Re: Letter, “Fantasies of the 1970s.”
I’m glad to learn that “maximizing profits” for corporations is just a fantasy of the 1970s.
I thought corporations had a fiduciary duty to maximize profits, for shareholders. But I’m happy it’s a myth. Just how minimal do they want their profits to be, anyway? Or did John Kenneth Galbraith not come up with “the lowest levels possible?”
I’m also relieved that “capital interests” and investors (as opposed to hedge fund managers) aren’t messing with anyone’s pension fund by investing in credit bubbles, rather than in real businesses that create real jobs. Although I read that global capital-based pension systems were hit hard when the 2008 credit bubble popped, I’m sure it’s just another myth of the 1970s class war.
And by the way, thank you for that bit about Jimmy Pattison. It’s nice to know he is just offering goods we can choose to buy. And so what if he gets a tax break for being wealthy, at least he’s paying the same for gas and food as everyone else.
Which reminds me, I was a little concerned about income inequality in Canada. It seemed to me that income was gushing up, not trickling down. According to the Conference Board of Canada, there is even a widespread belief that “the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer.” But after reading your letter, this just sounds like another cliché from the weird world of the 1970s.
Everyone knows that rich people are rich because they are smart and work hard, and poor people are poor because they are dumb and lazy. They just choose to be that way.
Mike Taylor
