Rossputin.com: Rational Thinking About Our World

Following is an email I sent to Glenn Beck after hearing him foam at the mouth for too long about "corporate greed"...

Glenn,

One of the few areas in which you are consistently disappointing is when you discuss "corporate greed". It is the job of corporations to earn profits for their shareholders. To the extent that you want to call profit seeking "greed", then greed is the raison d'etre for corporations, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as they're not trampling peoples' property rights (such as through pollution of public property or water) in the process.

You must remember that corporations can only satisfy their "greedy" goals by providing a product or service that will cause consumers to voluntarily part with some money in return for that product or service. A corporation thus can only generate profits (except in monopoly or quasi-monopoly situations) by voluntary transaction with a consumer who believes he is getting at least as much value from the purchase as the cash he is giving up for it.

Greed is the reason corporations provide us with food, clothing, and shelter.

You also massively overstate the short-term nature of the American economic system. Remember a couple of decades ago when everybody wanted to mimic the Japanese and their so-called long-term focus? We ate their lunch. Our corporations might not want to disappoint in the next quarter but that doesn't mean they're sacrificing the long term for it. Your approach implies that corporate executives are essentially idiots.

I don't believe for a minute that greed causes corporations to "hurt themselves in the long run" as you suggest, and I don't believe you have any evidence to support your position, which is rather odd for a guy who is usually so evidence-based. Maybe that sort of populist crap makes for good ratings; I don't know.

In any case, I think you're way off base on this issue...more on this issue than on anything else I've ever heard you say. And for those of us who recognize the benefits of our free market, capitalist economy, you damage your credibility on every other issue by sounding like Hillary Clinton on this one.

Regards,
Ross K