx begins with the belief that humans are inherently cooperative with common characteristics and shared ends. To human beings, life is considered an object and therefore, humans make their “life-activity itself the object of his will and of his consciousness” (Tucker 76). In other words, humans are able to think, imagine, and “produce even when he is free from physical need and only truly produces in freedom therefrom” (p. 76). It exemplifies that idea that humans not only have the capability to create things for survival but express themselves in what they produce, within the standards of the human race or universally. When capitalist wage-labor enters the picture, it forces these shared ends and the freedom of expression in human production to cease, causing a rise of competitiveness among

The notion of the proletariats and the bourgeois that Karl Marx discussed in the Communist Manifesto could be related to the current American society. For example, people who work at McDonalds are the proletariats whereas the corporate executives and board members are the ones who own means of production or are the bourgeois. As of now, the issue of raising the minimum wage to a livable wage is constantly being discussed but when looking at it through Marx’s understanding of how capitalism works, it is obvious why companies would not want to increase the minimum wage. It’s obviously because the idea of capitalism is to increase capital no matter the cost. All employees are looked at as a commodity to increase bourgeoisie capital. Therefore, it is ridiculous that companies would support raising the minimum wage

The system of capitalism is partially based around the unpaid surplus labour of workers that allows for the generation of profit for the workers ' respective superiors. Marx argues that such a system rewards those who have some sort of domination over the workers, the actual producers of commodities. This results in terrible living