Читать книгу The industrial republic: a study of the America of ten years hence онлайн

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“But, my good man, there is no more work to be done!”

“But I am starving,” insists the workingman, “we are all starving. Why is there no work?”

“The reason there is no work is ‘overproduction.’ The market is clogged with products, you must understand, and we can’t sell them. What is your trade?”

“I work in a shoe-factory.”

“But the shoe market is already glutted—there are twice as many shoes as there is any use for.”

“Twice as many shoes! But my feet are on the ground!”

“Well, we can’t help that, my good man; that’s because you have no money to buy them with.”

“And my friend here,” goes on the workingman—“he is a tailor, and he is naked because there are too many coats on the market?”

“Exactly.”

“And the baker here is starving because we are both too poor to buy his bread?”

“Exactly.”

“And then this druggist is sick because we have no money to buy medicine?”

“Exactly.”

After which, the workingman stands and scratches his head for a moment. “There is too much of everything,” he reflects. “There is no more work to be done.” And suddenly the light breaks. “Oh, I see!” he cries, “we have finished our work for the capitalists!” And you answer, “Exactly! Everything is complete, and of course there is no more room for you. Therefore you had best be off to another planet!”