Joe Biden, Trust Buster

The WSJ was full of articles about Joe Biden becoming the latest trust buster. I watched a clip of one of his recent speeches. As usual he is full of passion for the average Joe and he is ready to make corporations and rich people pay for a wonderful and glorious, fair and equal world for everyone. 

Wow. We used to call these people snake oil salesmen.  There used to be people who prayed on other people by promising that if they bought and swallowed the snake oil, they would be miraculously cured. Hmmm. 

Don't get me wrong. There is lots that could be done to help poor people and make the world more fair. It is also true that large corporations take advantage of their largeness. But holy jumping junipers, do we really trust Joe Biden and his buddies to know what to do and how to do it? 

We have already seen their lack of respect for the dollar and finance. In the name of the same kinds of goals, they have dug us deeper into a debt hole that we will probably never escape. Luckily our kids are smart and successful and they will happily figure out how to pay it back. Please note the sarcasm. 

But that was yesterday's headlines. Today Joe is smiling on TV as he goes after companies. Same promises. The world is going to be a better place if he puts Amazon and Microsoft and Apple and Facebook into their proper places. 

Clearly, AMAF are monsters. And Joe, Nancy and their buddies are our saviors. They know a lot about business, right? I don't think Joe even had a paper route. Has he ever held a job? Made a payroll? Aside from passionate political speeches that play to people's weaknesses, does his government job require him to accomplish anything? Sure he was supposed to show up and vote now and then. Is that the kind of person who is prepared to even understand the first thing about a company?

Think about it. He seems to know everything about how companies hurt us. He told us that big companies cause national economic growth to be slower. They also cause inflation to be higher and wages to be lower. These companies also exacerbate inequality of incomes and cause global climate change. They make us less globally competitive. Really. In a very short speech he said all that. 

Wow. Why is he regulating these companies? If all that were true, why not just hang the heads of these companies. That's some really bad stuff that they do. Give them life sentences. 

And why is everything so one-sided? In Joe's zest to regulate, as he is enumerating all the sins of business, could he not mention one or two good things? Why do we need to believe that these companies are blood-sucking monsters? How many people do they employ? How many people in these organizations make really good money? How much tax revenues pad the government budget? Have tech companies not put enormous resources and communications at our fingertips for virtually nothing? What about the impact these companies have on not-for-profits. How much do they give to charity? How many of their employees serve on boards and committees and run wonderful projects in their local communities? He didn't utter a word about the positives. Nope, they are monsters who perpetuate evil. 

Joe, how much money have these companies given to you and your buddies so that you can finance your travel and political expenses? 

Tell the whole story Joe. No one believes an extremist who only sees one (ugly) side of the picture. If you want to regulate these companies -- don't turn them into national criminals. Get serious and do the hard work of convincing the people that regulations you propose will make some things better. As one of my management professors told me at Georgia Tech, attend to a problem but consider the full consequences -- Don't throw the baby out with the dirty bathwater. Joe, please don't throw the baby out with the dirty bathwater.