One common reason I see people use to justify billionaires getting to keep a company’s profits is that they invested time and money into starting the company.
However, if investing time and money into a company is what entitles one to the surplus labour value, then all the more reason that workers should get more of the revenue their labour generates.
McDonald’s isn’t a global corporation because Ray Kroc flipped 300 billion burgers all by himself.
Sales for Amazon’s paid units weren’t up 46% last quarter over the previous year because Jeff Bezos himself is managing the website and fulfilling every order.
Walmart isn’t the largest company in the world with half a trillion in revenue because Sam Walton stocks the shelves in every store and checks out every purchase.
Bill Gates isn’t worth over $130 billion because he personally coded every piece of software Microsoft ever sold.
The Weston family isn’t worth $10 billion because George and his descendents personally baked every loaf of bread, unloaded every truck, rang through every shopper’s groceries.
The Thomson family’s net worth isn’t $40 billion because they all wrote every news story their companies published.
There’s no inherent right to profit if you start the business, particularly if you perform only a fraction of the labour.
Workers make the profit; workers get the profit.
