it’s a history of 20th century America through the lens of economic theories and practices, and the author argues that the current economic fuckery in the US (”Stable institutions have given way to frictionless transactions, which are celebrated no matter what collateral damage they generate. The concentration of great wealth has coincided with the fraying of social ties and the rise of inequality.“) is largely the result of a handful of people who pushed for certain ideas and legislation in the world of business, finance, and economics.

so you know how corporations lately (i.e. past 30-40 years) have been all like “let’s maximize profits as much as possible, fuck everything else”?

turns out that idea came mostly from this fucking guy: Michael C. Jensen

it was his lectures, books, articles, and various other preachings and schmoozings that promoted the idea that corporations should prioritize their shareholders more than anything else. it was mostly his idea that a CEO should be concerned primarily with generating profit and revenue, rather than concerned with making sure the business is functioning, employees are taken care of, etc.

moving factories and businesses overseas to take advantage of lower wage workforces? all 100% okay b/c it increases profits for the corporation--the US employees well-being is not the corporate responsibility. merging with other companies, whether willingly or through hostile takeovers, is also ok b/c we need to make sure the shareholders are seeing returns on their investments. in fact, maybe it’s better for a CEO to be paid via stocks and bonuses rather than a typical salary, because a salary needs to be taxed and a flat salary doesn’t incentivize growth and profit. in fact, let’s move away from pensions (where the company pays an employee monthly and indefinitely after their retirement) and towards 401ks where its more or less the employees responsibility to make sure they have enough money for retirement.

I don’t think it’s difficult to draw a line between this kind of thinking and the absolute ruthlessness of corporations in the 21st century.

Is Michael Jensen solely responsible for the collapsing state of the US economy and the insane levels of inequality we’re currently seeing? nah it’s not that simple (and he seems to have realized “oh dear I think these corporations took my ideas too far” in the past decade or whatever)

but honestly? fuck this guy.