oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith: Here’s What’s Wrong with Corporate America–and the U.S. Economy.
Will we ever tire of navigating the multiple layers of intermediaries between the customer and the provider, while corporate profits soar to unprecedented heights?
If we had to summarize what’s wrong with Corporate America and the entire U.S. economy, we can start with all the intermediaries between the provider and the customer. There are a number of examples we’re all familiar with.
One is healthcare, where a veritable phalanx of intermediaries filters the interactions between doctors and patients so heavily that the traditional practice of medicine has been nullified.
By traditional I mean the arrangement that was conventional a few short decades ago: you went to the doctor of your choice (typically, the same doctor your family used), he/she treated you, and you paid the doctor’s bill in cash. Only hospitalization was covered by the minimal (and minimally limiting) healthcare insurance plans of the time.
The second example is home appliances purchased at a Big Box retailer. Here’s the list of interactions between Corporate America and the customer:
