David Bahnsen writes about the death of stakeholder capitalism:
National Review’s Capital Matters has been a leader in critiquing the so-called “stakeholder capitalism” movement. I have lectured on the topic extensively myself. My agenda here is less to reaffirm the self-defeating folly of this movement and more to demonstrate how the failures of these companies illustrate the fact that everyone agrees the movement has failed. There are varying degrees of self-awareness and consistency, but the societal response to each of these three debacles indicates the same thing: Stakeholder capitalism is a fraud. And a significant part of current market challenges comes down to the need to relearn the lessons that basically were forgotten in the insanity that these three drama series capture.
Tripling sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in two years in New Mexico means dealerships will cross-subsidize EVs by raising prices on gasoline vehicles, or they will look to the state to further subsidize sales of EVs. This could make gasoline vehicles purchased in states following California more expensive, leading to more car buyers looking out of state. That would result in lost jobs, and tax revenues leaving those states. That situation will get far worse if California adopts the even more aggressive rules now under consideration.
There is nothing inherently wrong with EVs, but there are numerous public-policy implications in their mass deployment, especially if the tool is to simply mandate their sale at the state level.
And there’s a new episode of the Capital Record podcast, with guest Louis Gave of Gavekal Research talking about crypto and financial markets. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts.