[Vision2020] I thought you might be interested in this article

[Andreas Schou]

On 8/28/06, Jeff Harkins <jeffh at moscow.com> wrote:
> Bill,
>
> Here is a simple thought for you to ponder ...
>
> The ultimate force that assures that competitive behavior and free
> choice will provide a check on greed is that there is nothing that
> can prevent you from becoming the next CEO earning $200 million - you
> simply have to be willing to commit to that agenda and be willing to
> make the sacrifices necessary to achieve your goal.

This is utter nonsense, Jeff. As an economist, you should know
full-well that it's utter nonsense.

Social mobility has declined since the 1970s. 42% of people born in
the lowest income quintile die in the lowest income quintile. 24% move
up a quintile. Less than 5% reach the top income quintile. Likewise,
36% of people in the top income quintile remain in the top income
quintile. Note, also, that this is lifetime social mobility --
including the expected increase in wages over a lifetime. This is a
problem, both in terms of social equity and in terms of efficiency:
talent is spread more widely than income, and we are insufficiently
capitalizing on the talents of our low-income citizens.

For God's sake, Jeff, social mobility is higher in Finland, Norway,
Germany, France, Canada, and Denmark. Only Britain has a lower degree
of social mobility than the United States. The "American Dream", at
least insofar as the "American Dream" involves becoming a
multi-billionaire capable of gold-plating his Rolls Royce, is, in the
21st century, a collective hallucination on the part of the American
people.

> Yes indeed - you could be the CEO of WalMart and you could then
> restructure that company or any other multinational firm as you see
> fit - as long as you satisfy the return on capital demands of the
> shareholders and the expectations of the capital markets.
>
> It really is that simple.
>
> You might consider reading the biographies of Dupont, Firestone,
> Ford, Hughes, Vanderbilt, Osborne - even Gates (to name a few) to
> gain a sense of how this is possible.

You might want to consider reading the biographies of Paris Hilton,
John E. Du Pont George W. Bush, Edsel Bryant Ford. You might then want
to take a chance with the biographies of the second generation of
robber barons: the children of Astor, Morgan, Carnegie, and
Vanderbilt. Then you might take a moment to remember that Ford was a
vocal pro-fascist who used his considerable wealth to promote very
little other than anti-Semitism. Then you might take a moment to
consider the social good acomplished by ridiculous and unprecedented
concentration of wealth in the hands of a small number of people.

-- ACS