“If it is not in the interest of the public, it is not in the interest of business…”
Joseph H. Defrees
15 Responses to “Thought For The Day”
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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
Good reminder…
I am in a retail business with locations in both FL and GA and call this quote pure bull shit at its finest!
Git Real
Git Real. Are you crazy? What you don’t understand? If the people don’t find a personal interest in your product, they will not buy it.
Hey, Git Real. Why don’t you list the name & addresses of your 2 businesses in FL & GA. Then, via internet your clients are going to find out the kind of businessman you are. So, if I understand, your philosophy, it is “make money whatever it takes…against the interest of clients”
YES! My personal philosophy, which I practiced for 45 tears in business is…If you do what’s right for the customer, you will be doing what’s right for the company!
Once again a fine piece of wisdom put up by Cyril & Co. that’s being ignored far too often these days by both the major corporations as well as the local corner store businesses as witnessed by Git Real’s uninformed and self destructive comment .
But hey Git Real ! Ya’ll keep holding to that line of yours . Just don’t go ____ing and whining , blaming it on everyone else [ as is usually the want of your kind ] when your business falls thru the cracks becoming yet another pile of luke warm fertilizer on the relegation pile . . Cause Guaranteed ! It will . In fact … I’ll places serious odds … its currently in the process of 😉
Git Real. Shame on you. So, we wait for the addresses of your businesses. Or do you prefer your customers not knowing who hides behind his computer.
Thank you Cyril for publishing this reminder to all people owning their business. Git real, you are a failure waiting to happen.
Like all things economic, this statement relies on some assumptions.
For example, how do you explain the mulit-billion dollar ethanol industry?
Which “public” are we referring to? Regarding ethanol, good for farmers and small farm towns, bad for everbody else.
Are 180 horsepower engines on the street good for the public? Maybe not. Are they good for business? You bet. Just throwing out examples. I’m open to ridicule.
Chris. You are another one who doesn’t know how to read a quote. It doesn’t say if it’s good for business it’s good for the public. It says the opposite. Yes, you opened yourself to ridicule.
how is writing subprime mortgages so that the likelihood of foreclosure increases in the interests of the public, which is not in the interests of the public, not in the interests of the banks selling the loans?
Shifter, a little aggressive, but that’s okay. I read “if it’s not in the interest of the public, it’s not in the interest of business.” It’s a simple premise and I am reading it clearly. I still proffer that, while it is reasonable and I’d like to agree with it, it does not hold true when applied to practical examples.
Let’s restate it using this classic logic exercise: If “A” is not in the public interest, then “A” is not good for business.
“A” = E85
E85 is not in the public interest due to an overall increase in greenhouse gasses emitted during production that exceed net gains from tailpipe reductions , so therefore, E85 is not good for business.
This is a false conclusion if the “business” in question happens to be engaged in the production and/or sale of E85, so the premise must be flawed.
Lobbyist: “Hey Congress. I’m a lobbyist for the agri-business. I have a product to sell that may do more harm than good (it is not in the public interest) but is a boondoggle for the industry I represent (it is in the interest of business).
Congressman: “Thank you sir, I see that the evidence clearly supports your statement that your product does more harm than good. There are better alternatives. I do, however, see that, though your product sucks, it’ll be great for your bottom line. I accept and will push a mandate requiring the use of your product.”
Lobbyist: “Thank you sir, here is a campaign contribution for your next race. Good luck.”
Shifter, I’m still wide open to ridicule, but i’m afraid you aren’t reading deeply enough and are drawing a false inference.
Sorry, Chris. Your demonstration is flawed.
You wrote
“E85 is not in the public interest due to an overall increase in greenhouse gasses emitted during production that exceed net gains from tailpipe reductions , so therefore, E85 is not good for business. This is a false conclusion if the “business” in question happens to be engaged in the production and/or sale of E85″
Wrong. Because sooner or later, if the consumer oppose and don’t accept E85, the business will fail.
Shifter,
In the long-term, I agree with you 100 percent. Ethanol is a product that some day will be obsolete as the primary energy source for automobiles, partly due to consumer choice and partly due to the fact that, at some point, our policy makers should respond to increasing evidence that the product isn’t a viable long term solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (though logic isn’t the strong suit of policy makers).
In the short and medium term however, E85 is great for those companies engaged in its production and, as long as the Government continues to mandate it’s use, consumer choice is irrelevant.
A company profiting off of a market opportunity that may some day no longer exist doesn’t mean it isn’t good for business in the broad sense.
Let’s look 50 years down the road and assume (again, we need to work with assumptions) that some new technology, hydrogen, electricity, nuclear, pick your energy source, has replaced fossil fuels as the power source for motor vehicles. Are all internal combustion engine manufacturers and oil producers running bad businesses today because someday fossil fuels will be largely obsolete?
Problem is, way too may officious people have insinuated/weaseled themselves into “the business” of determining what’s ‘good for the public.’
Like Ralph Nadar for starters……
-nicker-