資本主義靈魂今安在?
????你在前面的問題里已經(jīng)提到了一些重要的主題。這本書探討的就是短期投機行為喧賓奪主,擠占了人們對長期投資和內(nèi)在價值的關注。 ????只有當資本運用到極致,資本主義才能發(fā)揮作用。按照過去五年的平均值,我們每年通過首次公開募股和二次發(fā)行籌集2,500億美元的資金,而股市年均交易額高達33萬億美元。這就意味著超過99.2%的資金都用在了投機上面,而只有.8%用于投資。我建議通過征收交易稅和其它措施來扭轉這一比例。 ????在資本市場,我們的代理體系實際上是一個雙重代理體系。有擁有者的代理(比如共同基金),還有股東的代理(就是董事)。而兩者樂得沆瀣一氣,專注于股票價格而不是公司價值。 ????公司給出盈利指引,用會計手法推高股價。而我們有公司治理的問題,如政治費用和高額薪酬。 ????1951年,我開始進入這個行業(yè)時,共同基金的文化是管理至上,而不是推銷至上。那時共同基金的運營者是按照擁有者的根本利益行事的專業(yè)人士?,F(xiàn)如今,他們只是服務于一己私利的公司。基金行業(yè)的規(guī)模從20億美元暴漲到今天的12萬億美元。而換手率從15-16%跳升到了現(xiàn)在的100%。 ????目前只有7家私有共同基金公司,先鋒集團是其中之一。私有投資公司比上市投資公司表現(xiàn)更佳。而43家上市公司中有36家是金融集團。 ????目前我們需要采取的最重要行動是什么? ????我們需要一部信托責任的聯(lián)邦法,要求信托機構將客戶利益置于自身利益之上。像金融集團那樣的利益沖突必須禁止。你不能同時服務兩個主人。法律將規(guī)范公司治理的權利和義務,包括提供廉價服務,將股東(即投資公司的客戶)的利益置于公共股東的利益之上。 ????Eleanor Bloxham是董事會咨詢公司“價值同盟和公司治理同盟”(The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance)的首席執(zhí)行官。 |
????You've touched on some of the major themes of the book in your previous questions. The book talks about how short-term speculation has crowded out a focus on long-term investment and intrinsic value. ????Capitalism works when it put capital to work at its highest and best use. As an average over the last five years, we raise $250 billion a year in the markets in IPOs and secondary offerings while $33 trillion a year is traded. That means that over 99.2% is speculative, and .8% is invested. I recommend we institute transaction taxes along with other measures to turn that around. ????In our capital markets, we have an agency system that is really a double agency system. We have the agents for owners [an example is mutual funds] and we have the agents for shareholders [those are directors]. And they operate in a happy conspiracy that is too focused on price rather than value. ????So companies give earnings guidance and use accounting tricks to boost price. And we have problems with governance, with political spending, and high compensation. ????In 1951, when I began in the business, the culture at mutual funds was stewardship versus salesmanship. Those who ran mutual funds used to be professionals who acted in the best interest of owners. Today, they are businesses that act in the interest of themselves. In that time, the funds have grown from $2 billion to the $12 trillion we see today. And rather than 15-16% turnover, these funds now are running at 100%. ????Today, only seven are privately held. Vanguard is one of them [it's a mutual company] and the privately held ones are doing better than the publicly traded ones. Forty three are publicly held and 36 are conglomerates. ????What is the single most important action we need to be taking now? ????We need to have a federal statute of fiduciary duty, which would require that fiduciaries place the interest of clients ahead of their own. Conflicts of interest like conglomerates would be disallowed. You can't serve two masters. The statute would outline the rights and responsibilities of corporate governance. It would include providing services at low costs, putting the interest of shareholders (i.e. their customers) ahead of their public shareholders. ????Eleanor Bloxham is CEO of The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance (http://thevaluealliance.com), a board advisory firm. |