Actually, maximizing profits is the entire purpose of business. Charity is not the point of business - one of Ayn Rand's points. The things is that you seem to think that is wrong because profits are derived solely through unscrupulous means - where one of the trading partners gets taken advantage of. On the contrary, that is how government works. In the free market, you only stay in business if you have a quality product that the consumer values. Like them or not, Apple is a great example of this. They haven't colluded with anyone to put out arguably the best personal computing device in decades - they simply did it and reaped the rewards as millions of consumers valued their products enough to purchase them over and over. Did Apple profit? Handsomely. Did the consumers get taken for a ride? No. Contrast that with government spending to see my point.

You also arrive at the mistaken conclusion that workers themselves have no power. Workers have as much power as their skills and training (and the market) allows and that power directly translates to earning potential and demand. There is a huge difference in earning power between a burger flipper and a doctor. The burger flipper has skills that will earn him/her about $8.50 in the market, while a doctor's skills will earn them 10x that much. Unions actually inhibit the free movement of labor and capital by artificially controlling the cost and mobility of labor - especially low-skilled labor.

Where the system doesn't work and people are being exploited, it isn't in a free market. Government rules and regulations and unions are the two biggest inhibitors of the free market and incur costs to everyone with their interference. Look at any example and you can ferret out the hand of government - either in reinforcing a monopoly or throwing up artificial barriers to the free flow of capital, goods, or services.

You always have choices. If your answer is "but that's too hard", or "something else is more important to me", or "but I need my job because I want x" then you're relegating your encumbrances to others so that you get what you want. I see this theme in most of your answers and it's the consistent 'tell' that your disposition is one of social support.

And if you got off of your premise that workers are incapable of thinking for themselves, and are shuffling through their work shifts in ball and chains, you might see that there isn't any problem.

You give no credit for any degree of self determination to low skilled workers...they have to be 'protected', and coddled by some union boss (who probably plays golf at the same country club that the CEO plays at).

Your posted impression of the helplessness (and mindlessness) of workers is so antithetical to what Ayn Rand believes, that you can only be here to phish for argument.

You've met your goal...what next?

apples and oranges. Did you see you made the newsletter? almost famous bobo

OSHA practically camped out at my company, and made my life miserable...all in the name of my workers protection. No union could have ever done a more through job of intimidation.

No business is exempt from OSHA guidelines.

You are living in the Grapes of Wrath era, and need to check a calendar.

That's not what I was saying. It's a free market. From both sides, the employee and the employer. Employers should be able to pay what they can/will and employees should be free to work where they want and require what wages they want. Nobody bullied me into working at McDonald's. I was there for two weeks when I decided I'd rather work at Pizza Hut making $1 more per hour, and I was getting paid to drive around town in my own vehicle. No body is forcing anyone to work anywhere. It's your choice and always should be. If enough people chose to work elsewhere and there was a drought of employees, McDonald's would start paying more to attract employees. That's how the free market should work, and will if you leave it alone.

Rob,
Ideally a doctor who is rational is in it for the money and knows that doing the best job they can will make them more successful. So I would go for a doctor like that. Part of their success would depend on how well the patients felt about visits and told people they knew. Because ultimately we are free to go to a different doctor if we are unsatisfied. If the doctor loses one regular patient maybe they'll think nothing of it, but if they start losing a bunch they will have to figure out why and make corrections or risk going out of business.

Then choose a different insurance company. If you can't find one you like, start one on the assumption that there are other people who share your interest.

Rob,
I agree with the statement from the Declaration of Independence. However this does not mean that people can do nothing and get everything they want or need. It means we are all free to do with our life what we will and it is up to us to do it. Nobody, including the government has the right to take my life, my freedom, or prevent my pursuit of happiness.
However things like Universal Health care do take away my freedoms at the very least. I do not want to fund the health care of "society". If I decide someone I know could use some help, and I have the means, I have the freedom of choice to help them. It's amazing how generous many people really are by choice, without the government forcing this upon them.

"Let the looting begin"?

As in 'present' tense?

Your breaking story is over a year old, and proved to be union propaganda intended for people like yourself:

"Gregory F. Rayburn, a restructuring expert who took the helm at Hostess last month, said in an interview that the top four executives working under him had agreed to cut their annual salaries to one dollar until the company emerges from bankruptcy or Dec. 31, whichever comes first."

Fifteen months ago: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/04/09/ho...

I read up on that and it was proven not to be the case.

No, an individual's choice and brain make it happen. And to think that a union had anything to do with an individuals success is pure ignorance.

a free market does not require perfection or to virtuousaccording to your standards. Abundantly clear, throughout History, it is not the abuses of an individual merchant one needs fear, it is the abuses of government, which have the force of law behind it.

ummmm....there ARE a lot of people who think the same - or hadn't you noticed?

Rob, here in west Texas, McDonald's pays a starting wage of $14 per hour. Walmart is paying around $17 per hour. Why? Because our economy here is booming and employees are hard to come by. Oil field workers are making in the $70K+ range and if you're an experienced driller or consultant then you are making way more than $150k per year. People are moving here by the tens of thousands a year, massive new homes are going up all over the place and daily you see people driving Benz', BMW, and huge, expensive, trucks and SUVs. It is the just reward of a strong, free, economy.

Trying to force the market into some false premise that they need to pay more because you feel sorry for someone is fallacy. The market will decide. If someone doesn't want to make $10 per hour flipping burgers then they will get some skills and knowledge and find other work that is more lucrative. If you want jobs like McDonald's to be the long-term types of jobs that people retire from someday then you are causing way more damage to those people than anything else would. Jobs like that should be a stepping stone to bigger better things. I know because I worked at McDonald's, Pizza Hut, a gopher for a welder, mowed lawns, a roofer, waited tables and did tech support for granny's in the 90s when they were getting, "on the super highway" of the Internet. I wouldn't trade any one of those jobs or that experience. It taught me so much that is invaluable to me now.

Unions are now a cancer, mostly because they are completely abused by the union management, example: Detroit. I have never once in my life worked for a union. My brother has and it nearly kills him every time the union decides to go on strike so he might see an additional $137 per year raise. It's absolutely not necessary in this day and age of travel capability making today's workforce massively mobile. I'd much rather be able to walk into my boss' office and explain that I have another offer somewhere else for $10,000 a year more and let him match or better it. It's the way the market should work. And better yet, start your own business, put in the blood, sweat and tears and build something of your own, along with your own wealth.