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This part stood out to me also, but mostly for the fact that it seemed poorly substantiated. The fact of the matter is BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union P

This part stood out to me also, but mostly for the fact that it seemed poorly substantiated. The fact of the matter is BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific are majority owned by institutional investors (Vanguard, Blackrock, State Street, Capital World Investors, etc.) Those institutions are managing these investments on behalf of large capital pools–insurance company float, pension funds, 401ks, etc. Who does all that capital belong to (or who are its beneficiaries)? Regular Americans. Very likely included? The author himself! While I have no particular interest or knowledge of the rail industry, I am moved by the issues highlighted by the author. However, I think his call to conspiratorial instincts ("a few rich people are working us to death to fund their nth private island") is bad, dangerous logic.

bombcar 4y ago
It's even worse than that - a single person working you to death for his private island could be sated, could have a change of heart, could reduce the workload. Everything is managed by managers for the same managers - there's literally nobody in charge; the bureaucracy perpetuates the bureaucracy for the sake of the bureaucracy. http://johncbogle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/niri-6-03.pdf http://johncbogle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/n...
- paulmd 4y ago
  Corporations are a form of memeplex, a living entity that sustains itself with a set of rules and incentives. If you consider a beehive or an ant colony to be a single living entity, then a corporation probably is too, it's a single larger entity with its own homeostasis and agency, even if it incorporates individual organic actors into its being. "profit-seeking" is the goal we have chosen to encode most of them with in their bylaws. Non-profits (in principle) have different pro-social goals (I'm ignoring the Komen Foundation-type "mimics"" here). And that's what they do.
VictorPath 4y ago
> Those institutions are managing these investments on behalf of large capital pools–insurance company float, pension funds, 401ks, etc. Who does all that capital belong to (or who are its beneficiaries)? Regular Americans. Very likely included? The author himself! The Federal Reserve survey of consumer finances shows that the majority of equity is held by a small percent of people. Various shifts by corporations and government over the years have happened to raise the social security age, disrupt job security, unions and pensions, and shift middle class retirement funds into the stock market. None of this have had much impact other than that ownership of equity on the minority side of the equation may now be more widely distributed.

bombcar 4y ago

It's even worse than that - a single person working you to death for his private island could be sated, could have a change of heart, could reduce the workload. Everything is managed by managers for the same managers - there's literally nobody in charge; the bureaucracy perpetuates the bureaucracy for the sake of the bureaucracy. http://johncbogle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/niri-6-03.pdf http://johncbogle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/n...

paulmd 4y ago
Corporations are a form of memeplex, a living entity that sustains itself with a set of rules and incentives. If you consider a beehive or an ant colony to be a single living entity, then a corporation probably is too, it's a single larger entity with its own homeostasis and agency, even if it incorporates individual organic actors into its being. "profit-seeking" is the goal we have chosen to encode most of them with in their bylaws. Non-profits (in principle) have different pro-social goals (I'm ignoring the Komen Foundation-type "mimics"" here). And that's what they do.

VictorPath 4y ago

> Those institutions are managing these investments on behalf of large capital pools–insurance company float, pension funds, 401ks, etc. Who does all that capital belong to (or who are its beneficiaries)? Regular Americans. Very likely included? The author himself! The Federal Reserve survey of consumer finances shows that the majority of equity is held by a small percent of people. Various shifts by corporations and government over the years have happened to raise the social security age, disrupt job security, unions and pensions, and shift middle class retirement funds into the stock market. None of this have had much impact other than that ownership of equity on the minority side of the equation may now be more widely distributed.