Beware the Google company town

Google is building a Company Town

Let’s discuss this, is it a good thing?

For years Google has been seeking to wrest control of the city from its government.

In 2016 Google acquired 370,000+ sq feet of office space + right to develop another 1.4 million square feet in N. Bayshore. Google committed to furnish the territory w/ new police station, road improvements, and college scholarships.

Google went for the jugular

What happens in a company town

Omnipresent capitalism, keeping workers ideologically and behaviorally economized. 

Google will militarize and regiment who, and what, comes into the company town. They will decide which books will fill the libraries and which performances will take place in their theaters including or excluding town meetings unless sanctioned and expulsion should they entertain unionizing.

Asymmetrical warfare. Google has your labor and autonomy.

Kicking people out of company towns can be a violent thing, the Homestead strike and “Ludlow Massacre” was what happened once, and will happen again, were sparked by the violent eviction of striking workers from their company-owned housing.

The Industrial Revolution brought factories to the world, and production became much faster. In a lot of cases, factories had to be built far away from towns, which made it necessary for the factory.

George Pullman made a luxury company town and he had a very rigid but seemingly benevolent thoughts about poverty, disease, and alcoholism

His town was outside of Chicago, lots of parks, trees, a library hotel, bar and a church. Pullman owned everything, leased it, it was uber before uber, fractional ownership. But soon workers were afraid to go the the Pullman bar, there were always watchful “supervisors”

In a few years when a recession hit, Pullman lowered people’s hours and wages, but did not fire them. And he didn’t lower rents.

The workers/downfall fell on hard times. They owed back rent, so they couldn’t quit. 

In the days of company towns, many employees were paid in “company scrip,” an I.O.U. that value was only redeemed at company stores. Mexico does this: “Vales de despensa” are coupons and a bigly part of a workers earnings.

The value of a coupon is NOT a declared part of personal income & can be used also in supermarkets, gas stations and even restaurants. Alcoa pay stubs show median base wage of $1.21hr but…w/attendance, punctuality, etc bonuses and coupons, median wage for line worker =$1.95

As Google will push very aggressively soon to manage wage labor inflation, they might try what Greece did, barter used when cash is scarce.

A system of digital exchange is the Local Alternative Unit, or TEM. 1 TEM = 1 euro. It’s not currency, its a way of calculating bartered values.

Neofeudalism run amok

It will become both sides of the market of law, having administration of the law, soon it will be a party to a conflict and also the authority deciding it.

Google is displacing the State and municipal roles. Territorial sovereignty with functional sovereignty. Your laws become an End User License Agreement and Terms of Service or maybe not?

Company Town

Art is from a GREAT book Company town