Let’s talk about our economic system. More and more it is ruled by a Tyranny of the Quarterly Report. Profits über alles. No longer is business governed by anything more than the amoral push to constantly increase earnings and reduce expenses. That has become the only way top executives can keep their jobs and their obscene compensation.
And how do they do that? Let’s see: They can “improve productivity,” which often means cutting jobs. They can reduce expenses, which often means cutting jobs and product quality. They can move their operations to a Third World country where they can pay near slave wages, and leave their workers and communities in the dust, as well as the consumer, who is less likely to be protected from dangerous goods.
It’s nothing more than class warfare fought by Them That Got against Those That Don’t. And government is a bought-and-paid-for accomplice. In return for “political contributions,” the laws are stacked to make sure regulations don’t get in the way of unsafe products, shoddy business practices, tax evasion.
This is less a rant than a warning: The United States is a country that operates on the premise that everyone has a stake in its success. The way things are going, it is going to be harder and harder to get people to believe that.