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The transnational corporations and the money markets have declared the era of human-designed regulations over. Now the market must reign. Because few people in the business community are paid to think about phrases such as 'Western civilization,' they don't seem to realize that they are proposing the arbitrary denial of 2,500 years of human experience.

John Ralston Saul#42

HistoryCapitalismCorporationsMarketsRegulation

About this quote

What does it mean?
Markets are prioritized over regulations and human history.
In plain terms
Corporations want markets to rule without looking at history.
What can you take from it?
Historical context matters when making economic rules.

Where it applies

  • policy debates
  • business strategy
  • economic reform

Putting it to work

  • study history before deregulating
  • balance market and rules

Questions to consider

  • Should history guide modern policy?
  • Who benefits from deregulation?

Another view

Some argue markets are more efficient than human design.

More from John Ralston Saul

  1. 'The recession is over.' This phrase has been used twice a year since 1973 by government leaders throughout the West. Its meaning is unclear. See: Depression.

    Permalink to quote #41
  2. [C]ontent [is] an obstacle to the exercise of power.

    Permalink to quote #43
  3. It is the considered opinion of most members of our rational elites that, in any given difference of opinion with reality, reality is wrong.

    Permalink to quote #40

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