Some stats from Robert J. Samuelson’s column in the Washington Post:
Although only 32 percent rate the overall economy as “excellent” or “good,” 52 percent judge their personal situation as excellent or good.
Most Americans (60 percent) think their own living standards are rising; parents of children under 18 (54 percent) think the same will be true for their children.
Almost 70 percent of Americans say they’ve attained or will attain the “American dream,” as they define it.
So why do most Americans think the economy isn’t doing well, even though they are doing well personally and are optimistic about the future? One reason, Samuelson thinks, is that people are uneasy about the instability of the economy. But this instability — and its creative destruction — is a key to economic growth, he argues.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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162 Comments
Here’s a tip:
If more people read the Wall Street Journal, and less people read the Wichita Eagle, then the general population would understand economic statistics, indicators and data.
Instead, they rely on the liberally biased MSM for business and economic news – and they just don’t get all the facts.
Oh yeah – “GDP” is just a theory espoused by conservatives.
Right, ComradeAmerika?
…and the WSJ isnt part of the MSM?
heheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh
hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee
Still laughing at the idea that the WE is liberally biased.
nutz, meet rhonda, cal thomas, et al.
six impossible things before breakfast…
Most reporting is ‘doom and gloom’. Reports of the housing bubble bursting have been going on for years now, and yet no bust.
Fact is that journalists are not intellectuals. Add to that the commercial aspect of media and you get pretty faces reporting “facts” in a manner that will keep viewers/readership.
hmmmm…..
and hasnt the WSJ been doing exactly what PM described?
The eagle is not liberal nor cionservative, it is just satus quo kosher.
As to the economy it is bad and will get much worse. The housing bubble has crashed and unemployment is actully greater than 10% and that is not ven taking into account massive underemployment.
Also, the government uses all manner of statistical tricks and outright fraud to hide the truth. Even county club repukes like Golfnuts will not escape the coming carnage.
Viva La Raza Blanco!!
“Even county club repukes like Golfnuts will not escape the coming carnage.”
Hee hee hee Ian. We can only hope.
Although we really dont know if nutz is a cc puke or a cc puke wanna be.
‘Cause ya know, on the internets, no one knows you are a dog….
ksfarmgirl, you really need to get back on your meds.
hee hee hee
Judging from the blog he links to, I must be doing something right if I am pissing off bobby.
heheheheheheheheheeh
Farmie,You’re right. On the “internets” anyone can be anything he/she chooses. Right?
I COULD be a unionized aircraft assembler who just has visions of being an enterpreneur.
You COULD be a gruff old lesbian who…
oh wait. nevermind.
In this case, opinion polls aren’t very useful.
Something like 20 percent of all Americans believe that they are in the top 1 percent of income earners.
Stable households may be doing pretty well because both spouses are working full time.
But the statistics are clear and unmistakable–real wages are going down and have been since 1970, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer since 2000, more people live in poverty EACH YEAR since Worst President Ever took office, only half of all Americans have any savings for retirement, the AVERAGE 401k for workers between 50-59 is only fifteen thousand dollars, pensions are getting raided and going defunct if they are even offered at all.
Every indication is that our children and especially our grand-children will not be as prosperous as the post-WW2 generation.
Lastly, Samuelson is an economist in the Milton Friedmann school that says that when someone else loses their job it’s simply “creative destruction” of the god-like “marketplace.”
His capacity for enduring someone else’s pain knew no bounds.
Ok nutz, I’ll be political mom’s rodeo clown today.
Go ahead and charge me.
I think I’m up for the “challenge” hehehehehehehheh
“I COULD be a unionized aircraft assembler who just has visions of being an enterpreneur.”
heheheh. No, I had visions of you in a McDonalds visor with delusions of owning the company. I bet your favorite phrase is “would you like fries with that?”
And I also suspect you are typing one handed ’cause there really is no mrs. nutz. Or girlfriend nutz. Only the stained pin-up posters on the wall near your computer…..
And while we are on the subject,
“You COULD be a gruff old lesbian”
And this is a bad thing, and insult, why? heheheh That’s the bad thing about me?
No thanks, I dont want fries with my sandwich.
hee hee hee hee hee hee
fun on a sunday
Ya know, smart BOY, I was a real entrepreneur before you were out of diapers.
Oh, wait a minute… You arent out of diapers YET, are ya?
Opinion polls are worthless for this kind of thing. Look at the low unemployment rate, look at the large tax revenues, look at the large profits announced by corporations. You people can argue about other things, but you can’t argue that the economy is bad. Your hatred for Bush is making you stupid(er).
I certainly respect your desire to be young again, Farmie.
“Ya know, smart BOY, I was a real entrepreneur before you were out of diapers.”
So, you’re what…70?
The “large tax revenue”? You mean the 200 billion dollar deficit last year and the 400 billion dollar deficit the year before?
The large profits by corporations that are going directly into the pockets of top management and the investor class–with nothing for labor that actually produced the wealth?
The low unemployment rate? Of course, slaves had jobs. Just because one has a job doesn’t mean it’s a good job that generates a living wage. A low unemployment rate simply means that the powerful in society have forced peonage more successfully on a bigger segment of everybody else.
Oh, and the deficit doesn’t include the “emergency spending” of 2 billion a week in Iraq, heigh ho . . .
And the hatred begins. Everything has gone to shit. PANIC!!!!!!!
I’m in no way telling people to panic.
I’m asking them to look at the facts and make a conclusion.
Are you better off today than you were before George W. Bush took office?
The statistics show unequivocally that most Americans are not.
However the very richest are doing spectacularly well . . . just look at Dick “Halliburton Owns Me” Cheney.
And speaking of PANIC!!!, what ever happened to the steady stream of ORANGE ALERT! BUY DUCT TAPE AND PLASTIC SHEETING NOW!
Looks like the fear-mongering was pretty much all on your side, but even that’s not working anymore, praise Allah.
How is the average American helped by corporations making large profits? Please tell Fleetwood.
Are these corporations sharing their profits with their workers? Are these corporations paying their fair share of taxes or are they getting tax abatements from their local government? Are these corporations offering health care insurance to their employees?
Just exactly how are these corporations acting once they make their large profits?
If you are talking about the oil companies, which ARE making millions more in profit, then what are they doing to help America to get off our dependence on foreign oil?
If the US were to get off the forein oil dependency, we would not need to invade another country. We would once again be the superpower because we would not be beholding to any other country for anything. But, as George W. Bush has seen fit to borrow money from China to finance the Iraq War, we are now a debtor nation but yet that fact does not bother you country club types.
One day, the chickens will come home to roost – and it won’t be pretty.
The average person thinks they are doing well if they can pay their mortgage, feed themselves and their kids, educate their kids, own a car or two, take vacations and generally have enough to feel comfortable.
