Of course, there are temporal elements to firm objectives: are they trying to maximize this quarter’s profits, the years, the quadrennium, the decade…? Unfortunately, and during our lifetimes increasingly, the way the stock market operates emphasizes the very short term. No wonder Keynes decried “animal spirits.”
It’s a curiosity of propaganda and hysteresis that anyone is comparing national government with firm government, really. You nicely point out the absurdities.
If we really want a metaphor for government we’d be better off considering a family. An absolutely gigantic, incredibly diverse infinity-lived family. Ideally a functional family, because families are strange lumbering things often prone to cruelties or dysfunction.
Of course there’s the classic and very old trope of the polity as a beehive. Which perhaps, as people considering it say “…but…,” may lead us to think about what government is and should be.
Nice points. If I had enough time and energy, I'd look into another element. The financial world here and now is exquisitely tuned to short term results. I believe that other ways of structuring it would place more emphasis on long term. Possibly that's true of Europe. Warren Buffett did it: "Our favorite holding period is forever." But (again, just my impression) others have not followed him."
Of course, there are temporal elements to firm objectives: are they trying to maximize this quarter’s profits, the years, the quadrennium, the decade…? Unfortunately, and during our lifetimes increasingly, the way the stock market operates emphasizes the very short term. No wonder Keynes decried “animal spirits.”
It’s a curiosity of propaganda and hysteresis that anyone is comparing national government with firm government, really. You nicely point out the absurdities.
If we really want a metaphor for government we’d be better off considering a family. An absolutely gigantic, incredibly diverse infinity-lived family. Ideally a functional family, because families are strange lumbering things often prone to cruelties or dysfunction.
Of course there’s the classic and very old trope of the polity as a beehive. Which perhaps, as people considering it say “…but…,” may lead us to think about what government is and should be.
Nice points. If I had enough time and energy, I'd look into another element. The financial world here and now is exquisitely tuned to short term results. I believe that other ways of structuring it would place more emphasis on long term. Possibly that's true of Europe. Warren Buffett did it: "Our favorite holding period is forever." But (again, just my impression) others have not followed him."
Short of altering the entire system, there’s the tax on stock market sales/purchases proposed by James Tobin.
Didn't know about it. Yes, it might help.