On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 5:25 AM, Vivec <[email protected]> wrote: > A small group of ultra wealthy 'Kings' , their Lords and the rest of us as > Vassals of varying degrees. > It's quite tragic. And it has happened slowly over the years and now I think > we are about to see the end result where the bottom finally drops out so to > speak.
It isn't quite that simple, but the reality is that big companies control huge swaths of the economy, and their senior managers are accountable for very little. In theory they work for shareholders' best interests; the reality is that shareholders can get railroaded by sweetheart deals and over-blown compensation packages in the executive suite. Employees can be treated like disposable commodities, out the door at a moment's notice if quarterly earnings (and the CEO's bonus) are at risk. It doesn't always happen that way, but corporate executives are more or less on the honor system, but there is no honor among thieves. Michael Milken said, "Greed works." Except when it doesn't, and it only takes a few cheats to stain the entire profession of being a corporate executive. > There are very many things broken in Trinidad, and one of them is that we do > not have a 'Free Market' in reality. > America lost the 'Free Market' which is supposed to drive capitalism decades > ago, but it maintains the illusion. That's the essence of the problem in the industrialized world. We have an alternative version of state capitalism, where big corporations receive favorable treatment on virtually every front, and they use every tool at their disposal to crush small businesses that compete with them. They are aided and abetted by a political class that sees giant corporations as part of the American success story, but they seem to have forgotten that their job is to ensure a level playing field for everyone. Don't get me wrong, I don't automatically dislike big companies. Some things have to be tackled by big firms with lots of resources. Furthermore, there are lots of people who are happy to have a corporate job with the relative security that it entails, who want the camaraderie and like being part of something far greater than themselves. That's cool. My issue is that it is very difficult to just be in business as a small business. There should be a sole proprietor 1-2-3 kit available from state governments that gives individuals a plug and play way to work for themselves. It could be a hosted service where individuals can receive favorable tax treatment if they do their filing electronically in the system, filing one thing once a year. Same basic deal for any business with under a million in revenue. If the President wants a stimulus plan, that's where he should start. Oh, and any government that wants to encourage growth and prosperity should do the same. Of course, millions of people in the US still manage to overcome these hurdles and succeed on their own. Ultimately, those people give me hope that we can fix what's broken and inspire millions more people to take that route and own their means of production. Let's unleash the entrepreneurial spirit in society. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:323322 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
