Dear Mr. Kettle,
A comment which you made regarding the United States Supreme
Court’s decision, in 2010, in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election
Committee got me thinking about the concept of personhood in America. More precisely,
it got me thinking how we have the allowed the concept to be corrupted in our
society through an ever broadening concept of corporate personhood by virtue of
the definition of a corporation as an association of individuals. This concept
was key in the Supreme Court’s decision and flawed. The implied assertion is that
stockholders may exercise the right of ownership in voting how a corporation
spends its assets, whether it be to improve profits or position itself
politically.
Regrettably, the rise of the 401(k) along with a pervasive of
lack economic education, have all but made that assertion little more than a
laughable farce. We Americans have some $18 trillion dollars tied up in
retirement funds, with the vast majority of it invested in equities – i.e.
stock – as the only viable option for hedging against the ravages of inflation.
Ironically, while the economy has continued to flounder since the Great
Recession began, in 2008, the stock market has not only recovered but grown
more robust thanks in no small part to our Federal economic policies.
More to the point, if you own a 401(k) or an IRA, then you
have a piece of ownership in dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands, of
corporations, otherwise known as associations of individuals. Ironically,
however, you have no voice. Momentarily looking past the convolution of stock
types, ownership classifications and the various privileges bestowed and
restrictions imposed upon them, for the sake of simplicity, if your retirement funds
are invested in stocks for which there are voting privileges, you likely have
no voice. It is more likely the manager of the retirement funds exercise voting
rights and not the actual owners of those funds. In other words, you political
will as regards your portion of ownership in a corporation must pass through a
portfolio manager and then the board of director, if it is passed along at all.
I could not hope to management the politics of my investment
portfolio, as it is both embarrassingly small and highly diluted across several
retirement accounts and thousands of publically traded corporations. In other
words, to chase after General Electric over its political activities just
because I own combined shares worth $512.13 across four separate retirement
funds is a laughable exercise, even if I could persuade the four portfolio
managers holding control of these funds to hear me out. In other words, in
deciding that corporations as associations of individuals are deserving of the
First Amendment right to freedom of speech, the Supreme Court Justices
demonstrated a gross lack of understanding as to the true economics of corporate
ownership in this country. Some might blithely advise that if I’m happy with
the less than democratic process of retirement investment management, then I
should get the hell out. Regrettably, these would be the same economically
uneducated who do not understand that by Federal mandate there is no other game
in town, outside of maybe card counting, houses flipping or mattress stuffing.
Yes, I can and I do invest directly into the stock market,
exercising my right to speak and vote when the opportunity presents itself.
However, I’m not Mitt Romney. I’m not a hedge fund manager, exercising tax laws
otherwise inaccessible to the average investor that shelter the bulk of my
earnings from annual taxes while permitting me to engage directly with the
board of directors of those companies in which I’ve invested my own retirement
savings. Oh, that what it were. I’m like most of us, putting the bulk my meager
savings into the slot machines called 401(k)’s and IRA’s with as much
regularity as possible, hoping that when the last of the coins are all placed
and the lever’s pulled for the last time, it will all come up cherries. The
simple fact is that the fate of my old-age pension is in the hands of small
elite who have not a care in the world with regards to my politics. The fact
that they’re spending my meager slice of the profits to promote their politics
phases neither them nor the United Sates Supreme Court, apparently.
Sincerely,
Mr. Pot
“If you build a business up big enough, it’s respectable.” –
Will Rogers
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