[the-ring] CEOs Shrug

[Paul M. Jones]

All,

Ben Carter wrote:

>> PS. And yes, "claptrap" is a technical term.  :-)
> 
>        That's hogwash!  ;)

No, it's just hooey.  ;-)


> Seriously, I think that business leaders have a long way to go
> before they can rise up out of their Dilbertian stereotypes and be viewed
> as national heroes.  I fear that this current fad of reading Ayn Rand is
> going to be similar to the trends with reading Machiavelli, von Clausewitz,
> Sun Tzu, etc.  (Someday I'm going to write "Management Techniques of
> Gilgamesh" and make a fortune.)  There's nothing wrong with reading these
> works, but I think it's more about the appearance of carrying them around
> the office or displaying them on your desk with the titles facing out
> twoards whomever might be seated across from you.

I gotta say I'm agreed on all points.  I read Rand when Rand wa'n't cool.
;-)


> Something that the
> Cato Institute does an excellent job of pointing out, but that you won't
> ever see from this current crop of Rand-worshipping executives, is that
> government involvement in business is a two-way street.  They deplore the
> regulations and taxes, but eat up the subsidies and protective
> legislation.  They hate the idea of having to wade through red tape to go
> about their business, but love to see a competitor trapped in it
> (Microsoft, anyone?).  I'm generalizing here, but I think they're valid
> generalizations.

Benito hits a home run.  You are absolutely right on here.  This is one of
the many reasons that having a big government is a bad idea; it gives you
the power of force over your competitors, and as such is not significantly
more moral than the Mob.  If there's no big Fed in the sky to run to, you're
stuck with just the market, and the market is a mother.


> As for the concept of the productive leaving society in order for
> it to fend for itself, it makes for an interesting concept in speculative
> fiction, but is completely unworkable in real life.

Of course; Rand is using Atlas Shrugged as a way to get her political points
across, same as with a large part of science fiction.


> Car 
> companies love the idea of a customer who will lease a new car every year
> as opposed to the person who buys a sensible used car and keeps it for a
> decade.

Say, a hunter-green 1993 Saturn SL 1.  ;-)

But the thing is that some people *really like* the idea of a new car every
year, no matter how dumb it might seem to you or me.  They want to spend
their money that way.  And it's a bright man who can fulfill that desire for
those customers and makes a profit from it.

Is that what I'd do with my money?  No way.  But then, I am not (in the
words of Daffy Duck)  "Rich! Rich! Fabulously wealthy!" -- of course, if I
were, I'd pay someone else to drive me around in my annual new car.  ;-)


> Face it, we live in a world in which the waning popularity of
> Britney Spears impacts many sectors of the economy and gambling is a
> multi-billion dollar industry despite being illegal in many areas.   At
> this stage of things, you'd perhaps be better served to study the mafia
> rather than Ayn Rand.  :)

See my earlier comment about government, law, and business.  All
organizations seek to protect themselves first, in any way possible, and
often the law is the easiest way to do it, because it can insulate you from
market forces with taxpayer dollars.

Good God, I get angrier every moment I think about it.


>        (Note: the above paragraph is not intended to say that
> corporations are inherently evil or that there's massive conspiracy
> involved, just that this stage of capitalism is oiled with professional
> wrestling and Viagra.)

Hey, entertainment is big business.  If people are dumb, and want dumb
stuff, then by God I'll sell them what they want.  (Except when it comes to
my own field, of course, then by God they'll like what I give them.  ;-)

Incidentally, the only reason we got to the point where entertainment is
such a big money-maker is because the machinations of capitalism have made
previously scarce goods universally available -- earlier generations of
industrial capitalists started at the base of the Maslow pyramid and worked
their way up.  As a result, we are so fantastically wealthy and have so much
discretionary income as a nation that we can afford to support business
ventures that are completely unrelated to maintaining life and limb.

(Does it make any sense to love the market but hate the marketeers?)


_______________________________________________________________________
Paul M. Jones
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