Theories

Pirates of the Financial Meltdown

A new theory about the economy.

New theory about our economic turmoil: it was caused by pirates. You heard right. A British lecturer argues in a paper that modern corporations got their start on pirate ships during the "golden age of buccaneering": "Pirates elected their captain, voted on major decisions, and distributed their booty in roughly equal shares, and there is something in the idea that a pirate ship is the equivalent of a modern corporation." He continues, “These predatory voyages are the roots of modern venture capitalism, with these modern multi-national corporations out to get all they can get. That's the sort privateering that led to the Credit Crunch." The argument, Hayes admits, leads to troubling conclusions about modern capitalism. But there you go.