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Commercial activities that provide goods and services

Business is the activity of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). Simply put, it is "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit. It does not mean it is a company, a corporation, partnership, or have any such formal organization, but it can range from a street peddler to General Motors".

Notable Topics

  • Corporatism - Socio-economic system in which large businesses exert influence over and benefit from government policies
  • Deregulation - Elimination of laws and rules imposed on an industry
  • Electric Power - The production and distribution of electricity
  • Entrepreneurs - Individuals who organize and assume the risks of a business
  • Entrepreneurship - Managerial skills and willingness to take risks in the production of goods and services
  • Farming - The business of agriculture
  • Mining - The business of extracting ores or metals
  • Transportation - The means and equipment used for the movement of passengers and goods

Articles

Antitrust Reform: Predatory Practices and the Competitive Process, by Dominick T. Armentano, The Review of Austrian Economics, 1989
Examines so-called "predatory" practices from various perspectives, such as the purported "intent" of lower prices, pricing "below cost" and the alleged effects on "consumer welfare"
If the business world were purely competitive, costs could (in some sense) be said to determine market prices. But the actual business world is not, and cannot, be purely competitive ... The existence of product differentiation, transactions costs, changing information, and uncertainty ... all prevent the realization of any static competitive equilibria. And in [such] a world ..., all cost-determining-price rules ... become irrelevant for policy purposes. Yet most of the criticisms of firm predation and of business "excess capacity" are deeply rooted in static equilibrium welfare analysis.
Related Topics: Market economy, Prices
Bourgeois Virtues?, by Deirdre McCloskey, Cato Policy Report, May 2006
Offers an apologia (formal defense) of capitalism, in particular of the phrase "bourgeois virtues" as being neither a contradiction in terms nor a lie
[A] bourgeois virtue is the Temperance to save and accumulate ... But it is also the temperance to educate oneself in business and in life, to listen to the customer ... [Another] is the Courage to venture on new ways of business. But it is also the courage to overcome the fear of change, to bear defeat unto bankruptcy, to be courteous to new ideas, to wake up next morning and face fresh work with cheer, resisting the despairing pessimism of the clerisy ... Another is the Faith to honor one's community of business. But it is also the faith ... to sustain traditions of commerce ...
The Businessman and the Defense of Capitalism, by Benjamin A. Rogge, Can Capitalism Survive?, 1979
Chapter 1 of Part IX, "an explicit follow-up to the Schumpeter-based 'Can Capitalism Survive?'" (the lead essay in this volume); offers business leaders suggestions as to what to do and not to do in helping "the cause of freedom"
Should the businessman as businessman even get involved in the struggle [to save capitalism]? ... To begin with, the businessman is not typically hired by the stockholders to carry on programs of social reforms; he is hired to add to the net worth of the company ... The fact is that there is hardly a businessman in this country who is not receiving favors from government in one way or another ... In other words, his very position may seem to require of the businessman that, in the struggle against government intervention, he be as often a part of the problem as of the solution.
The Constitution and the Rule of Law, by Jacob G. Hornberger, Aug 1992
Describes, using some of F. A. Hayek's writings, the concepts that individual rights do not stem from the U.S. constitution, that the latter is meant to "straitjacket" the government and the misunderstood (or forgotten) "rule of law"
Today, people must answer to hundreds of thousands of arbitrary, unclear edicts from the politicians and bureaucrats ... For example, take the rules against "unfair business practices." If a businessman sells his product at a price lower than his competitors, he is subject to being prosecuted for predatory business practices. If he sells his product at the same price as others, he can be prosecuted for antitrust violations. Thus, since every businessman is always subject to a criminal prosecution ..., he must always kowtow to his political and bureaucratic masters.
Death and Taxes–Can the Congress Kill a Pernicious Tax?, by Paul Boytinck, 16 Jul 2003
Discusses the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2003, as argued (and passed) on the U.S. House of Representatives, an attempt to permanently repeal federal estate taxation
It is plain that this confiscatory tax exacted a fearful toll on the holders of those estates–if they deserve the name–rich in tangible assets but poor in cash–farmers, ranchers, convenience store owners, fast food operators, contractors, auto dealers, and all the enterprising members of the minor bourgeoisie ... If these toilers in the business world failed to plan for the payment of high death taxes, they often had to sell part or all of their assets in order to pay ... They were either ruined by the rapacity of the Treasury or they were put to desperate ... stratagems to make the payments.
