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 - January 13, 2002
