conv3rsion

My Soapbox Advice to the OWS Movement and then some « blog maverick

Every damn thing on his list makes sense.

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Ar Scion

Shareholders decide what the CEO does.

The fact that they continue to buy shares in said company, doesn't that mean they validate the methodology of the CEO that he despises?

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You are one matronly-ass mofo.

tencentpiece

Well if you have shares through your pension plan then you don't get the vote yourself, the pension plan does it on your behalf. Also I think what he is getting at is that it's not in the best long term interest of the shareholders - but they are unable to grasp the big picture and are instead going for the short term gain because that is what they've been led to believe is the best option.

This reminds me a little bit of game theory and the prisoners dilemma. For those unfamiliar here is the simplest version:

Police Arrests Two Suspects
Seperates The Suspects And Gives Them Two Choices; Confess (and implicate the other person) or Keep Silent
If Both Keep Silent, They Get 2 Yrs Each.
If One Confesses He Gets 1 Yr & The Other Suspect Gets 5
If Both Confess They Both Get 3 Yrs



The best option for them is to both keep silent (total of 4 years served) but each person can improve their position by confessing even though this is the worst option (total of 6 yrs served - although in most cases this dilemma is present where both of them confessing results in a sentence of more than 6 yrs making it the true worst option).

If I understand his point correctly, he is saying a similar thing is happening. Each company and it's shareholders are firing people because that is the best option for each individual. Unfortunately if all companies fire all their employees, your left with no jobs and everybody is fucked.

I agree with a lot of what he is saying, America needs to restructure the way it handles student loans. I've got a lot of issues with the way corporations work and as he puts it making them have 'skin in the game' should change some of that. Lots of people wisely say that making people personably accountable for stuff like this stiffles innovation and massively reduces the incentives to take risks - but at the moment I think there are only incentives to take risks and no incentive to play the long term measured game which needs to change.

I'm not sure how I feel about transaction tax (and I think his title of 'Tax Wall Street And Give It To Main St' is a little miss leading), obviously it's going to cause some slight issues with liquidity but not so much that people will be affected in any great deal unless you're HFTer.

I think more emphasis needs to be put on what is the best outcome for all of the stakeholders, rather than shareholders - but in reality that will never happen.

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Ar Scion

The problem right now is quantifying the long term/extended benefits.

How do you quantify the benefit to the economy derived from keeping one employee on the job?

If we could quantify the benefit we could put it up against the short term benefit.

That's the challenge right here and that's why investors don't see the benefit. Heck, if I had the two options put up, I'd rather take the stock value because I can quantify the benefit.

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You are one matronly-ass mofo.