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jamesdougnelson
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
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Group #1: Analysis of Issue
The desire of corporations to maximize profits creates conflict with the general welfare of the nation at large.
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.
The issue of the general impact to society of a strong profit motive in business is not a simple one. The author quoted above asserts that the drive for profit maximization within corporations and the general welfare of the nation are mutually exclusive. In the paragraphs that follow, I will refute the above statement by delineating how the drive for profit maximization is in fact necessary for the continued health of the United States of America.
Most predominately, it should be pointed out that the United States is a capitalist country, whose free-market economy is defined by the drive for individual achievement and financial success. Imagine an entrepreneur who distributes widgets in communist North Korea. She leaves the country because her business has no capacity to improve her standard of living due to the government's tight control over personal income levels. This woman enters the United States as a political refugee, and is immediately capable of earning variable levels of income depending on the success of her business. Because this woman now directly benefits from increased sales and cost control, she works hard and eventually hires employees. As profits rise, her standard of living improves, the GDP of the United States increases (as does tax revenue), and employment rates rise.
Were the United States to somehow cease its desire to maximize corporate profits, our hypothetical immigrant from North Korea would then have no motivation to accelerate her business. She would simply close up shop, fire her employees, and begin collecting unemployment checks from the United States government. Tax revenue would become tax outlays, GDP would fall, and unemployment rates would rise. Surely, this scenario is far worse for American society at large than the profit-driven economy currently in place.
One may argue that the desire for corporate profits is a necessary evil within the Unites States. Profits, however, have no negative impact on any party, whether directly or indirectly. Employees, employers, share holders, the Government, and by extension, communities, all benefit from increase corporate financial success. Profits cannot accurately be considered to be a negative factor within society.
While the author quoted above raises an issue that is hotly debated within American political circles, the desire for corporate profits is clearly a benefit to society at large.
The desire of corporations to maximize profits creates conflict with the general welfare of the nation at large.
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations or reading.
The issue of the general impact to society of a strong profit motive in business is not a simple one. The author quoted above asserts that the drive for profit maximization within corporations and the general welfare of the nation are mutually exclusive. In the paragraphs that follow, I will refute the above statement by delineating how the drive for profit maximization is in fact necessary for the continued health of the United States of America.
Most predominately, it should be pointed out that the United States is a capitalist country, whose free-market economy is defined by the drive for individual achievement and financial success. Imagine an entrepreneur who distributes widgets in communist North Korea. She leaves the country because her business has no capacity to improve her standard of living due to the government's tight control over personal income levels. This woman enters the United States as a political refugee, and is immediately capable of earning variable levels of income depending on the success of her business. Because this woman now directly benefits from increased sales and cost control, she works hard and eventually hires employees. As profits rise, her standard of living improves, the GDP of the United States increases (as does tax revenue), and employment rates rise.
Were the United States to somehow cease its desire to maximize corporate profits, our hypothetical immigrant from North Korea would then have no motivation to accelerate her business. She would simply close up shop, fire her employees, and begin collecting unemployment checks from the United States government. Tax revenue would become tax outlays, GDP would fall, and unemployment rates would rise. Surely, this scenario is far worse for American society at large than the profit-driven economy currently in place.
One may argue that the desire for corporate profits is a necessary evil within the Unites States. Profits, however, have no negative impact on any party, whether directly or indirectly. Employees, employers, share holders, the Government, and by extension, communities, all benefit from increase corporate financial success. Profits cannot accurately be considered to be a negative factor within society.
While the author quoted above raises an issue that is hotly debated within American political circles, the desire for corporate profits is clearly a benefit to society at large.
