Cobb

Heh.
Funny.

You've missed the point of that particular clip, Cobb. That the DOJ and others have made some big busts isn't so much big evidence that the system works, so much as it afirms what many in the working class already suspected -- that (some level of) corruption and exclusive excess is a constant in Big Business. To the extent that there is a feeling amongst the populace that for every fat cat caught with a hand in the cookie jar, there are many others reaching in (and that the money=power formula is the real key to democratic influence/access), it dampens any natural impulse to participate more completely in the democratic process.

(sorry for that extra-long second sentence there. mind your step ;-)

Enron still exists. So does Arthur Anderson, only now under a new corporate name. Regardless, I think West is offering a critique on 'free market as religion'. For the disciples of this faith, there is no room or justification for proper analysis of policy, lest one be branded a Commie Pinko Marxist.

Capitalism requires two ingredients in order to function properly; capital (in all its forms) and a competitive environment. In practice, entrepreneurs must factor in government as a manager of resources. Freepers tend to construct straw men in a vacuum, e.g.; 'Compliance with 'Regulation X' raises my operational cost to the point my company's not able to function'.

Allow me to submit Regulation X is a byproduct of the proverbial Invisible Hand of the marketplace. The entrepreneur then is challenged to adjust to the new conditions or be replaced by those companies that respond efficiently. Human nature being what it is, I find there's a general tendency for successful executives to become complacent and risk-adverse.
(Dare I say, 'conservative'?) At this point, it's only natural they focus their resources on protecting their perceived territory rather than
venture into the unknown.

The raw size of a Johnson & Johnson's bureaucracy also influences their decision making. As a successful corporation, they probably prioritize volume and market share. There's quite a bit they leave on the table for The Next Genius. The interesting thing here is once The Next Genius' New Hotness demonstrates serious viability as a competitor, Megacorp Inc. will resort to a number of non-competitive tactics to maintain their advantage. Cobb... you work in the computer industry and I'm sure you see examples of this behavior all the time.

A rigorous capitalist economy requires rigorous and practical law enforcement. I don't believe West is advocating anything different.

That's why I'm a Republican and not a Libertarian or an Anarchist. I understand that human beings are corruptible. So I want license to go in slap around crooks. That I slap them is evidence not of the crookedness of capitalism, but of the crookedness of people. West is probably going to tell me that nobody stole his bicycle or B&E wasn't a problem where he grew up or nobody got raped. You don't blame commerce for these things, that's why they were in the 10 commandments, before capitalism.

With any luck, in the computer industry, I'm going to make a pile helping companies into Sarb-Ox compliance. So I absolutely understand how regulation keeps the honest man honest. But I'm not sure that West thinks corporate officers are honest. Just like the man who says all niggers are stupid, never gets invited into nice black family homes, West is completely alienated from the culture of business. The more he spews, the further he isolates himself.

Here's a theory. West honestly beleives that market correction doesn't function at the level of the multinational. It may be true that today's multinational is beyond market correction and that some new kind of thinking is required to understand their operation and effect. But it is certainly true that socialism has already proven that it cannot scale. So a socialist criticism of global capitalism may have aspects of truth, but it will never be able to regulate it. Because of this West is trying to get Democracy to carry water for Socialism. The problem is that here in the American electorate, we vote our pocketbooks. We vote for empire. Is it any wonder he's spluttering?

I see non-competitive stuff all the time. But I also know that over time, corporations have lost their stranglehold on labor markets. And because of that exIBMers are as dangerous to IBM as IBM is to those it tries to monopolize. The real battle is for intellectual property and indefinite non-compete injunctions against corporate officers. But it's just as much a weakness of the corporations as anything. The basic fact is that the only people who are undyinly loyal and thus volunteer slaves are life-long union members.