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The Suicidal Corporation / Paul H. Weaver
From Simon & Schuster, Suicidal Corporation is Paul H. Weaver's analysis of how Big Business fails the United States of America.The Suicidal How Big Business Fails America argues that big business has created most of its current economic problems and supported harmful government policies, and suggests massive corporate reform.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 25, 2024
AN ANALYSIS (circa 1988) OF CORPORATIONS THAT TRIES TO GO BEYOND "CONSERVATIVE" AND "LIBERAL"
At the time this book was published in 1988, Paul Weaver was a fellow at the Hoover Institution, and had been assistant managing editor of Fortune magazine, and professor of government at Harvard.
He notes in the first chapter, "This book... shares with conservatism a belief in the marketplace and limited government but parts company from conservatives when they refuse to admit that business has been a major backer and beneficiary of the government intervention that harms the economy. The book shares with liberalism the belief that business has been a major source of the nation's economic problems, and that business efforts to escape the discipline of the marketplace should be deplored and resisted. But it parts company with liberals where they go on to accept government intervention as the cure for most economic problems..." (Pg. 22)
He states, "The technical term for the philosophy that guides business in its dealings with the state is corporatism---broadly, the management of a nation's markets and politics by companies, unions, and/or other producer groups in their own interest, backed up where necessary by the power of government... it has lived a parasitic existence, hiding behind, grafting itself onto, and generally subverting both socialism and liberal democracy... Its function is to advance special interests under color of the common good." (Pg. 182-183)
He argues that "Hostile takeovers and today's incessant financial reshuffling have nothing to do with production. They are highly beneficial elements of an elaborate and sophisticated system of corporate governance. They are a powerful bulwark of the market motives and mechanisms that make the big corporation safe for a free and democratic society." (Pg. 201-202)
Although set in a different economic era than the current one, some of the arguments and ideas in this book retain their vitality and relevance in the modern scene.
At the time this book was published in 1988, Paul Weaver was a fellow at the Hoover Institution, and had been assistant managing editor of Fortune magazine, and professor of government at Harvard.
He notes in the first chapter, "This book... shares with conservatism a belief in the marketplace and limited government but parts company from conservatives when they refuse to admit that business has been a major backer and beneficiary of the government intervention that harms the economy. The book shares with liberalism the belief that business has been a major source of the nation's economic problems, and that business efforts to escape the discipline of the marketplace should be deplored and resisted. But it parts company with liberals where they go on to accept government intervention as the cure for most economic problems..." (Pg. 22)
He states, "The technical term for the philosophy that guides business in its dealings with the state is corporatism---broadly, the management of a nation's markets and politics by companies, unions, and/or other producer groups in their own interest, backed up where necessary by the power of government... it has lived a parasitic existence, hiding behind, grafting itself onto, and generally subverting both socialism and liberal democracy... Its function is to advance special interests under color of the common good." (Pg. 182-183)
He argues that "Hostile takeovers and today's incessant financial reshuffling have nothing to do with production. They are highly beneficial elements of an elaborate and sophisticated system of corporate governance. They are a powerful bulwark of the market motives and mechanisms that make the big corporation safe for a free and democratic society." (Pg. 201-202)
Although set in a different economic era than the current one, some of the arguments and ideas in this book retain their vitality and relevance in the modern scene.
February 24, 2024
A long litany of complaints about how American corporations are actually working against capitalism and everything it stands for: free market, competition, and no government interference. The book argues that the corporations claim for being pro-market, but actually avoid competition by currying favor with government, the author basing it off his experience in Ford Motor company and then as a business journalist. A bit tedious and not quite convincing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews