What's Wrong with Business Today?

What's wrong? Public Investment is what is wrong.

Companies are no longer allowed to be the best at what they do. They have to increase profits quarter after quarter at the expense of employees, quality, integrity, and identity.

What is so wrong with a business growing to a certain size and staying there? If said company is profitable enough to keep everyone paid and happy why be forced to continue growing?

Public investors are only interested in the bottom-line. How much money will they make from investing in these public companies? Is that healthy to anyone but the investor? Nope, not at all.

This situation has crushed smaller companies and left our economy on the brink. Look at how many monopolies or near monopolies we have created in recent years. Public investors did that, at the expense of consumers. And so it creates a nasty feed-back loop, one that feeds on itself.

I'm not suggesting that all investment is bad. I think private investment is a good thing. It allows those individuals or groups to invest and thus help smaller businesses get going. I see this as more of a loan than an on going income for the investors. Once the company is strong and profitable, pay off the investor and move forward. There is plenty of private funding around for businesses to do this.

A positive side effect of this kind of investment is a more hands on approach to investment. Sure the investor is going to want the business to be profitable but they are less likely to be just sitting on the sidelines wanting profit at all costs. They will be more inclined to see the business succeed based on it's business plan. These are the investors that will be mentors as well.

I'm not saying that private investment is perfect either, but we have been destroying our own markets by making them so easily accessible and public. Any Joe with a computer can become a day trader. Does that mean his investments make sense or are somehow helping the economy? No. These kind of traders are only after the pay off, the reward. They are not interested in their investment helping a business grow or become better, only that they are profitable and produce dividends.

So when times are lean, such as now, companies trim the things that make them good companies because we wouldn't want to piss off the investors. You do that, as a CEO, and you risk being tossed out, even if you were the founder.

I'm not anti-capitalism, but something has gone horribly wrong with our investment system. It should be corrected soon before it completely crashes and the 1930s looks like a boom time.

Daily Soap Box - Salaries Vs. Increasing Prices

I keep hearing about how much the cost of normal every day goods are going up. Things like, food, fuel and shelter. Basic needs.

Then I hear about how salaries are not increasing at the same rate that these basic needs are.

This is simply ridiculous. As much money as there is flowing around Wall Street and other markets and we don't have enough to pay reasonable rates? When some CEOs are raking home millions in salary, options and other benefits?

This situation only increases the divide between the rich and poor and significantly hurts the middle-class.

Why do you think so many people are in credit pinches? Why did so many people buy homes as investments? Because they don't make enough money under traditional methods. Sure a lot of people spend money on stuff they don't NEED, we all do that, but the economy as a whole, as it's been built, hurts when people aren't buying those needs. So now what? Recession as everyone keeps saying...perhaps.

The cause? I believe it's the stock market. It focuses primarily on business growth and profitability at the expense of everything else. Customer service? Naw, too expensive! Pay reasonable rates? Why? These people need jobs and they'll work hard for what we pay them, because what other choice do they have?

We middle-class workers are nothing but serfs to the dukes and earls of big business. The only thing to change it would be for the stock market to completely fall apart and for people to be paid what they are worth. A recession won't do that though. The rich won't be hurt by that, only the lower and middle classes. The rich will allow us to suckle on a bit of their money until we get enough ahead to start making and spending our own money again. It'll start all over.

We need a fundamental change, but only something big and scary will make that happen. Who knows what and when that'll be.