Related Topics: Nebraska, Taxation
Divestment Works, by Jim Davidson, The Libertarian Enterprise, 21 Jun 2009
Praises Richard Maybury but criticizes some of his investment advice, recommending instead that one should not invest in military and defense-related stocks in order to stop the "death merchants"
I think investing in defense stocks is a terrible idea ... The answer is to divest. Stop investing in the military ... Divestment worked for the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Americans stopped investing in companies that supported the Jim Crow system of racial discrimination. Companies got the picture, and stopped being racist, or went under. Divestment worked for the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s. Americans and people around the world stopped investing in South African companies, and in those doing business there. The South African government ended its racist policies.
Related Topics: Richard J. Maybury, Militarism, War
Do Greedy Spinach Merchants Want To Kill You?, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., Mises Daily, 6 Oct 2006
Comments on the September 2006 North American E. coli outbreak in spinach, the reaction by merchants and intervention by government agencies
The story might have ended there, as the groceries ... and the farmers looked more carefully ... and otherwise sought to fix the problem. And why wouldn't they? They are all in business to make money. You can only make money by selling things that people want, and this much is absolutely certain: people don't want spinach that makes them sick ... Whenever government demonizes merchants, it encourages the view that we must be forever on the lookout for dishonest business people who are seeking to make us sick, and from whom only the great civil servants in government can protect us.
The Doomslayer, by Ed Regis, Wired, Feb 1997
Lengthy essay about Simon, his research and writings, as well as critical views on his positions
He was not one of those MBAs whose closest contact with the gritty business world was going down to the corner newsstand to purchase a copy of The Wall Street Journal. The year he got his doctorate he started and operated his own business, a mail-order firm that sold quality teas, coffees, and a book on how to make beer at home. The enterprise was successful enough, but not so much as the book he later wrote about it, How to Start and Operate a Mail-Order Business (McGraw-Hill, 1965), still in print and currently in its fifth edition.
Examining Reagan's Record on Free Trade, by Sheldon Richman, The Wall Street Journal, 10 May 1982
Analyzes several actions taken by the Reagan administration that belie Mr. Reagan's alleged pro-free trade stance
Wilting under heavy government regulation and their own ineptitude, the major steel companies again have sought a scapegoat in foreign steelmakers ... Textile and apparel imports have been under quotas for 25 years, refuting arguments about temporary relief ... This administration's distinctive mark in world-trade matters is a churlish jingoism, epitomized by Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldridge, who during the auto-import debate sniffed, "Secretary Lewis and I are the businessmen in the Cabinet; we know what it's like to trade with the Japanese."
The Federal Ripoff, by George C. Leef, Freedom Daily, Nov 2006
Review of The Big Ripoff: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money (2006) by Timothy P. Carney
The temptation to play the political game as a means to increasing profits has long attracted people in business ... Today, nearly every business, either on its own or through a trade association, employs lobbyists who try to steer government policy in a "favorable" direction. Sometimes, the political game is played defensively ... Often, however, businesses seek to use governmental power to raise prices, stifle competition, and obtain inputs it needs at artificially low prices. This is usually done very quietly, so as to maintain the illusion that business is interested in protecting the free market.
Fixing Airport Security, by Robert W. Poole, Jr., Intellectual Ammunition, 1 Nov 2001
Published shortly before the establishment of the Transportation Security Administration, recommends that U.S. airport security be handled the way it has been done in Europe, and Heathrow in particular, by turning airports into business enterprises
In Europe today, an airport is seen as a business: an enterprise run by qualified (and highly paid) professionals, serving a number of different customers, and expected to make a profit (and pay taxes!) by doing so. Since ... 1987 ... 17 U.K. airports have shifted into the private sector. ... the corporate model has led to more professional management and increased resources for meeting customer needs--including security. By contrast, the United States is still stuck with the old model: the airport ... Run by civil servants, it is not expected to take (entrepreneurial) risks, or to take major responsibilities ...
