Tyranny of the Marketplace -- Part II

To absolve themselves from any appearance of abject greed, we often hear a CEO, a securities analyst, a member of The Board, or some other pompous windbag say "We are beholden to the shareholders, and it is they who demand these profits."

In these cases, we are asked to believe that "the shareholders" are some broad section of America, a large class of individuals much like ourselves, as we hold shares in this or that mutual fund.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the so-called free market, it's not one-person-one-vote. More like one-dollar-one-vote. Only the largest shareholders have voting rights that mean anything, and those largest shareholders are mostly institutions. And those institutions are themselves beholden to their largest shareholders, again institutions.

So the moral buck is passed, circle-jerk style. No one ever comes right out and says "We're greedy bastards. F*** the workers."

It's those shareholder that made us do it.

Tyranny of the Marketplace -- Part I

Tyranny of the Marketplace represents the main body of thinking for Entrepreneurial Socialism. Here, I will argue that appropropriate regulation is the essence of a free market. It's the part that keeps the market free. Conversely, I will argue that an unregulated market is inevitably a manipulated marketplace. Shouldn't be too difficult...

Appropriate regulation could mean requiring corporations to meet certain standards for disclosure, or it could mean preventing the government from creating an undue burden on a class of business, a particular industry or even all businesses. The deciding factor is the appropriateness of the regulation to the end of creating and maintaining a truly free market.

We recognize that "the market" cannot monitor itself without external oversight. Any Republican-type whiner who would like to debate this point will have to explain how they want to eliminate the Federal Reserve.

And don't even come around with that libertarian "We wanna eliminate the Fed" crap. We sacrifice tiny portions of our liberty to connect ourselves together in the face of an aggressive and ignorant world. It's called civilization. You should try it sometime.

So if the market cannot monitor and regulate itself, what is the appropriate mechanism? In a word, Government . Yes, Mr. Kudlow, I said Government. My government exists to protect people like me from people like you.

To be continued

Romney Loves Chavez

So it's really happening: Massachusetts has cut a deal with the Venezualan government to sell 2 million gallons of heating oil to low-income Mass residents at up to 40% below market value. It simply boggles the mind. Mitt Romney praises the deal, but doesn't ever mention Chavez.

Whacky...