centralized oversight

[Michael Bailey]

Joseph Tracy wrote:
>
> They say free markets, but if they are free, why are so many generals involved, so many jails, so much torture, so many bullets, disappearances, death squads, Tienamin squares, evictions, land grabs, murders, taxes, oil spills, Bhopals, drug addicts . I think freedom is more equivalent to justice than money, sustainability than profit


I remember reading recently, in a biography of Ellery Channing, how
the conservative merchants of Boston thought seeking anything beyond a
6 percent profit led to overly harsh dealings and ruination.  Of
course, they were heavily involved in the slave trade, which lessens
their luster...

 the idea that you can mulct a lot more than 6% out of an honest
business, run fairly to stockholders, employees, customers and the
surrounding community, is the type of expectation that sets the stage
for abuse of one or more of those groups, and/or frantic machinations
to insure the appearance of such high profit...

Smedley Butler set the price point about the same:

"The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent
over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent.
Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

"I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy
investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight
for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of
Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket."

or, "behind every great fortune there is a crime" as Balzac would say