The Foundation for Economic Education: Success or Failure?, by Benjamin A. Rogge, Can Capitalism Survive?, 1979
Adapted from remarks at FEE's 25th anniversary celebration in 1971; chapter 3 of part IX of Can Capitalism Survive?; also reprinted in The Freeman, May 1996
What of the businessman? ... There is not one piece of lunacy put on paper by some academic scribbler or spoken by some public demagogue that is not to be found in at least one, if not more, of the ... self-designated spokesmen for the business community ... [I]t is also clear that the larger the firm, the more certain is its leaders' commitment or at least lip service to the philosophy of statism ... Yes, even the businessman is more likely to be a part of the problem ... [T]here is no reason to expect the businessman to be more committed to the system of economic freedom than anyone else.
Free Mark Cuban and Abolish the SEC, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 19 Nov 2008
Discusses Securities and Exchange Commission v. Mark Cuban (17 Nov 2008) insider trading case, concerning the latter's sale in June 2004 of shares in Mamma.com
So far, Cuban ... is not playing the role that the feds expect American businessmen to play. He's not confessing, expressing remorse, calling himself a bad person, seeking forgiveness, and offering to rat out other people. Instead, he's telling it like it is ... The value of thousands of federal rules and regulations governing American companies and banks is that they ensure submissiveness, compliance, and obedience. If a businessman doesn't toe the line, they'll just go after him [or a family member] for violating some regulation, even while claiming that freedom of speech is alive and well in America.
Free Markets Aren't Conservative, by Sheldon Richman, Feb 2001
Explains why businesses, especially the larger and well established ones, favor regulations and taxes, and why a free, unregulated or "self-regulating" market protects consumer better
Advocates of deregulation are typically dismissed as flaks for corporate interests. But that conclusion crumbles when we realize that businessmen historically have opposed laissez faire ... Businessmen, going back at least to the era of mercantilism 400 years ago, have typically embraced government as an effective tool to protect themselves from competitors. The word "protectionism" is usually restricted to business-supported barriers to cheap imports. But ... [b]usiness interests have long favored all kinds of regulations and taxes to hamper existing and potential competition.
Give America a Raise?, by Sheldon Richman, 5 Feb 2014
Reflects on a remark in the 2014 State of the Union address and explains why legislating a minimum wage tends to harm those it supposedly intends to help
If someone believes that a $10.10 hourly wage wouldn't throw vulnerable people out of work ... — and that, indeed, it would even be good for business — the advocate of the higher minimum ought to explain why the wage hasn't already risen to that level through normal market forces. Why is it stuck at $7.25? ... This question is even more interesting when you consider that the higher-minimum lobby points to Costco's success in paying its starting workers $11.50 an hour. Why isn't self-interest driving other employers to offer the higher wage? Their alleged stubbornness contradicts the self-interest model of business owners.
Give Freedom Its Turn in Latin America, by Manuel F. Ayau, Imprimis, Nov 1984
Paper delivered as part of a seminar in the Center for Constructive Alternatives; argues that problems in Latin American countries are systemic and are due to a "lack of understanding of the economic principles and ethics of a free society"
Another very significant pressure group preventing progress are the businessmen themselves. This is because those persons who are successful under the current system are not anxious to see things change. They instinctively perceive that their talents or connections, which have brought them riches or power, might not be the same ones to succeed if the rules of the game should change. They have the know-how and the know-who. If the economies were suddenly freed, their world might fall apart; any upstart could try to do better than they, and might even displace them.
Government in Business, by Murray N. Rothbard, The Freeman, Sep 1956
Contrasts characteristics of government-run enterprises with those of privately operated businesses and counters the argument of running government "like a business"
Have you ever heard of a private firm proposing to "solve" a shortage of the product it sells by telling people to buy less? ... Private firms welcome customers, and expand when their product is in heavy demand—thus servicing and benefiting their customers as well as themselves ... Why don't TV firms or steel companies have trouble finding capital for expansion? Because consumers pay for steel and [TVs], and savers ... can make money by investing in those businesses. Firms that successfully serve the public find it easy to obtain capital ...; ... inefficient firms ... go out of business.
Health Insurance Scam, by Sheldon Richman, The Goal Is Freedom, 13 Nov 2009
Analyzes how what is called "health insurance" is not about health nor is it insurance, how it came about from "wartime economic controls", and why it has resulted in rising medical care costs
Insurance emerged long ago to protect one's assets against the risk of rare but catastrophic events that one cannot prevent, such as a house fire ... [The insurer is] in business to make a profit. He doesn't exist to pay other people's bills ... Traditional insurance is viable when the pool of policyholders is sufficiently large and so constituted that the expected payoff for the covered rare event is a small enough percentage of the premiums collected to make the profit greater than the opportunity cost. If the covered event were a volitional act, the business plan would be fatally flawed.
