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Wait, don't public corporations have an fiduciary duty to their shareholders, debt duty to their bond holders and payroll obligation to their employees. To be

Wait, don't public corporations have an fiduciary duty to their shareholders, debt duty to their bond holders and payroll obligation to their employees. To be honest, if I was a shareholder of GOOG or more likely the via fund manager of my 401K who is managing a portfolio of thousands of publicly traded companies, I could care hardly less about the company and more about their bottom-line; because the fund manager has a moral responsibility to manage the assets of the little guys /working class/teachers/firefighters - cue the TIAA-CREF feel good commercial. IMO, this is the true banality of evil that is not talked about. There is no invisible evil man pulling the strings behind the scene, only layers of our self-interest all conveniently shielded by complex layers of capital structures and financial incentives that no one wishes to really confront the conflicts and zero-sum nature involved in it all. I could hardly care less about corporations trying to be 'not evil' because that's a marketing gimmick. I'd rather have a company tell me how they are screwing honestly their customers, employees and shareholders; there's no shame in that because it's a given and the company would instantly gain respect for their honesty.

Amadou 13y ago
Wait, don't public corporations have an fiduciary duty to their shareholders, debt duty to their bond holders and payroll obligation to their employees. Sort of. It sounds good on paper - in a perfect world perhaps the invisible hand of the market would make "greed is good" a functional philosophy. But that's not the world we live in - there will always be significant friction, imperfect knowledge, etc in the market such that insisting that one part of the entire system be "pure" in the economic liberal sense is really just denying the obvious in a way that encourages exploiting those imperfections. FWIW, the concept that corporations have no public duty beyond maximizing profits as a course of business is quite new. Here's some background: False Profits: Reviving the Corporation's Public Purpose http://www.uclalawreview.org/?p=1056 http://www.uclalawreview.org/?p=1056
stormbrew 13y ago
You ignore that "don't be evil" can be a competitive advantage. Certainly, it was premised to be in many of the texts that form the foundation of laissez-faire capitalism (Adam Smith, who coined the invisible hand, most notably). Focusing on the bottom line to the exclusion of all else also tends to encourage static short term thinking that leaves businesses unprepared for a changing market. A good long term investment is more than just a currently decent dividend.

Amadou 13y ago

Wait, don't public corporations have an fiduciary duty to their shareholders, debt duty to their bond holders and payroll obligation to their employees. Sort of. It sounds good on paper - in a perfect world perhaps the invisible hand of the market would make "greed is good" a functional philosophy. But that's not the world we live in - there will always be significant friction, imperfect knowledge, etc in the market such that insisting that one part of the entire system be "pure" in the economic liberal sense is really just denying the obvious in a way that encourages exploiting those imperfections. FWIW, the concept that corporations have no public duty beyond maximizing profits as a course of business is quite new. Here's some background: False Profits: Reviving the Corporation's Public Purpose http://www.uclalawreview.org/?p=1056 http://www.uclalawreview.org/?p=1056

stormbrew 13y ago

You ignore that "don't be evil" can be a competitive advantage. Certainly, it was premised to be in many of the texts that form the foundation of laissez-faire capitalism (Adam Smith, who coined the invisible hand, most notably). Focusing on the bottom line to the exclusion of all else also tends to encourage static short term thinking that leaves businesses unprepared for a changing market. A good long term investment is more than just a currently decent dividend.