Dating to 1976 and released by Dow Chemical’s public affairs office, this film “Man’s Material Wealth” presents a speech by Rich DeVos, the president of Amway Corporation. In the film, DeVos references the Cold War struggle between the Democracies of the West and the Socialist nations of the East, contrasting the fundamentals of the free enterprise economic system against socialism. The key formula presented in the film, developed by the American Economic Foundation (AEF, is MMW = NR + HE x T, meaning that Man’s Material Wealth equals Natural Resources plus Human Energy times Tools. (The AEF was organized in Cleveland by Fred G. Clark in 1939 to promote the libertarian ideals of a free market and limited government, but ceased to exist in 2003.) In this instance, the “tools” DeVos is referring to are anything that allows us to be more productive (computers, trucks, airplanes, etc.) DeVos’ thesis is that private ownership of “the tools” cause men to take better care of them and to work harder for the rewards. By owing the tools, socialist nations are able to enslave their people, whereas in a free enterprise nation, men are free. Every citizen, DeVos says, needs to understand the socialistic and free enterprise systems and needs to be able to distinguish — and choose — between them.
Richard “Rich” Marvin DeVos Sr. (1926 – 2018) was an American billionaire businessman, co-founder of the multi-level marketing business Amway with Jay Van Andel (company restructured as Alticor in 2000), and owner of the Orlando Magic basketball team.
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