Henry Grady Weaver's Classic Vision of Freedom, by John Hood, The Freeman, Aug 1997
Expanded version of Hood's introduction to the 1997 edition of Weaver's The Mainspring of Human Progress; discusses the changing attitudes towards business during the second half of the 20th century
During the 1940s and 1950s, most Americans held business as an institution in high esteem ... Aristotle wrote about trading and business profits in his Nicomachean Ethics and Politics. Major portions of Old Testament books such as Deuteronomy contain rules for ethical business practice. Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations ... also discusses in depth the social context and impact of commercial activity. Smith was ... a theologian and ethicist, not a businessman or economist. Karl Marx was no economist, either, and had never set foot in a factory, but his critical analysis of business behavior changed the course of history.
Inflation Is the Last Thing We Need, by Sheldon Richman, 31 Oct 2013
Responds to promoters of an inflationary environment by explaining price inflation as a consequence of monetary inflation and examines the effects claimed by inflation advocates
Why would anyone want inflation? Because, the Times says, "Rising prices help companies increase profits; rising wages help borrowers repay debts. Inflation also encourages people and businesses to borrow money and spend it more quickly." ... The advocates of inflation say it will raise business profits. Aside from the fact that raising profits is not the government's job, does that really make sense? While businesses will be able to charge more for their goods during an inflation, they will also have to pay more for the things that they buy, including labor. Where's the real gain?
Related Topics: Inflation, Prices, Wages
Let's Make 2014 the Year of Freedom for Low-Wage Workers, by Sheldon Richman, 2 Jan 2014
Examines various hindrances to economic independence, in particular occupational licensing, but also zoning, intellectual property, taxes and regulations
Things that we may not think of as targeting the freedom of the most vulnerable people nevertheless do so. Taxes and regulations may formally apply across the board, but they take a greater toll on microbusinesses than on big businesses, which have accounting and legal departments expert at dealing with government-imposed burdens. As a result, small businesses remain small and people with good ideas may not get them to the marketplace. Government should never protect the market share of established firms.
Mises: Defender of Freedom, by George Reisman, Mises Daily, 29 Sep 2006
Written on the 125th anniversary of his birth, describes several of Mises' contributions to economics theory and other areas, along with some of Reisman's personal reminiscences
Every day, there are countless businessmen who are planning to expand or contract their firms, who are planning to introduce new products or discontinue old ones, planning to open new branches or close down existing ones, planning to change their methods of production or continue with their present methods, planning to hire additional workers or let some ... go. And every day, there are countless workers planning to improve their skills, change their occupations or places of work, or to continue with things as they are; and consumers, planning to buy homes, cars, stereos, steak or hamburger ...
Monopolies versus the Free Market, Part 1, by Gregory Bresiger, Freedom Daily, Sep 2006
Contrasts state-backed monopolies or quasi-monopolies vs. regular businesses in a free market, with historical and current examples, and discusses antitrust laws
By contrast, businesses that achieve total—or almost total—market share of what they produce are not protected from competition by laws. Such businesses depend entirely on customer satisfaction that comes from the business's successfully fulfilling the wants of consumers. Such success is often short-lived ... Neither Microsoft nor Wal-Mart, for example, can legally force a consumer to buy its products. Today these are large companies. But 10 or 20 years from now, they may well have gone the way of F.W. Woolworth's. The latter was once a strong retailer.
More Victims of Immigration Control, by Sheldon Richman, 18 Jan 2008
Discusses how, aside from actual immigrants, American employers and particularly property owners along the United States-Mexico border are also victims of U.S. immigration controls, in the government's attempt to build a fence along the border
While the immigrants themselves bear the brunt of U.S. immigration policy ... they are not the only victims. Additional victims are to be found among ... business owners who are threatened with huge fines and imprisonment for hiring workers not approved by the government ... They have violated no one's person or property. All they have done is engage in voluntary exchange with workers who do not have government permission to be here. Big deal! I thought we believed in free enterprise in this country. That the political party which claims to embrace free markets countenances employer sanctions ... speaks volumes.
