RE: [microsound] RE: McLabor

[Christopher Sorg <csorg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> ""Chris wrote""
>
> "" Yes, let's just ignore all those undeserving, slimy, fat cat
> CEOs in the
>  headlines, ripping off the general populace the pittance that
> they do earn
>  for their hard work.  We're already aware of all the old ways that
>  companies cut corners to increase profit margins, now they're inventing
>  new ones.  Like straight out lying about the profit margins to increase
>  stock ownership.""
>
>
> So any one that owns and operates his own buisness is a fat cat CEO?  Im
> sorry but if i owned either a small or large company manufacturing x and
> buisness is going along swimmingly then  why do i have to pay my workers
> more?  Cause im making money?  As Dave pointed out are they going
> to be just
> as willing to take a pay cut when things get shitty?  I would pay my
> employess the market value based upon their skill set.  Id be an idiot to
> pay them more then my competitors are willing to.  Not all companies are
> evil mongering money grubbers.  You forget that this country is driven by
> smaller buisness's as well, many of whom are family run and
> operated.  They
> cant afford to take the losses that big boys do, or get caught doing their
> buisness in an unethical manner.  The big boys can just pay fines, its a
> cost of doing business.

Okay, I'm not suggesting you're clueless, but you know, small businesses
don't have CEO's.  Coming from a family of small business owners, they're
usually on the bottom rung of all this corporate shit, and if you've never
been on the "mom and pop" side of the Starbucks equation, then you should
probably leave it alone.  CEO's are found in publicly-traded companies where
the bottom line the primary concern.  For my family, putting food on the
table and paying the bills are the primary concerns.  That's one difference.
And I never said anything about small business owners AT ALL.  The headlines
aren't reading "Joe's Popcorn Shack Rips Off Stockholders".  And if a small
company's bottom line is doing well, in my experience, the employees
benefits are well-distributed.  In fact, this concept was somewhat popular
in the early nineties with larger companies, profit-sharing and all that.
What is disturbing is how many of these companies have decided to lie about
their profit margins to investors in order to gain more capital.  What I
fail to understand is the (seeming) necessity of continued, predictable
growth and future value.  A business can be self-sustaining without having
to grow and expand as long as people aren't demanding a profit (i.e.
increasing their stock prices).  And in that sense, stock-holders are as
much to blame for the situation as the publicly-traded companies who abuse
it.  The small business owner just doesn't enter into it; their future is
entirely self-determined and is typically met out of necessity, not demand.

And, by the way, one of the primary ways for a large company to increase
profits is to seek out a cheap labor force.  The industrial revolution could
happen because of slavery.  Do you really think that Nike is paying their
overseas employees fairly?  Are the children in India working for the
diamond trade getting fair wages?  In order to continue to drive profits,
these companies must seek out the least expensive labor force in order to
continue expansion.  It's the same reason why the United States needs an
illegal immigrant labor force working in hotels and restaurants across the
country.  The question really is, how much money does someone need, really?
Does everyone really need two television sets in each household?  Does
everyone have to have the latest, greatest everything always?  Why are
record companies always selling us the big, new thing? (btw, one magazine
that caught my eye said "Shakira:  The Next Big Thing".  Didn't we just have
one or two of those?)  This voracious appetite that we have is unappealing
and unhealthy.  For all of us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Christopher Sorg
   Multimedia Artist/Instructor
 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
   http://csorg.cjb.net
     csorg@xxxxxxxxx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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