In the world of public policy, there are those who subscribe to the belief that businesses have an obligation first to social justice and community welfare rather than to profit as a result of the production, distribution and/or sale of a good or service.
This philosophy has made "profit" a four-letter word and led to a contorted view that every business owner is driven by greed.
Let's take a quick stroll down Economics 101 Boulevard. Walking down the block, we see store fronts offering hometown dining experiences, computer products, wireless services and a franchise fast-food deli. Peering into each of these establishments, there are a few shared ingredients.
In each of the businesses, we see customers seeking a product, good and/or service. Whether the desire is a heaping helping of mashed potatoes, the latest smartphone with a data package or a soft drink to go, having customers willing to release their earnings is the goal of every business owner and what keeps the doors open and the lights on.
In each of these establishments, we also see employees who serve as on the front lines to meet the desired needs, or likely wants, of their customers. These employees are there to earn a wage and, in turn, to take their income and participate as customers in the same economic cycle of retail. Employees are incentivized to work to obtain their needs and desires through the velocity of money.
Unseen to our immediate view are the supply chains of goods and services that fuel these businesses. Arriving at the dawn of the day, productive businesses service other businesses through deliveries, service calls, on and on.
Finally, there are the business owners who risked the upfront investment of time, energy and capital carrying the venture. Folks don't work for free. Utility districts don't allow you a month or two to pay for your infrastructure needs. And years may pass before any profit is realized.
TIME TO UNDERSTAND
A rule of thumb for an entrepreneur is that "in the first year of running your own business successfully, you'll make less than your prior salary," according to a recent article in the Houston Chronicle. "In the second year, you can draw a regular salary. In the third and subsequent years, you can draw a larger salary," according to the article.
To have purchasing power, we need jobs to generate income. To have jobs, there have to be companies, large and small, that are hiring, expanding, and seeking to grow their reach. Finally, to have these businesses, there have to be individuals who are willing to risk capital and embrace the multitude of responsibilities that are incumbent on those who employ others.
At the corner of Opportunity Avenue and Devoted Work Street, we'll find those who making our economy work by investing their "seed money," hiring employees and receiving a profit.
It's time for those whose ideological bent fuels misinformation deeming every business as greedy to understand the reality: We have no economy unless we have businesses and those willing to start and run them.
Thank you, entrepreneurs. We welcome your efforts and profits in Chattanooga and throughout this region.
Thank you for your silly and totally unnecessary lesson in "Economics 101." Most people with a spoonful of intelligence and a grain of common sense know the basics of what it takes to run a business. You right wing lug nuts like to keep spreading the lie that liberals hate business owners and rich or otherwise succesful people. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I'm as liberal as they come and I have never hated anyone simply by nature of their being entrepreneurs or business owners or wealthy individuals. I look at a person's character, not the amount of money they make or don't make. Greed and selfishness are bad traits and I do indeed dislike people who exhibit those traits, but I have never just instinctively lumped all business owners and rich people into being selfish and greedy. And there is nothing wrong with making a profit. Without the profit motive there would be little incentive for anyone to even establish a new business. We all want to make a comfortable life for ourselves and making a profit is how we do it. We all acknowledge that. Neither I nor any of my liberal friends have ever thought of profit, per se, as a "4-letter word," as you say.
Business owners serve a valuable purpose and I am grateful to anyone who offers a much needed product or service at a fair price. And most business owners are socially conscious people who have a vested interest in their communities. Liberals shop and purchase goods and services just like you conservatives. What's more, there are many liberals who are rich and entrepreneurial themselves. So stop with the bodacious lie already - the lie that we liberals hate all wealthy people and all business owners. You are just showing what an a## you are whenever you say that.
