Letter: Think differently about labor

As the economic textbooks instruct, capitalism uses three 'factors of production”: land, capital and labor. The first two factors are things. But the third factor, labor, is not a thing. However, for theoretical capitalism to work optimally, labor must be treated as a thing. But in the real world this is not defensible. Unfortunately, we see aspects of this today with the shipping of many jobs overseas, attacks on labor unions, the paying of poverty-level wages, and calls to abolish Social Security.

If real or actual capitalism is to endure it must recognize that labor is fundamentally different than land and capital. Thus, better policies, both in business and government, must be further integrated into capitalism to deal with this fundamental difference.

Robert Anthony

Cedar Rapids