GDP growth as a measure of economic well-being tends to serve the interests of Big Business rather than those of ordinary people.
Watch all the episodes of this excellent film ‘The Corporation’, described by many as the best documentary they have seen.
In mainstream economic thinking, there are a few fundamental assumptions that are rarely questioned – and they form the basis of economic theory. These assumptions have been so widely disseminated and taught that very few even think of alternatives.
The idea behind economist Adam Smith’s ‘Invisible Hand’ is that the individual self-interest of ordinary people drives not only themselves to beneficial behaviour but is capable of allocating resources efficiently in the market.
The problem is that self-interest is usually driven by greed and the quest for ever-increasing profits. For a corporation, this self interest means its primary objectives are profit maximisation and maximisation of shareholder wealth – no matter how much harm it causes society or the environment. In fact, a corporation will often do its utmost to achieve these objectives – sometimes over-riding all other considerations even if they cause harm. Full article here.
In Malaysia, corps are pretty proud of the fact that shareholder returns are very much the bottom line. I write CEO statements and corp vision-missions as part of my work, and these favoured pronouncements are blatant. Of course, the ‘green & responsible’ spiel is incorporated somewhere too, but in 99.9pc of cases, that’s just adding 100 words to wordcount – and is actually an insult to every rank-and-file employee and discerning denizen.
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Gerakan K,
Bro, apakah yang sedang berlaku? Adakah kedukan kewangan negara begitu teruk? Selepas pulau digadai (Block L&M), tanah kepunyaan KTM digadai (Singapore) kononnya hospital hospital terutama dinegara pun nak digadai juga? Adakah ini benar SiGerakan K, oi?
Apakah yang sebenar kini dinegara oi? Masih belum dapat US1billion walaupun hospital nak digadai?
Judi bola, GST, subsidi minyak dan banyak lagi barangan keperluan ditarik balik, pulau digadai, tanah digadai dan kini, kononnya hospital hopital juga di gadai? Teruk sangat kedudukan kewangan negara kut?
Tetapi, ada lagi RM400 billion simpanan tetap dibank komersial di Malaysia.
Salam Reformasi, PAS untuk Semua!
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tag ‘pyshopaths’? If only I could find the path to the pie shop, how happy I would be…
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Dear Anil
Remember the excellent movie from the 1980s called
“Wall Street”? (starring Michael Douglas).
We are seeing the severe consequences of Wall Street activities in the USA’s economy today.
Progressive economist Dean Baker severely criticises the policies adopted by the Obama Administration
(on the advice of ex-Wall Street people like Tim Geithner).
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Yes, I believe the present economic system is facing a crisis – not only of recession but also of legitimacy. It should pave the way for progressive-minded people to come up with new alternatives to corporate-driven globalisation.
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