[PLUG] [OT] Something to mull over the weekend

[Jeme A Brelin]

On Fri, 7 May 2004, Rich Shepard wrote:
>   Here's fodder for Jeme and his cohort:

To which "cohort" are you refering?  I'm hardly the only one here who
recognizes the desctructive nature of the Firm.

> <http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2647328>

I've been saying that for years... and more along those same lines of
interpretting the behavior of systems as one would the behavior of a
living organism.

But the really KOOKY part about this article is this line:

'Unlike much of the soggy thinking peddled by too many anti-globalisers,
"The Corporation" is a surprisingly rational and coherent attack on
capitalism's most important institution.'

Now, I'm going to let the comment about "soggy thinking" slide.  It's full
of so many vague qualifiers ("much", "too many"... one would be too many
to some, so the statement stands) that it doesn't really mean anything.

The SHOCKING part is the last bit.  The corporation is "capitalism's most
important institution"?!?  Are these people totally ignorant?  Adam Smith
makes it VERY CLEAR in his Wealth of Nations (particularly in Chapter 10)
that the firm is an ENEMY of capitalism and can do nothing but hurt the
public interest.  (Granted now that Smith viewed capitalism as a force of
enlightenment rather than a scheme for domination.)

Now, I'm not going to defend capitalism[1] here, but to say that an attack
on corporations is an attack on capitalism is way off base and just shows
how frighteningly effective corporate propaganda has been.

J.

[1] Props where props are due, I suppose... capitalism did go some ways to
serving Smith's purpose of increasing worker productivity, but the profit
motive and a lack of social values has failed to translate that increase
in productivity into more leisure time for the working class opting,
instead, for higher profits and more wealth for the ruling class.

--
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     Jeme A Brelin
    jeme at brelin.net
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