The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 THE ROOTS OF "ANTICAPITALISM" 663same boat. But the typical workerentering the factory can be certainthat he will be paid at week'send. It should be noted here thatin Austria and Germany, for instance,the industrial laborerworks an average of 43 hours aweek (the 40-hour week is in theoffing), while the self-employedput in an average of 62.5 hours aweek. In other words, the rulewithin our mature economy isthis: the "higher up," the greaterthe work effort - and the higher,too, the work ethics; the slack employeecheats the employer but theslack employer only cheats himself.Facts and FictionThe trouble, as Goetz Briefsonce pointed out, is that the currentnotions about the profits ofthe capitalists are totally out oftouch with reality.2 The reason forthese wrong ideas is partly mathematical!Let us look at some statistics.Too many people think thata radical redistribution of profitswould truly benefit "the littleman." But what do the figures tellus? According to the E conom,icAlmanac, 1962, published by theNational Industrial ConferenceBoard, (page 115), of the nationalincome in the United States, the2 Das Gewerkschaftsproblem gesternund heute. (Frankfurt am Main: Knapp,1955), p. 98.compensation of employeesamounted to 71 per cent; the selfemployedearned 11.9 per cent, thefarmers 3.1 per cent. Corporationprofits before taxes were 9.7 percent of the total national income(after taxes only 4.9 per cent) anddividends paid out were 3.4 percent. Interest paid to creditorsamounted to 4.7 per cent of thenational income. Yet, were the recipientsof these dividends and interestpayments all "capitalists"?How many workers, retired farmers,widows, benevolent associations,and educational institutionswere among them? Would thissum, evenly divided among allAmericans, materially improvetheir lot? Of course not.In other parts of the world thesituation is not much different.According to earlier statistics(1958), if aU German incomeswere to be reduced to a maximumof 1000 Marks (then $250.00) amonth and every citizen given aneven share of the surplus, thisshare would have amounted to 4cents a day. A similar calculation,expropriating all Austrian monthlyincomes of 1000 dollars or more,would in 1960 have given eachAustrian citizen an additional 1 1 41:cents a day!But, let us return to corporateprofits. The 13 largest Italiancompanies composed in 1965 afull-page advertisement which