NationStates Jolt Archive


Pro-Business Label Being Misused

Mikitivity
12-09-2004, 20:38
There are a few Free Trade proposals being discussed, but there is something I have an issue with. It is the misuse of the term "pro-business".

We have "economic freedoms", "civil freedoms", and "political freedoms". Any capitalizt nation will be able to explain that an economic freedom isn't a political or civil right ... it is a description of the (lack) of laws restricting businesses.

Example: 40-Hour Work Week
A law enacted to give workers a 40 hour work week is not pro-business. It is a civil right, as it focuses on giving a right to individuals, but placing a law (restriction) on businesses.


Example: Office Smoking Breaks
As most of us know, people who smoke are addicted. They physically and mentally need to smoke. Some countries have responded by creating domestic laws forcing businesses to allow these employees to take smoking breaks.

Why? The reason is simple, by allowing a smoker to take a break (a civil right), their efficiency is believed to increase. (This may or may not be true ... but that is one common assumption).

An international law in the UN requiring businesses to allow smoking breaks may or may not increase the economy. But it is a domestic law and it restricts economic freedoms. It is not "Free Trade", and it is not "Pro-Business".


Example: Overtime
Requiring overtime pay to be at time and a half might make for happy workers and increase the work force, but it is a law placed on businesses. It is a civil right (human right or social justice) for workers, but a loss of economic freedom for corporations. It is anti-business, not pro-business.


FACT
Pro-Economy != Pro-Business


Please be very careful when reading posts from other nations mistaking a civil rights issue as a pro-business law. If the law restricts businesses (who can make up their own minds), it is not a pro-business law.
Vastiva
13-09-2004, 05:17
mmmm... it does not have to be a "lack of laws restricting business", it could also be a "law enhancing business access" - such as a law giving transportation of goods priority over transportation of people - or anything else which increases the ability of business to pursue business.

Other then that, well put.
Mikitivity
13-09-2004, 06:50
mmmm... it does not have to be a "lack of laws restricting business", it could also be a "law enhancing business access" - such as a law giving transportation of goods priority over transportation of people - or anything else which increases the ability of business to pursue business.

Other then that, well put.

True, I was focusing on the trade off between civil rights and corporate freedoms without thinking about laws that actually streamline things ... which ironically is what I had basically advocated for in my "iced" Global Disaster Assistance proposal. (Iced means the game moderators pulled the plug on the proposal since I classified it as a Political Stability issue ... and now Cog will make a ruling on it when he has time.)

I think the easiest way to avoid this gray area is to just say pro-economy when that is what you are really trying to stimulate. Maybe it helps businesses, maybe it doesn't. Does that make sense or sound reasonable?
Vastiva
13-09-2004, 07:54
Part of the problem is many things could fit in many categories. Things are just not that "cut and dried".

The simplest solution would be for the mods to express how various categories influence ratings, then allow the proposer via TG to explain why the category chosen is "the best of many possibilities".

At least then, there would be interaction, discussion, and mutual problem solving.