Big business is as bad as big government

Well - almost but not quite. I watched the DC pols grill BP CEO Hayward today. I was at the office paying bills at the same time and only watching with my left eye. But it got so tedious after an hour that I switched over to TVLand and watched Bonanza instead: two episodes that I had not seen before; good ones where all the bad guys get shot in the end - or somewhere more reliably lethal like the head or heart.

BP CEO Hayward did not impress me especially when he said "I don't know" for the tenth time after saying that he is the "leader" of BP. Yeah, right!

See, the problem with big business is the same as the problem with big government: inefficiency, incompetence, lack of accountability and real responsibility, passing the buck etc.

I saw the effects of big business destroying a profitable mid-size business up close and personal when the hospital that I had worked in for 12 years was taken over by a conglomerate that proceeded to merge two of the biggest hospitals in San Francisco. Because of my seniority, I was asked by the new owners to sit on several committees to "facilitate the transition." Over a period of two years involvement, I became convinced that the big-shot who had come up with the idea of the "merger" was on an ego trip, didn't give a damn about the bottom line, was a total fake and should have been in politics rather than business. But that's a whole nother story.

I've watched big corporations "merge" many times over the past 30 years since I became interested in business. British Petroleum merged with Amoco (formerly Standard Oil of Indiana) in 1998, becoming BP Amoco plc. Then, in 2000, BP Amoco acquired Arco (Atlantic Richfield Co.) and Burmah Castrol plc. At first dividends went up and the mergers looked good but the joy was short-lived as British pension funds heavily invested in BP are now discovering.

But even worse than watching Hayward play corporate politics was watching the Democrats grandstanding. I began to remember why I hate big government even more than big business and I even began to feel sorry for Hayward as I saw one Democratic ignoramus after another grill him. But then I remembered that it was all play-acting on both sides. BP and the Democrats have "come to an agreement." Collusion between big business and government (aka Fascism) is the dirty little secret of "democratic socialism." That's why Lenin despised Western socialism.

Obviously I don't agree with Lenin but I do agree with Eisenhower who did not warn us only against the "military-industrial complex" but actually said in his farewell speech:

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.
...
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

But he also warned against the government-technology complex:

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system – ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.

And he also warned against debt:

Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

Jefferson and Lincoln also warned us that big business (namely banks) did not have much respect for the ideals of the American Revolution, freedom and our Constitution.