ABC’s John Stossel keeps it simple, and true.
I confess: I don’t write everything that I say on TV. I write almost everything, but when I anchor, another writer often does a first draft.
Tonight on 20/20, we report on GM. The writer suggested I begin: “it was once the most powerful company in the world…”
GM was indeed the most “profitable,” or “biggest”—that I get. But powerful? Why do people think about business that way? GM has/had no armies with which it can invade other companies. It had no power for force anyone to work there. It couldn’t force anyone to buy GM cars.
Your average two-bit government bureaucrat has more “power.” He can send people with guns to take your money (tax collection). He can lock you up, seize your property, tell you what you cannot do on your property, summon you to court, and so on. Government has the monopoly on power.
I asked the writer why he chose “powerful” and he said, “well, they were so big and almighty…”
But they weren’t “almighty.” That’s proven by their bankruptcy.
Business, to survive, must be a supplicant: it must work hard to please its customers, constantly adapt to meet their changing tastes, beg them to even visit the showroom to consider a purchase. Business is good. There are a few cheaters—I made a career reporting on them—but they are exceptions. Overwhelmingly, business serves us very well.
But the MSM holds capitalism in contempt.
And with them, many liberals. Let’s hope this economic mess at least teaches many a lesson…
h/t: AT QB
