[lbo-talk] socially irresponsible investment

[Michael Dawson]

> On Saturday 16 April 2005 09:33 am, Doug Henwood wrote:
> >tully wrote:
> >>Free market chaos from mom and pop markets?
> >
> >In the macroeconomic sense, yes. That's one of the reasons the 19th
> >century economy was so unstable. When there are a lot of small
> >actors, there are more links between firms, meaning more opportunity
> >for something to go wrong - a missed payment, for example, that can
> >cascade through the system. And less financial strength among the
> >small individual actors increases the likelihood that something can
> >go wrong. Large firms internalize a lot of these relations, meaning
> >less possibility of something going wrong.
> 
> But isn't this more than offset by the problems that result when a big
> operation does make (or experience) a change?  Don't those
> repercussions have the potential for far greater devastation because
> of the wider ties that are established to a single point?  Wouldn't a
> distributed set of ties to smaller more redundant operations have the
> ability to pick of the slack, to act as a buffer to such massive
> changes to the status quo?
> 
> --tully

Tully, I say this with less malice than it might convey: "Scratch a hippie,
find a Republican."  Don't get me wrong.  I like a lot about the hippie
sensibility.  But based on my years living in Eugene, Oregon, this statement
is one I stand by, and you tend to confirm it.

Yes, corporate capitalism presents entirely new dangers, many of which are
possible end-times issues.  But return to smallness is not the answer
economically any more than return to the 1950s is the answer for "family
values."  If we are to save the world from war, ecological disaster,
poverty, and cultural decay, we need more, not less, centralization of
leading institutions.  That's just a fact, hippies or no hippies.  And Doug
is right about the economic aspect.  Small businesses in certain areas with
certain rules (e.g., universal HC, livable minimum wages, etc.) are great
secondary institutions.  As primary ones, they stink.