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nydus/The Theory of Business EnterprisePublic

Thorstein Veblen examines the modern industrial system as a structure defined by the machine process and investment for profit. He analyzes how business enterprise and the pursuit of financial gain serve as the primary forces directing contemporary economic organization.

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER Vn

' '■Saving" It the Bune tlmo t&kei place auUimatlcaUy fn the eoirent opentiona of coalition aud lacorporalion, aa Indicated abore,

THE THEORY OF MODERN WELFARE 257

the same direction. But however extraordinary this pubHc waste of substance latterly has been, it is apparently altogether inadequate to offset the surplus productivity of the machine industry, particularly when this productivity is seconded by the great facility which the modem business organization affords for the accumulation of savings in relatively few hands. There is also the drawback that the waste of time involved in military service reduces the purchasing power of the classes that are drawn into the service, and so reduces the amount of wasteful consumption which these classes might otherwise accomplish.' So long as industry remains at its present level

' Hobaon (JVoftlem 0/ the Unemploi/ed), whose analysU ot overproduction and its relatioD to depressioD goes farther than kq; other, review! and criticises (ch. Vin.) the palliative measares that have been advocated. He finds them,

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