Big companies are reliant on institutional investors on a punishing schedule which leads to ruthless behaviour. This form of capitalism with this structure and incentives will never deliver sustainability.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the dependence of large companies on institutional investors, suggesting it promotes unsustainable practices.
Tim Jackson's quote addresses the conflict within capitalism where big companies often prioritize short-term gains to satisfy institutional investors. This relentless pursuit of profit leads to behaviors that are detrimental to long-term sustainability, indicating a flawed system incentivized by immediate financial returns rather than ethical or sustainable practices.
In practice
In a corporate strategy meeting discussing sustainability initiatives.
No matter what anyone may say about making the rich and the corporations pay the taxes, in the end they come out of the people who toil. It is your fellow workers who are ordered to work for the Government, every time an appropriation bill is passed. The people pay the expense of government, often many times over, in the increased cost of living. I want taxes to be less, that the people may have more.
In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.
Every economy exists, no matter what the level of democracy, has elements of crony capitalism. It's - given human nature and given the democratic structures, which we all, I assume, adhere to, that is an inevitable consequence.
If a tax cut increases government revenues, you haven't cut taxes enough.
The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist.
We have designed a capitalist system wrong. We assume human beings are one-dimensional, all they do is make money, so we've created a money-centric world.
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