Rational passion and passionate reason
who is chatting on SOLO ChatThe Free RadicalPopular contentWho's onlinePollWhat should the government do about ailing financial institutions? Nothing, except to back off and get out—as any Objectivist knows, intervention is treating the disease with the disease 85% Intervene judiciously—enough to avert a catastrophe that is otherwise imminent 3% Intervene massively—as it's doing 2% Nationalize the whole economy and be done with it. Bring on the USSA! 2% Something else (specify) 8% Total votes: 59
 Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell
 Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
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Atlas Month—Should Businessmen Go on Strike? Submitted by Ayn Rand Institute on Fri, 2007-10-12 22:24.
Ayn Rand Institute Press Release Should Businessmen Go on Strike? Irvine, CA--In a week characterized by important labor stoppages, Chrysler workers went out on strike in Michigan, British postal workers returned to work while threatening further walkouts, and registered nurses started a 48-hour strike in Northern California. "Job actions by employees are commonplace, yet we never see similar protests by the individuals who create jobs in the first place," said Thomas Bowden, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Institute. "In her magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, published 50 years ago this week, Rand's fictional hero, John Galt, gave voice to the undeserved suffering of businessmen when he said: 'There is only one kind of men who have never been on strike in human history. Every other kind and class have stopped, when they so wished, and have presented demands to the world, claiming to be indispensable--except the men who have carried the world on their shoulders, have kept it alive, have endured torture as sole payment, but have never walked out on the human race.' "John Galt was defending the businessmen who create and operate the companies that generate steel, oil, medicine, computers, and all the other goods and services on which our lives and happiness depend," Bowden said. "The entrepreneurs, the executives, the investors and bankers, the top-level managers--these are truly indispensable men and women on whose creativity all other workers depend for their jobs." "Why," Bowden asked, "do so many of these capitalist heroes continue to toil away, creating jobs for a society that morally condemns their desire for personal profit as selfish and materialistic, and subjects them to government control as if they were beasts of burden? What keeps those individuals from going on strike? In Atlas Shrugged, Rand answers these questions, showing why nothing less than a moral revolution is needed to set businessmen free from the shackles of unearned guilt." ### ### ###
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My
answer to the question is 'No'...Businessmen should not go on strike.
It was 20 years ago today...(ugh
I just had to use that Sgt Pepper phrase)...the Sharemarket crashed in New Zealand (and elsewhere, but I am taking timezones into account).
I think Sir Robert Jones makes a very valid point, about both the Sharemarket crash, and life in general in the NZ Herald today.
If you scroll down the article you see where he says "The critical lesson learnt was to have no public dealings. When things go well you're a hero; when things change you're a crook. It's the same with politics, sport and any activity involving public support."
This is so true!
Although I do not feel businessmen should strike, they should avoid other people like the plague and simply concentrate on earning large profits for themselves.
It is a fascinating study in irrational behaviour at how other people react to a successful businessman, something I am a great victim of.
My biggest roasting, and 3rd biggest mistake of my life, took place when a former friend of mine asked for advice on making some money.
One thing led to another, and I turned his $3000 life savings into $46,122 within a couple of months.
Gosh, the fallout from that act of helpfulness!
It seems that the rather obvious, logical 'fact' that I do certain activities everyday, and I am Number 1 in NZ for a very good reason
...was of no consequence as various conspiracies were entertained, and it was a very unpleasant experience.
So, in summary, businessmen should never strike but they should stick to making profits for themselves.