On its surface, this meme seems reasonable enough. Especially when you consider it’s from a billionaire who should know a thing or two about making money.
However, when you dig a little deeper, you realize this meme comes from “Americans Against The Republican Party.” Then, when you apply some logic, the entire quote falls apart.
After all, can you tell me how many jobs poor people have created?
Now, I will be the last one to defend the Republican party. In fact, I will go as far as to say that in my book the Republican Party is finished as an organization because they fail to live up to their rhetoric as the party for Constitutional conservatives.
But let’s pick apart this meme and get to the real root of the problem.
Following is a conversation I had with a Facebook friend who posted this meme that appeared on my wall. I felt compelled to provide an education to the individual who shall only be addressed as “Mrs. X.” as I do not desire to publicly humiliate her.
Patrick Taylor Well, how many poor job creators do you know? Can you name any?
Mrs. X. The point is that the rich aren’t creating jobs. The economy improves when people can spend money and suffers when they can not. People in the middle and lower classes need to be able to spend money so the economy improves. The corporate profits only go to the CEOs. They are not creating jobs.
Patrick Taylor Mrs. X., First, you should understand that the objective of business is this: “To make a profit.” Everything else is a fringe benefit. CEOs of publicly traded companies are not usually the “owners” of the corporation but the executive officer who is the driving force of the company…the driving force to achieve one objective: to make the shareholders (who actually OWN the company) profits. Businesses are not charitable enterprises. They do not exist for the purpose of hiring employees. The business hires employees as necessary for the purpose of…..making a profit. A CEO doesn’t set his own salary. The Board of Directors sets his salary. And why would a good CEO command a salary of $325 million plus stock, plus other perks and benefits? Because he has a proven track record of, guess what, making profits for shareholders! Similarly, employees for every company make a salary based on their unique ability to bring a profit to the company they work for. A company will pay employees as little as they can get away with…the market will dictate what that is. If you educate yourself, or acquire some skill that few people have, then you will be able to command more from the marketplace. Those are simple supply and demand principles. A good CEO who is a visionary, who has the ability to motivate the entire workforce, who can make both tactical and strategic decisions, who has creativity, who can negotiate a good deal for the enterprise, who can bring competing factions together in a strategic alliance…what is that sort of skill worth? Where does that skill come from? How many people possess it? The market determines what a CEO will make.
Patrick Taylor Now, continuing on in the lesson, do you think the CEOs of corporations are attaching lug nuts to wheels of cars, or gluing table legs to table tops, or manufacturing molds for plastic parts?
No way!
Do you think that jobs are not being created??? To the CONTRARY!!!! Millions of jobs are being created.
Your complaint is probably that AMERICAN jobs are not being created.
However, millions of jobs are being created for Mexicans, Chinese, Sri Lankans, Indians, Pakistanis, Jamaicans, Vietnamese, Indonesians, South Koreans, Japanese, etc… So, why is this? Simple reason: IT MAKES MORE PROFIT FOR THE COMPANY TO HIRE FOREIGN WORKERS THAN HIRING U.S. WORKERS. And, in keeping with the motivation of profit for business as being the #1 goal of business, if it brings in more money for the owners then that course of action will be pursued.
You should not blame a business for pursuing a course of action that makes it more profits.
In the next installment, we’ll examine the REASON for jobs leaving the United States.
Patrick Taylor We have established that a business is going to do whatever is going to make the most profit.
So, if getting their product or service from foreign companies makes more business sense, then that’s what it’s going to do.
Now, if a company in a foreign country can use slave labor, and has virtually zero concern about the environment, has no labor laws to comply with, and low taxation and regulation, how can a U.S. company that wants to use American labor compete with that and still make a profit?
The short answer is that they cannot!
The problem, therefore, is not the business. The problem is the U.S. government regulation… OR by our government representatives allowing foreign companies to compete on equal footing with U.S. companies.
The problem is that today there is no incentive for companies based in the U.S. to stay in the U.S. We have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. We have high environmental standards. We have laws to protect workers.
However, there is a great equalizer that can keep American jobs in the United States, lower the cost of doing business here, and keep environmental standards and labor protection at its optimum level.
Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate Commerce with foreign nations and that they can impose revenue raising methods such as duties, imposts, and excises. These are the only Constitution-based forms of revenue for the federal government.
The problem is that our government is filled with globalists, or internationalists, or progressives, or whatever label you want to give them. They are people who do not recognize any flag, or any border. They make deals and decisions based on their own opportunity for profit (much like any corporation). The problem is caused and perpetuated by ignorant voters who do not understand the principles of economics, or liberty, who vote based on which candidate promises the most “free stuff.”
In the end, we get the government that we deserve because we have allowed ourselves to be lied to by politicians who appealed to our sense of greed and selfishness.
So, at the end of the day it is the greed of the citizens that will destroy our country.
Patrick Taylor I notice that the meme is produced by “Americans Against The Republican Party.” However, the Democrat Party is just as responsible, if not more so!
For instance, The Clinton Foundation accepts donations from foreign nations around the globe. Why do you think a foreign country would deposit millions of dollars into the Clinton Foundation? What good deeds are they known for? The only thing foreign interests are supporting with their millions upon millions to the Clinton Foundation is the opportunity for political favors from the Clintons. Of course, in order to collect the favors, the Clinton’s must hold some high governmental office where they have access to information, power, the ability to provide resources, or decisions that favor the foreign power.