The Nightmare of the New Deal, Part 2, by George C. Leef, Freedom Daily, Jan 2008
Review of The Forgotten Man (2007) by Amity Shlaes; discusses the Schechter Supreme Court case which caused the National Recovery Administration (NRA) to be declared unconstitutional, the 1940 election and offers some concluding remarks
The Schechters ... ran a kosher poultry butchering business ... and were put on trial for criminal offenses against regulations ... the NRA rules forbade customers to select individual chickens they wanted, demanding that customers select a coop of birds for killing ... Both Jewish tradition and common-sense business practices had to be abandoned to conform to the authoritarian regulations ... Willkie pointed out that the New Deal had created enormous uncertainty for business and investors. If there was "idle money" in the country, the reason was ... in the hostility the administration constantly exhibited toward business.
Objectivist Ethics in the Information-Age Economy, by Nathaniel Branden, Navigator, Feb 2001
After reviewing human progress, from hunter to farmer to laborer to thinker, argues that what he calls "Objectivist ethics" are more relevant to current society
A modern business can no longer be run by a few people who think and many people who merely do what they are told—the traditional, military, command-and-control model. Today, organizations require not only a higher level of knowledge and skill among all those who participate in the process of production, but also ... of independence, self-reliance, self-trust, and initiative. In a word, self-esteem. This means that in the process of wealth-production, people with a decent level of self-esteem, who embody key Objectivist virtues (at least while on the job), are now needed in large numbers.
Ports and Political Hypocrisy, by Xon Hostetter, 25 Feb 2006
Discusses the controversy over the pending acquisition of six U.S. ports by Dubai Ports World (now DP World) as part of their purchase of the British firm P&0 (Note: the transaction was later blocked by the U.S. Congress and DP sold them to AIG)
A company that runs ports for profit is not the same as a mish-mash of international travellers coming through an airport for a variety of different reasons. ... we have a very good idea as to why Dubai Ports company wants to run these six ports — it thinks it can make money doing so! As said before, companies have every interest in protecting their investments, and they do this most obviously by turning a profit.
Related Topics: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The Six Faces of the Terrorist; The One Face of Bureaucracy, by Lew Rockwell, Mises Daily, 18 Aug 2006
Wonders how much more will Americans tolerate the searches and commands of the Transportation Security Administration agents, contrastring "public sector" security to private security and comparing the TSA to the welfare bureaucracy
When the private sector seeks to ferret out bad guys, it goes overboard to make life wonderful and non-humiliating for the good guys. This is the difference between the public and private sector. The private sector is always seeking and soliciting the affections of the people, in the hope that the people will deign to part with their money in exchange for the good or service the firm provides. That's not an easy thing to do. You have to be pretty wonderful in order to get people to voluntarily purchase your stuff as versus save the money or spend it elsewhere.
Related Topics: Bureaucracy, Government, The State
Talkers versus doers, Part II, by Thomas Sowell, 10 Jun 2004
Explains how "talkers" (those who criticize businesses and entrepreneurs) obtain an advantage over the "doers" and how the "legal system and the regulatory bureaucrats" even affect corporate contributions to the critics' causes
These kinds of incentives and constraints help explain a strange anomaly ...—big corporations contributing much more to left-wing causes than to conservative or libertarian causes. "For every $1.00 major corporations gave to conservative and free-market groups, they gave $4.61 to organizations seeking more government," according to a study ... Why? ...: "Many advocacy groups win corporate funding by threatening lawsuits and boycotts and by petitioning government regulatory bodies. Regulatory policies, in particular, give corporations a built-in incentive to pay-off left-wing activists."
Related Topic: Health
Teaching Basic Economics to Fifth Graders, by Arthur E. Foulkes, 21 Jun 2006
Recounts the experience of teaching economics to fifth graders, one concept per week, for five weeks, focusing on trade, money, savings, competition and prices
Several students play the role of commuters and, at first, one student plays the role of a filling station owner. In the first round ... I allow the ... owner to buy a supply of gasoline and then sell it ... During round one, the station owner sold her gasoline for $2 per gallon, giving her a healthy profit of $1 per gallon sold. In round two, I allowed a volunteer ... to open a second gas station and charge whatever price ... This was repeated a third time until three competing stations were jockeying for the commuters' dollars and gasoline was selling for an average of $1 per gallon ...
