Today’s digital world is where like-minded purveyors of opinion tend to group together – if for no other reason than to hold a virtual pep rally reaffirming shared beliefs. Totally fine if that’s your thing. One unexpected upside? It’s never been easier to see what everyone thinks.
Time has proven social media to be a cacophony of viewpoints – left, right, center, but mostly the extremes. On nearly any issue, prevailing sentiments become quickly and unmistakably clear.
As an observer of politics, I appreciate the ease with which ideas are displayed and exchanged. Sometimes I’m shocked, sometimes relieved, sometimes frustrated – but rarely ignorant of where public opinion stands. It’s good to know what people think.
Here’s a viewpoint currently percolating among the new populist right: big business is bad. Not a novel political target, but a new hunting ground to those who claim conservative roots.
First, a disclaimer: small business is just as important as big business. Innovation is often the offspring of startups. Small businesses employ many and allow some to work for themselves – a dream. Many newer big businesses were first small. Having owned small businesses and worked for them, I’m all in.
That said, count me among the old-school conservatives who still believe big business is good – arguably essential – to society.
The car you drive? Big business made it.
The clothes you wear? Likely produced by big business.
The TV you watch, the phone you use to connect to the world, the medications you take daily – big business either made them or delivered the raw materials required to bring them to market.
Examples are numerous: tech, pharma, food, consumer staples, airlines, energy and many more.
Consumers often fail to realize just how much American big business has done for them. It’s not just about products and services taken for granted. Big business provides wages, investment opportunity, and economic stability. Some fail. More on that below.
As of the end of 2024, roughly 4,000 companies traded on U.S. public markets – down from about 8,000 in the mid-1990s. Mergers and acquisitions – engines of efficiency, scale, and opportunity – help explain that decline.
These 4,000 companies, spanning all market capitalizations, buy from vendors, meet payroll, and pay taxes in countless forms. Collectively, big business employs more than 40 million Americans – not households, but individuals. Estimates put total annual wages paid between $2 to $3 trillion.
Now imagine the country without them:
Forty million displaced workers.
Trillions in lost wages.
Scarcity of staple goods driving prices higher due to reduced supply.
And don’t forget your 401(k). Nearly all retirement portfolios include index or mutual funds – both heavily invested in big business. The S&P 500’s more than 239 percent gain over the last decade, including roughly 18 percent this year alone, was driven primarily by successful corporations. But sure – let’s boot Amazon, Nvidia, and the rest of the Fortune 500.
So why the sudden uptick in hostility? Because come-lately Republican populists see political opportunity. Under the banner of consumer protection and “looking out for you,” they sense a windfall in votes and campaign dollars. Privately – in rooms you’ll never see – they understand a simple truth: as big business goes, so goes America.
True here in West Virginia too. We needed Toyota in Putnam County. We needed Macy’s in the Panhandle. We need Nucor in Mason County. We need the next deal, and the deal after that, and the deal after that.
The messaging extends beyond one group.
Some far-left liberals who reflexively vilify business for its shortcomings – yes, business isn’t perfect, no institution is – often ignore the broader good it delivers to society. Once again, it’s about striking a chord with a targeted voter bloc, one rallied by cries of evil profiteering and production over everything else.
Conservative populists will use this tactic as well, especially on the state and local level. They already are. Last year’s session is proof of that. Business was on the defense trying to kill bills viewed as damaging to industry.
Meanwhile, the quiet majority – the millions who are employed by big business and the average working investors benefiting from its success – know better. They may not appreciate every detail, but they understand America doesn’t function without the machinery.
Profit isn’t evil. It’s a measure of a company’s ability to efficiently meet a need. Companies with poor cultures that ignore employee experience remain stagnant and eventually fail as do those who ignore customer experience. The market cleanses itself as needed.
So, the next time someone in your feed – a politician or that misguided soul you’ve known since high school – starts bashing big business, consider speaking up. Get the facts. Make the argument.
The sooner we – those of us who are capitalists first and party loyalists spouting talking points last or never – start pushing back, the sooner the fringes lose their grip. That’s a day worth welcoming.