System Crash

I went to Written Inc today under the assumption that I would play along in this week's Thematic Photographic for Serendipitous Saturday, but when I got there, I found this article about the fall of "Research In Motion". At the end of his post, in true Carmi Fashion, he asks the readers a question: "The company still made $695 million last quarter. Is it fair that investors can turn a massively profitable company into a pariah? Does the system work?"

My answer was long enough to warrant posting here. Thematic photographic will have to wait a minute.

To answer your question is a complex task, requiring me to write a bit of an essay...

My understanding is that corporations are legally bound, regardless of anything else, to turn a profit. Strong companies (Monsanto, Google, Macintosh, et al.) get stronger and the 'weaker' ones die in a weird sort of financial natural selection.

From a financial point of view, I think the system "works" as designed - larger corporations choke out smaller ones to increase profits. And the rich are getting richer...

HOWEVER, the system was designed from a financial and economic perspective and didn't take into account social or political impact. We reached the point long ago where (some) corporations are more powerful than government and more easily accessed than religion. Being legally bound to, above all else, turn a profit has turned into sweatshops, deception to consumers, and cutting standards, etc.... And because a corporation isn't a flesh and blood person, there's nobody accountable for any of it.

It's kind of scary. Kind of REALLY scary.

So, from a sociological standpoint and from the perspective of the future of our human race, the system absolutely does not work. Like you said, we're putting all our eggs in one basket, and that basket has potential to be a very powerful, destructive, and deceptive device.

On an even larger scale, I think it's safe to assume that if we stay this course there will eventually be only one basket containing all of the eggs. A huge basket with infinite power, questionable morals, and absolutely no accountability.

I can totally see myself growing up to live self sustained on a farm on an island in the middle of nowhere with my family and other like minded families..... or writing angry letters to parliament under a bare bulb in my basement. Can't you?