Capitalisme

Je ne suis pas un économiste et j’ai souvent de la peine à comprendre (comme beaucoup) comment fonctionne notre société.
Une société capitaliste basée sur le commerce et l’industrie.

Pour qu’une entreprise réussisse il faut qu’il y ait exploitants et exploités, ou selon Karl Marx, « une exploitation de l’homme par l’homme. »
Cela a longtemps été comme ça, mais ce n’est pas nécessaire !

La raison d’être d’une entreprise, c’est de créer et de vendre un produit avec a l’arrivée, une marge de bénéfice décente.
Parce que sans bénéfice, il n’y a pas de motivation.

Pour vendre un produit à grande échelle, il faut que ce produit soit offert à des prix raisonnables et compétitifs.
Mais comment peut-on fabriquer et vendre avec succès un certain produit si le coût du travail s’avère être plus élevé que le prix de vente du produit ?

Et comment peu-on être compétitif avec les fabricants étrangers ?

Pour réussir, il faut que le coût de la production soit inférieur aux revenus, c’est évident.
J’ai l’impression que c’est un concept que les syndicats peinent à comprendre.
A force de revendiquer des salaires toujours plus élevés, les syndicats ouvriers se tirent littéralement dans les jambes.

C’est ce qui est arrivé à l’industrie automobile aux Etats-Unis.
Aujourd’hui Detroit (Michigan) qui fut autrefois le fleuron de l’industrie automobile américaine est une ville moribonde.
A force de revendications salariales, les syndicats ont tué la poule aux œufs d’or !
Faute de travail, les gens ont quitté la ville, et Detroit est maintenant une agglomération fantôme, pleine de bâtiments à l’abandon.
Une histoire qui donne à réfléchir.

Pour être équitable cependant, il faut dire que les salaires des grands patrons ont longtemps été excessifs, et j’applaudis ici l’initiative de la Suisse qui vient de limiter les indemnités et les « parachutes dorés » des dirigeants.
Une politique dont la France (et le monde) a grand besoin de prendre pour modèle.
Pour réussir il faut un effort commun, et il faut que tout le monde tire dans la même direction.

Trop souvent les syndicats et la direction ont refusé de faire des concessions élémentaires et ont préféré fermer boutique plutôt que de faire le moindre pas en arrière.
Un dogmatisme obtus, de part et d’autre.

Mais il y a maintenant des jeunes patrons qui prennent la relève et qui changent les règles périmées d’un capitalisme boiteux.
Au lieu de maintenir un écart financier disproportionné entre patrons et ouvriers, ils préconisent une politique de coopération et d’innovation.
Ils  chouchoutent même leurs employés.
C’est le cas aux Etats-Unis de Google, Facebook, SAS, Riverbed (San Francisco), the Boston Consulting Group, etc.

La coopération entre patronnât et employés est donc possible et de loin préférable a une guérilla permanente et insoluble.
Au diable donc les patrons inflexibles et les syndicats bornés, et place a des patrons et des ouvriers ouverts a une politique de coopération!

Alain

Money talks

A few days ago I deposited a check in my bank account. Despite my rather scruffy appearance bank employees treated me with a newfound respect.
The bank manager even introduced himself and pumped my hand enthusiastically.
What did I do to deserve this? Not much, except present the teller a piece of paper with a few zeroes on it.
Does that mean that money talks? No, it means that money shouts!

If you show up somewhere in a Bentley, I bet you that you will get a much better treatment and more glad-handing than if you showed up in a battered pickup truck.

Similarly, people will pay more attention to a pretty woman than they would to an ordinary looking hausfrau.
The invisible cloak of money and glamor will dictate how people perceive you and how they will deal with you.

This state of affairs is even more flagrant in Europe where appearance is everything. You could be a pauper, but if you dress smartly and give the appearance of wealth, you will be treated with all the respect due to your rank.

To trained noses, money even smells. It generates I have been told, a perfume ten times more potent than the greatest aphrodisiac.
Money sniffers can become giddy when getting a whiff of that intoxicating aroma and have sometimes to be forcibly restrained.

If somebody is looking for an idea to make a quick fortune, I recommend working on a fabric that would smell like money.
If you wore a money suit you would become irresistible to almost anybody. People would flock around you like paparazzi around Kim Kardashian’s booty.

Women, bankers, politicians, nobody can resist the sweet smell of dough.
Politicos, like bloodhounds, have a highly developed sense of smell. They can follow the scent of cabbage like truffle sniffing hogs.

We often hear about corruption in far away countries, but you don’t have to travel to Afghanistan to smell corruption.
It is alive and well on the banks of the Potomac.

These interminable debates in Washington are not really about bettering the fate of regular citizens.
They are about money, and the way to steer it or to keep it in the right pockets.

So, irrespective of their colors, shy away from money sniffing hounds, for despite their histrionics they are only working on better ways to line their pockets at your expense.

Alain

 

In praise of the divine wind

Our body is a finely tuned machine.
Like a trusted butler it operates silently and efficiently, and most of the time we are not even aware of its existence.
But when it starts hiccupping, we need to pause and listen. And like any good manager we need to understand the problem to prevent it from getting worse.

Our body is basically a noiseless machine, but sometimes to get our attention (and everybody else’s around), it can emit some loud utterances.
Our stomach in particular, if not treated respectfully, can get perturbed to the point of “breaking wind”.
Useless to say that the noise and the odor associated with “flatus” can be disturbing and embarrassing.

Gas (flatus) is generated in the stomach and intestines as our body breaks down food and it is considered normal to pass gas from 10 to 20 times per day.
It is not excessive and one just needs to flush timely and judiciously.
Breaking wind is a natural bodily function and preventing our body from using this safety valve can be detrimental to our health.
But in our culture it is rather uncouth to do it so publicly.

Once in a while though, you are encouraged to fart.

A few years ago, I was in the hospital for a rather complicated surgical procedure.
After the operation, and after a few days of indigestible food I became unable to have any bowel movement.
Doctors and nurses became concerned and started to medicate me to facilitate bowel evacuation.
They also started to ask me on a daily basis if I was close to produce the divine wind, precursor of the thaw.
This went on for a few days with the entire medical team rooting for me to fart.
When one morning it finally happened, the shot shook the entire wing of the hospital and the group present in my room erupted in wild applause.
I bowed modestly.

This is about the only time I heard cheers for breaking wind in public.

You might be wondering why I praise farting?
As a defender of the oppressed, I feel compelled to come to the defense of this under-appreciated bodily function; it has often been maligned and the butt of many jokes, but its function is vital for a smooth run of the human machine.

So, do not hastily cast a stone toward somebody who inadvertently broke wind. This person was probably caught between enduring a painfully bloated stomach and releasing a noisy but liberating shot of intestinal gas.

Do not raise a stink over this minor peccadillo!

Alain