This is not unique to the Clintons, but perhaps it provides a handily accessible illustration.
Patrick Taylor So the lack of good U.S. jobs is not because of the corporation. It is because of cronyism! It is because of corporatism, our government representatives conspiring with businesses to make laws and policy that are in the interests of their benefactors instead of in the interests of the voters.
The voters, however, return the same people to power year after year because they are willing to sacrifice liberty in exchange for the promise of free stuff.
If you want better prospects for U.S. workers, then stop electing representatives who do not represent you, who bring you bad deals for the U.S. worker like NAFTA and GATT. Who allow other countries to protect their own markets while forcing us to keep our trade unprotected. Who allow countries to use slave labor, child labor, and bad environmental practices to compete on the same footing as U.S. companies.
And then ask billionaire Nick Hanauer how he obtained HIS billions. Does he hire workers in his businesses? Does he outsource his jobs overseas? Or does he do everything in his businesses himself? It’s easy to be critical of big companies when you have made your billions already.
If you want to see the problem clearly, you have to look in the mirror and ask yourself whom you’re voting for and WHY you’re voting for them.
Because they have a “D” beside their name?
Mrs. X. I could ask the same thing of you. Do you only vote for someone because they have an “R” next to their name? How long have you held your beliefs? E quem é você para darme aulas? Nem tem terminado seus estudos. Most of what you said I already knew. Btw, tell someone who is unemployed how greedy they are. You probably have no idea what they are going through. Antes de decir algo, debes averiguar más sobre la persona con Quien hablas….
Patrick Taylor Actually, no, I don’t vote for someone because they have an “R” beside their name.
If the Republicans or Democrats will not run a candidate who will actually represent me, then I look for representation elsewhere. I have voted Libertarian and Constitution Party without hesitation.
I think Rand Paul is as close to a Constitutional candidate that’s running. If he was running as a Democrat, I’d vote Democrat. It’s not a horse race. I don’t get “points” if I vote for the winner. I only truly “win” if the candidate who wins will actually represent my best interests in their voting or execution of their office.
Yes, my political beliefs have changed over time as I have studied more, learned more, and become more experienced.
I don’t speak Latin, so I will not attempt to respond to the foreign language comments.
Regarding those unemployed being greedy: You misunderstood. I did not call people greedy because of their unemployment situation. I called them greedy who vote for candidates based on how much “free stuff” the candidate is offering to them.
The unemployment is a result of the voters’ selection of candidates who vote contrary to the best interests of their constituents.
You believe that someone has to be monetarily wealthy in order to be greedy. However, a wise man once told me, “There are a lot more people going to hell over ten dollars than over a million dollars.”
One can be relatively impoverished and still be greedy.
The point that you missed was that people are willing to elect candidates because they offer them “free” healthcare, or “free” college education, or “free” food, or “free” shelter, or “free” money.
That is the greed: They want something for nothing.
And, of course, the politician offering this “free stuff” is not writing a check from his own account. He or she is stealing it from their other constituents. So, really, it’s NOT free at all.
And this is what impoverishes the nation.
Of course, you know this already, as you noted.
So, if we know these things, why do the same politicians keep getting elected over and over again? Why do we keep falling for the trap of electing one or the other candidate with the EXACT SAME political philosophy?
If we all really know these things, then why do we allow them to foist the Democrat or Republican choice on us?
You seem like an intelligent person, so I’m certain these points are not lost on you.
My goal in writing here was simply to point out that corporations, CEO’s, billionaires are not really the problem. And also to note that it is not one party or the other that is specifically the problem, but that the underlying problem is that the voters allow themselves to be duped by the established parties and tight knit news media that indoctrinates us more than informs us.
Wishing you all the best.
Mrs. X. I disagree that those things impoverish the nation but I don’t wish to discuss it further. Like I said in Spanish, you should know something about who you are talking to before you speak. I’m not a kid or an idiot.
Patrick Taylor Mrs. X., I did not mean to imply that I thought you to be either a kid or an idiot. In fact, I previously wrote that I thought you to be a very intelligent person.
I disagree with the idea that I need to know something about the person I am talking to before speaking. I was addressing a specific principle that was presented in the meme, not you. Since I was not discussing you or your character, I do not feel that I need to understand the person to whom I am conversing with in order to address a specific philosophical point.
Also, it is not clear to me what you disagree with me on?
Previously, you stated that most of what I’d stated you “already knew.”
Do you not agree that the steady flow of jobs outside the U.S. borders is impoverishing the country?
Do you not agree that our politicians make deals that are great for foreign countries’ workers and bad for U.S. workers?
Do you not agree that it would be better to impose excise taxes and tariffs on foreign goods and services, and to penalize U.S. companies that take their businesses overseas than to continue to tax U.S. businesses who are employing U.S. workers?
I wish that you would elaborate exactly what it is that you disagree with me on because it seems to me that we agree on a lot more than we disagree on.
And, as I have noted in previous responses, I am not so entrenched in any beliefs that I cannot change my opinion. I am on a lifelong mission of education. I have already stated that I have changed course politically when presented with reasonable facts and logic.
Can you recommend a book that might set me straight?