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VIPsight

Corporate Governance – portrayed in the individual cultural and legal framework, from the standpoint of equity capital.

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Buhlmann's Corner

 

Are we really looking for an endless, timeless supply of cheap stuff?

They say there are always two ways of looking at things, and the victory of Donald J. Trump in the US presidential election is no exception. He is the living proof that the political, economic and intellectual élite was swept away because they had completely lost touch with reality.

Basing government decisions on “alternative” facts is of course bound to give rise to doubts and misgivings. Despite the absence of constraints marking the actual boundaries beyond which lies meta-reality, these facts do raise hopes and expectancies which, whether we like it or not, are vested with a measure of democratic legitimacy. As Clemens Vedder so apply put it “while reality used to be taken at face value, it has now become the raw material to be skewed, shaped stretched and shrunk from which to prepare the big picture.”

First Lady” has become a label with its own commercial value – nowadays estimated at 150 million US$. With the security of her position comes the presidential seal of approval “by appointment” and can be used for everything from cosmetics onwards or - perhaps backwards - for lingerie.

And here lies the crux of the issue. Do we want to keep on buying stuff on the cheap or do we upscale to “Made in Slovenia” with Melania. Are we like the judges on the west coast who cast their vote by a headcount or a show of hands, or do we delegate someone else to do it in our stead.

I get the feeling that we much prefer following the advice of A.I. as to how to manage our investments in stocks and shares or put our money to use in algorithmic-piloted funds. Perhaps even in a ETF where “real” shares – the ones that have a measure of consequence in our daily life – are listed away at the end after all the sections for derivatives.

How, or rather who should shoulder the burden of responsibility when own capital management is the point at issue insofar as it affects one’s business partners and environmental requirements, as well as playing an active part by voting at the AGM. That may be how we like it and we’re even relieved that other shoulders are taking the burden. Isn’t it just a pity, though, that we felt for these things until just yesterday or so it seems, while today we’re delegating the job to someone else about whom we know very little.

Trump is assuredly a crafty Someone Else. His supporters vote for him instinctively because he gets things done. They have little regard for what these things are or are not, what he is, and whose interests they serve. They set examples for the Wilders and the Le Pens and they turn the clock back. One of these days we will be remembered as the generation who asked the banks to fund newly legitimised, environmentally hostile initiatives such as oilsands and pipelines They will also thank the insurance companies for underwriting the projects. For now, we enthuse about investors – oil funds, collection points etc – whose vote is all in the wrong direction, and how Allianz Global Investors sell off their coal-based investments or allow them to expire, so consigning them into the hands of the Someone Else.

When are we going to tell pensioners what values comprise the nest-egg they rely on for survival in their later years, and what decisions we or Mr. Someone Else take in accordance with these values? When will we agree on the price to pay for democracy? You can’t download responsibility from the Internet, just as you can’t shrug it off. You can’t turn a blind eye, fool yourself it doesn’t exist or make believe your name is Winterkorn.

If the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank is made up of an élite that claims no compensation from those found guilty of multi-million euro felonies, it means that our own domestic élite has cheapened itself. Why on earth should money be spent on getting third-party assays. In a state of law you speak to the courts directly. If the law courts reject the claim, then the élite in Deutsche Bank under Breuer and Börsig failed in their duty because they signed the wrong contract, and no matter what the press says, those involved were not Jain or Fitsche because it all began after Ulrich Cartellieri.