A reader remarks on the NAFTA negotiations:
American big corporations are out of control. They’re effectively evil spawn of satan spreading their tendrils and damage across the nation, and then across the world.
Oddly enough, at this juncture I don’t really agree. It’s become apparent that asking corporate entities to have the best interests of the country at heart is really quite beyond most of them. After all, they’re in the business of providing goods and services to the customer, and letting the customer make the decision to use them (an idealization, it’s true – some are quite deceptive and even manipulative of the customer) – they’re not in the business of asking whether or not the product is good for the country. And, heck, in this case the country isn’t even their” country[1].
It’s properly the government’s responsibility, and that’s where we’re falling down. Or at least Trump’s falling down.
Of course, historically we’ve been a country of merchants, of commerce, and quite often the government has fallen into line with the commercial interests. Getting struggling companies off the ground in the early part of the existence of the United States probably was required if they ran up against competition from foreign entities.
But at this point in our history, we should be beyond that.
1A somewhat problematic description in the age of international corporations.
