Thursday, September 26, 2013

This Selfish Ayn Rand Business Philosophy Is Ruining The US Economy

A business can normally run for awhile with the owner/managers absent. The employees keep doing the work necessary. But w/o employees, the company could do nothing.


http://www.businessinsider.com/ayn-rand-is-ruining-the-american-economy-2013-9

Henry Blodget Sep. 24, 2013

Forbes contributor Harry Binswanger, who is a disciple of the writer Ayn Rand, argued this week that people who make $1+ million a year are so valuable to society that they shouldn't pay any taxes.

Far from these million-dollar earners paying more taxes, Binswanger argued, the rest of America should "give back" to the 1% by thanking them for their service to the country and rewarding them by exempting them from taxation.

This argument is the logical extension of an argument that many American entrepreneurs and investors make, which is that they are the country's "job creators" and therefore deserve almost all of the country's income and wealth. These "job creators," this argument goes, should pay their employees as little as possible and keep every penny of profit for themselves. After all, they deserve it: They're the ones who "create" the jobs that sustain the country.

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Successful entrepreneurs do play a valuable and important role in this ecosystem: They start companies that develop products and services that people want, and they guide the companies that produce them.

Successful investors also play a valuable and important role: They provide the capital necessary for companies to invest in new products and services.

But without talented employees who make a company's products and services, and — just as important — without financially healthy customers who buy them, entrepreneurs and investors can't create any sustainable jobs.

So to suggest that entrepreneurs and investors deserve all the credit or compensation in the economy is absurd.

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