Seeking An Answer

SOME FORGOTTEN SAVVY AND astute economics philosopher recently made an interesting remark: if you want to become wealthy, start producing some product that people want, something that can be manufactured on an assembly line.

By that may be meant; manufacture a product that people want, something real, something tangible, not a blog, nor a rock album, nor career counseling. Interesting thought. Worth considering, certainly.

IN america we don't make enough tangible, desirable forms of material wealth. We make no television sets, we make no radios, nor chose, nor clothing, and we barely make any motorcycles. Cell phones and computers may well fall into the same category; things which all americans want, need, buy, and use, but which are generally manufactured outside america.

All this, in order simply ot increase corporate profit margins, by driving down the price of labor, and thus keeping price points a bit lower, to increase sales, and, ultimately, and most importantly, to greatly increase the wealth of the wealthy.

Surely you can see that if only the few of the items listed above were made in america at anything approaching a reasonable level of production, there would be no unemployment in the united states, and most probably, no economic problems of any sort.

The key ingredient is profit margin. Verily it would be possible to set up factories in america to manufacture shoes, clothing, televisions set, and all the rest, pay the factory workers good but not exorbitant wages, keep the prices reasonably down, and sell enough to make a corporate profit.

But how much profit? Aye, there's the rub. It aint enough simply for a corporation, particularly a publicly owned one, to do a bit better than break even, after all the bills are paid. No, businesses want to do much better than that, and because big profit margins are in high demand, labor must be exploited, no matter where, and prices must be low enough to attract mass customers, but not too low, to ensure high profit margin, big salaries for the board members, and dividends for the shareholders.

Again, all this can be done in america - but just not as much. How to find a way to use free enterprise in such a way as to satisfy the profit motive, and still work for everybody, including workers?  That is the question.

A nobel prize awaits whoever satisfactorily answers it.

Bb

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