Quotes of the Day: Consumer Sovereignty
1. “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
~Sam Walton
2. “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.”
~Henry Ford
3. "Consumers are the kings and queens of the market economy, and ultimately they reign supreme over corporations and their employees. In a market economy, it is consumers, not businesses, who ultimately make all of the decisions. When they vote in the marketplace with their dollars, consumers decide which products, businesses, and industries survive—and which ones fail. It is therefore consumers who indirectly but ultimately make the hiring and firing decisions, not corporations. After all, corporations can make no money, hire no people, and pay no taxes unless somebody, sooner or later, buys their products."
~Mark Perry
12 Comments:
Same's true for shareholder "rights." No right is needed other than the right to sell your shares -- or (except for GM and Chrysler and AIG and Fannie and Freddie and ...) the right never to own the shares in the first place.
Please, release my second chakra!
- Al Gore
"Americans are more likely to speak of a golden past than of a golden future, of capitalism's glories than of socialism's greatness. The story is a sad but also a chastening one for those who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to change America. American radicals cannot afford to become their own worst enemies. In unity lies their only hope."
- Elena Kagan, Preisdent Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States
I would disagree with KipEsquire in that a shareholder should have the right to approve the pay of top execs as well as nominate board members. If the shareholders of a company want to run it into the ground (thereby loosing the value they have in the shares) is that not their right? Management has proven that it really only cares about itself, and needs to have boards that pay more attention. Allowing nominations on the corporate proxy by shareholders will make board members more attentive to the company.
So, monopolies don't exist, information asymmetry doesn't exist, etc. It's like I'm really in the early 20th century!
unless you want to buy a stamp or ride the bus or register your car.
funny how unresponsive, uninnovative, and fiscally unsound those services where the customer has been deprived of his sovereignty tend to be,
2. “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.”
~Henry Ford
that's true. however, it's also true that if the customer has no money, no wages can be paid (or profits made). in my *opinion* this is where supply side fails . . . plenty of product, no customers.
"The more well-paid leisure workmen get, the greater become their wants. These wants soon become needs. Well-managed business pays high wages and sells at low prices. Its workmen have the leisure to enjoy life and the wherewithal with which to finance that enjoyment."
henry ford - october 1926
So this is the perfect time to spend and get better value than in the past by simply barteing for discounts on purchases
I disagree that consumers make every decision. They may make every decision as to whether a product or service succeeds or fails, true. But they do not, really cannot, decide on what gets produced. That is the exclusive realm of the entrepreneur and imagination. Consumers render the verdict.
"Consumers render the verdict."
Only in the private sector.
When the tax man sticks out his hand and demands your money, refuse and see what happens.
Especially with property taxes which are due every year regardless of your income.
The link to the henry ford quote is wrong:
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/it_is_not_the_employer_who_pays_the_wages/13637.html
Thanks Richard, it's fixed now.
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