The fairy tale goes that capitalism is the result of a belief in “free enterprise and competition.” The reality is that our economic system, for better or worse, is built on the concept of “limited liability.”
As a private tavern keeper, for example, if someone is poisoned by your beer you can be tried and convicted. But if you are merely a shareholder in the tavern, nothing can happen to you no matter how many people die. It’s a clever and useful way to put money to risky work. It actually may induce competition as others invest in other taverns. Although, in fact, the goal of any company is to be as monopolistic as possible.
“Limited liability” is a strange partner with democracy. On the one hand, none of us as investors are to be held to account for the actions of the companies we own. On the other hand, collectively we are very responsible for what our government may do.
Strange. I certainly have less control over “my” elected representative and the bureaucracy that he/she regulates than I do over what shares of stock I buy. Yet if things go wrong socially “I” and “we” are somehow to blame.
It’s a very easy and slippery slope from not being liable, to simply being a “victim”. We seem, nevertheless, to handle all these contradictions adequately. Amazing brains.
But don’t let “capitalism” apologists confuse the issue and claim that their form of corporate power is ethically moral. Convenient, yes. Useful, certainly. A way to guide life? Not at all.
HuntingtonHarborThoughts 