Profit and loss
25 10 2007
Compass Chair, Neal Lawson, argues that the inaugural meeting of the Business Council of Britain (including the likes of Damon Buffini) is fine, but really we need to address social ills first.
Yesterday, Gordon Brown’s Business Council for Britain met for the first time. The PM, Chancellor Alistair Darling and other ministers met with the likes of Sir Richard Branson, private equity tycoon Damon Buffini (below), GlaxoSmithKline’s Jean-Pierre Garnier and Sir Alan Sugar, chair and CEO of Amstrad but now more famous for the Apprentice TV shows.
The agenda was globalisation, skills and climate change. But the underlying issue for all business is how to make as much profit as possible. That’s fair enough. It’s their job. But we all pay a price for the relentless focus on making money, and the demand for free markets that goes with it. The objective of these people is to get us to pay as much as possible for their goods. If they employ us, their goal is to pay us as little as possible for as much flexibility as they need.
So what else should they be discussing? As they are chauffeur-driven to and from business meetings, these captains of industry probably don’t realise that there is a social recession of time, poverty, stress and mental illness afflicting our country. This recession has its roots in the prioritisation of the market over society. So, in the nation’s interest, what should they be discussing at their meetings?
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