Any good economist will tell you that complementary factors of production, labor and capital are indispensable and hugely dependent upon each other.
Capital without labor means machines with no operators or financial resources without the manpower to invest in. Labor without capital looks like Haiti or North Korea: plenty of people working but doing it with sticks instead of bulldozers, or starting a small enterprise with pocket change instead of a bank loan.
Capital can refer to either the tools of production or the funds that finance them. There may be no place in the world where there's a shortage of labor, but every inch of the planet is short of capital. There is no worker who couldn't become more productive and better himself and society in the process if he had a more powerful labor-saving machine or a little more venture funding behind him. It ought to be abundantly clear that the vast improvement in standards of living over the past century is not explained by physical labor (we actually do less of that), but rather to the application of capital.
This is not class warfare. I'm not "taking sides" between labor and capital. I don't see them as natural antagonists in spite of some people's attempts to make them so. Don't think of capital as something possessed and deployed only by bankers, the college educated, the rich or the elite. We workers of all income levels are "capital-ists" too -- every time we save and invest, buy a share of stock, fix a machine or start a business.
And yet, we have a "Labor Day" in America but not a "Capital Day."
Perhaps subconsciously, Americans do understand to some extent that those who invest and deploy capital are important. After all, most people would surely have an easier time naming the "top ten capitalists" in our history than the "top ten workers." We take pride in the kids in our neighborhoods when they put up a sidewalk lemonade stand. President Obama continues to be roundly excoriated for his demeaning remark, "You didn't build that; somebody else made that happen."
That's not to say there aren't bad eggs in the capitalist basket. Some use political connections to get special advantages from government. Others cut corners, cheat some customers or pollute a stream. But those are the exception, not the rule, in a society that values character. Workers are not all saints either — who among us doesn't know of one who stole from his employer, called in sick when he wasn't, or abused the disability or unemployment compensation rules? Those exceptions shouldn't diminish the importance of work or the nobility of most workers.
Like most Americans, I've traditionally celebrated labor on Labor Day weekend — not organized labor or compulsory labor unions, mind you, but the noble act of physical labor to produce the things we want and need. Nothing at all wrong about that!
But this year on Labor Day, I'll also be thinking about the remarkable achievements of inventors of labor-saving devices, the risk-taking venture capitalists who put their own money (not your tax money) on the line and the fact that nobody in America has to dig a ditch with a spoon or cut his lawn with a knife. Indeed, what could possibly be wrong about having a "Capital Day" in odd numbered years and a "Labor Day" in the even-numbered ones?
Labor Day and Capital Day. I know of no good reason why we should have just one and not the other.
Lawrence W. Reed is president of the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington, New York and Atlanta, Georgia.
related articles »
Attorney J. Bartlett Quinn has been elected secretary of the Tennessee Judicial Nominating Commission.
TRION, Ga. — Steam boiled into the Monday morning skyline as this sleepy town woke up with renewed purpose.
For a long time, Dalton hummed along without a pure technical school. Dalton State College picked up some of the ...
You may have heard dire claims that the United States "doesn't make anything anymore" — that our nation has shipped ...
Good news, Mr. Reed. Labor Day, the celebration of the struggle for reasonable pay, hours and conditions, may soon be replaced with Memorial Day for Labor.
If it happens, illegal aliens stealing our jobs will be a principal cause of that demise.
And where does this wonderful capital come from? Productivity gains allow the healthy growth of the capital base. Productivity gains are largely the result of increased energy consumption. Energy source extraction and application are contaminating air, land, and water at exponential rates. Continued growth now poses a real threat to continued life on planet earth.
Think that sounds extreme? Extrapolate existing exponential growth and consumption patterns out to the year 2100 and see the ecocide that our irresponsible stewardship is set to cause.
Humans (and most life forms) can and will become extinct unless consumption and population are brought in balance with the earth's carrying capacity.
It certainly looks like we lack the resolve to apply our highly evolved minds to save ourselves.
nucanuck...
"Continued growth now poses a real threat to continued life on planet earth."
"Humans (and most life forms) can and will become extinct unless consumption and population are brought in balance with the earth's carrying capacity."
"Think that sounds extreme?"