The dummycrat/liberal/socialist party is the actual party of hate. They hate profits, corporations, success, wealthy people, oil, oil companies, banks, blacks, women, Wall Street, of course they do not mind taking money from Wall Street, people with differing opinions, Israel, letting babies have a chance at life, guns, physical contact sports, Christians, The Bible, the middle class, self reliance, individualism, hard work, stuff they have to pay for, pickup trucks, facts, The Ten Commandments, private schools, freedom, less federal government intrusion, lower taxes, people that do not depend on the government, closed borders, the military, the American soldier, hunting, the ability to defend yourself, The Catholic Church, freedom of choice, and many other things that are healthy for America.
The right wingers believe in removing all bureaucratic rules from businesses, except for their own pet rules like forcing guns in parking lots down their throat.
I wince every time I hear someone ( nearly always a Lieberal ) complain about a company making "record profits." It is a great indicator of a person's contempt or ignorance of our economic system. I have also noticed that they are overwhelmingly Socialists and vote Demoncrat.
This is a great article and should be read and reread by these poor people until they grasp some fundamentals of economics.
Rickaroo - If all you say about yourself is accurate, that would be fine. Unfortunately, the division of classes our current president's administration has engaged in and his anti-business and profit-is-bad stances force us to have to remind people that profit is not a 4 letter word.
Some people very much need to hear the message in this editorial.
Article..."We have no economy unless we have businesses and those willing to start and run them."...............Alas,and foremost, we also have no economy unless we have consumers who earn enough to afford these business products. "If we build them they will buy them" only applies if purchasing money is sufficient.
Chatt_man, the "division of classes" you speak of is not something the Obama administration has arbitrarily made up or "engaged in." It is very real and has been growing like a cancer ever since Reagan foisted his voo-doo economics of "trickle down" on us in the 80s. The income disparity between CEOs and the average working class American is insanely huge and is a prime indicator of the overall health of a nation's economy. Without a strong and vital middle class we will never again be a strong nation. It's as simple as that.
And for you to say that Obama is anti-business and hates people who make profits is not only a lie but a damn stupid lie that you conservatives cling to like a tick to a dog. Just because he sees the need of having sensible regulations in place to protect the consumer and/or the environment, that does not make him anti-business or a hater of those who make profits. To think that business should be completely unregulated and left to its own devices is not the essence of freedom; it is just plain nuts. The role of government is not to stand aside and do nothing but to act as the safeguard of its citizenry and to take into account what is best for the nation as a whole.
"In the world of public policy, there are those who subscribe to the belief that businesses have an obligation first to social justice and community welfare rather than to profit as a result of the production, distribution and/or sale of a good or service."
Anyone who thinks this has been mislead and has never studied western capitalist economics. The profit motive is what drives our great economic engine. The responsibility of the CEO is to make a profit for the shareholders, while operating within the constraints of the law. The word "greed" is half of what moves the capital markets the other word is "fear".
The responsibility of government is to make sure that the welfare of the people is accounted for. To make sure in the pursuit of profits companies do not lie in advertising, pollute the air and water making it unsafe, observe established health and safety practices in the work place, do not collude with other companies, etc.
Historically the US has had a very good balance between free enterprise and government regulation, which has resulted in unprecedented economic growth and a high standard of living. It's very important that we preserve that balance. Being too lax with regulation may create more economic prosperity but at a price none of us are willing to pay, conversely too much regulation will stifle economic growth.
There are areas right now where we need more regulation and other areas where we need less. The mistake some people make is to think all regulation is either good or bad. It's neither, and we need to constantly seek just the right amount, no more, no less.
Tim Cook, now the CEO at Apple, made a huge amount of money last year. He is the son of a shipyard worker and a homemaker. He earned his degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn and then earned his MBA from Duke. Instead of portraying such success stories as greedy villains we should be admiring their achievements and studying ways current students regardless of backgrounds could do the same. It starts at the home no matter the family's income.
Plato and LB, those are two of the best posts I've seen, well written about the balance in Plato's and the passing along of a story of "hope", applying yourself, and wanting to aspire to make a difference, regardless of your roots... not being looked upon as "evil greed".
