Compassionate Capitalism

HILLARY
Job security is something that’s on every body’s mind. In France, there were even riots over it. I mean, I want to be in a system that offers me security, but at the same time I understand that a company can’t operate if it can’t fire any of its employees, right?

JACK
Over a period of time, any company is going to build a layer of fat and can learn to operate more efficiently by increasing individual productivity. By taking advantage of new technologies and applications, we’ve allowed for three people to do the job of five. And, since the most dramatic cost of production is labor, you have to have lay-offs. Now, that sounds heartless! But you have to have the right number of people for the right jobs and you have to take advantage of technology and you can’t be hampered by outside interests. Perfect example of this: I owned a printing plant in Portland, OR where the union agreement said that a worker could only work on one kind of press. So we had five different types of presses and we had lots of work for four of them, but not for the one that we hired this guy for, so he sat quietly and got paid for nothing. We had to fight the union so that anyone could work on any press, and when we won we got back into profitability, because before we just couldn’t survive. I don’t think it’s a question of meanness, it’s a question of absolute economic necessity that the playing field, which is never level, has to continually be adjusted.

HILLARY
Well, doesn’t that beg the question of whether or not a capitalist model is really a humane model? You say, in order to be “competitive”, in order to be “profitable”, in order to be “successful in the marketplace”, you cannot work to the benefit of each individual who works for you. Is profitability our most treasured virtue? Doesn’t that seem to highlight an inherent flaw in the model?

JACK
There is a flaw in every model. Capitalism. Communism. The question is: What has produced the best economy for the greatest number of people? And whether you like the word Capitalism or Rugged Individualism or Market Evaluation, that’s been what’s worked. Now, there has to be checks and balances. There has to be something that protects people who work, and protects people who employ, and it’s almost impossible to find a level playing field, but you must look at the results. For example, the center of the shoe industry in the US was in New England and then the shoe industry fled to the South because of the lower cost of labor. And then it left the South and went to Italy, because that’s where the lower cost of labor could produce the merchandise. Now it’s coming out of China. What’s been the result? The area in New England that specialized in shoe manufacturing is extraordinarily prosperous, only now they’re into high technology; they’re a second Silicon Valley. So the market adjusts, people adjust. But there is no level playing field. Fair is a nice word, but really very difficult to apply in its full intent.

HILLARY
I understand that, like life, business isn’t “fair,” but our economic model seems to be creating an extremely small section of the population with an extraordinary amount of wealth and a huge section of the population who barely has enough to survive. And I imagine that, without change, at some point people are going to revolt against the autocrats who hoard the spoils of their labor.

JACK
Well, revolutions have happened throughout history when the balances were that different. But it’s like a pendulum swinging too far one way and too far back the other. Somewhere in the middle is where the adjustment is found, and where it works.

Hillary, it’s important for you to remember that we, as individuals, can’t improve the lives of the masses; we don’t have that power. We do have that power in our own homes, with our own families. If you improve yourself and improve your kids it spreads out like the ripples in a stream. If you say, I want to eliminate all child labor and make sure that every person has a job; you’re kidding yourself.

What I find more alarming, and why I’m concerned for kids today of all classes, (rich, poor, it doesn’t matter,) is that they are fed a distilled version of what the world is like, taught by spin-meisters. It’s almost impossible to equalize, except there’s one great leveler and that’s the only time the playing fields can be leveled and that’s through education.

HILLARY
The media is a big problem in my eyes, as well. Perhaps this is a good subject for next week.

HomeSite Map

Communication is inspiration! Share your thoughts below.