Sam Radcliffe wrote: > In a capitalist society, I would think that any industry > "deserves" about the average level of profit and return on > investment as all other industries obtain. Since the forest > products industry is one of the great underperformers in the > American economy, it is not getting what it deserves, and > therefore can't be considered greedy. The fact is that the rate of profit is lower in some sectors than others - being traditionally lower in agriculture and forestry than in the manufacturing for example. It is not meaningful to talk about what an industry "deserves" in the way of profit. You just have to deal with the reality of what is. In New Zealand we have the world's highest real interest rates and some of the highest rates of profit on equity investments, including forestry. But one cannot draw moral conclusions from that fact alone. Rates of profit are high because there is no effective labour union movement in New Zealand ( high productivity, high accidental death rates and low wages compared with US forestry workers). So is the New Zealand forestry industry "getting what it deserves"? No, I think it is getting what it can. Geoff Fischer 628 Te Ngae Road, Rotorua, New Zealand Phone 64 7 345 3299 Credit for the message above belongs solely to Geoff Fischer. and not to his employer or internet service provider.
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