In the document, Milne
argued that communism had frightening connotations for most people in Britain «mainly due to
ignorance» and he set
out a vision where «factories and farms will be run by committees
of workers, elected by workers (as in China where this has proved to work very well)».
He has
argued that failed banks should not be bailed
out, Lehman's collapse was not a disaster, AIG should be declared bankrupt, that naked short selling is not a problem, that backdating isn't so bad, insider trading should be legal, many corporate CEOs are underpaid, global solutions are worse than local solutions, Warren Buffett is overrated, Michael Milken is a great American, the collapse
of the hedge fund was not a scandal, hedge funds are over-regulated, education is overrated by the educated, bonuses at successful Wall Street's firms are deserved and possibly undersized, management buyouts are boons to the economy, Enron's management was victimized by an over-zealous prosecution, Sarbanes - Oxley should be repealed, corporate compliance culture is a disaster, shareholder democracy is overrated, hostile takeovers ought to be revived, the market is permanently moving away from public ownership
of equity in corporations, private partnerships are on the rise, public
ignorance is encouraged and manipulated by governments and corporations, experts overrate expertise, regulatory agencies are controlled by the businesses they supposedly regulate and Wall Street is much more fun than people give it credit for.
Are we supposed to compromise our independence, a compromise that is irreversible and will surely weaken us over time, because some survey respondents answer the questions in (a) their naked self - interest (and I would
argue that penny wise and pound foolish is contrary to their self - interest if they but knew it), or (b)
out of ignorance or lack
of knowledge?