But let one major health illness or injury enter the picture and all that good feeling of being comfortable will go out the window.
The number one reason for filing bankruptcy is for medical bills. It’s not because people don’t want to pay their bills – they cannot afford to pay their bills once a major health crisis has hit them.
Alot of average people today are 1 or 2 paychecks away from being homeless. Most have credit cards where they can ‘get by’ in the interim but at some point, the credit cards will bury them also.
Everyone is doing better who try to do better. If the company is doing well there are no layoffs, wages increase, investors make more money, people can change jobs to get a better one.Inflation is in check. Truth is, I am not one who thinks things are better or worse depending on who is President. But, then, I am capitalist, not a whining Socialist.
1 or 2 paychecks from being homeless. What a bunch of crap. No wonder you people have no credibility.
Okay, Fleettwood. When that massive coronary puts you in the hospital for six weeks and your health care is used up after two and your family is financially wiped out and your house and car get re-possessed and you lose your job because you can’t work anymore . . . I’ll remind you that you’re just not TRYING hard enough.
I think most people realize that they are living on a very thin margin of success. The fact that they are still able to afford cable television, drive a car with less than 100k miles, can go out to eat a couple of times a month, and get a little crazy buying presents for Christmas is enough to make them think things are good.
However, they worry that one serious illness, a buyout of their employer, a blown transmission, or an unexpected new family addition is all it would take to put them in very serious financial straits.
A good job, one that pays say, over 30k, is really not enough to support a family with children, save for college, retirement, vacations, and eventual rainy-day. Both parents will have to work and with luck perhaps one will work somewhere that offers health insurance, and a retirement 401K. (By the way Capt America $15k is the MEDIAN balance in 401k for workers in their 50’s)
All that may seem like success, but it is not building wealth and the cost in terms of lost time with the kids, lost leisure, the stress of everyday life,– it sure doesn’t seem like they are doing that well.
Good one, capn. Didn’t you forget any other scenarios of doom and gloom?
Fleetwood, you are no capitalist! You are and elitist, and a lucky one at that! You can’t see any of the people who have worked hard, prayed hard, and have ended up on the losing side of “capitalism”. The reason you can’t see them is you have your nose stuck so far up in the air.
It’s an employers market.
It’s been an employers market for a very long time. As long as this does not change, things will get steadily worse.
We need a situation where employees or potential employees are in the advantaged position. The way to do this is to provide everyone with a bare existence. Just enough so that they do not have to work if they do not want to. It would not be comfortable but it would be liveable. This would reduce the work pool and compel employers into the submissive position.
Prayed hard? What a waste of time. That’s only just talking to yourself. You’d be better off not wasting time praying and spending more time developing a plan of action.What would be better than capitolism? Oh, never mind, I already know your answer.
People who constantly talk about their wealth are usually those that are barely making ends meet. Successful people do not brag about their wealth. Only those wannabes are the ones that like to run their mouths and try to appear intelligent. The trick here is to challenge them and watch them back down each time. That is when the truth is out of the bag.
Most of these wannabes are loyal listeners to right-wing wacko radio talk hosts.
Caveat to the following: the devil’s in the details.
I remember reading last year, maybe it was the year before, a story in the WSJ about a couple in California whose combined annual income was north of $200k. One evident wealth effect was that the man dropped his health insurance at work, thinking that since he had never used it he was just throwing money away. This couple was also trying to build a house, and he preferred to throw his health ins. premium at his new house rather than at his health ins. company.
You can guess what happens next. He had a big heart attack, not covered by any health plan, and because he thus was forced to pay full retail for his hospital stay, he and his wife lost the house, went bankrupt, and even divorced. (the story in the WSJ was on the disparity between hospital billings, to health ins. companies vs. to an individual paying full retail: the dollar difference was staggering, something like an extra $40,000 this guy owed because he was uninsured).
The guy said his plan was to stay out of his firm’s health plan for one year only, until they got their house built, and then get back on. Big mistake, evidently, but I do think it goes to cs’s and CapnAmerica’s point here. One poor decision the guy made, to increase his income by opting out of a health ins. plan, and he and his wife lost almost everything.
Point being that a portable, national health insurance plan – one that is NOT paid for in part by employers – would seem to benefit workers and employers, and would help serve as a piling for the foundation of our American capitalism by minimizing the pain workers must endure in the face of Samuelson’s creative destruction. [Samuelson is correct, btw: this creative destruction is vital in lubricating the gears at the heart of a vital capitalist economy. ]
Our goal shouldn’t be to do away with “creative destruction,” but rather to minimize its effects on workers. A portable national health ins. plan could make a huge difference here.
And let’s face it. We are in a global economy, and many of our global competitors are free of health ins. plan costs because their workers are enrolled in some national health ins. plan.
Caveat: the devil’s in the details.
Fleetfart:
More of your snobbery showing, you don’t have any idea what my answer would be.
BTW it is spelled “capitalism” old boy.
nutz, I was refering to your emotional and intellectual maturity, not your chronological age.
Unlike you, flinging that “old” label at me like it was an insult. Or was it the gruff or the lesbian part that was supposed to be insulting? Nevermind, unfortunately for you, none of those were insulting, merely amusing. So… three strikes, and yer out, nutz.
But, as noted, we are amused and we do encourage you to try again.
heeheheheheh
Talk to any financial planner and they will tell you that personal savings are down, people are working harder today to just keep up with all their bills and if 1 or 2 paychecks would not be coming in, the average person is in alot of trouble.
Just because you don’t believe it does not make it untrue.
Fleetfool:
I am sorry you don’t believe in prayer. But it does explain a lot about your indifference to the plight of others.
Mis-spellings are all over the place around here, DA. And yes I do know the answer.
FleetFK
I suppose DA means something to you, but its not like you mispelled something unrelated or unimportant; this is your religion you are talking about.That is near blasphemy.
vision, I hate to be so blunt, but…
you are insane!
“It’s an employers market.
It’s been an employers market for a very long time. As long as this does not change, things will get steadily worse.”
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Talk to most business owners and there is a shortage of workers, not a surplus. Even out here. It is the number one problem most businesses face.
And as for the idea of providing everyone a minimal “existance”… good grief. I hope you were joking, especially about the result when you said:
“This would reduce the work pool and compel employers into the submissive position.”
Aside from just the blatent insanity of that, NO ONE wins when either employers or employees are cowed into “submissive position”.
An equal partnership between employers and employees is the most beneficial for all.
And the best way to do that is with an enlightened union and an enlightened management team.
I remember a Captain coming back from a mission for photo recon over North Nam. His hands were shaking a bit as he drank a cup of coffee. (evidently a SAM missle had clipped one of his wings.)
He looked at me the young airman and said, “This is what it is all about son. Drinking coffee, writing a letter to your family and hoping for a better tomorrow.”
