Tightening the Noose
“Those who use government to reign in business make both business and government stronger. Those who make it their business to lobby the government make both government and business stronger.”
Inspired by a Twitter discussion with Carmen Villadar.
This entry was posted by Ike on May 15, 2009 at 11:40 am, and is filled under My Quotes. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
Who Needs Avatar? We Already Live In Parallel Universes
about 3 weeks ago - 5 comments
Sarah Palin is joining Fox News.
Cue the cheers from her fans and loyalists who will get her fresh and mavericky take on world events and politics.
Cue the jeers from her detractors, who are already writing punchlines that reinforce their existing opinions.
The fact is we now live in a strange age, one where there really is More >
Fools’ Gold
about 5 months ago - 3 comments
I was listening to the radio on the way into work the other morning, and heard something that bothered me.
The morning hosts were extolling the virtues of a paying client, which is exactly what you would expect them to do. This client, a jeweler, had just held a “sell your scrap gold” event this past More >
Better than Best
about 5 months ago - 1 comment
“Libertarianism is the faith that individuals pursuing the better will succeed over Experts dictating the Best.”
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SEC Draws Line at Commercial Competitors
about 5 months ago - 41 comments
I just got my hands on the SEC’s new Social Media Guidelines for fans at sporting events, and I believe the new language is clearer and ought to placate the fan base.
Specifically, you’ll find two paragraphs that more clearly delineate what the conference would deem a “threat to commercial interests and contracts:”
No Bearer may produce More >
Sweet Irony
about 5 months ago - No comments
“A government that promises free lollipops will fulfill that pledge by stealing candy from babies.”
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Get Angry
about 8 months ago - 1 comment
Still somewhat inspired by Mark Story’s initiative, I thought I’d point out another person you ought to check out online.
Russ Nelson is The Angry Economist. He’s also an interesting guy, into just about anything involving freedom. He does open-source mapping, he bikes, he rows crew, and he jabs his virtual thumb into the virtual eye More >
The Math of Spam
about 9 months ago - 3 comments
Spam works because it scales.
It costs very little to ramp up from 100,000 addresses to 10,000,000 addresses, and all it takes is a couple of hits to make the effort profitable.
How do I know this? Because it exists.
Here’s another example of the principle at play:
On my recent trip to Las Vegas, my wife and I More >
Justifications
about 10 months ago - No comments
“There is no such thing as “theft with a conscience,” for we all envision ourselves as Robin Hood instead of just a hood.”
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Dislocated Knees
about 10 months ago - 2 comments
“When government becomes powerful enough to make all of us get on our knees to bow to it instead of the other way around, it needs to be kneecapped.”
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Desperation
about 10 months ago - 2 comments
“‘Desperate times call for desperate measures’ is a dangerous justification, often uttered by politicians desperate to proceed with a hidden agenda.”
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Additional comments powered by BackType
about 8 months ago
“If we continue to allow Corporations the power to influence economies, then we MUST at least hold them socially accountable for their actions.” – @digitalfemme
Twitter has become an incredible platform for engaging in thoughtful dialog that not only enables us to think, but to think far more critically than ever before.
Thanks to the Lehman Brothers’ fiasco, the domino effect created an important global awareness. The awareness that, more than ever, citizens of the world must scrutinize the actions of *those powers that be* in handling our future.
So many instances, have people been mislead by Governments. And yet, many of us idly watch as the big players make their moves all the while seeing the ripple effect enter into our very homes.
I am not really against Government *crossing fingers*, nor am I against big corporations. What I am against is the socially irresponsibility that these entities have displayed.
Money will always be a means to obtain variables for our well fair but we must realize is that Money is NOT the driving force that steers mankind forward. Indeed, it is the whole hearted intent to create a meaningful existence in each of our lives. It is also the empowerment and joy we feel when we help one another without asking for anything in return.
I believe that the tool(s) we use to create a change in the infrastructures, that are set up to support those in Power, are the social media platforms that allow us to have open, free dialog.
Ike, thank you for giving me the platform to ventilate my concerns. Know that this is only a fraction of what I really could say
.
@digitalfemme
Carmen Villadar
about 8 months ago
Carmen, I’m honored you came to comment.
I’m all for holding companies accountable, but government has a horrible track record in that regard.
We are where we are today primarily because of a key government intervention.
President Clinton wanted to clamp down on corporate greed, and set a tax provision that companies could only write-off salaries over a million dollars if certain performance measures were hit.
(read it here, from Business Week, 2006)
The end result is that many businesses ratcheted down straight pay, and created these performance-based compensation plans that included high-flying options and other pieces of wacky math. (the article includes several examples.)
Ultimately, government can’t dictate without creating unintended consequences. Shareholders CAN.
I’ve long been a fan of the 401-K, which has the potential to liberate tens of millions of investors to be self-sufficient. However, an Unintended Consequence of the 401-K is you now have much more money in the markets, and no more oversight. The degree of scrutiny divided by the amount of money in the system is WAY lower than it used to be. When you own a piece of an index fund, you have such tiny slivers of companies that you don’t pay the same attention as when you buy the shares off the shelf.