Monday, June 30, 2014

This Week in the Supreme Court: Protecting the Powerful Against the Weak

Just wanted to say that I think the Hobby Lobby decision is atrocious. The institutionalization of the corporate form is all about separating the corporation itself from those that finance it in return for the protection of limited liability. Further eroding the separation of ownership from direct control of the corporation is terrible on its own terms. Furthermore, it further reinforces the claims of owners relative to other stakeholders in a corporation. This is an appalling decision the further erodes the rational for giving corporations limited liability. If they are going to have full control over the assets their liability should be unlimited as well. There is no reason for the government to give the most powerful people in society something for nothing. Especially something that gives these powerful individuals even more power relative to ordinary Americans.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Didn't Weber Already Cover this Ground Adequately?

Just a little annoyed at the Washington Post presenting the linking of religion and economic growth as some new thing. Weber covered this over 100 years ago. While great writing and excellent for spurring thinking on how sociology, economics, and political economy all influence each other the underlying thesis didn't hold up to careful analysis. While this is an important topic in survey courses and something any generally educated person should know I don't really see how there is much of anything new worth saying on the topic.