Corporate profits at all-time highs, CEO's salaries and bonuses skyrocketing; at the same time millions of unemployed Americans are barely surviving and this nation's economy remains stagnant and lifeless. How much longer can such a conflicted condition continue until this entire House of Cards collapses?
Yes, something is terribly wrong with capitalism, American style. Those masters of Corporatism who are obsessed with accumulating more and more profits are perfectly content with following their very successful short term agenda and don't seem to see the future disaster into which they are heading.
That's what happens when the lust for profits in the short term overrides intelligent planning to guarantee continued success in the longer term. Does anyone really think that these corporations' executives wrack their brains to come up with ways to improve the American economy? Of course not; their one and only concern is to find more ways to achieve the highest level of profitability and improve their bottom lines, a monumental mistake in the long run.
While these corporations are commonly referred to as Corporate America, they typically don't act in unison; rather, they act on their own, are extremely competitive and will, without any hesitation, use any tactic or devious scheme, legal, ethical or not, to destroy their competition. If they were joined at the hip and in lockstep, they might realize that their shortsighted, misguided policies are destined to bring about their own demise.
To take that premise further, let's use the image of "Ouroboros", an ancient Greek symbol that depicts a snake eating its own tail, to illustrate how these U.S. based corporations will eventually self-destruct if they continue to ignore and defy proven economic principles by allowing their intense greed and obsession with profits to cloud their vision of the future.
When an oil field, gold, silver or copper mine nears the end of its life, it becomes less and less productive and its value diminishes. This is a process in which value is being extracted but no value is being added. But the American economy doesn't work quite that way. What's happening is that these U.S. corporate entities gain substantial profits from this consumer-driven economy but adversely impact its stability and growth as they continue to decimate the American workforce. And so, one day these corporations will find that when they eventually cripple this economy they will have crippled themselves.
Here's a formula that has long been very successful in business operations as related to the American economy: a skilled American workforce + good jobs with decent pay = substantial consumer purchasing power = fueling the economy = great success for American businesses in both the short and longer terms.
That's the formula that was used for many decades in this country that made it the world's leading manufacturing power. It was based on consumer-driven purchasing power to build and maintain a strong, growing economy that had no equal in the world.
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