Here ya go, Brad.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/09/the-cost-of-corporate-america-checking-your-conscience-at-the-door.html
Corporations are amoral. They seek primarily to maximize profits. I contend that a what maybe a good business decision does not make it a Good Decision in a broader sense.
I'm a capitalist, but I've come to the conclusion that unregulated Capitalism leads to really evil things.
<rant>
We, have only to look at the whole Covid supply chain debacle to see how solid business decisions to off-shore most of our production capacity to maximize profits almost put Canada, USA, UK and EU in the shitter.
Examples:
Masks. We couldn't even get the non-woven material for N95 masks because that is all made overseas.
Vaccine components: everything from glass vials, the tops for said vials, syringes, the base chemicals needed to make the vaccine, most of them were made off-shore and in short supply. Most were made in China.
Computer chips: We have Ford, GM, Chrysler and Toyota all nearly dead in the water and hardly producing cars because of a shortage of chips, all of which are made in the Pacific Rim.
The supply chain and off-shoring issues continue.
And here we sit: the end customer, the workers, the bean counters, the paper shufflers, the CEO's and assorted camp followers, all sitting with our thumbs firmly embedded up our collective heinies because of 20 years of really good business decisions to move all production of just about everything outside of the US. Well, that worked real good didn't it?
</rant>
>> does not make it a Good Decision in a broader sense
^^
This.
The cumulative result of seems-good-in-the-short-term decision-making is a system that's functional but brittle. It all works well when it all works well, but we don't have much resilience if something goes awry.
Quote from: Brad on September 02, 2021, 07:27:46 PM
I've come to the conclusion that unregulated Capitalism leads to really evil things.
The thing is, Adam Smith would agree with you. The current version of capitalism in which the only morality is maximizing (short and medium-term) stockholder value, is really an invention of Hayek and Friedman. It's a very new idea.
>Corporations are amoral. They seek primarily to maximize profits.
I think corps are simply a mechanism for making money. Their nature is not moral/amoral outside of following regs. The whole reason they exist is to make money and grow, within the framework and rules they are given.
>I'm a capitalist, but I've come to the conclusion that unregulated Capitalism leads to really evil things.
Totally agree. It's on our government to balance things to keep business on our side. A corp who decides to keep all labor/mfg stateside for the greater good won't be in business long when their comp is offshoring everything for a fraction.
>rethink
Looks like we need to cut Canada out of the supply chain. One bridge and a few trucks...
Canada 'freedom convoy' bridge blockade cost $300m | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ambassador-bridge-cost-canada-convoy-b2016390.html
>The cumulative result of seems-good-in-the-short-term decision-making is a system that's functional but brittle
Debbie: The increasing EU/UK reliance on Russian oil & gas over the last couple of decades is now a painful example of this for consumers.
Surprise, surprise!
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson also is disappointed. His administration divided $20 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds among 48 businesses for the production of masks, gowns, sanitizer and other supplies. Parson hoped to seed a permanent field of manufacturers.
"I'm still a firm believer in that — that we need to be making PPE here in this state," Parson said. "Unfortunately, a lot of entities went right back to where they were getting it before."
Efforts to make protective medical gear in US falling flat | Stars and Stripes
https://www.stripes.com/covid/2022-04-11/efforts-make-protective-medical-gear-us-fall-flat-5653954.html