by F.R. Duplantier
"The revolutionary ways in which corporations have improved the everyday lives of Americans over the past half-century are rarely recognized."
"Most businesses exist to make or sell things, not to engage in political or social commentary, act as a philanthropic foundation, or even . . . to employ people," observes John Hood of the Heritage Foundation. "Focusing solely on the means by which businesses carry out their basic mission -- such as their employment practices, their participation in community or cultural life, or their waste management -- distracts us from the benefits that businesses confer on society."
Writing in the August issue of Policy Review, Hood explains that businesses benefit society by inventing "new products, new services, new ways of doing business more efficiently. This they do better than other social institutions, such as governments or charities. And the impact of such innovations on our society is massive, often far exceeding the benefits of governmental or charitable action."
Why do so many Americans fail to recognize the enormous contribution that businesses make to our individual and general welfare? The prejudice of the press and the demagoguery of Democrats deserve much of the blame. Hood argues that "journalists and politicians thrive on bad news. They continue, for example, to decry the inequality of men and women in the workplace, and blast American companies for unfair hiring and compensation practices."
In doing so, says Hood, they consciously or unconsciously ignore the fact that "business innovation historically has helped liberate American women. Technological advances have promoted greater equity in pay by reducing the value of physical strength and increasing the value of mental acuity and social skills, which are distributed more evenly between men and women. At the same time, labor-saving devices in the home have given married women more freedom to pursue education and employment."
Technological advances have also made the workplace safer, for both sexes. Hood notes that "automation and computers have improved workplace safety far more than has government regulation or union activists. Computers allow employers to track accidents carefully and devise solutions to systemic problems."
For reasons of their own, professional agitators "spend a lot of time talking about what they perceive to be the wasteful or destructive properties of goods and services, while ignoring their value to consumers," Hood charges. He cites one of the more telling examples of anti-business bias. "Critics of free enterprise denigrate plastic for being nonbiodegradable and polluting," he observes. "Yet, plastic is the essential ingredient of many of the products and services that make our standard of living possible, such as medical devices, telecommunications, wastewater treatment, transportation, safe and tasty food, and computers."
John Hood laments the fact that, "with few exceptions, those who create the amenities we enjoy and the innovations that make our lives safer, healthier, and happier toil in relative obscurity." He argues that "the real heroes of our age are the innovators who raise our standard of living and overcome the fundamental problems of humanity."
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