If it is not in the interest of the public it is not in the interest of business. Joseph H. Defrees
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If it is not in the interest of the public it is not in the interest of business. Joseph H. Defrees
Absolutely right.
If only big business … any big business these days subscribed to that bit of Wisdom … rather than placing 100% of their focus on the investor rather than on the consumer/public 😉
Even when an ever increasing % of “the public” is willing to do nothing more than leech off of those who actually produce? Most factual theories on business and society came from a time when the main role of government wasn’t to steal from Peter and give to Paul.
Woody I think the point of the quote was it is the general public that produces. As soon as you start ascribing to the belief that the line worker making 18 bucks an hour is overpaid but the CEO’s pay is “off limits” because they’re some kind of benevolent “job creator” class that’s when the whole system starts to break down and we do get people saying, “screw it” and living off the dole. When the general public is well compensated, the same general public is who consumes, so business grows. Take care of those who take care of you and you win.
Well, business (or commerce) …IS… in “the interest of the public.”
At least that’s what the Supreme Court declared in the land mark case “Heart of Atlanta” which squashed the last challenge to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The issue was; Could the Heart Of Atlanta Motel discriminate as to its occupancy since discrimination was legal by Georgia segregation laws.
The Court found that since the Motel was on an interstate highway and that highway supported interstate commerce, any restriction of that Motel’s occupancy was judged as a restriction of interstate commerce.
The challenging lawyer was livid, because he came to argue states rights, not economic freedom.
In jis rebuttal he said something like: “….I didn’t come here to argue about commerce. Hell you could make the case that anything in America can be connected with commerce in one way or another….”
He obviously missed the point which is that “commerce in America is everything,” without it we nothing. Because those who enable commerce are “the job creators”…… “benevolence” has NOTHING to do with it . Willingness to risk capital and effort has EVERYTHING to do with it.
“Benevolence” is usually the yammering of Socialists.
(a tough sell among true Bikers)
-nicker-
Well said…
I wonder what the source of the quote thinks about the E85 article below?
Are the powers that are forcing E85 down our throats acting in the interest of the public or are they simply a party to a multi-bililion dollar corporate welfare scheme?
Well said Nicker
I understand, BobS, I simply don’t agree. Blaming someone else’s compensation on one’s own situation is game-over at my house. One’s income should be based what they can command from their real worth to the person(s) supplying the funds, not who they can vote for with the promise of receiving stolen goods in return. I was never trapped in a job where I felt I was underpaid, I always had the right to quit showing up. I also had the sense to better myself along the way so I COULD stop showing up if I chose or if my employer chose another plan.
Nicker, As usual you hit the nail on the head! Bravo!
Over & Out,
Jeff
I think some of you may be off base….When I worked my business philosophy was: “If it’s good for the customer, it’s good for business”. (This approach worked well for me, and my company for 45 years). Essentially, I believe that is Mr. DeFrees was communicating.
Woody, were did that come from? I never said anything about voting for anybody in an effort to improve one’s plight. I merely pointed out that production takes more than a boss AND more than an employee. No demand for a product…no risk taking by a malicious (he’s not benevolent right?) “job creator”. Without decent pay there’s no consumers, without consumers there’s no demand. Without demand there’s no investment. To get back to the quote, if it’s not in the interest of the public it’s not in the interest of business. This isn’t a one-way street, you can’t have a successful business without a boss, employees, and customers. All three are a neccessity. If all the benefits only go to one or two, it falls apart. When all three get what they deserve, then business thrives and all three get more opportunity for even more.
BobS
RE:
“… Without decent pay there’s no consumers, without consumers there’s no demand …”
If that were true the Asian sweat-shop model of garment manufacturing wouldn’t work.
RE:
“… If all the benefits only go to one or two, it falls apart. When all three get what they deserve, then business thrives and all three get more …”
The terms “Benevolence,” “Benefits” or what one “deserves” are the stuff of Socialist dogma, not the Real World.
In reality the market works by the organized, appropriate application of capital and labor and it pays off on quality effort. Its the quality effort that is “in the interest of the public.”
The product market is like the job market, in the long run you get what you pay for.
-nicker-
Nice try nicker but simply using certain words does not make one a socialist, not to mention wether one prefers public vs private ownership is really irrelevant to the topic. With regards to Asian sweat shop workers, and I’m married to a Vietnamese refugee who knows a thing or two about Asian cost of living, while we may consider the wages low by US standards, by the cost of living standards in their countries it IS a decent wage, they can actually live on it. That’s why it works.
I do agree that you get what you pay for. To the point, when you as an employer pay too low for labor, you get a crap product that nobody wants. You go out of business, the public isn’t served. If a particular company’s motorcycles suck because the build quality is substandard, they go out of business and the public isn’t served. They build a high quality product, the market responds, demand goes up…consumers win, the product is expanded, more people hired, more profits for investors. Everyone wins.
If it is not in the public interest, then the public isn’t interested in buying it, thus, it is not in the interest of the business to be trying to sell something the public won’t buy.
