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Politics & Media
Jul 16, 2013, 07:04AM

How Capitalism Screwed Me

The corporation is set up to separate the people who make decisions from those affected by those decisions.

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Like everybody else, I wonder when the recession will finally be over and the federal mandate that legally requires everyone in the middle class to constantly worry about money will be repealed. Will it be in months? Years? Decades?

As far as I'm concerned, the answer appears to be "not yet, sucker." Last week, my main client went bankrupt, owing me somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000. Various corporate minions have attempted to assure me that I will get some portion of that money paid at some point. I'll believe it when I see it, I guess.

In retrospect, I should’ve seen it coming… they've been fucking with me for months. First they delayed all my projects because they were "restructuring." Then they set new due dates, but I couldn't invoice because there was some sort of "new contracting system" which wasn't set up yet. Then they finally issued contracts—but those contracts were back-loaded, so I got paid less up front, and they had longer to futz around waiting to pay me (they established a two-month wait for payment, which is ridiculous.) Around this time, there was some admission about cash flow problems, but I had already done a ton of work, and was stuck. Besides, I finally had contracts. I figured I was safe.

Looking back. I feel like an idiot. Why didn't I see they were going to screw me? But you don't just automatically assume that people are going to screw you. When you talk to folks, you don't think they're lying. And yet, when it turns out they were lying (or relaying someone else's lies), you feel like a dope—like it's your fault, even though they're the ones who are acting immorally and betraying your trust. This is why people are embarrassed to admit they've been scammed. Which suggests that capitalism is maybe one big scam itself—a giant machine for fucking people over and then having them feel guilt and self-loathing because they've been fucked over.

If capitalism has the power to make you feel bad when you're kicked, it has equally impressive resources for insulating the kickers from any similar qualms. Perhaps the most enlightening aspect of last week has been the extent to which corporate procedures not only bracket ethical questions, but also seem designed expressly to bracket ethical questions.

Again, in the run-up to the bankruptcy, the company reorganized. As a result, the folks I had worked with for years were bumped to another portion of the conglomerate, and I was interacting with new people—people who, not coincidentally, seemed to have less authority, and weren't able to do much of anything without clearing it with a superior. When the shit hit the fan, therefore, none of the individuals I was talking to had much of a relationship with me. Moreover, none of them were in a position to tell me anything, or even to vaguely pretend that they had any chance of even figuring out whom I might talk to who could do anything. Similarly, the people at the restructuring hotline were clueless. When one of my editors actually gave me crap about an upcoming deadline, I just assumed that she hadn't been told about the bankruptcy. I mean, there was no official communication to me; I'd had to find out through word of mouth. Maybe even the company’s employees weren't being told. It seemed possible.

The corporation, then, is set up to separate the people who make decisions from those who are affected by those decisions. No one has to look me in the eye and tell me that they're going to rob me; it's always some superior who’s doing the evil deed. As for the minions, they don't even know enough to confirm or deny whether I am in fact being robbed. "Somebody told someone who told me that we'll pay you someday, maybe, if you keep meeting your deadlines like a good little drone. Why are you making trouble or me, anyway? I'm just trying to do my job."

And I’m still a good little drone, to some extent. I'm not revealing the name of the company that screwed me because I hope that maybe they will pay me something, and that I'll be able to finish the projects I've got lined up and get paid for them. So I end up protecting the thugs who held me up because otherwise I'm afraid they'll hold me up again. Blackmail doesn't get any purer.

In some ways it's a relief. I've been worried for months that something was going to go wrong, and now that it has and I know the worst, it's actually kind of freeing. And we have savings and my wife works; nobody can really afford to lose $10,000, obviously, but we can still pay our bills. I'm sure other folks affected by the bankruptcy are worse off. And then, there's something to seeing how the beast works up close. I'd say you can't put a price tag on that sort of knowledge, but of course you can.

 

—Noah Berlatsky (@hoodedu) blogs at Hooded Utilitarian.

