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The rich adopt novelties and become accustomed to their use. This sets a fashion which others imitate. Once the richer read more
The rich adopt novelties and become accustomed to their use. This sets a fashion which others imitate. Once the richer classes have adopted a certain way of living, producers have an incentive to improve the methods of manufacture so that soon it is possible for the poorer classes to follow suit. Thus luxury furthers progress. Innovation "is the whim of an elite before it becomes a need of the public. The luxury today is the necessity of tomorrow." Luxury is the roadmaker of progress: it develops latent needs and makes people discontented. In so far as they think consistently, moralists who condemn luxury must recommend the comparatively desireless existence of the wild life roaming in the woods as the ultimate ideal of civilized life.
The desire of businessmen for profits is what drives prices down unless forcibly prevented from engaging in price competition, usually read more
The desire of businessmen for profits is what drives prices down unless forcibly prevented from engaging in price competition, usually by governmental activity.
The fortune which nobody sees makes a person happy and unenvied.
The fortune which nobody sees makes a person happy and unenvied.
The truth is that economic competition is the very opposite of competition in the animal kingdom. It is not a read more
The truth is that economic competition is the very opposite of competition in the animal kingdom. It is not a competition in the grabbing off of scarce nature-given supplies, as it is in the animal kingdom. Rather, it is a competition in the positive creation of new and additional wealth.
Capital can do nothing without brains to direct it.
Capital can do nothing without brains to direct it.
The standard of living has risen along with the size of the world's population since the beginning of recorded time. read more
The standard of living has risen along with the size of the world's population since the beginning of recorded time. There is no convincing economic reason why these trends toward a better life should not continue indefinitely.
The growing complexity of science, technology, and organization does not imply either a growing knowledge or a growing need for read more
The growing complexity of science, technology, and organization does not imply either a growing knowledge or a growing need for knowledge in the general population. On the contrary, the increasingly complex processes tend to lead to increasingly simple and easily understood products. The genius of mass production is precisely in its making more products more accessible, both economically and intellectually to more people.
Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?
Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?
Show me the business man or institution not guided by sentiment and service; by the idea that "he profits most read more
Show me the business man or institution not guided by sentiment and service; by the idea that "he profits most who serves best" and I will show you a man or an outfit that is dead or dying.