Yuval Noah Harariの "Sapiens" を読んでいます。 'The Capitalist Greed' の章から引用します。
Private slave-trading companies sold shares on the Amsterdam, London and Paris stock exchanges. Middle-class Europeans looking for a good investment bought these shares. Relying on this money, the companies bought ships, hired sailors and soldiers, purchased slaves in Africa, and transported them to America. There they sold the slaves to the plantation owners, using the proceeds to purchase plantation products such as sugar, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, cotton and rum. They returned to Europe, sold the sugar and cotton for a good price, and then sailed to Africa to begin another round. The shareholders were very pleased with this arrangement. Throughout the eighteenth century the yield on slave-trade investments was about 6 per cent a year -- they were extremely profitable, as any modern consultant would be quick to admit.
This is the fly in the ointment of free-market capitalism. It cannot ensure that profits are gained in a fair way, or distributed in a fair manner.
・Collins Dictionary: a slight flaw that detracts from value, completeness, or enjoyment:
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a single thing or person that is spoiling a situation that could have been very positive or enjoyable: I'm looking forward to Sunday, the only fly in the ointment being the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.
日本語で言う「玉にきず」ですね。
Private slave-trading companies sold shares on the Amsterdam, London and Paris stock exchanges. Middle-class Europeans looking for a good investment bought these shares. Relying on this money, the companies bought ships, hired sailors and soldiers, purchased slaves in Africa, and transported them to America. There they sold the slaves to the plantation owners, using the proceeds to purchase plantation products such as sugar, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, cotton and rum. They returned to Europe, sold the sugar and cotton for a good price, and then sailed to Africa to begin another round. The shareholders were very pleased with this arrangement. Throughout the eighteenth century the yield on slave-trade investments was about 6 per cent a year -- they were extremely profitable, as any modern consultant would be quick to admit.
This is the fly in the ointment of free-market capitalism. It cannot ensure that profits are gained in a fair way, or distributed in a fair manner.
・Collins Dictionary: a slight flaw that detracts from value, completeness, or enjoyment:
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a single thing or person that is spoiling a situation that could have been very positive or enjoyable: I'm looking forward to Sunday, the only fly in the ointment being the fact that I'll have to sit next to my mother-in-law.
日本語で言う「玉にきず」ですね。
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