Discussion
  • 1. The recession is over! The economy sucks but by any reasonably accepted definition, the recession ended some time ago. 2. Not just some, but all of this is your fault. Don't get me wrong, you were trying to do the right thing, unfortunately your were wrong. Who knows if the company was intentionally trying to screw you? From the details you divulged, the company was trying to get out of a bad position by lowering its short term liabilities and make them amortize over a longer period. This is a common strategy for cash flow problems. Nothing included in this article suggests that you should or would be considered, since their first obligation is to keep the doors open. This is not capitalism this is life. If you were about to go bankrupt and lose your house, would you tell the electric company? After all, your decisions led to your bankruptcy but the electric company is affected by those decisions. By your logic, you would notify all vendors of yours that you may not be able to pay them. What happens to the resale value of your home when no services get paid? It goes down fast. Further insuring that vendors won't get paid. 3. Yes Noah, you should have (and probably did on some level) see it coming. If any individual continued to ignore, delay, obfuscate, your attempt for payment, you would not assume that they were disclosing all relevant information to you. So why do you hold corporations to a higher standard than mere associates? 4. People are greedy by nature. Call it hedonistic, survivors, etc. Every animals bottom line is to take care of what is theirs (home, life, wealth, etc. ) and #1 5. Don't mean this response to be harsh. You got screwed, no doubt about it. I'm just saying, if you play a passive game expecting everyone to make good on their promises/intent, life should have taught you by now that things rarely turn out exactly as planned. To expect otherwise, defies all reasonable odds and experience. 6. In other words: caveat emptor

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  • Hey Texan. Caveat emptor is the slogan of thugs and scoundrels. Blaming the victim is the pastime of sadists and bullies. Gloating over other's misfortune, which is basically what you're doing, is really unpleasant in any context.//Still, I hope that you're never in a position where you have to eat your words. Nobody deserves to be screwed, not even those folks who have trouble imagining it might happen to them.

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  • 1. I was not gloating, Try rereading my comment. I was merely explaining where you went wrong. 2. Blaming the victim? How are you a victim? You agreed to everything they wanted. You weren't forced to agree. You chose to believe that all would be good. If there is thunder in the distance, wetness on the ground, are you a victim of the rain because you chose to go outside unprotected and got wet? 3. Rather than ad hominem attacks, why don't you try responding to my questions and points like a grown-up. Did you tell the power company that you were shorted $10k? Does that not affect your finances? Why is your lack of disclosure o.k. but not the corporations lack of disclosure? Are you really telling the readers that you never backdated, forgot to sign, or delivered a check late? Or, you always disclose to the folks you owe money to that things are tight and that you may pay late when that occurs? If not, why hold someone else to a higher standard? Since when did caveat emptor become the slogan of scoundrels and thieves? Actually, it is good advice for anyone engaging in a contract. By your reasoning, all contracts should be to the others benefit without comment or question. Once again, where does this "SHOULD WONDERLAND" exist? Certainly not on Earth. Telling someone where they went wrong does not constitute blaming the victim. You went into a deal unprepared and are upset it didn't go perfectly. You can learn from that experience or you can continue to blame everyone but yourself for not understanding the reality of contract law. You decide.

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  • Why blame capitalism? Do you think that government workers are somehow immune from screwing you over? Is more government going to solve the problem of assholes being assholes? Probably not -- the assholes will simply be in the public sector. See, e.g., Radley Balko's new book. I'm very sorry you got screwed, but hey, life sucks and all that.

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  • Texan: " Rather than ad hominem attacks, why don't you try responding to my questions and points like a grown-up" Awww. First I'm too passive, then I'm a meany? Make up your mind, why don't you? If you're going to be a consistent crawling apologist for power, you should be excoriating me for not kicking you hard enough. Hey Badgers. I talk about capitalism because capitalism is how I was screwed. If I was screwed by communism or the public sector, I'd talk about that instead. Just because there are other evils in the world doesn't mean that this evil isn't worth talking about. I take your last sentence to mean that you are not actually sorry, and you're glad it didn't happen to you so you don't need to worry about it.

