Engines

Our guest today will talk about governance and capitalism. He will highlight, I believe, some of the common misunderstandings in the modern discourse about markets. He will speak from experience. He was himself a builder of great fortunes and a pioneer of what has become known as the Deep Value Theory of Labour.

Thank you. I will speak plainly. Industry can do well under democracy. I will not deny it. We are still making good money. But let me tell you — it is a tiresome business. Lobbyists here, lobbyists there. Lobbyists in Berlin, lobbyists in Brussels, lobbyists in Washington. And so many bribes — it's really quite vulgar. Bribes not to the great figures, that one understands, but to the little MPs with their little constituencies, the committee secretaries, the union bosses, the inspectors, the administrators. And their wives and children.

Yes, it functions. But the tedium of it. It almost takes the fun out of it. And you may ask — when were the great fortunes made?

When did you get rich?

I tell you when. Not under parliamentary committees. Not under oversight hearings. They were made in our glorious epoch. They were made when everything was aligned. Politics, industry, consumers all working hand in hand. Think about the roads — long straight roads, roads that said: we are going somewhere, and we are going there fast. But where there are roads you need the motorcars, promising unprecedented mobility for every citizen. A magnificent idea. And the motorcars need engines but so do the planes and the tanks. And they are not so different from one another. So you build them all. Under one roof. And then one innovation pushing the next. Everything feeding everything else. This is alignment.

And essentially no bribes. Yes, a few, sure, and with more zeroes attached, but they are enjoyable.

Is this what bundling means?

Bundling of the best kind. A source of efficiency and joy.

And what is this deep value theory about? Can you tell us?

Ah, the grand question of labor. Let me start with a detour. You might ask why authoritarian regimes so often display certain, um, tendencies … Certain attitudes toward particular populations.

The —

Silence! Not here!

I don't mind. They get the drift. So what do you think this is? You think it is ideology? Stupidity? Racial vanity? Then think again. It is quite simple. When things work really well, when everything is, yes, bundled, you have cheap labor.

Abundant labor. Labor that does not negotiate. That is the logic. The rest is decoration.

Could you not have fed them better?

That is a fair point. The mechanics were, in retrospect, a tad suboptimal. But food was scarce, and everything was a little, um, frantic. You understand.

We understand.

Some of us paid compensations, later. Voluntarily. But compared to what was made? It was a trifle. And in many ways, it was, given where we were then, after the glorious epoch, the cherry on the cake. A real bargain. All good again with the, um, democrats and all forgotten. Beautiful.

I have published about the Deep Value Theory myself.

I am glad to hear this. But let me close on a different note. I know this is not a business school. You are not here to become industrialists. I understand that. But you should know — we are waiting for you. We are ready. We have always been ready. We will be ready again.