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Paystub from a US coal miner in 1942. Ends up owing his employer $1.84 ($35.76 in 2023) at the end of the pay period.
(lemmygrad.ml)
What do we call this? Early stage capitalism? What the Western world is on track to return to? Forshadow capitalism?
This is when miners were paid in company currency and lived in company houses and shopped at a company store.
That has always bothered me about the term "late-stage capitalism." It makes it sound like the problems of today are unique to our stage in development and not intrinsic to capitalism itself.
To a lot of people, it seems like the issue is modernity and the solution is to return to a more prosperous past. Like when we had segregation, or limited suffrage, indentured servitude or (more) slavery...
The term "late-stage capitalism" doesn't make it sound like it's not intrinsic to capitalism to me, it sounds like that's the inevitable result of capitalism. Thus it means it is intrinsic to capitalism.
This reminds me of the "toxic masculinity" discourse. Some people say that the term means that masculinity itself is toxic. Other people say that masculinity is fine, it's toxic masculinity that's the problem, hence the qualifier.
I've seen people use the term late-stage capitalism to advocate for like, Bush era politics so I don't think we're getting the right message across.