Even if we were to assume for the sake of argument that corporations were the best thing since sliced bread - which in some ways they legit are, e.g. see how powerful computers have gotten in the hands of American LLCs, and there seems little doubt that such a pace of innovation would have occurred elsewhere in the world? but even so, setting that aside - the many special exemptions that have continued to be granted to them seems to have lost the balance that they may once have enjoyed.
Like, when will their wealth eventually trickle down to the rest of us mere humans? Even their own human CEOs are as nothing compared to those giant monolithic entities, able to engage with the world underneath the umbrella of special protections granted to them by governments, which their human board members could not accomplish either on their own or collectively without those special exemptions - that’s just the whole point of forming a LLC to begin with.
And the American taxpayer continues to subsidize them, so yes we get even more powerful computing devices (in our pockets, on our wrists, on our faces, inside our very brains!?:-P), but on the other hand, most millennials and younger who do not already have a home have lost hope of ever owning one?
So yeah, as the OP graphic illustrated, “productivity” went up but “wages” (unlike stock dividends) did not, depicting the rise of corporations that use stock rather than Oxygen as the air that they breathe, and correspondingly that occurred at the expense of the mere human, who must rely on “dolla dolla bills ya’all” to be able to purchase goods & services. And there the ultra-wealthy have the most advantages (by design) as they can sacrifice the tiniest percentage of their stock portfolio to be able to purchase a car (or private jet, helicopter, humongous boat, whatever), whereas the mere human must scrimp and save for literally DECADES just to live somewhere where rain does not fall onto their heads as they sleep. It’s not fair - which is fine, nobody who thinks about it for even a moment wants it to be even (why should someone who never works get paid, whereas someone who expends great sacrifices and efforts get similar reimbursement in return - that would be the true unfairness, from a ROI perspective) - but more to the point, it’s nowhere near as balanced today as it once was, say, back in the 50s, 60s, and early to mid 70s. We used to exist side-by-side with corporations, whereas today a tipping point has been crossed and now we are becoming their slaves.
That makes perfect sense! I 100% agree with you and Mr Reich (love his YouTube channel as well) on the need for striking some kind of balance.
We need a set of checks and balances just for corporations!
Even if we were to assume for the sake of argument that corporations were the best thing since sliced bread - which in some ways they legit are, e.g. see how powerful computers have gotten in the hands of American LLCs, and there seems little doubt that such a pace of innovation would have occurred elsewhere in the world? but even so, setting that aside - the many special exemptions that have continued to be granted to them seems to have lost the balance that they may once have enjoyed.
Like, when will their wealth eventually trickle down to the rest of us mere humans? Even their own human CEOs are as nothing compared to those giant monolithic entities, able to engage with the world underneath the umbrella of special protections granted to them by governments, which their human board members could not accomplish either on their own or collectively without those special exemptions - that’s just the whole point of forming a LLC to begin with.
And the American taxpayer continues to subsidize them, so yes we get even more powerful computing devices (in our pockets, on our wrists, on our faces, inside our very brains!?:-P), but on the other hand, most millennials and younger who do not already have a home have lost hope of ever owning one?
So yeah, as the OP graphic illustrated, “productivity” went up but “wages” (unlike stock dividends) did not, depicting the rise of corporations that use stock rather than Oxygen as the air that they breathe, and correspondingly that occurred at the expense of the mere human, who must rely on “dolla dolla bills ya’all” to be able to purchase goods & services. And there the ultra-wealthy have the most advantages (by design) as they can sacrifice the tiniest percentage of their stock portfolio to be able to purchase a car (or private jet, helicopter, humongous boat, whatever), whereas the mere human must scrimp and save for literally DECADES just to live somewhere where rain does not fall onto their heads as they sleep. It’s not fair - which is fine, nobody who thinks about it for even a moment wants it to be even (why should someone who never works get paid, whereas someone who expends great sacrifices and efforts get similar reimbursement in return - that would be the true unfairness, from a ROI perspective) - but more to the point, it’s nowhere near as balanced today as it once was, say, back in the 50s, 60s, and early to mid 70s. We used to exist side-by-side with corporations, whereas today a tipping point has been crossed and now we are becoming their slaves.