Re: [Amc-list] aargh

[Victor the Cleaner <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 07:17:36PM -0800, tom jennings wrote:
 
> Corporate growth is insane. The idea is that a the measure of a successful
> corporation is growth, not profit. A normal person woudl think making
> $1,000,000 (or whatever appropriate number to scale) a year would be good,
> accounting for business cycles and inflation and all that. But no -- the
> measure is GROWTH.
> 
> To be a success a business has to get larger every year -- literally
> forever. Endlessly. Maybe this seemed possible-on-paper in 1850 when sailing
> ships were high-tech. But it's completely disfunctional now and businesses
> do crazy unsustainable things to meet that goal.
> 
> It's the publicly traded corps that have this problem. Real, actual
> businesses don't.

I didn't really have a feel for this until I read "Neutron Jack" Welch's
biography ("At Any Cost: Jack Welch, General Electric, and the Pursuit 
of Profit" - what an asshole).  I think that's when I first realized how 
toxic and pernicious this insane notion of unlimited growth is.  

Fortunately, a movement recognizing how ridiculous and unsustainable it 
is is slowly bubbling up.  I heard an interview with this fellow a couple 
of weeks ago, and I'm looking forward to getting his book:

http://www.yorku.ca/fes/about/people/faculty/profiles/VictorPeterA.htm

http://www.e-elgar.com/bookentry_mainUS.lasso?id=12594

jl

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