RE: Midrange Computing Closed

[jpcarr@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Thank you Chuck.

Your Points were exactly what I was trying to say.   You said them much
better than I ever could though of course.

BTW,  Surprise,   I agree with you on something.  (Just wanted that
officially noted)

John Carr
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Chuck Lundgren said:

I love thread participants who bash someone with "this is off-topic" then
get in the last word.

To use your words: oh give me a break. If you want to know more about
corporate capitalism, read "The Ralph Nader Reader". If you want to learn
more about the goofy wired libertarian culture, read "Cyberselfish: A
Critical Romp through the Terribly Libertarian Culture of High Tech".

Your statement about a company ceasing to exist if it "does not provide
value to its customers, employees, suppliers and stockholders" is
fundamentally flawed!

1. A corporation can take flight from the U.S. to Mexico, for example,
firing all its employees and paying Mexican workers substandard starvation
wages, thereby benefiting the stockholders, and not the employees.

2. A corporation can cut off its domestic suppliers in favor of suppliers
who take advantage of cheap (or free) child labor, thereby benefiting the
stockholders and not the suppliers.

3. A corporation can kill its customers, and suffer no consequences. To
site but just on recent example, early this month Sara Lee pled guilty to
crimes in connection with the 1998 outbreak of listeriosis, which caused
the death of 16 people, eight miscarriages, and 40 to 80 seriously injured
people. They paid a $200,000 fine, instead of having their corporate
charter revoked (which is what should have happened), thereby benefiting
the stockholders, but not the customer victims.

4. A corporation heavily influence elections, resulting in the election of
representatives who are inclined to allow the concentration of corporate
power. Take, for example, the 1996 Telecommunications Act which deregulated
the communications industry and resulted in the further concentration of
media. Americans now have fewer choices for news, information and
entertainment. That benefits the stockholders, not the customers.

There's a common theme here: customers don't matter, employees don't
matter, and suppliers don't matter. Only stockholders matter.

  ... Chuck


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