RE: Krugman's IQ drop..

["Ian Murray" <seamus2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Murray
To: pen-l
Sent: 6/3/2002 10:32 PM
>Subject: [PEN-L:26553] Krugman's IQ drop..

[Jim Devine, did PK ever take an ethics class? Or a political theory
class? Has he ever *worked* in a Fortune 500 firm?]


>>
I don't know what courses he took, while I doubt that he ever worked for
a F500 firm. I know he worked for the US Postal Service for awhile...

I don't see why the headline assertion "Krugman's IQ drops" applies.

=================

Because I needed a quick title for the piece and thats what my blinkered
neurons came up with at 10:30pm ! :-)


>>
This column isn't dumber (or smarter) than usual. He's pointing to a
real change, but misinterpreting it. The fact is that old-style
corporations _were_ fatter and nicer than the new ones.

============

That's not necessarily so. David Gordon's "Fat & Mean" debunks alot of
those myths.



The difference was not that GM was "generous motors" though: back in the
1950s & 1960s, GM and its ilk had to deal with a much more powerful
labor movement, combined with lingering memories of 1929 and massive
class struggles. They used to follow a paternalistic strategy of giving
job security, real pensions, etc., as a way of getting employee
loyalty -- and thus encouraging production. That strategy is largely
dead. I don't know if it would be as profitable today as it was back in
the 1950s & 1960s because of the intensified competitive environment
corporations face. Back when GM acted the role of being "generous," it
was the dominant firm in an oligopolistic industry protected from most
foreign competition and thus could follow a long-term strategy (or take
advantage of its situation to rest on its laurels and let the future go
hang). Now it's hard to think of anything but the current quarter's
bottom line.

===============

I think it's a mistake to see GM as a representative firm from the post
WWII 'golden age.' Nor could we by any means say with PK that that form
of corporate governance was akin to socialism. And for PK to assert that
the US is itself a corporation is just ridiculous. His take on the 80's
and 90's completely neglects the damage the predators did; perhaps he
should read chapter 6 of Doug's book?

BTW, after all these years of 'efficiency' improvements, it still takes
47,000 lbs of metals to make a 3,000 lb car.


>>
Of course, things could change as new oligopolies develop, not to
mention new class struggles and new financial collapses.

JD

=============

Storm the boardrooms! :-)

Ian