Posted on 10/13/2019 7:20:20 AM PDT by DoodleBob
On August 19, the definition of a company in America changed. The Business Roundtable, a U.S. lobbying group that represents nearly 200 companies, issued a statement proclaiming that the purpose of a business in 2019 was no longer to look out merely for shareholders. It was to protect the interests of all stakeholdersemployees, partners, suppliers, communities, the environment, the very world itself. The groups lofty statement seemed to reorient the role of a public company from the maximization of profit to the maximization of goodness.
Twas a lovely sentiment. And it lasted about 50 days. This week, the news dunked all over the Business Roundtables new definition.
The story started, as things often do these days, with a deleted tweet. Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets basketball team, publicized on Twitter his support for Hong Kong protesters, who are demanding a variety of civil-liberty protections from mainland China and the Hong Kong police. The tweet disappeared almost immediately.
But the damage was done. Chinese companies, furious over public sympathy for Hong Kong, were swift in their vengeance. They suspended licensing agreements with the NBA. They blacklisted the Rockets, historically the most popular U.S. basketball team in China, by barring them from appearing on state TV. The partnership between the NBA and China, which is worth billions of dollars over the next decade, is now in jeopardy.
The NBAso proudly progressive on a range of civil-rights issues in the U.S.torched its reputation. The league moved swiftly to condemn Moreys advocacy for democratic rights; the NBA discouraged players from commenting on Chinese policy; and proHong Kong signs were confiscated at exhibition games in Washington, D.C....
...But if the NBA is cowardly, and Marriott is shameful, and colleges are hypocrites, then what are we, the consumers, in this equation?
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
So says Washington, Jefferson and Madison too.
You know as much about Washington, Jefferson and Madison as you do the Constitution. None of the above accused freedom-lovers as traitors. Only socialists like you make those accusations.
Go back to your hole now.
Mercantilists, like you, would be wearing tar and feather jump suit in 1789.
PS: I will be waiting a long time. Forever....
“Crony Capitalism” is another Delusional Lying Leftist lie. You dig down deep enough and you’ll find the feds are the root of almost ALL public corruption including corrupt “subsidies” AKA bribes.
I agree that for poor people, a $0.99 tube of toothpaste from China is the likely choice vs $1.99 for Crest made in NC. I will never criticize a poor American for buying cheap Chinese goods.
Once you climb up Maslow's Heirchy, however, your utility curve isn't as price-sensitive and your choice set expands- and that's where interesting decisions need to be made. I like low prices, too, but If I also want to live longer than the average Deplorable, maybe I'll chose to eat healthy. In that case, my food bill is likely going to be a little higher. Thus in my utility-maximizing decision I place health above price.
The issue before the NBA is the same - their public utility curve seems to favor woke policies, but in public we see their utility curve places a premium on maximizing profit. There's a shocker.
In a strange sort of way, the liberals have handed this current kerfuffle to the right. Recall in the 1980s and 1990s, the left bemoaned NAFTA, GATT, etc as offshoring etc lead to blue collar jobs vanishing. The right pool-pooh'd these leftists as being ignorant of economics, noting that the American worker will find new jobs in new industries. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Fast forward to today- those workers who were told to Lean to Code by leftist journalists are now blue-collar Deplorables, the right now owns the MADE IN AMERICA issue, and the unemployed leftist journalist doesn't understand why a middle class guy would buy a more-expensive America-assembled Harley and vote for Trump.
IMO it's much bigger than a "gulf". More like an ocean.
I disagree on the livelihood principle. I *do* agree that a steelworker may benefit from a hedge fund guy buying a Ford vs Japan-made Honda, but the hedge fund guy's livelihood isn't as linked to the steelworker parking part of his retirement fund into an equity long-short fund.
Where I believe the explanations may work is within the context of "civic duty." Part of the reson why "Buy American Cars" failed as a civic duty was because the Big 3 and UAW conspired to become fat, big and stupid and cranked out inferior product. It's hard to convince your wife to buy a Taurus when everyone else's breaks down while the neighbor's Accord has 127,000 miles on it and always works. Nowadays, there seems to be more of a sense of civic duty and pride in Buying American, especially because there is improved quality - that's the linchpin. Today, more Americans seem more likely to yield some cash for fellow Americans' jobs.
That is why the tariff is great. It requires no convincing and it is also a voluntary tax. Don't buy don't pay. It raises federal revenue in addition to protecting workers and industry. Its a win-win and that is why the founders LOVED the tariff.
Emphasis on the wrong syll-A-ble.
The illegality and corruption here is the federal government, their bribes and kick-backs. Bribes involving the feds are constitutionally forbidden (whereas corporate behavior is not on the constitutional radar).
Your enemy is NOT corporations which deal in the VOLUNTARY exchange of the Free Market. Your enemy is the 80%+ unconstitutional federal government which forces you to fork over your money, your freedom, and your life.
Can’t educate a socialist dolt. Anyway, you’re on my No-Fly Zone, so buzz off.
To heck with the NBA.
How about public employee pension plans that are heavily invested in the PRC?!
Anyone else thinking that allowing this is a very, very bad idea??
But that you chose the compulsive power of the State as the answer to a query on how you'd " explain/prove/convince" this matter to the average American, helps demonstrate my point.
The income tax is using the compulsive power of the state. The tariff is not progressive or compulsive AT ALL. It is optional, don't buy don't pay.
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