Which is always a little dangerous, but anyway - here's a little bit of a thing:
'Conservatives' are always yammerin' about how they want Gubmint to run more like a Bidness.
My contention is that's pretty much exactly what we've been seeing for 20 or more years, and here's why I think it: Congress Critters are privy to lots and lots of information that's either not known to the rest of us, or that they get to know about way before we get to know about it; AND, they get to make rules and regulations that can easily tilt the money chute a little (or a lot) in the general direction of their own bank accounts and portfolios. So while we have managed to put certain safeguards in place to make it harder for them to give themselves raises in their salaries, we've done practically nothing to keep them from creating a very slick and lucrative money-laundering apparatus that funnels shitloads of cash into their pockets, even if it does happen behind a thick veil of toxic fog.
Meanwhile, Corporate Bosses get to do this in a slightly more open way - but it's still pretty fucked up. CEOs and Directors and Senior Execs get paid a lot, but the way they make the real money is by putting policy decisions in place that benefit them greatly at the expense (often) of everybody else.
Ask a simple question: why are so many companies spending so much (~$2.4 TRILLION) buying their own stock?
Then ask: what's the Comp Plan look like for those Bosses?
I'm betting dollars to dingleberries that those guys are gonna make more than a few bucks over and above their salaries if the company stock performs well, and what better way to boost the value of a share of your stock than to make it look like it's a hot property because "somebody's snapping it up like crazy"?
And when you're in bed with the politicians who conveniently vote against close enforcement of the rules you've already gotten them to weaken, then collusion and cronyism and outright bribery become the orders of the day, and simply the usual and customary way of doing business.
It gets really complex and convoluted, and I'm not pretending to know what all is wrong or what all needs to be done. But I think it points back to the need for Separation-Of-Powers solutions; we have to rebuild the firewalls - the ones that keep Businesses and Governments and individuals from becoming too big and too powerful.
Cuz always remember - a business is not a democracy.
'Conservatives' are always yammerin' about how they want Gubmint to run more like a Bidness.
My contention is that's pretty much exactly what we've been seeing for 20 or more years, and here's why I think it: Congress Critters are privy to lots and lots of information that's either not known to the rest of us, or that they get to know about way before we get to know about it; AND, they get to make rules and regulations that can easily tilt the money chute a little (or a lot) in the general direction of their own bank accounts and portfolios. So while we have managed to put certain safeguards in place to make it harder for them to give themselves raises in their salaries, we've done practically nothing to keep them from creating a very slick and lucrative money-laundering apparatus that funnels shitloads of cash into their pockets, even if it does happen behind a thick veil of toxic fog.
Meanwhile, Corporate Bosses get to do this in a slightly more open way - but it's still pretty fucked up. CEOs and Directors and Senior Execs get paid a lot, but the way they make the real money is by putting policy decisions in place that benefit them greatly at the expense (often) of everybody else.
Ask a simple question: why are so many companies spending so much (~$2.4 TRILLION) buying their own stock?
Then ask: what's the Comp Plan look like for those Bosses?
I'm betting dollars to dingleberries that those guys are gonna make more than a few bucks over and above their salaries if the company stock performs well, and what better way to boost the value of a share of your stock than to make it look like it's a hot property because "somebody's snapping it up like crazy"?
And when you're in bed with the politicians who conveniently vote against close enforcement of the rules you've already gotten them to weaken, then collusion and cronyism and outright bribery become the orders of the day, and simply the usual and customary way of doing business.
It gets really complex and convoluted, and I'm not pretending to know what all is wrong or what all needs to be done. But I think it points back to the need for Separation-Of-Powers solutions; we have to rebuild the firewalls - the ones that keep Businesses and Governments and individuals from becoming too big and too powerful.
Cuz always remember - a business is not a democracy.
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