Toying with the Free Market, by Sheldon Richman, Freedom Daily, Dec 1998
Discusses the 1998 Toys "R" Us restructuring announcement and the 1996 Federal Trade Commission complaint that the firm had engaged in monopolistic practices
The discount industry creates problems for regular retailers ... [I]magine two electronics stores, a full-service retailer and a discounter ... Since the full-service retailer has higher costs to recoup, it charges more for its products ... Obviously, the full-service store is at a disadvantage ... But the retailer can act to minimize the disadvantage ... It can seek contracts with its suppliers to reduce the discounters' and customers' free riding on its services ... Many consumers sample the products at the retailer ... Then ... buy the same product at a lower price from the discounter.
A Tribute to John T. Flynn, by John T. Flynn, Adam Young, 31 Jan 2003
Biographical overview followed by quotes from Flynn's writings on Franklin Roosevelt, Roosevelt's monument, the New Deal, the Second World War and the Roosevelt myth
On the New Deal:
The word "business" is well understood by our people. It refers to that collection of great and small enterprises which produce goods and services for the population. It does two things. It produces our food, our clothes, our luxuries and necessities; it provides, also, the jobs by which the people earn the income with which they can purchase these things. As Roosevelt came into power one might have supposed that business was some gigantic criminal conspiracy against the welfare of the nation. He began with a sweeping attack upon business and he kept it up until the war.
The Ultimate Tax Cut, by Jacob G. Hornberger, Freedom Daily, Dec 2007
Explains how tax cuts promised by political candidates are fraudulent, since the government expenditures still have to be paid somehow, either by taxation or through monetary inflation, and asks a fundamental question regarding the role of government
I had envisioned the government as just being part of a huge collection of enterprises, producing its own wealth ... [T]hen I discovered that the federal government acquired its money ... from taxes ... That is obviously very different from how people in the private sector get their money. Microsoft, for example, depends on offering products that induce people to voluntarily trade their money for a particular piece of software. If people decide to hold on to their money instead of buying the software, there is nothing that Microsoft can do ... Microsoft cannot force anyone to hand over his money.
Related Topics: Government, Inflation, Taxation
Variations on a Corporatist Theme, by Sheldon Richman, The Goal Is Freedom, 13 Apr 2012
Contrasts the rhetoric on both sides of the 2012 U.S. presidential contest, finding it fundamentally alike
[T]he stakes are not what they are represented to be, and the differences are not fundamental ... [D]espite appearances, Obama the government man and Romney the business man share common ground. Romney says, "Washington has to become an ally of business, not the opposition of business" (as though those were the only alternatives), and Obama would not disagree. Ask Jeffrey Immelt of GE, Jim McNerney of Boeing, and other beneficiaries of the Export-Import Bank. Or ask the principals of Bank of America. Obama would just want government to be the more dominant voice in any dispute.
What Is the Enemy?, by Sheldon Richman, Freedom Daily, Apr 2006
Discusses why corporatism, also known as state capitalism or political capitalism, is the "the great institutional threat to liberty"
The idea that businessmen have been the free markets chief antagonists should cause no surprise. As a group, businessmen tend not to be philosophical or theoretical; they pride themselves on being practical ... [B]usinessmen tend to see nothing wrong with using the government to hedge against uncertainty. Nothing is more uncertain than what the market will bring tomorrow ... The people who run big companies have always been prominent and influential. The affinity between them and political leaders is more or less natural, as business stability is usually associated with national well-being.
Why Markets Are Dreaded, by Tibor Machan, 27 Apr 2007
Insights on why higher education professionals prefer not to have to compete in "markets" and instead want governments to run colleges and universities
[These academicians] do not want to enter the market place where their income would have to be obtained solely from willing customers. That kind of dealing—such commercialization—offends them, makes them think they are no better sorts than, say, people who sell shoes, cars, life insurance, mutual funds, or kitchen utensils. No. Let these other blokes cope with the burden of having to convince customers of the value of what they have to offer them ... [Academicians] need not sweat the possibility of their customers' choosing to go elsewhere for their higher educational services.
Related Topics: Government, Market economy
Why No Indictment for Bernard Kerik?, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 15 Dec 2004
Comments on the lack of indictment for Kerik who withdrew himself from consideration as head of DHS for having employed an illegal immigrant, while executives from Tyson Foods and Walmart were charged or possibly being indicted for the same reason
Perhaps worst of all, as is the case with economic crimes in such countries as China and Russia, the arbitrary and discretionary manner in which this regulatory law is enforced provides the perfect vehicle for ensuring that business community does not get too far out of line ... by openly dissenting against government policies ... what business that might be hiring illegal immigrants, either knowingly or unknowingly, wants to make waves ...? With the federal sword of Damocles hanging over its head ..., the American business community is as likely to go along to get along with the feds as its counterparts in China and Russia ...
