Discussion: American Business History
"Dwight D. Eisenhower, himself a military hero of World War II, in his 1961 farewell address as president warned Americans that in their midst was being created a military-industrial complex' with interests of its own that might not match those of the nation." (Ratner, S.; J. H. Solton; and R. Sylla; The Evolution of the American Economy. New York: Macmillan, 1993)
1) What were Eisenhower's concerns? To what extent do you think he was right? Does this condition still exist?
2) Since industrialization began, technology has generated unemployment, but the increase in business activity opened new jobs, so that the net effect was to produce a steady increase in the number of people employed. In the 1930's the concern was the loss of jobs to labor-saving machinery. In the 1950's and 60's this was called automation. In the 1980's the talk was of replacing workers with robots. At present, the fear is from outsourcing. The growth of multinational corporations has resulted in companies moving entire factories to areas of low cost labor, and to transfer simple, easily learned procedures to areas where untrained workers could be employed at low cost. What is the impact of this upon American workers? Do you think the expansion of business activity can, despite these developments, still generate enough jobs for Americans?
3) Define productivity. Relate productivity to the stated aim of the government to maintain full employment. In the drive for productivity, have we eliminated a potential market for our products by rendering unskilled workers superfluous and thus depriving them the opportunity to purchase the outputs of our factories? Do you see a dilemma here? How can it be resolved?
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