He tucked the letter he was writing in a short envelope, licked it shut turned me and said, “Oh and sending that special little boy a teddy bear and momma some extra cash for savings.”
I told him I was unmarried and didn’t have much at the end of the month to send home. He turned to me and said, “You get free room and board at the barracks, eat for free in the chow hall, Uncle Sugar gives you uniforms to wear, the medics take care of you and you are not married. What the heck do you do with your money?”
I confessed guilty to the Captain indulging in many personal pleasures. From that time forward, I started sending money to a savings account, planning for the future and generally being wiser about my luxuries.
That Captain got promoted to Major, but never made it back. It wasn’t until after he went MIA that I realized life was too short to be putzing around with wasteful activites that only give five minutes of pleasure with a month long of empty pockets.
My first child I gave a teddy bear and couldn’t help thinking of that Captain when my boy fell asleep with it hugging the bear. My boy is quite successful now and enjoys the same wisdom imparted to me by that Captain in a place far away.
Workers win when employers are cowed into a submissive position. You must be an employer.
Workers _can_ win ONLY when their employer wins, vision.
It’s a necessary condition.
You must not be an employer, and frankly I suspect you probably make a poor employee.
Flike is back . . . haven’t seen his posts for awhile.
That was a good one above. You can’t stop changes in the marketplace (unless you want a dead market like in the old USSR) but there are ways to make the instability more stable.
Worker used the phrase “cowed into submission” which is clearly overly strong.
But he has a point. Very few people give up wealth or power voluntarily. It has to be taken.
That’s where collective barganing comes in.
Correction (again), capn.It has to be earned (usually).
golfnuts,
“If more people read the Wall Street Journal,
I wouldn’t trust financial advice from WSJ — their editors live in a delusional world, and deny the reality of climate change.
The cost of energy is a big factor in our economy. Efficiency is our cheapest “source”, far cheaper than shale oil, or Iraq.
More severe weather is causing more property damage, and raising insurance costs. Insurance companies are worried about climate change.
Floods, droughts, and unusual temperatures can cause crop failures, raising food costs, etc…
“Worker used the phrase “cowed into submission” which is clearly overly strong.”
That was a quote from “vision”.
I don’t believe anyone should be cowed into submission, employers or employees.
The problem is not with markets for labor, but that labor has lost all respect from so called capitalist like Fleetfart, and Golfnutz.
If the blacks and Mexicans would carry their weight then the economy would rebound in leaps. To many losers taking advantage of the system and our hospitality. Ship the blacks back to Africa and the Mexicans back to Mexico.
Farmie,It wasn’t intended to be an insult. Just the facts, ma’am. Maybe you’re feeling insecure or paranoid….
“You COULD be a gruff old lesbian who…
oh wait. nevermind.”Posted by: KSGolfnut | January 07, 2007 at 09:48 AM
“Farmie,It wasn’t intended to be an insult. Just the facts, ma’am. Maybe you’re feeling insecure or paranoid….”Posted by: KSGolfnut | January 07, 2007 at 01:25 PM
LOL
You really need to change your name. Something with “weasel” in it should work fine.
Sigh. Well, I’m sure you know the racist post at 1:14 is not from me. Our troll, or at least one of them, must be home from church.
Thanks Pendant!
Let’s see -
KS Farm Grrl – good citizen, alternative lifestyle.
KS Golf Nut – arrogant right-winger, homophobic.
I wonder who the troll may be?
Well, that’s his game – Golf Nut, stalker, troll and Don Rickles wannabe.
Is it any wonder that KS Golf Nutz is the most despised poster on WE Blog?
If I didn’t intend it to be an insult, and she didn’t take it as such…
what’s the problem?
There IS a surplus of workers looking for jobs KFG, one of the guys at the employment agency said he’s never seen so many applications.
Do you realize what is happening folks? The poor are rising up, tired of being raped by the employers and shareholders. THE WORKERS are the foundation for any money making in this country, and they’re sick of being marginalized, living off the crumbs that management decides to toss upon them.
It is happening right now. I read this once, and I can’t remember where. and the rich jerks on here who continually show their true colors by thumbing their noses at the workers, the backlash will get worse I promise you.
The workers of the world ARE going to rise up – the corporate fat cats are going to pay big time. They can sit in their castles, lording over those that they consider to be inferior, but the times are changing.
It is class warfare and those that were once first WILL later be last.
Every two or three hundred years the time comes for the misused to throw off the masters and reclaim their rights.
If you are one of the fat cats – it is time to take a hard look in the mirror.
It’s cute how you folks chant “REVOLUTION!!”
You live in the greatest country on the planet. You have more opportunity than 100% of the rest of the world. The “poor” in the US have big screen TVs, two cars, cell phones and high speed internet.
If you’re not happy, then look at yourself and make changes.
As usual, Nutz, you have nothing to add but insults and useless statements.
But, just to help you out a little bit, I am not one of the poor and I do not have a big screen or two cars.
I have HS Internet because I do my business on the Net and I have a cell phone instead of a landline phone.
Don’t you have an empire to run, Nutz? Why are you wasting your time on the blog?
Loser.
Oh, yeah, when the time comes, Nutz, you and your fantasy world will be one of the first to fall.
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
! ………………../´¯/)………………..,/¯../………………./…./…………./´¯/’…’/´¯¯`•¸………./’/…/…./……./¨¯\……..(’(…´…´…. ¯~/’…’)………\……………..’…../……….”…\………. _.•´…………\…………..(…………..\………….\
Note–this finger will appear whenever the moderators refuse to pull IAN’s racist rants.
This one’s for Ian AND the idi-editors for letting it stand.
I agree with the finger – absolutely – but the poster is not me or my alter-ego, the Jew Boy.
The Editors of WE Blog asked me not to post the flip anymore.
But, give one to Ian for me!
Hey, what the heck, I am feeling generous today, give one to David Golf Nutz and Fleetwood the Coward!
Oh, really, the editors asked you that?
Why didn’t they tell Ian to shut up then?
Anyway, I’ve wisely copied and pasted it last time you used it.
And I’ll quit when Ian does . . .
Yeah, for a while the pulled my posts when the Finger came out, but apparently they felt Santiago’s freedom of speech overrode my freedom of finger.
I guess an “f*** you” is more offensive than insulting Jews and African Americans.
Of course, being of partial African American and Jewish heritage is not considered to be important enough to respond accordingly.
But, just visit Ian’s Mt Space page and you can see why he’s so anti-social.
It’s hilarious!
Nothing to worry about here everything is groovy baby.
Denver foreclosures pass 1980s recordBy The Associated Press
DENVER — The Denver area saw 19,425 real estate foreclosures last year, eclipsing the record set in the late 1980s when Colorado’s energy industry collapsed, according to public trustee’s offices in the seven-county metropolitan area.
