Companies Spend on Equipment, Not Workers

[groovedaddy]

Companies that are looking for a good deal aren’t seeing one in new workers.

Workers are getting more expensive while equipment is getting cheaper, and the combination is encouraging companies to spend on machines rather than people.

“I want to have as few people touching our products as possible,” said Dan Mishek, managing director of Vista Technologies in Vadnais Heights, Minn. “Everything should be as automated as it can be. We just can’t afford to compete with countries like China on labor costs, especially when workers are getting even more expensive.”

Vista, which makes plastic products for equipment manufacturers, spent $450,000 on new technology last year. During the same period, it hired just two new workers, whose combined annual salary and benefits are $160,000.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/business/10capital.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

[Brickbat]

1. Better get that company some tax breaks or something! Maybe that would make him hire somebody.

Someone has to make the equipment, of course. But his quotes make it painfully clear what business today is all about.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Tarriffs on cheap foreign shit might help somewhat.

Erase the disparity between costs to manufacture here, and elsewhere, and American workers become more valuable to a company.

[Scuba]

2. That's becaue at the end of the day, the companies still own the equipment....

...that's why they're trying to turn working people into slaves.

[cantbeserious]

4. It Is Easy To Forget That Companies Are Not Charities

Most companies are organized as corporations.

Corporations in the US are legally obligated to make a profit.

If making a profit means using machines versus labor, the machines will win every time.

Instead of attacking the companies, attack the laws and economic policies that mandate a profit or pit companies against overseas labor arbitrage.

[tortoise1956]

6. Exactly what I learned in my Business Ethics course

A business has an obligation to provide maximum return to its stockholders. However, this has to be done within certain ethical boundaries. For example, the argument is made that keeping the workforce satisfied with their work results in more value to the company due to increased output. There are still companies that believe that.


In my opinion, one of the main problem in the corporate world today is that most senior officers have no personal stake in the companies they run. Face it, when you sit in an office in Manhattan and make decisions that affect workers in California, in an organization that you have never worked for in other positions, what does it matter to you is you throw 100 employees out of work just to preserve short-term capital?

Which brings us to another issue - the focus in most instances is exclusively on the short-term. that leads to decisions that, while they may make sense if one is only worried about the next twelve months, are absolutely disastrous to the long-term stability of the company.

This is true of government as well. There are very few economists who will say that Medicare and Medicaid are not facing problems down the road. However, there is no will to make any changes, since the bad times are 10 years or more in the future. Well, I will be eligible for Medicare/Medicaid in 10 years, and I want things to happen now to ensure that these programs are there for me, as well as my children and grandchildren.

[fasttense]

8. In a perfect err... not so perfect world.

Today corporations are organized to make wealth for their CEOs and some executives. It is the creation of a corporate aristocracy. They (CEOs) continually do things that do not make their stockholders and organizations any profit at all. In fact stock holders have been fighting for years to be able to have more control over the corporation. CEOs make decisions based on what the CEO will make from it.

[cantbeserious]

9. As Was Mentioned - Change The Laws That Make The Bad Behavior Possible

That includes all the laws associated with incorporation and governance.

[Odin2005]

5. Technological Advancement will eventually destroy Capitalism.

What is going to happen when technology drives the unemployment rate to, say 50%?

[cantbeserious]

7. Many Of Us Will Perish Since Social Norms Driven By GOP Blood Lust Will Not Adapt Quickly Enough

To Accommodate the Necessary Changes in Human Behavior.