Not surprising given that traded companies must do things in the best short term interest of the shareholders and not the best interests of its employees.
The irony there is that the best investments are frequently the ones that DO do things in the best interests of their employees. Articles on picking stocks based on this principle are a regular feature in personal finance advice literature, but for some reason it doesn't seem to catch on. Maybe because figuring out which companies those are requires actual research.
Stock market investing really is a prisoner's dilemma in a lot of ways...
Devon Energy went public in 1988, but I agree with the pattern. Not having stockholders dictating that you lay people off during rough times tends to lead to fewer layoffs.
In the US, the boards of publicly-traded companies are legally required to be short-sighted immoral bastards or the shareholders can sue to have them removed, and for damages, I think.
It was in a college ethics course, reading a Milton Friedman essay justifying this principle (it's called "fiduciary responsibility"), that I got radicalized. Which is why I always laugh like a hyena when some free-market-worshiper insists that I read Friedman and I will suddenly understand why laissez-faire capitalism is The One True Economy.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 05:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 05:58 pm (UTC)Anyone else notice that?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 06:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 06:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 06:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 06:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 06:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 06:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 06:55 pm (UTC)Stock market investing really is a prisoner's dilemma in a lot of ways...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 07:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 07:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 07:55 pm (UTC)It was in a college ethics course, reading a Milton Friedman essay justifying this principle (it's called "fiduciary responsibility"), that I got radicalized. Which is why I always laugh like a hyena when some free-market-worshiper insists that I read Friedman and I will suddenly understand why laissez-faire capitalism is The One True Economy.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 08:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-30 09:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-31 03:00 am (UTC)