The JUST Report: It’s Time For A Real Debate On The Future Of American Capitalism

“America’s political class was in the final stages of self-righteous detachment from the economic and social conditions of the nation it ruled.” So writes Oren Cass, Chief Economist at American Compass, in a NYT op-ed this week recalling the indifference of political elites to the emerging opioid epidemic in 2011. A searing critique of  elected leaders, the fundamental dereliction of duty he describes – to actually listen to what Main Street America has to say about their hopes, fears, and dreams – drives to the heart of our system of capitalism and our mission too.

Would a more just capital market have spotted, and reacted to, Purdue Pharma’s role in the opioid crisis a little earlier? Can socially-destructive corporate behavior or unethical business leadership, even if it’s highly profitable, somehow be curtailed? Conversely, would corporations who seek to create value for all their stakeholders be fully rewarded for their greater alignment with the public interest? 

We think so. Certainly our investment research would support that. 

Take ethical leadership, integrity, and accountability to stakeholders, for example. They are issues that have often ranked highly in the public’s list of priorities. Had Boeing – which for the last three years has scored very poorly on ethical leadership in our rankings – put more emphasis on this, who knows, maybe they could have avoided many of their recent travails (which deepened this week with their justice department plea deal Justice Department plea deal).  

Writing for Fortune’s CEO Daily, Diane Brady notes of Pat Shanahan, the frontrunner to become the next CEO of Boeing, that the keys to his success will be his ability to, “build trust with an unhappy workforce, as well regulators, suppliers, investors and a disgruntled public.” 

Stakeholder leadership, in other words. 

Be well, 

Martin

Quote of the Week

“Writing and thinking are not separable activities. I think when you lose your writing ability, you actually lose your thinking ability to some extent. And if we outsource judgement, we will lose the ability to think critically.”

• Jeremy Kahn, Fortune writer and author of the new book “Mastering AI”, discussing the danger of people over-relying on technology to think and write for them. 

JUST AI

Our friends over at the Brookings Institute take a look at how AI is projected to affect income equality in the U.S. While overall optimistic, this line stands out: “Finally, let’s zoom out once again, this time to consider the oft-repeated claim that there will always be new jobs. This has been true since the Industrial Revolution, but whether or not it continues to be true has major implications for inequality in the future.”

CNBC reports that several of the largest fast food chains are testing AI drive-thru ordering as labor costs continue to increase.

Fortune reports that Intuit is laying off 1800 employees from one sector of the business to add 1800 in another sector focused on expanding their AI use. 

AI is proving to be a boon for nuclear power companies, with Vistra and Constellation Energy topping the S&P 500 as investors look for companies feeding the artificial intelligence industry’s demand for energy. Reuters has the story. 

The Geek Way looks at how AI job loss claims may actually be wildly overexaggerated. Dig into the data here. 

JUST Board Member Arianna Huffington teams up with OpenAI’s Sam Altman on ThriveAI Health, a customized, hyper-personalized AI health coach that will be available as a mobile app and also within Thrive Global’s enterprise products. Learn more here. 

Must Reads

The Wall Street Journal looks at data from the latest NFIB report which shows wages are rising at small businesses, but employment isn’t. Learn more here.  

Axios examines a new report that shows that workers and wages are actually doing the same or better than they have historically in the past 50 years. 

Chart of the Week

Our latest research partnership with Revelio Labs looks at the financial security of employees across America’s largest publicly traded companies, particularly when it comes to entry level and retail jobs. This chart shows the top 5 and worst 5 areas of the country when it comes to starting retail pay. Read more of our wage analysis here.