Well, the shift from "Taking care of your consumers/employees" to "Fuck em all" isn't so much a problem of then as it has always been that way (despite some shining beacons like mr Ford, but those are (and always have been) rare).
Nowadays, it's easier. Why? Consider trolls.
Of every company that fucked you over in any way possible (selling you overpriced crappy products, no service, lying, deceitful marketing, etc), do you know who is responsible for that? The person, I mean? Probably not. And even if the company name itself is ruined, you can always call it quits (or better yet: go bankrupt but make sure your own bankaccount is filled) and start a new one. The anonymity in which most employees but also employers and shareholders operate makes it far more likely that they will be less... moral and long-term in their choices.
I think it's time to reinstate the pillory. 
Problem now is that it'll be so busy, you still won't remember who was a fuckwad and who wasn't.
I wish I knew the answer to this one.
Strangely, you're absolutely correct and probably didn't even know it. It's all about how businesses are organized.
Simplified Definitions: Corporation: Creation of an "artificial entity (person)" to hold assets and be subject to liabilities and taxes. This is separate and apart from the owners, who are often called "Shareholders" in larger corps. Though ownership through stock is not required per se. Generally, the owners, officers, etc of a corporation are
not personally liable for corporate actions unless the corporate veil can be pierced in certain specified instances. They sure do make all the decisions though....
Partnership: A business union between two or more persons
who always remain personally liable for partnership activities. A partnership is not a separate entity but rather a collection of individuals sharing in part of some operation for shared profit and losses. The partnership itself does not pay taxes, rather the individual partners do based on what portion of the partnership they own.
Professions are not and should not be like any other business and you're wrong if you disagree:Traditionally, there were "The Professions," Law, medicine, investment banking, accounting, and they HAD TO BE PARTNERSHIPS. We didn't feel comfortable letting people hide behind some fictitious corporate name and wanted the individuals running these high skill, high consequence professions known. A law practice usually had to feature the names of the individual attorneys because then you knew who to go after if shit hit the fan. Some changes have been made, but it is still largely that way in law.
Investment banking used to be this way, but now it isn't. This is why Goldman Sachs started out as a partnership, with Marcus Goldman and his Son in Law Samuel Sachs. It was a partnership for over 100 years. Then in 1999, the company made its own IPO and slowly incorporated. Shit has gone downhill since.
WHY IT MATTERS:Professionals had partnerships because the idea was they had (and still have) PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBLITIES. A doctor could loose a license to practice medicine. A lawyer could be disbarred (lose a license to practice law). An accountant could be stripped of CPA status (lose a license to be an CPA). And yes, an investment Banker could lose their professional licenses too.
Shareholders DO NOT HAVE PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBLITIES. They don't care, period. Their only concern is to make money by hook or by crook. The professionals, had to care about a whole lot more or face losing not only their jobs, but their ability to get a job in that line of work EVER AGAIN. THIS IS WHY WE TRADITIONALLY KEPT SHAREHOLDERS THE HELL OUT OF PROFESSIONS. That way the professionals were making the money decisions which in turn made it a hell of a lot easier to abide by their professional responsibilities.
Aftermath of incorporation of the professions:Ever since Goldman and many other investment firms incorporated, it has all been downhill. Now they have to please unpleasable shareholders who want one thing "MORE!" They don't care how you get it or what risks you have to take. They don't care if you invent sub prime mortgages and loans that are risky as hell because you know or should know they aren't going to be paid back. The shareholders own the place and thus they are always right, even and especially when they are wrong. The professionals, who actually know something, are told to shut up by the people with more money than brains and take "risks" in order to get greater returns. By "risks" we mean, "something no sane professional would have done 30 years ago with good reason."
The professional would have never done this because he would've been personally liable in his/her partnership as the shareholder is not and cannot be.Summation: Professionals used to have partnerships (and never corporations) to link their financial decisions and accountability to their professional responsibilities. The risks were made personal and you knew if you screwed up you would be called on the carpet about it in front of the state board and screwed over. Now with professions being "just like any other business" (read incorporated), you have a
fundamental conflict of interest between people who don't care how the money gets made or who gets hurt making it, and the people who know better and are personally accountable. The moron shareholders aren't personally accountable. There are no state boards to call shareholders on the carpet. The shareholders have the gold and he with the gold rules....
Dollar signs have taken the place of warning signs.
What we should do:Return to professional partnerships. Forcibly unincorporate and disband corporations with an ownership interest in professions like investment banking, because shareholders have no place there. This will, of course, never happen, because the shareholders of Goldman Sachs (the vast majority of whom are not even capable of understanding investment banking) have more money than god. The old way of "Making partner" was to work in the firm for years and this had the vital function of making sure the people who owned the place knew what the hell they were doing because they had worked there for decades.... Now you purchase a share of stock in Goldman like it's a (expensive) carton of milk, and you're a part owner in one of the most important business entities in the world and you're able to tell it what to do.... *sigh*
When it is my own name on the sign I care.
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Topic: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread (Read 857877 times)