In the Corporate World, Woke Is the Rage but Greed Is Still King

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the ongoing tension between corporate greed and the push for greater social responsibility, as chronicled in three new business books. It examines the cyclical nature of this dynamic, where periods of excess and scandal are followed by increased regulation, which is then challenged by proponents of free-market economics.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Corporate World: Greed vs. Social Responsibility

1. What are the key issues discussed in the article regarding the tension between corporate greed and social responsibility?

• The article discusses the ongoing tension between corporate greed and the push for greater social responsibility in the business world.
• It chronicles this dynamic through three new business books, examining the cyclical nature where periods of excess and scandal are followed by increased regulation, which is then challenged by proponents of free-market economics.
• The article highlights the views of figures like Henry G. Manne, a co-founder of the law and economics movement, who believed that insider trading should be legal as it helps create a more efficient market.
• The article suggests that the "corporate octopus is an institution incapable of being tamed," despite efforts to temper capitalist excess through social responsibility, whether self-directed by corporations or imposed by regulators.

2. What are the key examples or cases mentioned in the article that illustrate this tension?

• The article references the vilification of Goldman Sachs as a "vampire squid" by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone, and the company's subsequent scandals and forced exit from consumer banking.
• It also mentions how big companies like Walt Disney are now under attack not just from the socialist left, but also by conservatives for being too "woke."
• The article discusses the history of the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial banking from more speculative investment banking during the Great Depression, only to be relaxed by the Clinton administration more than six decades later.

3. What is the overall perspective or conclusion presented in the article regarding this tension?

• The article suggests that the "corporate octopus is an institution incapable of being tamed," despite efforts to temper capitalist excess through social responsibility.
• It indicates that the free-market proponents may engage in tactical retreats, but they always re-emerge, perhaps because they can fall back on the rigorous logic of economics, divorced from the messiness of the real world.
• The article concludes that the age-old swing of the pendulum between greed, excess, and regulation is an intractable aspect of human nature.