The 1988 mark of 17,122 foreclosures had been surpassed in November, when public trustee’s offices reported 17,782 in the first 11 months of 2006.
Experts say foreclosures are being fueled by consumers locking into risky loans or falling for an increasing number of mortgage-fraud schemes. They also blame inflated appraisals and aggressive building in Weld County, northeast Adams and Denver counties, and parts of Aurora.
“I’m still very concerned and disappointed for consumers in Colorado and in my area of Denver in particular,” said City Councilman Michael Hancock, who represents northeast Denver, where there is a high concentration of homes in foreclosure.
Sandy Hume, Boulder County public trustee, said he has been told the foreclosure crisis “will get worse before it gets better.”
“This is devastating economically,” he said.
Still, the crisis is not as bad as it seems, said Chris Holbert, president of the Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association. A huge growth in population, housing construction and homeownership has kept the total foreclosure rate as a percentage of all homes lower than it was two decades ago.
LOL leave it to someone to say ‘hey look at the bright side of all these foreclosures”.
Wonder if this is at all related to TABOR.
Did anyone see on the news that researchers say that the stem cell debate may be over- as they found that amnionic fluid contains stem cells that can be used?
I just hope this isn’t yet another wild goose chase to try to appease the ones against it.
I have dial up, a twelve year old car, a 19″TV and have never owned a cell phone.
The default arguement from the comfortable is always that America’s poor have it better than the rest of the worlds poor. Well God bless America. If globalization continues I guess we can get the American standard of living down to 3rd world conditions. That’s what a lot of the more comfortable want anyway. So that they can feel even bigger than they really are.
I get hungry enough I’ll be coming for some of yours. And I won’t be asking nice. I won’t be asking at all.
I have not seen how things are not “fair” in America. There is an awful lot of complaining, but I don’t see how it’s “America’s” fault. We already have 12 years of free education (and if you read today’s paper, it’s 16 years, counting the bogus pre-kindergarten skooling). America offered the free education, how is it anybody’s fault that it wasn’t taken advantage of? Victamhood lives in the Democrat Party.
I get hungry enough I’ll be coming for some of yours. And I won’t be asking nice. I won’t be asking at all.Posted by: proletariot | January 07, 2007 at 05:22 PM
Be sure to hit up these places too before turning to a life of crime:
CatholicCharitiesKansas FoodbankLiving Water MinistriesAnthony Family Shelter
It’s been seen over and over again on this blog that it is somehow “our” fault that people have it bad. See prolitariot above. Wrong attitude. Just because things are bad now, doesn’t mean you can’t make it better. Don’t look to the goverment for answers. Don’t lay blame (unless you lay it at your own feet). Buck up, man up.Sometime poor people are poor for a reason, and it’s not “us”.
“Victamhood lives in the Democrat Party.”
Shut the fuck up, Fleet. According to you, anyone that disagrees with your “I have mine, fuck you” attitude is a traitor, America hater, socialist, yada, yada, yada.
Go back to sucking up to Golf Nutz, Fleet, you’re a clueless idiot devoid of courage or an original thought.
The thing is, I don’t have mine. I am not “rich”. I am barely in the “middle class”.If you want to believe that the world owes you a living, go ahead. If you want to believe that the Feds should provide health care, a living wage, education beyond the 12 years, go ahead. But don’t think you are anything but a man with his hand out, whining about how things aren’t “fair”, how “the man” keeps you down. You must spend most of your time feeling humiliated and “kept” by the Feds.As I’ve said before, Man-Up.
“As I’ve said before, Man-Up.”
You have proved my point, Fleet. Stupid, unoriginal, selfish, uncaring, elitist and devoid of anything meaningful other than “I already have mine.”
Did Golf Nutz okay your entry before you posted it?
How about those in the upper positions make a better way to get up? Start training your lower workers to move up the ladder. Give them merit raises appropriate for their output.
Stop blaming it on the ones who are stuck with no way to get up. It’s not fair.
“Stop blaming it on the ones who are stuck with no way to get up. It’s not fair.”That’s perfect, pmom.You people make my points better than I ever could. Who’s stuck? No way to get up? Hogwash. It’s not fair? Oh, brother. Victimhood=Democratic PartyHow else could you get votes?
ws-I already told you, I don’t have mine. Can’t you read?
P-Mom –
The stem cell debate isn’t over. Finding stem cells in amniotic fluid is great! Let’s hope researchers find them useful in treatments. Why shouldn’t research with ALL stem cells go forward? Wouldn’t that increase the chances of finding cures and treatments?
Adult stem cell research started in the 1940s, became conventional therapy with a high failure rate in the 1970s and only in the last 10 to 15 years has adult stem cell therapy become a successful treatment for some diseases. Adult stem cells have already been programmed to be “something” (cord stem cells are preprogrammed to be blood cells). You’ve heard that adult stem cells are now being reprogrammed. To achieve this success the adult stem cell’s nuclei are injected into egg cells or enucleated ES cells – something about egg cells and embryonic stem cells causes chromatin remodeling (genes that were permanently turned “off” in an adult cell can be turned back “on.”). No one (yet) knows the mechanisms controlling this phenomenon.
No adult stem cells have been shown to generate tissues or complex organs but embryonic stem cells have in animals. The most significant limitation of adult stem cells in that they cannot be used for generating organs in the laboratory – only embryonic stem cells can. With “nuclear transfer” (i.e., cloning) it is possible to generate genetically identical replacement organs, thus reducing rejection. But because this is cloning… Well, you know the problems.
There are many bugs to work out in embryonic stem cell research but it’s a new science (less than 10 years old). Given sufficient time and financial resources it’s a good bet there will be cures, treatments and great good for mankind.
My son flies to DC this Tuesday evening and spends all day Wednesday talking to legislators. He is very excited to be invited, to see the inner workings, to (maybe) be a part of increased funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Mom, I am sure there are always people looking for work. Many are underemployed as well as unemployed.
Generally, what you find is a skills mismatch or a mismatch by geography. The people looking for work dont have the skills for the jobs. And the jobs that are open are for workers with specific skills.
It’s hard out there for the unskilled and the underskilled. It is damn hard if you were trained to be a buggy whip maker. People have to be willing to change.
The days of being tapped on the head at high school graduation and declared “good to go” for the rest of your life are over.
I am not saying that everyone looking for work is unskilled. Far from it. But they dont have the skills for the open jobs. Hence, skills and jobs mismatch.
The answer? Education, training, and lifelong learning. You have to do continuing ed and constantly stay current in nursing. It is not unreasonable to assume all other workers, and management as well, need to do the same.
Anything we can do to facilitate education and lifelong learning is definately in the public interest.
“How else could you get votes?”
More manure from the master provider, Fleetwood the Foney.
You really have to be kidding, Fleetnutz. You conservative idiots complain that Nancy Pelosi is rich, then you turn right around and claim that the Democratic Party is the party of victimhood.