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  • Also...I don't need to tell the power company crap because I can pay my bills fine. You don't know what I did or didn't do in terms of looking for new business or protecting myself. I'm a victim, as are others, because I did not "agree" to do work for which I wold not be paid. Having someone screw you over is not the same as being rained on; capitalism is not a natural disaster. //And insisting that it's my fault that I got screwed is in fact blaming the victim, and it's repulsive. And if you don't like me telling you that, you should maybe go offer your bankrupt moral advice to someone who will appreciate it, though I'm not sure I can imagine who that would be.

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  • Whine, away Noah. What about the folk who lost their jobs because the company went under? What about the investors who lost a lot more money than you? Capitalism is picking on poor Noah and poor Noah alone. When I lease to a tenant, I review their economics in order to determine the odds of their surviving this economy throughout their lease term. If the company is on risky grounds, I'll not lease to them or require a larger deposit. It is called due diligence, Noah. You chose to do work for a financially shaky company. The fact that you did not bother to check on their stability is YOUR FAULT! Not capitalisms fault. Not our Socialized bankruptcy laws fault. Your fault for assuming every company will be able to pay their bills. If you lend a homeless guy money and he does not pay you back who is the greater fool? I'd say it is you! Now grow up, take your hits like a human, and stop blaming capitalism for your deficiencies. P.S. My point about the utility company is regardless of your financial condition. You write that capitalism screwed you over because the company is not required to inform you of their financial ups and downs. Why shouldn't you be held to the same standard you set for capitalism and others.

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  • One more thing Noah. Name a system that would have prevented your "victimization" You say capitalism is the source of your woes. Do you think you would have done better under socialism? What about a dictatorship? Huh? How would any system protect you from bad debt???????? Rather than childish name calling, try answering that

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  • Jesus Christ, those are a lot of words between you, Noah, and you, Texan. Boil it down: Noah WAS a victim of a duplicitous company; on the other hand, no one forced him to accept their jobs. And Texan, really, you do sound pretty mean-spirited, even if you're trying to be objective. (And by the way, you type too fast: so many spelling errors!

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  • AppleHead, I agree with your call for calm and my poor spelling. Your interpretation I think misses a few salient facts. 1. The facts as laid out by Noah don't suggest that there was anything illegal, "duplicitous" or improper about the company's actions. If they did something wrong or illegal, he should have included it in the article. They delayed the project because of restructuring. A term which more often than not, relates to financial issues. Then they changed the due dates. Then they delayed the contracts. Up until and through this point, HE WAS NOT HIRED! Finally, he signs a contract that pays mostly at the end. Meanwhile, he gives no indication that the owners and management weren't doing their best in this lousy economy to make money and keep their full time employees fed and clothed We don't even know if they had health insurance. Now the company finally goes bankrupt, is trying to make good on all their liabilities, and poor Noah is the victim of Capitalism??? He even admits that he should have seen the signs long before entering into said contract. It seems evident that Noah was the victim of his own poor judgment and not an economic theory. If that sounds mean spirited and not accurate, so be it. Noah seems only willing to hurl insults instead of answering one simple question "What's Capitalism got to do with it?" I often like Noah's work, but when he blames most of societies ills on Capitalism, I'd expect him to back it up as any writer of his caliber normally would.

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  • Noah, still waiting on an answer. How did Capitalism screw you??? I'm certainly not waiting for an apology for your vile, and offensive, name calling. Just asking for you to back up your claim.

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  • Texan, I'm not reading all that, nor do I feel any particular need to explain myself to you. If you attack people and generally behave like a bully and a troll, expect to have people kick back.

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  • Comment war goes to Berlatsky. But Noah, calling Texan a "troll" is beneath you. Texan has opinions, just like you.

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  • O.K. AppleHead. Then can you tell me what capitalism has to do with Noah's situation? In fact, the U.S. Capitalism will ensure he gets paid more than he would in most countries. Mind you, as a former bankruptcy analyst, this topic is well within my wheelhouse. Also, how does name calling win a comment discussion? I'm genuinely curious on both counts. Mind you, he started off calling me a scoundrel and thug and still hasn't even attempted to back up his title.

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