Hypocritical management speak

Abstract

Many captains of industry argue passionately even eloquently for the market economy. Market forces, they argue, do and should determine the price of products and labour. They also supposedly determine their generous salaries. It has become fashionable for what the tabloids call ‘fat cats’ to explain their ‘appropriate packages’ in terms of (global) market forces. ‘It is the international going rate for the job. You can’t get good people unless you pay competitive salaries.’And the latter are determined by market forces — well sort of! Most favour as little regulation as possible be it from London or Brussels, unless of course they are immediate beneficiaries of it. They see controls, regulations, tariffs and barriers as red tape: bad for themselves and bad for the consumer.