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> Fundamental issue is the expectation that all public companies must keep growing and show profits quarter after quarter, year after year. This is obviously un

> Fundamental issue is the expectation that all public companies must keep growing and show profits quarter after quarter, year after year. This is obviously unsustainable. Hey, feel free to invest your retirement savings in a company that doesn't grow profits year after year, I'm sure you'll do great!

chris_mc 8y ago
>invest your retirement savings We would need to rework the whole system if we threw out the "constant growth" method of running a company. If we take care of the people so they don't have to worry about saving for retirement, it's possible to redesign the economy in this way and our goals as a society. You obviously can't change one major axiom of the US economy without revisiting the remaining axioms!
- NeoBasilisk 8y ago
  No idea why this is getting downvoted.
  - chris_mc 8y ago
    Hacker News is full of capitalists and libertarians who hate any mention of alternative economic systems.
pixelbath 8y ago
Not all companies exist solely as an investment vehicle.
- ucaetano 8y ago
  Sure, but would you invest your retirement savings in one that doesn't?
- brainwad 8y ago
  They are literally government sanctioned investment vehicles. If they don't return profits to their owners, they are non-profits/charities, not corporations.
kodablah 8y ago
Many do and many don't grow profits but rather sustain profits year after year, and they do great.
- ucaetano 8y ago
  > and they do great Yep, their value never changes, which means that if you invested your savings in them, you'd get no returns. Tell me, where do you invest your retirement savings?
  - kodablah 8y ago
    The value of a business is not, or should not entirely be, measured by its return on investment. You are making the GP's point for them. That some continue growth, and that's where we choose to invest, doesn't mean all should or that it is beneficial that all do.
    - ucaetano 8y ago
      > The value of a business is not, or should not entirely be, measured by its return on investment. No, it is the opposite. The return on investment is measured by the value of the business. But I'm not getting your point, are you suggesting that Google should be a charity? Would you invest your retirement savings on a charity that will return 0%?
int_19h 8y ago
And yet people don't "invest" into blatant pyramid schemes. Sustainability is more important than growth.

chris_mc 8y ago

>invest your retirement savings We would need to rework the whole system if we threw out the "constant growth" method of running a company. If we take care of the people so they don't have to worry about saving for retirement, it's possible to redesign the economy in this way and our goals as a society. You obviously can't change one major axiom of the US economy without revisiting the remaining axioms!

NeoBasilisk 8y ago
No idea why this is getting downvoted.
- chris_mc 8y ago
  Hacker News is full of capitalists and libertarians who hate any mention of alternative economic systems.

pixelbath 8y ago

Not all companies exist solely as an investment vehicle.

ucaetano 8y ago
Sure, but would you invest your retirement savings in one that doesn't?
brainwad 8y ago
They are literally government sanctioned investment vehicles. If they don't return profits to their owners, they are non-profits/charities, not corporations.

kodablah 8y ago

Many do and many don't grow profits but rather sustain profits year after year, and they do great.

ucaetano 8y ago
> and they do great Yep, their value never changes, which means that if you invested your savings in them, you'd get no returns. Tell me, where do you invest your retirement savings?
- kodablah 8y ago
  The value of a business is not, or should not entirely be, measured by its return on investment. You are making the GP's point for them. That some continue growth, and that's where we choose to invest, doesn't mean all should or that it is beneficial that all do.
  - ucaetano 8y ago
    > The value of a business is not, or should not entirely be, measured by its return on investment. No, it is the opposite. The return on investment is measured by the value of the business. But I'm not getting your point, are you suggesting that Google should be a charity? Would you invest your retirement savings on a charity that will return 0%?

int_19h 8y ago

And yet people don't "invest" into blatant pyramid schemes. Sustainability is more important than growth.