weird dream.

and i don't think i'm doing much over the next 24 hours or so. very sore from 6 hours of walking yesterday...

it always astounds me how many self-identified socialists will go on and on about the benefits of small businesses, especially v. big business. sticking it to the man. that kind of bullshit.

what they seem to not realize is that their arguments consistently reduce to free market arguments, as their vision certainly aligns with a free market society: small, independent businesses everywhere that are competing with each other.

what astounds me is that workers are never mentioned by any of these self-identified socialists. the rhetoric about hating the establishment at no point translates into questions of working conditions.

so, can the local diner afford a dental plan for their dishwasher? can mom & pop afford sick days for their cashiers? do they have any kind of union representation for disagreements?

of course not, nor are they feasible in the liberal fantasy world of open markets and contract theory. rather, these things are only made possible by unions that develop out of large businesses.

it follows that socialists should boycott small businesses and shop purely at large businesses. yet, try debating that without getting an earful of liberal market theory thrown at you.

now, that doesn't mean that there aren't moral questions to ask in engaging in commerce. i've bought some sneakers over the last few days and had little option but to get shoes made by children in asia, because that is what exists. on the other hand, i tend to buy jeans and shirts second hand. if i know one grocery store is not unionized and another is, i'll choose the unionized one. likewise, walmart is never my first choice.

...but a bourgeois society based on private ownership of small business, which is made possible by workers that are essentially personal slaves and exist solely to generate profit for bosses, is something to fight against, rather than uphold - and the preferred socialist model as an alternative to that liberal society is rooted in economies of scale made possible by collectivized labour and redistributed profit, which is something that is very big in nature.