Monday, December 15, 2008
Capitalism
I consider myself a fairly staunch conservative, and strongly in favor of capitalism and relatively free market economies.
That said, one can't begin to feel twangs of populist sentiment after the recent series of debacles. Between the moronic levels of risk taking by financial firms that led to the disappearance of Bear and Lehmann and should've also wiped out AIG and others but for OUR taxpayer money bailing them out; the ineptness of Big 3; the absurd recent request by John Thain (CEO and Chairman of Merrill) to his board that he should receive a $10 M bonus (a request he properly withdrew after outcries of disgust); and now the Ponzi scheme by Madoff leading to $50 BILLION dollars of lost money, one can't help but start to question how free the free market ought to be.
At a minimum it would be nice if executive compensation were somehow tied to shareholder approval. If I own a piece of the company, I'd like a say in how they are compensated. Simply having the right to dump the stock as a vote of "no confidence" appears to be an insufficient mechanism.
That said, one can't begin to feel twangs of populist sentiment after the recent series of debacles. Between the moronic levels of risk taking by financial firms that led to the disappearance of Bear and Lehmann and should've also wiped out AIG and others but for OUR taxpayer money bailing them out; the ineptness of Big 3; the absurd recent request by John Thain (CEO and Chairman of Merrill) to his board that he should receive a $10 M bonus (a request he properly withdrew after outcries of disgust); and now the Ponzi scheme by Madoff leading to $50 BILLION dollars of lost money, one can't help but start to question how free the free market ought to be.
At a minimum it would be nice if executive compensation were somehow tied to shareholder approval. If I own a piece of the company, I'd like a say in how they are compensated. Simply having the right to dump the stock as a vote of "no confidence" appears to be an insufficient mechanism.
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4 comments:
What is interesting about all this is that it goes back to the days of our Founding Fathers. Jefferson and other southerners argued that our country ought to be an agrarian-based economy, and distrusted the bankers of NY best represented by Hamilton and the Federalists. The dynamic between farms and other tangible goods vs. finance was alive and well in the country even 200+ years ago.
And if Jefferson had won that argument, we could still be a backwater supply outpost providing raw materials to world powers, without a sizeable middle class, and with a distribution of wealth (and political power) imbalance that makes the present day look great by comparison.
Ironic that the egalitarian Jefferson had an economic outlook that led to servitude for the masses, while the heirarchical Hamilton laid the groundwork for a productive and independent middle class.
Back to your main point: it goes right to the heart of the argument being waged between Kristol, Frum, Douthat, and other "pro-government" Republicans and the more traditional Reganite coalition over the future of the Republican party.
It certainly is a sign of the times that Kristol sounds persuasive to me right now. I'm sure after 4 years of massive government spending and regulatory policing, I'll be reminded of how ineffective it is.
F*** government spending. $50 billion is what he reported. It was probably way more. We need to let the auto industry fail and be reborn. I was at dinner with a friend who's from Detroit who told me about how the most senior auto worker's got first dibs at being laid off because they'd get 90% pay for doing nothing. What the hell is wrong with us?