"The Lisbon agenda identified the symptoms of Europe's malaise - lower growth, loss of competitiveness, widening technology gap - but misdiagnosed the disease," Mr González said. "Europe suffers from an extraordinary corporate rigidity," he said. "And I am not only talking about the power of trade unions and labour rights. There is also enormous rigidity on the corporate side. You only have to compare the rankings of US and European companies now and 30 years ago. Most of the top US companies today were not around in the 1980s. There is a lot of mobility: it is a system that rewards risk, initiative and efficiency and allows companies to succeed as well as to fail. "In Europe, there have been hardly any changes in the corporate rankings. Business, labour and political elites protect each other. We stifle innovation. That is why Europe has failed to produce a Bill Gates. It is a cultural problem." Mr González said.
"Europe suffers from an extraordinary corporate rigidity," he said. "And I am not only talking about the power of trade unions and labour rights. There is also enormous rigidity on the corporate side. You only have to compare the rankings of US and European companies now and 30 years ago. Most of the top US companies today were not around in the 1980s. There is a lot of mobility: it is a system that rewards risk, initiative and efficiency and allows companies to succeed as well as to fail.
"In Europe, there have been hardly any changes in the corporate rankings. Business, labour and political elites protect each other. We stifle innovation. That is why Europe has failed to produce a Bill Gates. It is a cultural problem." Mr González said.
<silent scream>
You only have to compare the rankings of US and European companies now and 30 years ago. Most of the top US companies today were not around in the 1980s.
Surely this has nothing to do with the total renunciation to applying antitrust laws in the US. And anyway, I won't even bother checking that Exxon, GE, Ford, GM, Morgan Stanley... were present then.
Which is not to say that big companies aren't protected in Europe, by neo-liberal politicians more often than not though. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
And I am not only talking about the power of trade unions and labour rights. There is also enormous rigidity on the corporate side.
This is off-tune. Could he be playing some jiu-jistu on the neolibs?
In Europe, there have been hardly any changes in the corporate rankings.
He's joking, right? In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Actually, I have a question someone with access to financial databases might be able to answers.
Has the composition of the EuroStoxx 50 index changed since its inception?
How about the composition of the Euronext 100? We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
