• earthquake@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    54
    ·
    1 year ago

    “The mine owners did not find the gold, they did not mine the gold, they did not mill the gold, but by some weird alchemy all the gold belonged to them!” - Big Bill Haywood, 1929

    • Bernie Ecclestoned@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      18
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      They convinced investors to buy into the mining company, they bought the land, they paid the prospector, they bought the mining equipment, they paid the miners

      The gold paid them back.

      How else could it work?

      Edit. Interesting that no one has an answer on how else it could work… For example, in Bolivia there are mining cooperatives, but they still use all the tools of capitalism to extract the gold, and the co-op members are no different to investors really. The hours worked and conditions are no different. Mining is hard and dangerous.