A Department of Business?

[Christians4LessGvt]

That sounds like what I said.

And I am actually doing it (not talking about it) and so are millions of other business owners.
Quit demonizing business!

The fact is that nearly all the increase in productivity has gone to
the top earners in this country for the past ten years or so.

Baloney!
The gvt by printing money has stolen money from the middle class and poor.
Thats why gas and stuffs are so expensive....because the gvt has made the dollar worth less by printing.
That's one of the reasons gas is so high, the Arabs know the dollars we pay them are worth less,
so they want more of the dollars to make up for them being worth less.

Increases in productivity have benefitted society as a whole enormously.
Farmers using GPS-equipped combines & sophisticated moisture sensors
can grow far more food than the population of an entire rural county in the late 1930's.
Food has become plentiful and relatively cheap in the United States.....thats a good thing.
And agricultural products have become one of the United States chief exports.
Instead of driving around looking at houses or products all day...you can browse the internet.
Steve Jobs probably became a billionaire many times over (hooray for him...wish we had more like him)
but his company created jobs directly and indirectly
made many others better off financially, increased gvt revenues,
& and helped people simplify their lives and become more productive.
Parents can stay in touch with children....people in general have become more productive.
Steve Jobs/BillGates/ect...were doing good while the gvt was creating an economic disaster!

Romney took over a paper company, fired all the workers and made them reapply for their former jobs.
Those who were rehired mostly had to work for less.

If a company is dying and part of the reason is it is not competitive is due to
union or employee costs...what is the "high ground" for letting it go under?
No the high ground is trying to save the company and bring costs under control.
As with anything...sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
Each company, each industry, each situation is different.
but buying a struggling company and laying people off is not a bad thing.
it's like cutting off a foot that has gangrene, it's sad, but really a good thing if it saves a life.
Obama has never started, run, or managed a business and it shows....look at his results!

[BSB]

Creating jobs isn't always the magic bullet it's cracked up to be. Take GM for example. During the past 50 years they created a lot of jobs. They paid a lot of people, doled out exceptional benefits, and so forth. But, than the bill came do. Had GM run a leaner company, focusing on a better, safer, more efficient product, we all would have benefited to much greater degree.


BSB   

[Xavier_Onassis]

I simply do not worship business,as you seem to.

Herbert Hoover was an exceptionally competent businessman. But as a president, he sucked.He became the poster child for sucky presidents.

My grandfather never voted for a Democrat and he lived most of his life in West Texas. My father was proud to be an usher at the GOP Convention in Kansas City when they nominated Hoover. Then along came the 1929 Crash,my father lost his job and was unable to find any decent job until the CCC came along and he became a bookkeeper and later an auditor. I don't think he voted for another Republican again, except maybe Eisenhower in 1952. And I don't blame him.

He worked for the same paint company as head auditor 30 years. When he retired his pension was $126 per month. That is what capitalism means to me.

I know very well what vulture capitalists do: they make, or attempt to make, tons of money for themselves. They invent no products, they devise no strategies, they simply scope out a company and plunder it. Sometimes one of their plans actually gives some people jobs, like Staples, that sells mostly Chinese office supplies cheaper than the previous office supply stores, which were all driven out of business here in Miami by Office Depot and Office Max before a single Staples arrived.

I can demonize whomever I wish, by the way. It is a free country.

[BSB]

I personally don't see anything wrong with capitalism. In fact I like it. The problem is people. I keep a list in my head of all the businesses I deal with, and have dealt with, that provide a necessary, or beneficial, service and do it well. I keep a list also of employees who do a very good job. I keep the lists in my head because unfortunately they aren't that long.  That's the problem, not capitalism. 

There are 11 gas stations on the Mass Turnpike and I ran 6 and another guy ran the remaining 5. The whole thing was about hiring the right people. Those people are out there you just have to be able to spot them. Once, and only once, I let a station manager hire a worker without my having meet him first. Three days later that worker stole $450 from that station. I took him to court and got the money back. A lot of employers don't know who to hire, and why, or they don't care.  Few things impress me more than an honest, hard working, employee. I think that's why I was good at hiring. I respected the people who worked for me no matter the job level. 


BSB

[Christians4LessGvt]

The whole thing was about hiring the right people. I respected the people who worked for me no matter the job level.  BSB

Amen to that BSB.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Capitalism is simply a tool, just like a wheel or a lever, but more complex.  I see no reason to worship it.

[Christians4LessGvt]

Capitalism is simply a tool, just like a wheel or a lever, but more complex.  I see no reason to worship it.

Capitalism: an economic system that is based on private ownership
of the means of production and the creation of goods or services for profit

Go try living somewhere without it...
when you return after a year or two...
you'll kiss the ground when you arrive back.

Of course you are already voting with your
feet because you're free to leave and live
anywhere you want, but you dont.

[BSB]

XO "I see no reason to worship it"

The problem with that attitude is that you make the people who do worship it your problem. Ronald Reagan and his ilk aren't my problem.  They to are just a tool. I'm not a gun-nut but I am a member of the NRA because gun-nuts are a tool to be used. They protect me from the extremists on the other side of the issue. The Ronald Reagans of this world protect me from those who would attempt to over control our economic system. It's a balancing act. You don't want either too much or little control.   

BSB

[Xavier_Onassis]

Go try living somewhere without it...
when you return after a year or two...
you'll kiss the ground when you arrive back.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Been there, done that. I lived in Mexico for a total of three years.Mexico has basically crony capitalism and bribery.

Again, I am not against using tools. Tools can be useful. I am an investor,and have nearly every cent I won in one mutual fund or another. But I do NOT worship capitalism anymore than I worship a screwdriver just because it is a more useful tool than a dime when it comes to turning screws.

Capitalism, like tools, have a proper use. If it is not used to the benefit of the society (and it is not when 40% of the wealth belongs to 1% of the population), then better regulations and controls are required.

Cuba is a total mess when it comes to governing.

China's Communist Party has achieved a growth rate unsurpassed in human history.

Most Venezuelans are better off now than they were before Chavez, because he has used oil wealth for the benefit of a larger share of the people. Notice that he was reelected over probably the most competent opposition in Venezuelan history.

I would not wish to live in any of these places, mostly because I am neither Cuban nor Chinese nor Venezuelan.

There should be a balance between socialism and capitalism for the best results. Denmark is probably the best example of this. 

I do not demonize capitalism any more than I demonize the use of computers, screwdrivers or chainsaws. But some of those who think that capitalism should be worshipped and not regulated adequately deserve to be demonized.

[BSB]

"Mexico has basically crony capitalism and bribery."

Again, that's a human problem that has nothing to do with capitalism per se. Vietnam is ripe with the same problems under communism.

BSB

[Xavier_Onassis]

Mexico in the 1960's was not any sort of capitalist country. Yet, when I returned, I was not moved to kiss the ground or anything like that. At that time, capitalism was backing the stupid war in Vietnam.