Well, yes I do and that's putting it mildly!
c-man,
I guess your extrapolator must be broken or you might begin to see what we humans are creating for our descendants.
nucanuck...
Well now, I'm really not concerned about the planet for I know who created it and who sustains it despite any effort by mankind. This would even include you who claims to be consuming 2.3 earths! At that rate you must be the biggest eco criminal of all time. Are you in hiding? Is that why you fled to Canada?
If you will read Genesis 1: 1, Nehemiah 9 : 6, and Hebrews 1 :3 you will find that God not only created earth but sustains and preserves earth as well.
c-man,
It would take some kind of strange god to smile on the destruction of habitat and resourses. I suspect that you are intentionally mis-interpreting the message to enable plunder with a clear conscience. That would make you quite the sinner.
BTW, the average American consumes an amount that would require 5 earths to supply. That, no doubt, means you are spoiling the planet for those who come next. The 2.3 number that I consume is a falling number that likely started at 5 some years back. I'm headed toward 1 or below.
nucanuck....
Since you are admitting a mea culpa of "destruction of habitat and resourses", I have to ask, what specific habitat and resources are you destroying?
Biblically speaking, I am a sinner just as you are and everyone else. However, I sense you have in mind some eco bible that uses the word sinner as well. If so please tell me where you got that belief as I do confess ignorance of your non Biblical source.
nucanuck...
I know that there is Liberal math but I didn't know that there is Liberal science. I learned that there was only one earth but if I follow your Liberal math correctly there must be billions of earths that are being consumed by us eco "sinners." This seems like Liberal nonsense to me.
c-man,
Somehow I'm not surprised that you don't get it. The funny thing is that it is a conservative concept that to you is nonsense.
I would try further to explain it to you, but I know from experience that you can't get there.
nucanuck...
Your suspicians that I am " intentionally mis-interpreting the message" are totally wrong for even if I knew what your "message" was, I am certain that I would still have a clear conscience.
You write of one who is involved in a eco/environmental/nature cult when you use normally Biblical and sermon terms such as "sinner" and "message."
I challenge you to do a google search on the word sinner, sin, sins, sinned as used in the Bible. The understanding of the word is imperative for every living soul in order to acquire forgiveness of ones sins and to receive eternal life.
Romans 3:23 King James Version (KJV) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
nucanuck....
Regarding your : "Humans (and most life forms) can and will become extinct unless consumption and population are brought in balance with the earth's carrying capacity."
Where did you get that from? Was it from Paul Ehrlich?
The only other Liberal who I've seen write anything similar to that on this site is creasy, when he wrote "We have utterly destroyed the planet.", "It's not just my position. It's reality"
Although according to creasy it is too late. I mean why cut back consumption to 2.3 earths when earth is already destroyed?
The earth will recover...humans may not be here to witness that recovery.
Current trends in ecological degradation are accellerating...exponentially. If you understand the final phase of exponential growth, you understand what, and how quickly, our options disappear.
We are literally destroying our own home.
nucanuck....
Regarding your "humans may not be here to witness that recovery."
Only a practicing atheist could possibly make such a statement. You may have invented a philosophical god in order to get along with friends and neighbors but in practice you have rejected the God of Scripture and live as though the one and only true God does not exist. You are no better off than creasy.
It is obvious to me that you are into some form of nature worship wherein you worship creation instead of the creator.
Gaia perhaps?
nucanuck....
"Gaia perhaps?"
For someone who believes that earth is in crisis you seem hesitant to be specific as to what man is doing to cause the crisis and what the solution is to prevent the destruction. Where is your sense of urgency?
Surely you have noticed the disproportionate number of avowed atheists who comment here. Why not enlist them in your cause, after all they are fellow travelers?
You speak with contempt about atheists...sitting in judgement of others. Is that part of your version of Christianity? I doubt that JC would be amused.
nucanuck.....
"You speak with contempt about atheists...sitting in judgement of others. Is that part of your version of Christianity? I doubt that JC would be amused."
Recognizing atheists is not contempt. It takes no effort on my part, they rush to acknowledge it themselves. However, your "I doubt that JC would be amused." is clearly disrespectful and contemptuous.
Atheist are already judged both now and the day set by God in the future : "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Psalm 14:1 KJV
"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." John 3:18 KJV
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36 KJV
Or login with:
New Account