> Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> asks:
>
>> Almost no one has a controlling interest in a large corporation of
>> any consequence. Most Fortune 500-scale firms are owned by millions
>> of shareholders, few with single shareholders even approaching even
>> 5% of the total. There are some exceptions - the Ford family still
>> has big power over Ford, the Sulzbergers over the NY Times - but not
>> many. So is the U.S. capitalist class made up mainly of individual
>> and family owners of small businesses? Is someone who owns a plastics
>> plant in Tennessee more of a capitalist than the CEO of IBM?
>>
>
Author/consultant Peter Drucker describes the current era as one of Pension Fund Capitalism, which doesn't identify a class at all.
> Based on purely personal, and therefore subjective experience, I
> think the guy who owns a plastic plant in Tennessee, or something
> similar in Houston, is more of a capitalist than the CEO of IBM.
Capitalists would say that the one which has the greater risk adjusted rate of return for his/her efforts and capital is the better capitalist.
I'm old fashioned, though. Don't H&N suggest that the capitalists are those who exercise great sway over biopower and reproduction, rather than production? That would be officers of media companies, armed forces, large employers, and mailling list moderators.
Chris