[iDC] MySpace staff cuts

[Patrick Anderson]

Andreas Schiffler wrote:
>
> <unlurk>

Hello all.  Yes, me too.  This is my first post here.



> To "run the net" costs money

But the Price they charge us is higher than Costs.

The current owners overcharge us and call the difference Profit.

In fact, they think that is the goal of production: to keep the Price
they charge us above their Costs of production - where "Costs" include
Wages.

But If WE were the Owners, then we could save exactly the amount
called "Profit", since why would we overcharge ourselves?

We would also finally be in control of the situation without begging others.

Just look at the cumulative 'earnings' (as though profits are earned)
of each of those corporations to see what is being taken from us
because we will not organize for our own good.



> So even if open/crowd-sourcing is 100% effective, the corporations who
> run "the net", make "the gadget" and provide "the juice" still need to
> come up with the other half of the bill.

It is not 'they' who pay those Costs; it is We, the Users who pay a
Price that includes those Costs AND Profit.

If We, the Users were the collective and cooperative (that's the hard
part) Owners of each of those industries, then we could avoid that
extra charge.

And if We, the Users were the real Owners, we would also not need ask
anyone to let us fully utilize the equipment in the ways we see fit.



> Thus I conclude it will never be a profitless enterprise.

What about when the Users are the Owners?  Does Profit exist then?

If you own an apple tree, you might choose to pay someone to care for
it and to harvest and store the fruit, but those are Costs that must
be paid one way or another (you could do the work yourself),

But when you are the owner of the Sources, then you are also the owner
of the Objects, and can never pay more than Costs to retrieve them,
for who would you pay it to?



> To cut something out of (b) many, many people would need invest into
> devices that use less power and last much longer, build community mesh
> networks and mini-clouds, and consume less server-based streams.

We, the Users simply need to begin buying and building that
infrastructure with the money we had been using to pay our bill that
includes the overcharge called Profit.


Sincerely,
Patrick Anderson