"The masters, being fewer in number, can combine much more easily: and the law, besides, authorises, or at least does not prohibit, their combinations, while it prohibits those of the workmen. We have no acts of parliament against combining to lower the price of work, but many against combining to raise it. In all such disputes, the masters can hold out much longer. A landlord, a farmer, a master manufacturer, or merchant, though they did not employ a single workman, could generally live a year or two upon the stocks, which they have already acquired. Many workmen could not subsist a week, few could subsist a month, and scarce any a year, without employment."
- Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations
For more selections from Wealth of Nations, see “The Invisible Adam Smith”.
Showing posts with label capitalists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label capitalists. Show all posts
Monday, September 01, 2014
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
A super-efficient corporation
The St. Louis Dispatch published an editorial "ALEC's backers run and hide from Durbin inquiry" on August 14. It was republished in the Star Tribune on August 18.
I sent a thank-you email to Tony Messenger, the editorial page editor of the St. Louis Dispatch, with my usual quote, and he sent a thank-you email one minute later!
It is also good to see that not all members of a group march in lockstep with what some members of that group demand.
I sent a thank-you email to Tony Messenger, the editorial page editor of the St. Louis Dispatch, with my usual quote, and he sent a thank-you email one minute later!
It is also good to see that not all members of a group march in lockstep with what some members of that group demand.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Immigration and High-Tech Innovation
Webform to Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Immigration Bill to Boost High-Tech Innovation
In the larger picture, I'm all for people moving wherever they want in the world, but when it comes to immigration to increase "high-tech innovation" there are several caveats to consider:
Companies have narrowed their "skill sets" to be check lists rather than overall considerations, thus limiting the number of Americans available for the jobs offered.
Companies seek to pay the lowest wages possible; increasing the number of immigrants allows them to select from a larger pool of workers who will be satisfied with smaller wages. See "Norm Matloff's H-1B page: cheap labor, age discrimination, offshoring", updated in 2011 or later. Rep. Zoe Lofgren found that the H-1B wages were $40,000 less than the average wage for computer systems analysts in her district.
Companies are unwilling to pay the taxes to provide the education needed to create a large pool of knowledge workers. They would rather that other countries pay to educate a significant number of their workers.
[I didn't include this in my webform to Sen. Klobuchar, but see also "Is There a Tech Staff Shortage?" I wrote it for the Northland Reader in October 1999.]
Adam Smith warned of special interests like this in "Wealth of Nations":
"The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order [capitalists], ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."
In the larger picture, I'm all for people moving wherever they want in the world, but when it comes to immigration to increase "high-tech innovation" there are several caveats to consider:
Companies have narrowed their "skill sets" to be check lists rather than overall considerations, thus limiting the number of Americans available for the jobs offered.
Companies seek to pay the lowest wages possible; increasing the number of immigrants allows them to select from a larger pool of workers who will be satisfied with smaller wages. See "Norm Matloff's H-1B page: cheap labor, age discrimination, offshoring", updated in 2011 or later. Rep. Zoe Lofgren found that the H-1B wages were $40,000 less than the average wage for computer systems analysts in her district.
Companies are unwilling to pay the taxes to provide the education needed to create a large pool of knowledge workers. They would rather that other countries pay to educate a significant number of their workers.
[I didn't include this in my webform to Sen. Klobuchar, but see also "Is There a Tech Staff Shortage?" I wrote it for the Northland Reader in October 1999.]
Adam Smith warned of special interests like this in "Wealth of Nations":
"The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order [capitalists], ought always to be listened to with great precaution, and ought never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Capitalists Who Make vs. Capitalists Who Take
I found a wonderful analysis of good and bad capitalism, "Capitalists Who Make vs. Capitalists Who Take".
I haven't finished reading it yet, but I posted the comment below to it. I think the title is very descriptive of the definition trap we've fallen into.
Aren't we way past the time of evaluating Gross Domestic Product where speculation in tulip bulbs is considered part of the GDP? Maybe we should keep track of Net Domestic Product, or maybe even Minimum Domestic Product. The latter would be to evaluate the wealth of the bottom 10 percent.
If we were truly a Christian nation, we would take to heart "whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me." - Matthew 25:45.
I haven't finished reading it yet, but I posted the comment below to it. I think the title is very descriptive of the definition trap we've fallen into.
Aren't we way past the time of evaluating Gross Domestic Product where speculation in tulip bulbs is considered part of the GDP? Maybe we should keep track of Net Domestic Product, or maybe even Minimum Domestic Product. The latter would be to evaluate the wealth of the bottom 10 percent.
If we were truly a Christian nation, we would take to heart "whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me." - Matthew 25:45.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Misquote of the day - Capitalists make products…
Max Abelson indirectly quotes Leon Cooperman, "They [Capitalists] make products that "fill store shelves at Christmas" and provide health care to millions." - "Bankers Seek to Debunk 'Imbecile' Attack on Top 1%", Bloomberg, 2011-12-19, via Yahoo! Finance. Cooperman is a hedge fund manager. I wouldn't exactly call a hedge fund manager a capitalist; I'd say a hedge fund manager is a gambler with other people's money.
Right! These capitalist are on the factory floor making toys and electronics. These capitalists are working the emergency rooms and the hospital rooms to heal sick and broken people. They really should spend some time reading Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations", every word of it.
For some very appropriate citations from Smith, see "Adam Smith on Labor and Profits (Letter to Reader Weekly)". Essentially, labor is the basis of wealth, if profits rise too far the nation is on the road to ruin, and the interests of business are not the interests of society.
Right! These capitalist are on the factory floor making toys and electronics. These capitalists are working the emergency rooms and the hospital rooms to heal sick and broken people. They really should spend some time reading Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations", every word of it.
For some very appropriate citations from Smith, see "Adam Smith on Labor and Profits (Letter to Reader Weekly)". Essentially, labor is the basis of wealth, if profits rise too far the nation is on the road to ruin, and the interests of business are not the interests of society.
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