@BobS “were did that come from? I never said anything about voting for anybody in an effort to improve one’s plight ” Actually, you spouted boilerplate about compensation to workers for social value instead of as a reflection as their worth to the person paying the compensation. That garbage doesn’t come from any sound business practice, it comes from well-meaning (sometimes) liberals who think interfering with capitalism and then complaining it doesn’t work” makes sense. You get what you pay for? Hardly. They’re getting as much out of autoworkers in Alabama as they ever got out of Detroit, and if fast food companies are forced to pay a “living wage” for previously part-time jobs a teenager could be trained to do in a week, no they won’t be getting their money’s worth. One’s pay should be a reflection of one’s worth to others, NOT how one values themself or can convince some politician to “declare” them worth. It’s not charity if you didn’t get the money from your own pockets either, BTW.
Bob S. You are correct on all counts…with respect to the quote and the way the economy works.
BobS,
-A- Last time i looked, there were sewing Sweatshops right here in SF.
-B- I’m simply refuting your overarching statement that “… If all the benefits only go to one or two, it falls apart. …. My point is that the Market will make it fall apart, not the “benefits.”
Now when the Govt. starts messing with the market, (as it has in CA) then all bets are off.
-C- “…simply using certain words does not make one a socialist …”
-No-
But the words that one uses to express an idea, when that idea is consistent with Socialism, that will make people think you are a Socialist. And those ideas will slit the gullet of the Goose that Laid The Golden Egg.
All i’m telling you is that customers go with the product….. the don’t give a rat’s ass about what the workers are being paid. That’s a labor relations and market issue.
As i read the logic in your argument, you presume that every worker must have the ability to purchase the products they make or the market system fails. Sorry to telly this, but that my friend is right out of the Progressive Leftist theology.
Look, the notion of “decent wages” is a matter of perspective. As you say the wages in Vietnam are low by our standards but OK by theirs.
Well, unless i misunderstand your point, you think that “everyone wins” only when the OEM’s wage mechanism allows the employee to purchase the products they make. And the implication is that any intransigence on the OEMs’ part should be met with social engineering like the minimum wage legislation.
Well, let me point out that none of the craftsmen building yachts in east coast boatyards could even come close to affording the various vessels they labored over. Moreover, when the tax man got through with that industry it damned near evaporated…..
Hell of a “…job creator…” that was. ….. No winners there, just looser all the way around.
-nicker-
nicker let me try and sum it up more simply. Everything you just assumed about me and what I meant…was wrong.
BobS,
In this case, if i’m “wrong” … that.s Good….!!!
Another Socialist (Biker even) is NOT what this country needs….. 🙂
-nicker-
Nope, not a socialist. Or a capitalist. Not a democrat or republican, not a christian, muslim, or jew either. Don’t get me wrong, those are all cool dudes, I can find something good about each of them. I just don’t thing everything is right about any of them either.
Holy cow! In 2014 the power of Joe McCarthy still prevails. All a man need do is call another that he disagrees with a Socialist. Guess what, thinking minds see through that.
The idea that unfettered lasaiz faire capitalism is what is going to make America great is so devoid of thought, historical perspective, or respect for human dignity that I can’t help but want to pass my lunch every time I hear somebody spouting this line of bologna.
Do you believe that the Walton family (for example) gives a damn if their $7.25/hr employee that allows them (the heirs to the Walton fortune) to bask in wealth unearned, yes unearned by any of them, can’t feed themselves or their children? Employees are cogs and if they don’t like making menial wages, after Walmart has run every other small business out of town and left folks with no other employment options, then Walmart knows they will come groveling back and accept the meaninglessness of their human existence.
This line of thinking presumes that everybody who puts in an honest day of work and does their best at their job should be grateful for the scraps they receive for, if only they were smarter, worked harder, or were more risky, they’d be millionaires. I’ll bet there are a lot of people on this forum who bust their butts daily but will never ever ever see six figure salaries, let alone 10 figure salaries.
Label me a Socialist if you like, but I for one don’t accept the idea that it’s good for a society to have a few people hoarding more and more of a finite supply of money while billions of people blindly accept an ever shrinking piece of the remaining pie.
RE:
“…Label me a Socialist if you like…”
Don’t have to, seems you just did it yourself.
RE:
“… Holy cow! In 2014 the power of Joe McCarthy still prevails …”
Regardless what people once said and some uninformed still say about McCarth…. one thing is certain. History (and the released KGB files) proved he was spot on about everything.
Its hard to supress the wrath of envy once you’ve turned it loose…..
(in the guise of indignant righteousness)
-nicker-
Chris, i have a reading list for you.
Haha, a reading list that says McCarthy was “spot on about everything” is one that I will avoid.
200 communists in the Dept of State. No wait, 205, no wait, 57 communists, no wait, 81. No thanks, I prefer to deal in facts.
Good lord. As long as we have people preaching that folks don’t make enough money because rich people stole it, there’s no doubt we’ll all be living on Uncle Sam’s Plantation soon eventually.
Woody, nobody said the rich guy stole anybody’s money. Your canned talking point isn’t applicable in this instance.
few people hoarding more and more of a finite supply of money while billions of people blindly accept an ever shrinking piece of the remaining pie.
RE:
“…. few people hoarding more and more …. money ….”
“…. nobody said the rich guy stole anybody’s money ….”
Hmmmm…. So would that be the middle class or the poor who are doing all the “Hoarding”…..???
Just need some clarification…….. 🙂
-nicker-