tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5090403.post6878669206958768761..comments2023-09-07T04:24:11.648-06:00Comments on y-intercept blog: Organic Unityy-intercepthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03389285761013186443noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5090403.post-84758161267997521752007-08-26T16:46:00.000-06:002007-08-26T16:46:00.000-06:00Au contraire, mon ami. When you relieve corporati...Au contraire, mon ami. When you relieve corporations of the burdens of regulation, the added expense of union labor, and the economic threat of litigation you release an enormous amount of capital that is virtually always use to buy other corporations, undersell the competition, and consolidate. In fact, regulation was once designed (and enforced) to prevent consolidation and prevent corporations from externalizing costs (i.e., pushing them onto the society at large).<BR/><BR/>I would submit that while certainly midsize firms often find themselves with union organizing actions or litigation, the reason they are wiped out is that those actions prevent them from "competing in the global marketplace" - in other words, the big corporations will take advantage of these situations to bury them. I would prefer we intervene to prevent large corporations from exercising their power in ways that reduce competition in the marketplace and hurt workers and communities rather than make workers and communities the casualties in a race to increase corporate profits.<BR/><BR/>As for your neocon history lesson, while some of the so-called liberal hawks that transmogrified into neocons were never all that progressive in the first place. Certainly they were Democrats, but it is difficult for me to view any "leading" Democrat as progressive after the Truman Administration.Charles Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02975241234146573609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5090403.post-37695527574130929582007-08-26T13:55:00.000-06:002007-08-26T13:55:00.000-06:00I agree that something should be done about the ma...I agree that something should be done about the massive international corporation. <BR/><BR/>I think if you ever looked at business, you would find that most of the progressive mechanisms for addressing corporate abuse end up having the affect of forcing industry to consolidate. Unions, regulations and excessive litigation all have the affect of culling the herd and leaving only massive companies.<BR/><BR/>I've personally seen a large number of small (relatively healthy firms) wiped out by union actions, class actions or regulatory actions. The large firms are sometimes dented by such actions. The worst case scenario is that actions cause them to merge into even larger corporations. Most progressive actions have the effect of making an environment that is hostile to small companies.<BR/><BR/>I am not the only one who notices this. A large number of progressives realize this and try to find ways to counter the effects of big government. Some of these people call themselves neocons. (A different type of neocon than the bush hawkish military neocons. Some call themselves neo liberals.)<BR/><BR/>BTW, I would be supporting small companies even if the mega corps weren't as huge as they are simply because the people in smaller firms are generally more empowered than those in the corporation.y-intercepthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03389285761013186443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5090403.post-29102020523619987552007-08-26T07:48:00.000-06:002007-08-26T07:48:00.000-06:00A lot of very good ideas here. You diagnose the p...A lot of very good ideas here. You diagnose the problem well, but you find a curious origin for the disease.<BR/><BR/>A heavily regulated economy, such as the US had from the early 1930's to the late 1970's, allows corporate expansion but kept it within bounds. The overly large, overly powerful corporate entities that actually suppress the operation of the free market are creations of the deregulation largely begun under the Reagan administration.<BR/><BR/>In an environment where corporations have so much political power, the court system is often the only way ordinary citizens can attempt to check corporate excesses such as pollution, dangerous products, or outright fraud. Litigation is a curb on corporate power, not an ally of it.<BR/><BR/>Now that the government has abdicated its regulatory role and the conservative judiciary stifles litigation, the only recourse we have is simply to avoid big corporations and buy from small local operations whenever possible. That is, unless we actually try to restore democracy and re-impose the regulatory environment that made America the world's strongest manufacturing power.Charles Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02975241234146573609noreply@blogger.com