The following story was related to me by a student. An acquaintance of his was frustrated and unhappy with her job and felt that her company, which was short-staffed, was not giving her sufficient support and help. The acquaintance felt stressed but was able to cope...
Just now I can't summon the energy to write the post that should be written to defend Goldman Sachs against the disgusting, publicity-seeking attack made on it last week by ex-employee Greg Smith. (Mr. Smith was not highly placed at the firm: he was one of 12,000...
Steve Jobs creates delightful products that consumers willingly and eagerly buy. Barney Frank issues edicts and demands that individuals must grudgingly obey.
The compensation of Chief Executive Officers of large American corporations is about 300 times more than that of the average employee. Such a big gap in pay is often criticized as immoral and is generally attributed to “greed” or to general unfairness of the “system.”...
Last week, an apparently disgruntled Goldman Sachs executive, Greg Smith, had his resignation letter published in the New York Times. In the letter, Mr. Smith accused Goldman Sachs for exploiting its clients in order to maximize profits. He wrote that the culture of...
Valid moral principles should never be compromised because they are the guidelines for achieving our long-term self-interest, such as a profitable business
Al Gore claims that capitalism “has turned many of the world’s largest economies into hotbeds of irresponsible short-term investment.” He argues that capitalism causes business people to focus on short-term profit maximization which, allegedly, prevents sufficient...
Once you grant that profit making is shameful and business should “give [profits] back to society,” there is no end of claimants for the business’ profits.
Recent budget crises in Wisconsin, Indiana, and other states have unleashed a renewed debate over the power of unions and “right to work” laws. Unfortunately, both sides of the debate are guilty of numerous equivocations, misrepresentations, and errors. And, at the...
A number of conservatives, such as Senator Rand Paul, have been promoting “right-to-work” legislation in response to the growing power of labor unions. On the surface, such legislation might appear to be consistent with free market principles. But is it? Wikipedia...
“The wealth of the 1 percent provides the standard of living of the 99 percent.”
Congress should not only reject the transparent power grab known as the Employee Free Choice Act, it should start hacking at the root of the complex federal regime that denies free choice in bargaining. That means repealing the Wagner Act, so that labor law can recognize and protect the absolute right of companies and employees to deal with each other on an entirely voluntary basis.
If a company as great and as economically powerful as General Motors once was can collapse into a shadow of its former self, so too can every other company in the United States. So too can the United States itself.
The financial crisis is, fundamentally, a moral crisis. To end the crisis, we must acknowledge that government intervention caused it, and we must demand that the government begin removing its coercive hands from the economy. With an eye to the short term, we must demand that it scale back the powers of the GSEs, the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC; and with an eye to the long term, we must demand that the government abolish these agencies entirely and restore a gold standard run by private, currency-issuing banks subject solely to the objective commercial and bankruptcy codes.
Shifting the financial pain of business failure onto society at large is unjust.
Those seeking to deify the government and raise it above the citizens, that they are encouraging a servant to forget his place and to become the master of those whom it is his duty to serve.
"There will be a time for [Wall Street executives] to make profits and there will be a time for them to get bonuses. Now is not that time." So said President Obama on January 29 to reporters (source: "The Kudlow Report," CNBC). So we receive President Obama's...
Capitalism–even semi- capitalism–punishes the wasteful expenditure of funds on anything, including on executive salaries.
The article below was originally published on the website of The Intellectual Activist on April 17, 2001 shortly before an impending writers strike that was averted near the eleventh hour. Now, six years later, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is again threatening...
It is a minority of “activist” shareholders–together with anti-business politicians–who are shrieking about “outrageous” CEO pay packages.
Remember the governments case against Microsoft? Well now Toyota has made the cardinal sin of succeeding too much in business and it appears it will meet with a similar fate.
Labor unions do not even know how to raise real wages. All they are concerned with is raising the money wages and protecting the jobs of the members of their particular union.
What the UAW has done, on the foundation of coercive, interventionist labor legislation, is bring a once-great company to its knees.
Sarbanes-Oxley is a moral and economic atrocity. It is past time to repeal this monstrous law and start treating businessmen as American citizens: innocent until proven otherwise.
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