As usual, Fleet, you make no sense (fitting, since you have no sense) but you continue to puke up your vicious bile and “I am better than you” nonsense.
I will give you credit for once, Fleetnutz – so far you haven’t accused anyone of hating America or of being a traitor – but I am sure that it is coming.
Fleetnutz = Elitist moron.
“I already told you, I don’t have mine. Can’t you read?”
Spare me your lame insults, Fleetnutz, god knows you’re a moron and has shown pity on you.
ws-I don’t complain that Pelosi is rich. I don’t care. Your party IS, though, the party of victimhood, just read what you people blog. I have never, not even once, insinuated that I am better than anyone.That isn’t me. I could be accused of saying a lot of things, but that is not one of them. Dope.
“the party of victimhood”
Bullshit, Fleetnutz! Absolute nonsense, like everything else you post.
You may not claim to be better than everyone else, like your hero Golf Nutz, but your attitude is that if anyone is not doing well, it must be their fault because all they have to do is “man-up” and life will be perfect.
My father collects SS and has for thirty years, receiving more than he put in – is he “playing the victim?”
My brother is a quad – he receives disability from SS, even though he is in his forties – is he “playing the victim?”
My granddaughter receives medical assistance, since her father has never paid his child support or other obligations – is she “playing the victim?”
There is a special place in Hell for you and Golf Nutz, Fleet, along with your other elitist friends.
ws-Sounds like you should be pitied more than anything else. No wonder you vote Democratic. You and your family are fucked. I’ll pray for you.
Holy Jesus!I think DA’s head is about to explode. Fleet, you’ve somehow driven him to the edge with your common sense and logical answers. HE HATES THAT!
I expect to hear an explosion somewhere in Wichita at any moment.
DA, please, for your own safety – please smoke a bowl. Quick!
I absolutely agree that continuing education is important. But just as employers pay continuing education, why don’t they put more into training the people they want?
Instead of putting an ad in the newspaper for an HVAC person, put an ad in the paper that they’ll train someone to be HVAC.
When I earned my EMT, the city I work for paid for it. The only stipulation being that I work for them for x number of hours for a year….considering that I was there 11 years before I had to quit, but now I’m in a different position with them, and that I work for practically free, that’s a good deal for them. Sure they lost a few who moved or were’t cut out for it, but they recoup the cost of training for them. Most who do it, end up staying in it for awhile. And I’d even say are more dedicated to it than some who are paid.
The one reason why I took the (real) job now that I have is that they said upon my interview that they like to promote from within, that if I prove myself, they’ll train me into management. I WANT that, give me the opportunity, and I’ll run with it.
“You and your family are fucked.”
First you call me a traitor and now you insult my family? Which member of my family deserves that comment, Fleetfuck?
My father who is 91 years old, a widower and a WW II veteran?
My brother who is stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life?
My granddaughter that has severe asthma and needs frequent treatment including hospitalization?
We don’t want your prayers, Fleetfuck.
Pray for yourself, moron. These are the words of Jesus:
“And Jesus will answer them, ‘Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me!’”
You need the prayers far more than my family does….
…you are the one that will burn in Hell.
Golf Nutz, go back to your self-serving fantasy world. It is you and Fleetfuck that needs the help, not me.
Clark, I know they are incorrigible, and they will never understand. Right now all they’re doing is trying to pick at you, let them live in their own little pompous fantasy world while the rest of us just keep exposing them for the demons they really are.
Actually P Mom, between the two of them, they barely make a half-wit. They are easy to handle, as they have a decided tendency to hang themselves.
Fleet is just a moron that recites talking points that he gets from Rush Limbaugh and David Golfnutz.
Golfnutz is so two-faced and arrogant that he makes a fool of himself if he tries anything other than lame insults.
I have to make dinner in a minute or two, but this should amuse me until the grill is ready.
ws-I never called you a traitor. I don’t know why you keep saying that. I said you hate America. I didn’t mean to insult your family. Perhaps I was too harsh with my words. I meant that your family has many troubles. The praying part was sarcastic, as I’ve posted before, praying is like talking to yourself and I’m not a Christian.Victim is as victim does. I don’t know if you and yours are victims or not. I just know you sound like being a victim is somehow honorable and worthy of pity. I happen to disagree.
ws-Munchy time? Big bag of Doritos?Smoke it down short and eat the roach!
KSGolfnut describes himself as a “unionized aircraft” employee.
So, he consistenly votes against the party that allows him to make a LIVING WAGE doing his job?
I hate all the “Union Republicans” that talk big on deregulation and free trade, aka SH*TTING where you EAT.
One of these days, the self righteous, Limbannitoreilly listening, neocon bastards will find that their entire career has been for naught, their pension has been raided, and that the move was made possible by NAFTA/CAFTA and that the whole thing was subsidized by corporate welfare from their conservative “heroes.”
I hope they hate themselves as much as they seem to hate the under class as they go collect their unemployment checks.
ROFL, FLeet!
TWINKIES, DA! TWINKIES ON THE GRILL!
“I just know you sound like being a victim is somehow honorable and worthy of pity.”
First of all, numbskull, I never said I was a victim. I said that members of my family receive assistance – you were the idiot that said they were “playing the victim.”
My family has few troubles. We love one another and we do not judge those that have less than we do.
As for calling me a traitor? What are you calling me, an American citizen, if not a traitor, when you say that I hate America?
I don’t hate America, you fucking moron, I love my country and always have. I want the best for the country I live in and that is the home of my children and grandchildren. I want them to have a better life than even the one that I recieved.
You say, I hate America, Fleetfuck?
But you say that you are not calling me a traitor?
Not only are you a mindless Golfnut wannabe, but you’re spineless, too.
As I have posted before, David Golfnutz, is that the best insult that you can come up with?
You have tried variations on the drug use line several hundred times now. It wasn’t funny then and it isn’t funny now.
Take a nap, Golfie, and try to come up with something better.
Well obviously many of Americans feel victimized by those of the likes of the republicans…which is why they’ve lost almost all their power.
It’s our turn, we’ll make it right.
KSGolfnuts<—-currently most hated blogger
fleetwood<——GOlfs toady
postal)
It’s our turn, we’ll make it right.Posted by: political_mom | January 07, 2007 at 07:53 PM
Like Democrats did from say, ummm, January of 1993 (Clinton’s inauguration) to maybe November of 1994 (the so-called Republican Revolution which resulted in a net gain of 54 seats in the House of Representatives, and a pickup of eight seats in the Senate. Republicans had not held the majority in the House for forty years.)
Democratic President Bill Clinton said in his January 1996 State of the Union Address, “The era of big government is over.”
