20160414 (capitalist fear)

Motivation by Adam Smith--"or else" (Alec Baldwin in 
Glengarry Glen Ross)*

Motivation by Adam Smith--"or else" (Ben Affleck in 
The Boiler Room)**

Rarely do I agree with 

Alan Greenspan but he hit

The nail on the head with 

The phrase “traumatized 

Worker syndrome.” to 

Explain the remarkable

Increase in productivity 

Accompanying his tenure

As Fed head when companies

Cut back, laid off workers,

Failed to increase wages, 

And magically jobs still 

Got done as if to confirm

For the economic neocons

Their contention of “too 

Much fat in the system.”

Work your ass off, don’t

Complain or you will be next.

Not that it is a new idea.

Andrew Carnegie applied

It frequently in his steel 

Mills. He told his workers

That due to special needs

They would have to be

Especially productive

The next day or they 

Would lose considerable

Business in the future.

Looking to insure their

Success in the long run

They worked harder than

Ever to achieve the goal.

And when, in a flush of

Great effort they did just that,

Carnegie announced that

Would now be the daily

Criterion since they

Demonstrated clearly

The exaggerated efficiency

Was, as we say, “doable.”

General Electric’s manager

Wizard, Jack Welch, not

The real wizard, Charles

Proteus Steinmetz, required

Every level of management

To review comprehensively

Ten subordinates to determine

At the end of the year who

Was most “dispensable.”

Didn’t really much matter

If you thought your team of

Ten were truly indispensable

One of them was going to go

And the thought escaped no

One that he/she might be 

Tenth on somebody else’s

List. How many outside of

Mr. Welch thought it a fair

Winnowing, is hard to tell

But the practice earned him 

The title “Neutron Jack” for

His ability, like the eponymous

Bomb, to empty a building

Without destroying it. Not 

Everyone believes in the

Squeeze as a way of making

Money, but it’s in the heart

Of anyone who’s lived in this

Country to adulthood. If you

Need to hear it spelled out,

There’s Alec Baldwin in

Glengarry Glen Ross* or

Ben Affleck in The Boiler

Room**.  Or you can hear it

In Goodfellas or Full Metal 

Jacket, or just about any hard

Driving movie, novel, play

About the profit motive.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4PE2hSqVnk

**https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfIKzReNDF4