Business suffers criticism in many quarters of the public debate, sometimes for valid reasons, sometimes for false reasons. Some who criticize business have well-reasoned arguments, others are false fronts for ideologies or groups who want power for themselves.
Suppose one wanted to provide the public with a simple argument for business. I heard such recently in re-watching the fine old movie, Sabrina, starring Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden. It's a great movie, both funny and serious and has a happy ending. The setting is the US - New York City - in the 1950s.
Linus Larrabie (Humphrey Bogart), the older son who operates the family business, explains to his younger brother, David (William Holden), why business is a good.
***quote begins***
Linus: Making money isn't the main point of business. Money is a by-product.
David: What's the main objective? Power?
Linus: Ah! That's become a dirty word.
David: What's the urge? You're going into plastics. What will that prove?
Linus: Prove? Nothing much. A new product has been found, something of use to the world. A new industry moves into an undeveloped area. Factories go up, machines go in and you're in business.
It's coincidental that people who've never seen a dime now have a dollar and barefooted kids wear shoes and have their faces washed.
What's wrong with an urge that gives people libraries, hospitals, baseball diamonds and movies on a Saturday night?
***quote ends***
There is nothing inherently sordid about business - it can be a noble activity, if conducted with values and virtues and honor. Let's defend business - good business.
Word of the Day
"Lugubrious" - adjective [$10]
Lugubrious means 1. mournful esp.: exaggeratedly or affectedly mournful.; 2. dismal.
Sentence: Why let a lugubrious outlook oppress your psyche? The world will be fine: people inherently want to improve their lives and that desire will carry the world to a new prosperity ... if the hogs and pharisees are stopped from enthroning a new aristocracy.
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Monday, August 2, 2010
A Glance at a Chart
Over the weekend in Barron's I glanced at it charts for the Dow Jones Industrials. My take was that over the past few months the DJIA has formed a ragged Head & Shoulders bottom. And that a breakout occurred early last week and retest of the rough neckline happened near the end of the week. The potential rally is back to the Spring highs, viz. DJIA 1130 or so. The neck-shoulder line is upward sloping, hence a bit more bullish.
Interest Rates seem very weak - they are already very, very low. The public is buying bonds. Pension funds are likely having trouble making assumed rates of returns. If you need 8% total return, and bonds give you only 5%, then what do you do ?
Krypto Fund is balanced now - no near term buying or selling planned.
Business Ethics - An Oxymoron Now ?
Examples a nefarious behavior by companies and big business seem endlessly recurring. The WSJ has a story about buildings of developments putting in covenants requiring a 1% fee paid to them on any sales for 99 years ! What greed !
And the WSJ reports that Microsoft intentionally has made its Explorer software open to companies wanting to track the web surfing activities of people. In other words, spy on people. Why ? To sell to advertisers.
Germany has nearly recovered ALL the jobs lost in the recession. I guess they are doing something right. I wonder what it is ? It can't all be due to bribing third world governments to buy German equipment.
More than a few business practices seem rather insidious. I guess all those B-school courses on ethics were given to deaf ears.
Sigh ... and hiring people for a real job is no longer a good thing in the eyes of government. It's an opening for them to tax one and investigate one. No wonder employers are reluctant to hire.
Word of the Day
"Homiletic" - adjective & noun [$10] and "Homily" - noun [$10]
Homily means 1. a sermon; 2. a tedious, moralizing discourse.
Homiletic means (adjective) of homilies; (noun, usu. in plural) the art of preaching.
Sentence: A homiletic discourse from the Bman: There must be something in the Bible related to selling a quality product at a fair price, and not cheating or selling shoddy goods. Why or why can't business just to that ? There's only so much money one can make on a product until the moral line is crossed. Credit card companies crossed that line eons ago. Microsoft has, too. And homebuilders. I feel like Lot looking for one good man in Sodom. I suppose I'm overreacting, but the examples keep coming.
By the way, in the "put one's money where one's mouth is", early this summer I paid a big fee/commission to a fellow whom I could have easily stiffed. But that would have been wrong. So I paid without him even asking. It was the right thing to do.
Interest Rates seem very weak - they are already very, very low. The public is buying bonds. Pension funds are likely having trouble making assumed rates of returns. If you need 8% total return, and bonds give you only 5%, then what do you do ?
Krypto Fund is balanced now - no near term buying or selling planned.
Business Ethics - An Oxymoron Now ?
Examples a nefarious behavior by companies and big business seem endlessly recurring. The WSJ has a story about buildings of developments putting in covenants requiring a 1% fee paid to them on any sales for 99 years ! What greed !
And the WSJ reports that Microsoft intentionally has made its Explorer software open to companies wanting to track the web surfing activities of people. In other words, spy on people. Why ? To sell to advertisers.
Germany has nearly recovered ALL the jobs lost in the recession. I guess they are doing something right. I wonder what it is ? It can't all be due to bribing third world governments to buy German equipment.
More than a few business practices seem rather insidious. I guess all those B-school courses on ethics were given to deaf ears.
Sigh ... and hiring people for a real job is no longer a good thing in the eyes of government. It's an opening for them to tax one and investigate one. No wonder employers are reluctant to hire.
Word of the Day
"Homiletic" - adjective & noun [$10] and "Homily" - noun [$10]
Homily means 1. a sermon; 2. a tedious, moralizing discourse.
Homiletic means (adjective) of homilies; (noun, usu. in plural) the art of preaching.
Sentence: A homiletic discourse from the Bman: There must be something in the Bible related to selling a quality product at a fair price, and not cheating or selling shoddy goods. Why or why can't business just to that ? There's only so much money one can make on a product until the moral line is crossed. Credit card companies crossed that line eons ago. Microsoft has, too. And homebuilders. I feel like Lot looking for one good man in Sodom. I suppose I'm overreacting, but the examples keep coming.
By the way, in the "put one's money where one's mouth is", early this summer I paid a big fee/commission to a fellow whom I could have easily stiffed. But that would have been wrong. So I paid without him even asking. It was the right thing to do.
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