Business

From CroziervisionWiki

Author: Patrick Crozier

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About a week ago I put up a posting on corporations. In it I mentioned that Chris Dillow of Stumbling and Mumbling didn't like them but that I wasn't quite sure why. Suitably prodded Mr Dillow sought to explain himself.

And failed.

For the most part I just don't understand what he is saying. Well, that's being polite. Readers are welcome to speculate on the precise meaning of: "Markets are democratic", "the cult of the CEO", "the ideal-type big business", "statistically significant alpha" but I can't be bothered. If it sounds like gobbledygook it probably is. Actually, that's not quite true. He did provoke me into finding out what "rent-seeking" means. It means getting the government to put your competitors out of business.

The few bits I did understand, I have either dealt with or don't seem terribly important. Some corporations spout gobbledygook. Apart from being a bit rich, it doesn't seem to be any big deal. If they spout gobbledygook to me I simply take my business elsewhere. Corporations are hierarchical. Again big deal. If they are big enough, they seek to put their competitors out of business. Again big deal. It is a characteristic of all big institutions. The problem here is not the institutions as such, but the power of the state.

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