He invented the pacemaker. Wasn't he a benefactor of humanity even before he paid his taxes?
Wilson Greatbatch, 92, died this week a wealthy man. Investing $2,000 of his own money way back in 1958 and tending a garden to feed his family, Greatbatch invented the pacemaker. He licensed it to Medtronic, a company now valued at $36 billion that sells and continues to improve pacemakers and defibrillators. Greatbatch did his part to improve society, create wealth and increase, quite literally, our standard of living. But apparently that's not enough. President Obama suggested under a Cincinnati bridge this month that "if you've done well . . . then you should do a little something to give something back."
Give something back? Greatbatch did well specifically because he provided something that society needed. His and Medtronic's profits are what you and I are willing to pay above costs for these life-enhancing devices. This is true of Apple iPhones and Genentech Herceptin and Google Maps and Facebook Likes.
Ever since the mid-19th-century era of so-called Robber Barons, this country has had a philosophical divide over the role of business in a democracy. It's time to set the record straight.
History has proven that the road to increased standards of living and wealth was built on productivity—doing more with less. It was the Industrial Revolution that got us out of the growing fields and into factories, which allowed us to pay for roads and teachers and civil servants. And now the move out of factories into air-conditioned offices is creating anxiety. It shouldn't. Labor replacement is productivity. James Spangler's vacuum cleaner. The Walker brothers' dishwasher. Clarence Birdseye's flash freezing. DuPont's Kevlar. And John Simpson's guidewire catheter for angioplasty and heart stents—the list goes on. Each invention generated wealth because it improved our lives, not because someone "gave back."
Aside from outsized government-assisted profits (think telecom, asbestos removal and Derek Jeter), it is the delivery of these productive goods and services that increases our wealth. The inventors get wealthy but society gets wealthier. No forced giveback needed.
Well said Mr.Kessler. Usually I read the Op-Ed pages and my blood pressure goes up because I wonder how educated people can be so short sighted and just plain stupid. It's nice too see that somebody really gets it. Hard work, some ingenuity, and a lot of sacrifice as well as the willingness to take a risk is what made these men successful. Why shouldn't they reap the benefits? If the government is going to take away the financial incentive to work hard and be successful where will the motivation to take the risk come from. I wholeheartedly agree with your point of view. Thank you for helping me to remember there are some people who understand the big picture and you are obviously one of them. Do you want to run for office?
Posted by: Alexandra Waesche | September 30, 2011 at 06:44 AM
Yes! Right on Mr. Kessler. I'm reading your book Running Money now. Great read! And I would venture that China, with all the brilliance of her people, will not invent anything noteworthy at all, until intellectual property rights are respected there. No incentive, no innovation. A dreadful self-inflicted punishment, to always follow, never to lead, suitable to the offense of IP theft.
Posted by: Douglas Carpenter | November 28, 2011 at 08:27 PM
Yes you are very right. Wison actually went for a good deed. We all must salute him for this and also should follow him.
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