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Fiat businesses are dictatorships.
AND
Dictatorships are bad for the economy.
THEREFORE
Fiat businesses are bad for the economy.
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Kleptocracies
Dictatorships have to become kleptocracies to fund private goods (aka, corruption) at the expense of public goods. ∇ Take, for example, Russia, North Korea, or Cuba: they have enough of an economy to fund the force necessary to maintain their dictatorships in power, but not enough to maintain their infrastructure or even their war machine.
Are Dictatorships Illegal
Dictatorships may be repugnant, but are they illegal? There is no international law that I know of to declare them one way or the other, so everything they do is… undefined.
At the business level, national laws make businesses legal. Given that businesses are Fiat dictatorships, with all the power centralized in the hands of the owners, having owners collect all the profits is legal. And although that works for the handful of owners, it is not the best way to grow wealth for society.
The Stock Market
The brilliance of the stock market is the realization that it takes a community to grow.
1790: The Philadelphia Stock Exchange is formed, helping spur the development of the U.S.’ financial sectors and the country’s expansion west. ∇
It was a community of people with accumulated capital to invest, but note that its first priority was to help “the U.S.’ financial sectors.”
The “all men are created equal” US Constitution was written and signed by slavers. Thankfully, the US Constitution was aspirational and its interpretation has progressed since, though not without a fight.
On the other hand, the stock market got stuck and it went backwards. It went from being a pricing machine to a gambling table, with ruthless competition and predatory practices. All of this has corrupted its growth.
Oh, the Irony
It is noteworthy that Radical, Radical, companies will be incubated inside Fiat businesses. This, we hope, will transform the Fiat system itself. As people learn what it is like to be a co-owner, our hope is that they will take it to other Fiat institutions, like School Boards and their local governments.
It is worth noting that Radical companies are better at growth than Fiat businesses. It’s just that the growth doesn’t go into the owner’s pocket, but into the pockets of the co-owners. That is the difference. And the irony.
ENDNOTES
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Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Alastair Smith. The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dictator%27s_Handbook>
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Inyoung Hwang. A Brief History of the Stock Market . March 15, 2023. <https://radicals.world/ovm27Z>
