Chris : Suggest you pick up a copy of "Madoff, The Man Who Stole $65
billion" by Erin Arvedlund, published by Penguin. If you think that RB of
Scotland or Northern Rock were fiascos you'll find the Madoff book beyond
jaw dropping.
jh
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Barker" <ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Olympus Camera Discussion" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 10:08 AM
Subject: Re: [OM] OT: Google Wave
> Dawid
>
> Thanks for that clarification, but it's not a legal requirement to
> maximise the profits, merely what the shareholders will expect or they
> will take their capital elsewhere.
>
> I sympathise with your wariness of corporations, especially large ones. I
> base my support for Google on my (perhaps naive) belief in the moral
> rectitude of its management. Combined with that is the efficacy of its
> projects: I enjoy using each of its gizmos. My antipathy towards
> Microsoft, on the other hand is based on the opposite qualities: I
> mistrust it and their products are, for the most part, bad or no fun to
> use.
>
> I am tempted to read that book, but I hesitate on the grounds of trying
> maintain a certain good humour in these dark winter months. I am
> naturallly biased against large money-making enterprises and I am not sure
> that I want that bias vindicated. There is enough to do so in the
> newspapers in this country -- witness large bonus payments to bankers
> whose jobs are based on the taxpayers' bailout only last year.
>
> Now look what you've done, Dawid: you've made me swear in public,
> "bankers!".
>
> Chris
> ;-)
>
> On 3 Dec 2009, at 09:49, Dawid Loubser wrote:
>
>> Chris,
>>
>> A individual or a company cannot, of course, take itself to court.
>>
>> I made the assertion that a publicly-traded corporation is legally
>> mandated to
>> pursue the monetary interest of its shareholders above all else.
>> Certainly
>> in U.S. and UK legal systems. This is, to my mind, damaging to mankind.
>>
>> If anybody doubts this, I suggest they read the book "The Corporation"
>> by
>> law professor Joel Bakan.
>>
>> Bakan's argument includes the point that the corporation's sole reason
>> for being is to enhance the profits and power of the corporation. He
>> shows
>> (by citing court cases) that it is the *duty* of management to make
>> money and
>> that any compromise with that duty is *dereliction of duty*.
>>
>> Another point he illustrates (again, by citing court cases)
>> is that "corporations are designed to externalize their costs."
>> The corporation is "deliberately programmed, indeed legally compelled,
>> to
>> externalize costs without regard for the harm it may cause to people,
>> communities, and the natural environment. Every cost it can unload
>> onto someone
>> else is a benefit to itself, a direct route to profit."
>>
>> It was an interesting and eye-opening read indeed, when I first laid
>> eyes on it
>> about 5 years ago.
>
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