What is 'business' for?

The "New" America...a place where the rank and file, the workers, the blue collar men and women are blamed for the business disasters of GM. Republicans would have you believe that the financial crisis of the auto industry is the result of bloated wages and benefits to the workers.

The reality is that GM and the entire American Auto Industry is a victim of their own greed and blindness. Any fool that bothered to look could tell that giant Hummers, SUV's, and 4x4 Trucks were a dead end. CEO's that have recieved millions of dollars in pay and compensation were responsible for stupid decesions that have bankrupt the industry. Instead of understanding that cheap energy is a finite resource, they engaged in mutual masturbation to see who could produce the most massive vehicle. The workers just build them, it is the managers that decide what gets built, and what is offered to the customer.

There is another reality, strong unions in the auto industry are directly responsible for pulling blue collar workers into the Middle Class. Strong Unions forced managment to provide a living wage, health care, and pensions for Americans. Look at what the existence of a strong middle class has done for America, a national standard of living that was the envy of the world.

But, their is reality that is destroying everything that was good about American. This truth is absolute Capitalism. Capitalism dictates that profit is the only truth, and that anything that lowers profit is bad. Capitalism demands expoloitation. The ascedency of absolute Capitalism has created a divergence. A divergence based on what "Employment" means and what is the responsibilty of 'Business'. To the Capitalistic Oligarch it is wealth for the the top and scraps for the workers. Under absolute Capitalism business managment has no responsibilty to the employees in any way. It is a belief that profit is the sole reason for business and that pay given to employees is really a nuisance 'expense' that needs to be reduced as much as possible, just like other expenses, lights, heating, supplies, building maintenence.

Further, "Business" to the Capitalistic Oligarch is about class; there is the 'ruling class' and there is the 'worker class'.

On the other hand, there are those that believe the Employee is a vital part of the whole business construct. It is a belief that the employee is just as important as the top boss. It is a belief that both employee and management are engaged in an enterprise that should be mutally rewarding and that everybody who contributes to the success of a company deserves to recieve just compensation for their effort. It is a believe that the purpose of Business is to provide a living for all people employed therein. It is a belief that human beings are more important than widgets, and that building and selling widgets is really secondary to providing a living to human beings. It is a belief that benefits such as health care, pensions, day care are part of the obligation of business and are a right of employees to recieve. It is a belief that there is nothing wrong with profit that is shared in equitable fashion. The blue collar guy may not get the compensation the CEO recieves, but he or she still recieves a wage and benefits that allow for life satisfaction and a reasonably comfortable standard of living.

Basically, what is boils down to this this: Is the individual more important than the Community of Individuals?