Related Topic: Rule of Law
Winning the Battle for Freedom and Prosperity, by John Mackey, Liberty, Jun 2006
Updated from speech given at FreedomFest 2004; after a brief background on himself, Mackey criticizes the freedom movement from a marketing and branding perspective and suggests a different approach by de-emphasizing some issues and prioritizing others
At the time I started my business, the Left had taught me that business and capitalism were based on exploitation: exploitation of consumers, workers, society, and the environment ... The most important thing I learned about business in my first year was that business wasn't based on exploitation or coercion at all. Instead I realized that business is based on voluntary cooperation. No one is forced to trade with a business; customers have competitive alternatives in the market place; employees have competitive alternatives for their labor; investors have different alternatives ...

Reviews

Bad Teachers, by Thomas Sowell, 19 Apr 1998
Review of Bad Teachers: The Essential Guide for Concerned Parents (1998) by Guy Strickland, a former teacher and principal turned education consultant
This book does not buy the malarkey that teachers and principals know best ... The author says: "Who is Qualified to Judge a Teacher? You Are!" He asks: "What is a good car wash? Is it the one certified by the American Society of Car Washes? Is it the one endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce? No. It's the one that people keep going to, because it does a good job of cleaning cars." By the same token, good teachers are those whose students learn, not those with worthless certificates and diplomas from schools of education—"pieces of paper that signify nothing," as the author aptly puts it.
Related Topics: Children, Learning

Interviews

The Peters Principles: An Interview with Tom Peters: The management guru as playground director, provocateur, and passionate defender of open societies., by Tom Peters, Virginia Postrel, Reason, Oct 1997
Topics discussed include: Peters' public persona, Robert McNamara, Hayek, Silicon Valley, corporate planning, his political views, Republicans vs. Democrats, technological change, nostalgia for the 1950s and the future of business
Newt [Gingrich] is still the classic Laundromat small business person. It's a huge problem. All the jobs are not created by small businesses–all the jobs are created by a small number of small businesses that become growth companies. We have this terrible bifurcation between big business Republicanism or Democraticism and small business Republicanism, and it still doesn't have anything to do with how the economy works. I adore the people who have the nerve to start Laundromats, too, but the truth of the matter is, they're not the engines of the economy.
Risky Journalism, by John Stossel, Jacob Sullum, Reason, Apr 1997
Lengthy introduction and interview, discussing Stossel's early work, his ABC News specials, his response to criticism, ABC's policies, objective reporting, and topics he would like to cover
Reason: How do you respond to the criticism that giving speeches to business or free market groups creates a conflict of interest?
Stossel: I think it's good it's being brought up ... I now speak for absurdly high honoraria ... All the money goes directly to charity... [B]ut consumer activists still write articles implying that I am keeping [it] ... I think what happens is that once you start saying on TV that markets work, that business is not evil, then more businesses want to invite you to speak, because people like to be told they are good guys.
September 11 and the Anti-Capitalistic Mentality: An Interview with Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., for Frontpagemag.com, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., Myles Kantor, FrontPage Magazine, 12 Mar 2002
Discusses the insights of Mises' The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality particularly with regard to the attacks on the World Trade Center on 11 Sep 2001
Rockwell: ... [Mises] took it for granted that huge sectors of the intelligentsia and media are deeply ignorant of economics. In [The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality] he addresses the problem not of ignorance but hate: hatred of the businessman and entrepreneur, and the assumptions that the business class is secretly criminal, that the rich never deserve what they own, that businesses that rake in profits by serving others through enterprise somehow "owe" something to the "community," so, if they don't give it up voluntarily, it should be taken from them.

Books

UpdA Primer on Business Ethics
    by Tibor Machan, James E. Chesher, 2003
Partial contents: Business Ethics—True and False - Capitalism - Self-Interest, Egoism, and Business - Employment Ethics - Advertising and Ethics - Capitalism and Racial Justice - Fundamental Environmentalism - Why Globalization Is Good
Related Topic: Ethics

The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Business" as of 19 Oct 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.