As any proprietor of a small business knows all too well, the buck stops
with the check signer. The primary responsibility for success or failure rests on the talents and dedication of the owner.
So why should this essential component be any different when it comes to large multinational organizations? The simple reply
that they are far too complex for those who own the equity shares in the company, does not negate the basic principle. The
ultimate claim for management decisions and legitimate authority lies with the ownership interests.
With the introduction of mutual funds and pension programs, the concept
of the money manager emerges to relieve the financier in stock from the day to day monitoring of their investments. Then with
the invention of exotic instruments like derivatives, a foreign lexicon of perplexity was created that required the expertise
of specialists to decipher the meaning of all the complexity. All during this transformation from the simple principle of
ownership to the conglomerate of whiz kid managers, the CONTROL of the business was eroded from its rightful
owners.
So no one should be surprised when the Enron fraud becomes the terminal
swindle of their owners. Can anyone imagine the preposterous distortions necessary to craft pension rules that prevented employees
from selling their ownership shares, as the price of their equity nose-dived to penny stock levels? The State/Capitalism culture
has methodically expropriated the rightful authority of the owner, in favor of a deceitful class of transient managers, touting
manipulators and shielded thieves.
The direct complicity of government regulators allows the control of most
economic structures to be denied from their capital investors. The mutual goal is to share the power. Approved management,
gets the blessings of State created monopolies. An entire financial superstructure from accountants, merchant bankers, insurance
and market makers grows in prominence, while the equity owner is relegated to watching the ticker on the non stop info commercial
that passes for business reporting.
Mr Locke is right on target when he exposes the myths that we live under
capitalist society. The only markets that are free to compete are those that refuse to follow the pattern of government approved
business. Those that adopt the culture of the Capitalist/State axis, surrender their independence of market competition, for
the safety of a government approved protection racket. In the process, the owners of these companies, are deposed from any
effective control of the companies that they own.
Just blaming corporate managers for abusing their positions avoids
the real issue. Golden parachutes are a symptom not a cause of the loss in control. Investors have forgotten that corporate
executives are their 'hired help'. Trading your rights and responsibilities as an owner for the promises of next quarters
performance, is pivotal to preserve the mirage that passes for enlightened management.
Remember the salient relationships of business are consistent for any era
of commerce. A seller needs a customer and a buyer must make a purchase, or create the product or service for themselves,
or do without. The original decision of the consumer drives the transaction. The distortion that has occurred, is that the
corporate economy operates as a dispenser; for what has become, mandatory products and services. Most consumers are conditioned
and socialized into accepting incidentals as necessities. And when it comes to providing a reliable supply of real indispensables,
available options are systemically limited to those provided under the marquee of Corporate/State approved players.
Holders of equity companies, own zero value, when the financial conditions
of a company are fraudulently reported by CPA firms. What exists is the ghost of profits, magnified into price earning ratios
that defy gravity. Corporate management provides the raw deception in bogus data, while the public accounting industry, fabricates
plausible deniability. The manager club, protects their sect of 'whatever it takes' conduct, by defrauding the rightful owners.
Falsely inflating stocks with the dissolution of dividends, feeds the fad that an ailing company is healthy.
We need not reinvent the rules for genuine business. They remain intact.
Redress requires a political reform. Rights always reside within the individual, and no government can legitimately elevate
a corporate entity to equal human status. The greatest of all sophistries is that government will protect and promote capitalism.
All Statists, despise free citizens. The final result of losing control of financial independence is the Globalism of all
economic activities. The big winner is always the State. And the inevitable loser is anyone who resists.
Isn't it time to fire the 'public servants'? Just like the corporate executive,
their board has ignored their pledged responsibilities and refuse to serve the real owners. Bring sanity back to Wall Street,
requires practicing authentic Capitalism. The perversion that masquerades as Capitalism is an insult to every person that
strives to achieve economic independence, which is the only formula for real and lasting security. Take back your government,
so you can run and benefit from your own businesses. We need new management that reports directly to the real owners.
SARTRE
