Reflections From a Murky Pond

In Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged there was a hidden refuge in a valley of Colorado where the people of ability had retreated to after relinquishing participation in American society. It was aptly nicknamed “Galt’s Gulch” by its inhabitants, though it was more properly named “Mulligan’s Valley” since it was the property of Michael “Midas” Mulligan, a banker and one of the first strikers to heed John Galt’s call.

The basic premise is that the United States has degenerated into an authoritarian, quasi-Marxist state, strangling business, innovation, and personal liberty in favor of an non merit-based egalitarian result. John Galt responds by convincing the productive and innovative people – the “Men of the Mind” – to withdraw from society and take their skills and visions with them, “stopping the motor of the world” by withdrawing the “minds” that drive society’s growth and productivity.

John Galt is Prometheus who changed his mind. After centuries of being torn by vultures in payment for having brought to men the fire of the gods, he broke his chains — and he withdrew his fire — until the day when men withdraw their vultures.

— Francisco d’Anconia
Atlas Shrugged, Part II, Chapter V

One thing that strikes me as odd – and more than a little frustrating – is that both Rand’s supporters and detractors view this as a Dystopian future, as if it wasn’t, in pragmatic effect, already well underway.

Ayn Rand’s Future Is Now

In the real world Galt’s Gulch aka Mulligan’s Valley isn’t some concealed refuge in Colorado; it’s the global marketplace and the Third World labor pool. Business leaders are finding Galt’s Gulch in many places outside of America’s borders and jurisdiction.

• Decline of Manufacturing
  America no longer produces much domestically. Over the last 60 years there’s been slightly over of 66% drop in employment within factories inside the US and a commensurate rise in off-shoring manufacturing to places such as Mexico and China.
• Decline of Innovation
  Scientific and technological advances are also, more and more, coming from overseas. Companies are now paying scientists in China, India, Singapore, and other foreign lands to perform R & D instead of using more expensive domestic scientists and research facilities.

The motor is already stopping. Corporations, faced with the inability to compete globally with less restrictive regimes and with lower order economies while using domestic labor and facilities, are already “striking” and moving more and more of their operations outside of America.

Tags: America | Atlas Shrugged | Ayn Rand | Books & Reading | Capitalism | Dystopia | Economics | Freedom | Labor | Labor Unions | Liberty | Politics | Socialism | Society | Statism | Taxes

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 1st, 2011 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Books & Reading, Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Let us for a moment consider what must be also be true if the tired and overly simplistic axioms about the Republican and Democratic parties’ affiliations and loyalties are actually fundamentally true. Let us, as a mental exercise in preparation for the upcoming 2010 Congressional Mid-Term Elections, take at face value the axioms that the Republicans are the “Party of Business” and the Democrats are the “Party of Labor.”

A quick look at America’s current situation and how Business and Labor, in the forms of corporations and unions, respectively impact it is needful in order to show the basic truths that must be accepted if those axioms are true.

America is a Recession, one that I believe will “double-dip” or even “triple-dip,” and grow worse in the upcoming quarters. Worse, while our GDP has made very modest gains and is showing some growth, albeit anemically, this “recovery” has been an essentially jobless one, with unemployment averaging 9.2% since Nov, 2008.

Employment & Wealth

Corporations (Business) create wealth and provide for employment as well as goods and services. Unions (Labor) create nothing, simply redistributing the wealth created by the corporations to their membership and their own coffers.

Which of these stands the best chance of helping America’s economy? Creation of wealth and employment or redistributing wealth and controlling jobs?

Representative Of America

Every member of America’s labor force either owns a business or is employed by one or more of them. Of that approximately 154 million Americans just 12.3% of them are members of unions.

Which represents America more? The businesses that are owned by and/or employ the sum of the American workforce or the labor unions which represent the goals of a mere 12.3% of our labor force?

~*~

So, as we consider who to elect to political office this November, we must consider these axioms about the Republicans and Democrats because, if they’re even close to true, these elections are going to be critically important for our near-term survival.

Tags: 2010 Elections | America | Corporations | Democrats | Economics | Economy | Employment | Labor | Labor Unions | Politics | Republicans | Unemployment | Wealth

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 at 10:48 am and is filed under 2010 Election, Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Will Caterpillar, Inc. be the first of major manufacturing corporations to emigrate from the United States in the wake of ObamaCare? Or will they just layoff a significant fraction of their employees and cut salaries as much as possible in order to accommodate ObamaCare’s negative impact on their already weakened bottom line?

Caterpillar Feels The Crushing Weight Of Obama’s Agenda

Caterpillar will, if ObamaCare is made the law of the land, be faced with significant increases to their labor costs in the form of increased mandatory health insurance benefits and increased Medicare taxes – amongst other new or increased taxes. This would make them vulnerable to their foreign competition such as Japan’s Komatsu.

From Dow Jones Newswires via Chicago Breaking Business News:

Caterpillar Inc. said the health-care overhaul legislation being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives would increase the company’s health-care costs by more than $100 million in the first year alone.

In a letter Thursday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, Caterpillar urged lawmakers to vote against the plan “because of the substantial cost burdens it would place on our shareholders, employees and retirees.” Caterpillar, the world’s largest construction machinery manufacturer by sales, said it’s particularly opposed to provisions in the bill that would expand Medicare taxes and mandate insurance coverage. The legislation would require nearly all companies to provide health insurance for their employees or face large fines.

The Peoria-based company said these provisions would increase its insurance costs by at least 20 percent, or more than $100 million, just in the first year of the health-care overhaul program.

“We can ill-afford cost increases that place us at a disadvantage versus our global competitors,” said the letter signed by Gregory Folley, vice president and chief human resources officer of Caterpillar. “We are disappointed that efforts at reform have not addressed the cost concerns we’ve raised throughout the year.”

Business executives have long complained that the options offered for covering 32 million uninsured Americans would result in higher insurance costs for those employers that already provide coverage. Opponents have stepped up their attacks in recent days as the House moves closer toward a vote on the Senate version of the health-care legislation.

A letter Thursday to President Barack Obama and members of Congress signed by more than 130 economists predicted the legislation would discourage companies from hiring more workers and would cause reduced hours and wages for those already employed.

Caterpillar noted that the company supports efforts to increase the quality and the value of health care for patients as well as lower costs for employer-sponsored insurance coverage.

“Unfortunately, neither the current legislation in the House and Senate, nor the president’s proposal, meets these goals,” the letter said.

Caterpillar has already laid off 20,000 workers – 10% of the company’s regular employees and 8,000 contract workers – and froze the salaries of most of its remaining employees. They also took the sadly unusual step of significantly cutting the total compensation packages of executives and senior managers.

They don’t have much room left to work with, not if they plan to continue to base the manufacturing operations in the US. ObamaCare’s taxes, penalties, and employer-funded entitlements may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and sends Caterpillar over the border or into bankruptcy.

If this happens, Caterpillar may be the first major manufacturer to emigrate its operations overseas in response to ObamaCare, but I doubt that they’ll be the last.

Tags: Caterpillar | Economy | Emigration | Employment | Globalism | Healthcare | Labor | Obama | Politics | Taxes | Unemployment

This entry was posted on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.