RUSH: Last August, the members of the Business Roundtable signed a document promising to be kinder and gentler. The CEOs of 181 large corporations vowed to run their companies to benefit their employees and their communities – not just their shareholders.

Now the New York Times is slamming those corporations for ditching their promises of a “gentler” capitalism during the coronavirus shutdown.

According to the Times, key signatories of the pledge are laying off workers. And they aren’t adequately protecting the employees with masks. Instead, they’re paying dividends to their shareholders, while our “planet is under assault from a pandemic.”

The Times quotes a worker who was furloughed by a big hotel chain. He complains that the hotel made “billions and billions of dollars,” but the money didn’t go to the employees. Now he can’t believe the company told him: “We don’t need you.”

There are apparently a lot of people who don’t understand that the first purpose of business is to make money. If a hotel chain doesn’t have customers, the company can’t afford to keep the staff employed to sit around and do nothing.

Same goes for media companies. This New York Times article doesn’t mention that the New York Times has laid off people many, many times for the same reasons.

Capitalism is not gentle and it isn’t welfare. It is viciously competitive, it’s bloodthirsty. And it’s what makes the world go ’round.