Comments on: Competitive intelligence, government acquisitions, and a hallucinogenic future

By: Traveller_Adventure

Traveller_Adventure — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:36 +0000

Very very interesting post..I like this one. gotta bookmark this one.

Cheers,
Blog Review

By: Eric Garland

Eric Garland — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:29:42 +0000

Ah, but which interests are at heart? My interests in a free market? My interests of having my taxmoney investments worth something for the risk? Or my interest in having a currency worth more than the Thai Baht? My point is, recent machinations by the government muddy the waters to the point that no policy can be coherently in my interest as a tax payer, as a business owner, or as a consumer.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:33:14 +0000

You’re interests are at heart. In the eyes of the government, the failure of these organizations would be catastrophic to you and yours. Answer: feed resource to these companies

By: Eric Garland

Eric Garland — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:58:51 +0000

OK, then what are they doing with 70% interest in the place? As a taxpayer, shouldn’t I EXPECT they have my interest at heart? After all, they are betting my kid’s future income on the outcome.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:57:28 +0000

I don’t believe the government will have an actual seat at the table. The operational elements of the federal government and business are too different. If the government truly wanted to run the business or have a big stake in the decisions being made, they’d have to own the whole industry. I believe they literally are just “saving the infrustructure” from failure.

By: Eric Garland

Eric Garland — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:21:17 +0000

This is my main point – if the US Gov’t simply nationalized the industries, the role would be clear. All shareholders would get zeroed out, the government would take full control of the entity with the goal of one day returning it to private control. As it stands, taking a majority position, now the taxpayers have a right to expect a RETURN on their “investment” which is about 1000 times more complex.

Not that nationalization would be easy – the US Gov’t has pressured most of the other countries on earth on accept free markets and to eliminate market-distorting subsidies. If they nationalized GM and the banks, they would spend the next 10 years in WTO court defending their new policies. But at least their priorities would be clear.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:16:04 +0000

What “business” role is government taking in these companies? Is their involvement as owning entity a formality in that manner or do they truly have a seat at the table?