So if you think that is the answer, good luck with that. See you in another 12 years.
ws-I never said you were “playing the victim”, I said you were in the party of victimhood (the Dems). What is wrong with you? Do you just read into whatever I say into what you think?There is a difference between hating America like you do and being a traitor. Why do you keep bring up Rush? That is just weird. If you really want a better life for you and yours, stop looking to the Feds to make it all better.pmom- you are not helping ws’s case. “Lost almost all their power”? Makes no sense.
But, but, I want to be the most hated blogger. Not the most unneccessary blogger named popup.
“If you really want a better life for you and yours, stop looking to the Feds to make it all better.”
I am not looking to the Feds to make anything better, you fucking moron, try reading what I posted.
As for being a “traitor” – how can an American citizen HATE America and NOT be a traitor?
I have asked you that several times, and you just don’t have the Nutz to answer.
BTW – I can see that Golf Nutz is back to trolling again.
What a fucking loser.
Looks like ws has been trolled again. Not right. He may be a super Lib, but he didn’t write that. Stop it or I’ll find a sharp stick.
40 years of Dems, compared to a short 12 for the citizens to get sick of the Repugs. Yep, that’s reallllllly working out for you.
“As for being a “traitor” – how can an American citizen HATE America and NOT be a traitor?”There is big difference. I don’t think you want to overthrow the goverment, I just think you won’t like America until there is Universal health care, living wage, rich people give all their money to poor people, equality of outcome, etc.Fair enough?
fleetwood < 40 watts : (
“Fair enough?”
No – I don’t hate my country and never have.
And you have no goddamned right to make that accusation.
Ever.
A “Tarzan” Republican is someone who thinks by listening and agreeing with Rush, and beating their chest, that someday they will get to live like a Republican.
fleetwood<—-looking for a vine to swing from!
Fleet,DA is too baked to understand all those things in one post. Besides, he has no idea what “equality of outcome” means.
He’s just gonna swear more and louder – until you agree with him.
Hmm, wonder when that’ll be?
Oh, I don’t know.
Never.
Roger that.
And ditto.
Let’s see – we have a moron, a stalker and a troller.
None of them have the basic decency of the worst of human flotsam. Even Nazi’s had more compassion and understanding.
One of them pulls his talking points straight from the horse’s ass.
The other claims Christianity but has more reason to fear Jesus’ return than any other man on Earth.
The have balls to accuse, but no nutz when it comes to baking it up.
And they accuse me of abusing drugs?
They have to be the two spaciest twins I have seen and they aren’t even having a smoke.
Mom all I was saying is I think alot of Democrats (bloggers in particular) are reading too much into taking back the Congress. This is solely a result of the Iraq war, not a desire for big government social policies and higher taxes.As I said on election night, America voted for a change of direction in the war, but all any of us are going to get is less change in our pockets. That’s everyone. I’m not sure how that having even less money helps poor people.
DA <– head about to blow up due to excess blood pressure.
DA <– remedying the situation with dope.
KS Golf Nutz <— moron.
WSClark <— BP 120/80 sames as it has been for 45 years.
WSClark <— No weed today, just blogging with a couple of dopes.
Fleetnutz <— wants to be Golfnutz.
Golf Nutz <— wants P Mom so bad he can taste it.
P Mom <— Good citizen, would rather die than come anywhere near Golf Nutz.
GolfStud <– puppetmaster that can keep DA strung along on this thread as long as he chooses.
Golf Stud <— self described wannabe, actually has great difficulty without porn magazines and Viagra.
WSClark <— laughing his tail off at the childish Golf Nutz.
DA <– obsessed with Golfie’s genitalia and sexual superiority.
Golf Idiot <— Does not believe that Golfiee HAS genitalia and knows that Golf Nutz has no superiority to WSClark in any way, shape or form.
Postal <– Bored with this now.
Golf <– puppetmaster
Sorry Postal, but this is all you get when Golf Nutz starts to blog – the thread is ruined, nothing remotely sensible is discussed and the discussion devolves into a Golf Nutz insult-fest.
Golf Nutz is the single most despised poster on this blog, but he seems to revel in the hatred.
What can I say? He starts the crap and claims victory when anyone else gets tired of it.
He has these dreams of grandeur, but in reality, he is just a posuer.
Golf <— Master Baiter…..
…. because he can’t get any without paying for it.
Hehe, this is humorous.
DA…toke on, brotha.
Sorry Golf Nutz, but you ain’t my brother.
And sorry, again, but I haven’t even lit the pipe yet tonight.
As for your repeated drug jokes, lame and not even remotely funny.
I am sure that this is hard for you to understand, but the only one that thinks that you are a wit is you.
Sorry, Golfie, you’re just a legend in your own mind. To everyone else, you’re just another loser that lives in a fantasy world.
Pitiful loser.
That’s a Golf Nut.
I already told you, I don’t have mine. Can’t you read?
Posted by: fleettwood | January 07, 2007 at 06:45 PM
so whats stopping you from getting yours? why just scrape along the bottom in the land of opportunity?
Just curious, Golf Nutz, when you and Fleetwood have sex, are you the man or the woman or do you two just 69?
It’s not all that important, but I was just curious.
You actually seem like more of a Johnny Bench than a Tom Seaver.
DA <– projecting
No, Golfie, I am completely straight, but thanks for the offer. I guess you’ll have to stick with Fleetwood for now.
Besides, I wouldn’t want you to be cheating on the Fleetster.
Kia, the war had a lot to do with it, but not just that, no. It was the corruption, the big greedy companies in bed with the government too.
Why is it that poverty goes up when reputhuglicans are in office?
We want to live like Clinton was president again. That is what we want.
why do abortion levels go up when the repubs are in office?
This past election was about two things: the war; and the population not being happy with the performance of republicans. They were ELECTED to be conservative, and governing like liberals.
They wanted something different.
The republicans are well-aware of this and will present quality conservative candidates in 08.
Absolutely right, P Mom! The ‘Pugs can delude themselves into thinking that it was just the war, but there is a hell of a lot more to it than that.
Funny think back just a few months, we were “the Party of Cut and Run” when we were against the war. We were cowards, traitors, appeasers, yada, yada.
Now the Republicans claim that it was only because the war is such a disaster that the Dems won control.
Funny….
Nothing funny about it. Those things are still true. The general public is just stupid enough to drink your kool aid.
Shut up, Golfie, you just bore us all to tears. The only reason that you posted anything regarding the actual SUBJECT was because you were stalking P Mom.
Pervert.
So Mr. KIA, what is your plan to WIN (?) the War on Iraq?
Even the hardcore Neocons do not think that Surge and blah, blah will work, Stay the Course will not work, so what’s your plan?
the big greedy companies in bed with the government too.
