VOLUME III, SEMESTER 2, CHAPTER 16, SECTION 1
Open a Company’s Account Book, Seven Accounts
At the end of the last chapter a sum of money was left behind: the worker makes a hundred in a day and carries home forty in a day, and where did the sixty that is left go. This section does not speak reason, does not speak doctrine, it does a very dumb and very honest thing: it opens the account book of a company in normal running order and reckons this sixty out, one entry at a time. Reckon it out, and then look for yourself.
One. Set the company up first
Set up a company, a company that makes chairs. In the plant a hundred workers, in a year they make a hundred thousand chairs, each sells for a hundred, and a year’s takings come in, ten million. A hundred workers, a year of wages added together, four million. Now that sum comes out: ten million in, four million paid in wages, six million left. This six million, did it all go into the boss’s pocket? The account book is right there on the table, turn it page by page.
Two. The first account, paid upstream
The first page turned is the money for stock. Making chairs takes wood, takes nails, takes paint, takes foam, takes cloth, and these things do not drop from the sky, they are bought from company after company upstream. The wood was cut at the timber farm, the nails were rolled at the steel mill, the paint was mixed at the chemical plant.
This share of money paid out feeds the workers in those upstream factories, the ones who fell the trees, roll the steel, mix the paint. This share, four million. Of the six million, only two million is left. This share is the it waits on the ranger to be brought out of Sima Qian’s four relays, it is the relay someone else handed into the hand.
Three. The second account, paid to plant and machines
The second page turned is plant and machines. That building is rented, a year of rent, and those punch presses, saws, sewing machines are bought, each lasts ten years, and each year a tenth of it must be written off. The machines run on electricity, and using electricity means paying the electric bill, and when a machine breaks it must be repaired, and repair means paying money.
This share of money can be called the money for the implements. Last semester one character was spoken: wei, the thing done by human effort is called wei. A machine is wei, a plant is wei. These wei did not come free, they are what the ancestors accumulated, made, and left behind, layer by layer, and to use them today is to pay a share for them. This share, one million. Of the two million, only one million is left.
Four. The third account, paid to those who move the goods
The third page turned is the money to send the chairs out. The chairs are made, stacked in the warehouse, and there they sit motionless, and they have to walk onto the truck, onto the highway, into the warehouse, into the storefront, and at last into someone’s home. Along this road there are drivers, warehouse keepers, shop clerks, the ones who carry the loads, and the wages of these people come out of this share.
This share is Sima Qian’s it waits on the trader to be moved along. The last chapter spoke of that plow: lying in the shop it is dead, and the trader sends it three hundred li to that farmer, and only then does it live. This share for moving the goods is not money spent for nothing, it is the share that takes the chair from dead to living. This share, two hundred thousand.
Five. The fourth account, handed to the state
The fourth page turned is tax. This share is the easiest to forget, yet it is always there. The company must pay tax, and in the chairs sold there is a share of tax, and in the money earned there is a share of tax, and in the wages paid out there is still a withheld share of tax.
This money handed up, where does it go? It goes to that highway the chairs ride on, goes to that classroom, goes to the hospital in the city, goes to the irrigation ditch in the countryside, goes to the pension someone draws each month. Sitting here in class, the ground under your feet, the lamp over your head, all carry the shadow of this share. This share, two hundred thousand. Of the one million, only six hundred thousand is left.
Six. The fifth account, put back into tomorrow
The fifth page turned is the money put back in. A company that has earned money cannot spend it all. Rivals will bring out a better chair next year, the workers’ craft has to be upgraded, that old saw has run ten years and is near its end, the warehouse is not big enough, a new style has to be tried, ten tried before one comes off. These things all cost money, and all must be pulled out of this year’s money first.
This share of money no one can take away this year, it lies on the account, made ready for next year. It is the life of a company, and a company that does not keep this share, two years on, is no longer there. This share, three hundred thousand. Of the six hundred thousand, only three hundred thousand is left.
Seven. What this section set, crossing to the next
The account is turned to here, so stop a moment. The stock upstream, four million. Plant and machines, one million. Moving the goods, two hundred thousand. Tax, two hundred thousand. Put back into tomorrow, three hundred thousand. Ten million came in, four million went to wages, and of the six million left, five million seven hundred thousand has already been turned away.
Take one look at where that five million seven hundred thousand went: it flowed to the workers in upstream factories, flowed to the ones who make the machines, flowed to the ones who drive the trucks, flowed to this country’s roads and hospitals and pensions, flowed to this company’s tomorrow. Not one cent went into the boss’s pocket. And the gap of sixty dollars, three hundred thousand of it still remains, set on the last two pages of the account book. Of those last two pages, one is quite unexpected, and one you will surely guess. The next section turns those two open too, and after turning them, turns back and looks again at the two characters that spell exploitation.
Credit to the ancestors; the mistakes are mine: Tiger Lyon.
Section 2 Exploitation Is a Moral Verdict, Distribution Is a Fact of Position