Liberty and Property.pdf - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

42Liberty and Propertypeople it serves, the more does it dependon pleasing the consumers, the many, themasses. Economic power, in the marketeconomy, is in the hands of the consumers.Capitalistic business is not perseverancein the once attained state of production. It israther ceaseless innovation, daily repeatedattempts to improve the provision of theconsumers by new, better and cheaperproducts. Any actual state of productionactivities is merely transitory. There prevailsincessantly the tendency to supplantwhat is already achieved by something thatserves the consumers better. There is consequentlyunder capitalism a continuouscirculation of elites. What characterizes themen whom one calls the captains of industryis the ability to contribute new ideas andto put them to work. However big a corporationmust be, it is doomed as soon asit does not succeed in adjusting itself dailyanew to the best possible methods of servingthe consumers. But the politicians andother would-be reformers see only the