Why don’t you check out some of these dates. 21 of the 22 were busted on Bush’s watch within the first 18 months he was in office. This type of corruption doesn’t happen overnight.
http://www.forbes.com/2002/07/25/accountingtracker.html
Once more folks – with feeling:
DA is demonstrating the ill-effects of drug abuse. Please take a moment to review the characteristics of these effects:
Uncontrolable profanityHabitual name callingEscalating angerRepeated homosexual fantasy
I don’t have a plan to win nor do I need one. I’m not the Commander in Chief.I support the one’s who I trust to make the decisions.
What’s yours?
Jeez, Golf Nutz, you really have to work on this. You are not funny, you are not witty and your “jokes” have no logic or plausibility.
You are just a trolling, stalking, lurking wannabe that is only useful within the fantasy world that swirls around in your head.
Pitiful loser.
You know, Nutz, I am ALMOST to the point where I feel sorry for you.
Dance my little puppet. Dance! =)
“What’s yours?”
I wrote in February 2003 that there was no Saddam – al Qaeda connection, we would not find WMD and Saddam would prove to be a paper tiger.
I also wrote that we would incite a civil war between Sunni and Shia and that the war would drag on like Vietnam.
I wasn’t the only one that thought this way – millions of other logical people, American and others, thought the same way. You may remember that MILLIONS protested the war before it began.
My answer – the war is not winnable – reduce the troop levels, pull our troops back to isolated bases and only enter action against al Qaeda.
BTW – That was Rumsfeld’s plan before he was fired by Bush.
Seriously, guys knock it off already. It’s SO old hearing about Clark’s drug stuff, we’ve wasted a whole thread this.
Just stop it already.
Thanks for pointing this out kia. Haliburton busted in 2002 yet it received billions in no bid contracts in Iraq top notch managers eh.
Halliburton (nyse: HAL – news – people ) May 2002 Improperly booked $100 million in annual construction cost overruns before customers agreed to pay for them. SEC Legal watchdog group Judicial Watch filed an accounting fraud lawsuit against Halliburton and its former CEO, Vice President Dick Cheney, among others. Halliburton follows the guidelines set by experts, including GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles
Sorry P Mom, but I smoke very rarely – about once a month – this is all just a figment of Nutz imagination.
Just like he stalks you, he has to make up stuff about me.
He can’t win an argument on merit so he resorts to stalk, troll and lurk.
Sorry.
DA <– unable to stop
“Dance my little puppet. Dance! =)”
Cute name you have for your penis, Golf Nut, but it really is more information than I need.
#4 – Repeated homosexual fantasy
Jeez, Golf Nutz, you accuse me of a fantasy but you name your member “My Little Puppet?”
Sounds to me like you’re the one with an Elton John complex.
Like I said, I ALMOST feel sorry for you.
Not yet, but it’s getting close.
I do, however, feel sorry for your wife and kids (if they are actually real) because they have to put up with you 24/7.
At least I can shut the computer down if I want to.
They have to live with a miserable loser like you.
OK Pmom, name a company that is capable of doing the work that Halliburton is doing to rebuild the infastructure in Iraq?You aren’t going to find one, because there isn’t one. They have no equal. No other company in the world is capable of the undertaking they are doing.
My only response to you WS is that you obviously don’t believe in Democracy. If you did, the war wouldn’t be “unwinable.” By saying “unwinable” you are saying the Iraqi and thus Muslim people do not desire freedom. If they do not desire freedom, then you are either racist, or don’t believe in the American Ideal (We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” )
Which is it?
You all have fun with those.Catch you down the road. I’m off to watch the Capitalist Satan..err Donald Trump.
#3 Escalating anger#4 Repeated homosexual fantasy
I’m on your side Clark, but you just gotta let it go.
He just sounds like an idiot.
Kia, who says ONE company has to be able to do it all? Come on.
Get out, or split the country then leave, maybe they can work it out amongst themselves after we’re gone. Till then, split it up, give them the materials to build it again, and get us the hell out.
“My only response to you WS is that you obviously don’t believe in Democracy.”
Bullshit, KIA, absolute bullshit. No one has ever been able to force democracy at the point of a gun. Democracy has to be chosen by the participants and the Iraqi’s clearly have not chosen democracy at this point.
The Iraqi allegiances are to there sects, tribes and neighborhoods, not to their country.
Being against the war does not make me racist (that’s a hell of a leap of logic) nor does it mean that I do not believe in basic freedom.
Seventy plus percent of the American public is now against the war. According to you, that makes us all racist and lacking in belief in the American Dream.
Nice try.
Is Nutz stalking you or me at this point, P Mom?
It’s bad enough that someone watches Donald Trump but to brag about it is really pathetic.
I thought Kia was such a good moral Christian – how can he admire and worship Donald Trump? Trump has had how many marriages and divorces? He has not filed personal bankrupty, that’s true, but his businesses have filed bankruptcy (and isn’t that really just a corporate way to get out of paying his bills?).
This is why Conservative Republicans are such phoneys – they claim to be so self righteous but really they are just after the money.
kia looks like these boys coulda done the job even if they do sound french
About Schlumberger
Schlumberger is the leading oilfield services provider, trusted to deliver superior results and improved E&P performance for oil and gas companies around the world. Through our well site operations and in our research and engineering facilities, we are working to develop products, services and solutions that optimize customer performance in a safe and environmentally sound manner
$14.31 billion operating revenue (FY05)66,000 employees of140 nationalitiesOperating in 80 countries
Clark yes, I believe he is stalking you. I have little doubt that he was the schoolyard bully who kicked the kid in the knee with the brace, and them laughed as he cried out in pain.
He knows he can’t win an intellectual argument, which is why he never participates.
Donald Trump was on Letterman talking about how awful Rosie is, but at the same time talking about how he and his pal WOODY ALLEN celebrated the New Year.
Yeah, brilliant choice there ‘the donald”. I’d hang with Rosie anyday over incestuous perverts like Allen.
Trump is what is wrong with America.
American business has produced both Donald Trump and Warren Buffett.
Interesting, one is givng away almost all of his considerable fortune to charity.
The other took up a collection to give to the Subway Superman that saved a man’s life.
Guess which one gets the most publicity?
Damn it, I am the most hated blogger, not the Golfnut!!!
Viva la Raza Blanco!!
Shut up Dave.
The Greedy Corporations and the Profit Hungry Shareholders
Honesty and integrity went out the window – anything goes
Corporate greed and the insatiable thirst to make a profit, to satiate shareholders share- holders’ profit expectations have changed American values, where anything is justified in order to derive enormous corporate profit and satisfy the expectations of the share-holders; maintain the image of profitable corporate America. It is a vicious cycle that feeds itself to ultimate disaster.
These attitudes have brought corporate executives to exercise the drive and mentality that anything goes, no holes barred.Inflating earnings, hiding debts and liabilities, outright fraud and deception. Theft by executives, theft of corporate assets, graft, bribery, illegal contributions to politicians, trips, gifts and favors to politicians, crooked lobbying organizations.Where and when does it all stop? When are Americans going to wake-up and realize they are on the path of disaster of magnitude proportions that will bring our downfall?
