Chuck Grimes wrote:
>Here is an amusing story. The last construction job I had was as a day
>laborer about eight years ago. My job that day was to break up a
>concrete foundation and basement floor, load the debris into a wheel
>barrow and put it into an old flat bed truck with stake sides. The
>ramps that connected the basement area to the truck on a small hill
>above the site were made of 2 x 12's. The worse part of the ramp
>system was of course getting from the ground up into the truck bed. My
>tools were the usual third world fair, a 12 lb sledge, a wrecking bar,
>a pick, a shovel and a wheel barrow. (A wrecking bar is a octagonal
>bar made of steel about five feet long, with a point on one end and a
>flat chisel shape on the other end.)
>
>A few weeks later I was in a construction tool rental yard and saw the
>rental price for an electric jack-hammer and a portable conveyor belt
>rig, both of which would have been real back savers. The day price for
>the rental of either was higher than my pay for the day. I was
>actually cheaper than power tools!
>
>
>
Wow. Chuck. The above would be a perfect problem for a business ethics
class that was worthy of the name.
Present the situation: the worker is cheaper than the tools. Then ask
"what principle would be satisfied by using the
tool rather than the worker?" Does this convince you that capitalism is
counter to any meaningful notion of progress?
Joanna
>
>