Rick, I don't subscribe to the "no regulation" you took it upon yourself to preach to me about, but I do find Plato's idea of government much more in line with my thinking than yours.
The first problem we have is the fueled division of the party's, caused by the extremists on both sides. And the other problem is we have a president that is actively participating in problem number one.
plato's and lb's posts are two fine examples of how debate and opionionizing (new word i just made up!) should be conducted!
civil and well thought out!(don't see much of that regarding bennett's cartoons!)
Congratulations, Plato and LB, for getting gold stars from jesse. Must be heartwarming to know you did so well on the self-designated judge's litmus test of what constitutes quality posting. Of course, jesse always has a way of seemingly patting himself on the back and giving himself gold stars for being so magnanimously nonpartisan and civil, unlike us other mean and nasty posters who take sides and don't really give much thought to what we write (un-thought-out, I guess). Anyway, let us all now be aware that jesse is the new judge of how to conduct polite, civil, and "well thought-out" debate and "opinionizing."
Gentleman Jesse, fence sitter extraordinaire, and new judge of the TFP digital posting board.
Now, let's all be more civil and polite and, by gosh, guys and gals, let's see if we can't put more thought into what we post here, and...go for the gold...for jesse.
Do I get a gold star for that, judge jesse? Please, oh please? Gee golly gosh darn, I hope so!
LB, your post is nothing but a continuation of the lie that anyone and everyone, at least anyone and everyone who is a liberal, is condemning Tim Cook for being successful. Enough with this stupid and meaningless lie already! I don't know Tim Cook from John Doe and I don't have a clue whether he is a "greedy villain" or a saint. Do you know anyone personally who has called Tim Cook a greedy villain? I seriously doubt it. I'm a liberal and neither I nor any of my liberal friends go around calling so-and-so business executives or successful entrepreneurs or random well-to-do people greedy villains just because they are successful or rich. There are indeed greedy villains out there but I don't know of anyone who merely looks at a rich or successful person and immediately calls him/her greedy just by virtue of being successful. You are merely perpetuating the lie that the righties like to foist on the lefties - that we don't value success and hard work. It is a LIE and you are guilty of continuing to spread it. Judge jesse might praise you for your "civil and well thought-out" post, but it's really nothing but indulgent propagandist trash.
hey rick,how about i give you a pink flamingo for your front yard and a 6 pack of p.b.r. instead!!!lol
In the world of public policy, there are those who subscribe to the belief that governments have an obligation first to business profits and corporate welfare rather than to serve the common interests of the community and the well-being of society.
I could tell you about some other entrepreneurs, like the car mechanic who so concerned about some vehicle issue, rushes to warn you that your car is about to be ruined. Don't worry, though, he can fix it. Or there is the restaurant owner who serves you some meat...that you'll never notice wasn't kept sterile. Or you can check the E-mail boxes full of spam offerings. Heck, you can look in our very own paper, and see those advertisements meant to look like a news article, especially that one offering to sell you hundreds of programs...with a common television antenna.
Tell you what, you want to tell us the wonders of your market, realize the consequences and act on your responsibilities? Or do we have to tell you to your faces before you see the results?
And I haven't even gotten into how the value of a product often comes from the labor of a woefully under compensated worker.
Maybe you haters in the right-wing want to convince everybody to resent and despise the common man, but not all of us are fooled into supporting your side of the class war.
BTW, since Obama took office, business profits and CEO compensation is up. For an anti-business guy, he sure seems not to be doing what you think. Maybe the party of lies needs to stop lying. Scrooge wasn't a bad guy because he made money, but because he treated people like crap and screwed hi us friends. I don't know Tim Cook at Apple, but how do you feel about Ken Lay, Bernie Madoff, Rick Scott, or Bernard Ebbers?
And I forgot another group of entrepreneurs.
For profit colleges who make their money off the government. Obama tried to make that accountable. You know even Virginia Foxx couldn'mtbsupport that idea for some reason.
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