We still have honest ethical hard working people in America. Let us all rise and protest these money hungry actions and methods, before it is too late.
Work hard to better America, institute honesty and integrity.It starts at the top – the politicians, the legal system, corporate America and progresses to the masses.
The media is not exempt. Honest reporting is a must, the public expects no less.Exercising – Sincerity, honesty and integrity is a good beginning.
If you work hard, perform your duties sincerely and honestly, you will be able to earn a better profit/living. You will not have to worry about covering up for your wrongdoing and you will be able to sleep better at night, look at yourself in the mirror.
Corporate America should be required by law to insure pension funds of employees. This will protect employees from losing their pensions to greed and fraud as happened with Enron and others.
We should learn to respect each other.
Bring back family values.
Am I asking too much?
Jay Draiman, Northridge, CA – Sept. 25, 2007
PSAn essay concerning the origins, nature, extent and morality of this destructive force in free market economies. Definitions. Paradoxes and omissions in Adam Smith’s original theory permit – encourage – greed without restraint so that in a very large society [USA] over two centuries it has become an undemocratic force creating precipitous inequalities; divisions in this society now approach a kind of wealth apartheid, and our values are quite unlike Smith’s: this is an immensely wealthy society but it is not a humane society. Wealth and poverty are connected, in fact recent sociological theory shows our institutions routinely design inequality in, but this connection is largely avoided in texts and in the media, as is the notion that greed is a moral wrong. Problems created by greed cannot be solved by technology. We are also distracted by already-outdated environmental rhetoric, arguments that scarcities and human suffering follow from abuse of our ecology. Rather, these scarcities are the result of what people do to people. This focus opens practical solutions.
“The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” The future Nobel laureate in economics had no patience for capitalists who claimed that “business is not concerned ‘merely’ with profit but also with promoting desirable ’social’ ends; that business has a ’social conscience’ and takes seriously its responsibilities for providing employment, eliminating discrimination, avoiding pollution and whatever else may be the catchwords of the contemporary crop of re formers.”He wrote that such people are “preaching pure and unadulterated socialism. Businessmen who talk this way are unwitting pup pets of the intellectual forces that have been undermining the basis of a free society these past decades.”He argues that corporations add far more to society by maximizing “long-term shareholder value” than they do by donating time and money to charity.He said “there is one and only one social responsibility of business-to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.” That’s the orthodox view among free market economists: that the only social responsibility a law-abiding business has is to maximize profits for the shareholders.I said. But we have not achieved our tremendous increase in shareholder value by making shareholder value the primary purpose of our business. In my marriage, my wife’s happiness is an end in itself, not merely a means to my own happiness; love leads me to put my wife’s happiness first, but in doing so I also make myself happier. Similarly, the most successful businesses put the customer first, ahead of the investors. In the profit-centered business, customer happiness is merely a means to an end: maximizing profits. In the customer-centered business, customer happiness is an end in itself, and will be pursued with greater interest, passion, and empathy than the profit-centered business is capable of.Many thinking people will readily accept my arguments that caring about customers and employees is good business. But they might draw the line at believing a company has any responsibility to its community and environment.This position sounds reasonable. A company’s assets do belong to the investors, and its management does have a duty to manage those assets responsibly. In my view, the argument is not wrong so much as it is too narrow.First, there can be little doubt that a certain amount of corporate philanthropy is simply good business and works for the long-term benefit of the investors.That said, I believe such programs would be completely justifiable even if they produced no profits and no P.R. This is because I believe the entrepreneurs, not the current investors in a company’s stock, have the right and responsibility to define the purpose of the company. It is the entrepreneurs who create a company, who bring all the factors of production together and coordinate it into viable business. It is the entrepreneurs who set the company strategy and who negotiate the terms of trade with all of the voluntarily cooperating stakeholders—including the investors.The shareholders of a public company own their stock voluntarily. If they don’t agree with the philosophy of the business, they can always sell their investment, just as the customers and employees can exit their relationships with the company if they don’t like the terms of trade. If that is unacceptable to them, they always have the legal right to submit a resolution at our annual shareholders meeting to change the company’s philanthropic philosophy. A number of our company policies have been changed over the years through successful shareholder resolutions.The Theory of Moral Sentiments. There he explains that human nature isn’t just about self-interest. It also includes sympathy, empathy, friendship, love, and the desire for social approval. As motives for human behavior, these are at least as important as self-interest. For many people, they are more important.When we are small children we are egocentric, concerned only about our own needs and desires. As we mature, most people grow beyond this egocentrism and begin to care about others-their families, friends, communities, and countries. Our capacity to love can expand even further: to loving people from different races, religions, and countries—potentially to unlimited love for all people and even for other sentient creatures. This is our potential as human beings, to take joy in the flourishing of people everywhere. Whole Foods gives money to our communities because we care about them and feel a responsibility to help them flourish as well as possible.The business model that should be embraced could represent a new form of capitalism, one that more consciously works for the common good instead of depending solely on the “invisible hand” to generate positive results for society. The “brand” of capitalism is in terrible shape throughout the world, and corporations are widely seen as selfish, greedy, and uncaring. This is both unfortunate and unnecessary, and could be changed if businesses and economists widely adopted the business model that I have outlined here.To extend our love and care beyond our narrow self-interest is antithetical to neither our human nature nor our financial success. Rather, it leads to the further fulfillment of both. Why do we not encourage this in our theories of business and economics? Why do we restrict our theories to such a pessimistic and crabby view of human nature? What are we afraid of?Businesses such have multiple stakeholders and therefore have multiple responsibilities. But the fact that we have responsibilities to stakeholders besides investors does not give those other stakeholders any “property rights” in the company, contrary to those’ fears. The investors still own the business, are entitled to the residual profits, and can fire the management if they wish. A doctor has an ethical responsibility to try to heal his/her patients, but that responsibility doesn’t mean his/her patients are entitled to receive a share of the profits from her practice.Many probably will never agree with my business philosophy, but it doesn’t really matter. The ideas I’m articulating result in a more robust business model than the profit-maximization model that it competes against, because they encourage and tap into more powerful motivations than self-interest alone. These ideas will triumph over time, not by persuading intellectuals and economists through argument but by winning the competitive test of the marketplace. Someday businesses like these, which adhere to a stakeholder model of deeper business purpose, will dominate the economic landscape. Wait and see.The first is that running a profitable business requires using soft values. It’s easy to caricature the greedy profit-maximizing business owner as ruthless. But the best businesses are led by people who excel at soft values, who treat their customers and employees well. Business that treat customers and employees badly find it harder to thrive.Running a family like a business destroys it. Running business like a family destroys it and leads to tyranny.
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