Analysis of Government and Corporation

I've been thinking about the various positions people hold regarding politics, and the recent anti-corporation sentiment has me wondering about the relationship between the government and business.

Government and business are two sides of the same coin. They are meant to complement each other.

Without business, where would the government draw taxes? And without government, business would spiral out of control due to lack of regulations.

They are meant to keep each other in balance. The number one goal of business is to make money, and some businesses will go to any length to do so.

That's why the government has to regulate it, to make sure no harm is done.

On the flip side, the government's number one tool is law. They make laws to govern the populace, giving them great power. If there is nothing to keep them in check, they will abuse their power.

Given the current state of my country, the USA, I have come to the comclusion that our recent problem is that one or both of these parties is not doing it's job.

Either the government is not keeping business in check, or the government has turned a blind eye and has become too focused on their own power.

Agree? Disagree?

That business of all social institutions should be the guardian against government overbearing seems like a very dangerous idea to me. Such a concept would give business, especially big business 8which would be best organized) a privileged place in society it does not deserve.

Plus, I'd rather trust a government where I have a say, no matter how indirect, over the necessarily plutocratic structures of corporations where the public has no say at all.

Given that, yes, there is a tendency of governments worldwide not doing their job to keep business in check. The ongoing crisis since 2008 shows just that.

Business (and labor unions) isn't meant to keep the government in check at all, actually.

That would be our job.

I meant the general people keeping the government in line.

If business gets to the point where three or four corporations rule the economy and small business can't survive, the government needs to wake up and do something.

Well, there's a fundamental mistake that you're making with your analysis. You start off by comparing Government and Corporations and their link, then jump from Corporations to Businesses.

Corporations are generally businesses, however not all businesses are corporations. Not even close. My criticism of corporate structures, generally does not apply to smaller businesses, although to be honest some may be guilty of similar problematic issues.

I think corporate structures are problematic for a variety of reasons. First, for public corporations, I do not believe that the markets currently do a very good job at all of rewarding proper operation. Stock price levels are often moved by short-term fluctuations rather than long-term outlook. As well, investors make more profit off of stock price levels rather than dividends, further encouraging this behavior.

Because of this, top management in these firms often are rewarded for acting in this short-term thinking, with the focus on quarterly and yearly goals being much more important than 10 and 20 year projects.

Smaller and private businesses, may do the same things, however the nature of the public corporation demands this. There are some that may buck the trend, of course, (Google's IPO was a big fuck you to this line of thinking) but generally speaking that's the way it is.

The government over-extends its power quite frequently. The scariest words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help"- Reagan.

edited 13th Feb '12 7:47:38 PM by doomsday524

Government is exerting too much authority?

Huh.

I'll remember that next time we have another lovely story about transnationals enslaving people in Africa or South America, or big business in the US itself taking control of anything and everything it can get its grubby paws on.

Though, I suppose business does control the government...

Arguably, the problem is not whether the government uses too much power, but whether it uses its power well. Lately, it's hard to argue that it has.

Mm. Such is the problem for liberals. Business can't be trusted with everything, but the only reasonable check against business—government—is owned by the businesses.

As it is, there is no real way to win, practically speaking.

Well, you can think it in terms of economic systems. On one end, we have the free market economy and on the other, we have the command economy.

With a free market economy in its purest form, business is in control of the means of production and government has absolutely no say in it. This is generally bad because business don't have follow stupid rules like OSHA Compliance or paying employees a decent wage.

With a command economy in its purest form, government is in absolute control of the means of production, and businesses are just extensions of the government. This is generally bad because everything has to go through the government, even things possibly critical to that government.

All governments are a mixed economy, which means that governments regulate some aspects of businesses, but businesses are generally free to do what they want outside following those regulations. The obvious problem is that it assumes business and government are enemies. If they were say working together, the whole system breaks down.

It would be the people's job to tell the governments and businesses when they are doing their jobs wrong. This is done with protests, strikes, voting, boycotts, activism, etc. In essence, it is a triangle between the people, the government, and business, which is how all good checks and balances are supposed to be. Now if this particular branch is taken too far, it leads to violence and chaos, which ain't exactly safe to raise your children.