The Types of Mergers Book Review

Book Review: Systems of Survival
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"The types of mergers most obviously at odds with the commercial syndrome are contrived to dispose of competition - create monopolies" (Jacobs, 1992, p. 140).
To say that monopolies were "at odds with the commercial syndrome" means that competition is the natural state of business. In the tradition of Adam Smith, I also believe markets should be allowed to self-correct itself, without intervention from the government. The problem these days is that the government, a guardian, thinks it can ever control business, and business thinks it can be as powerful as the government. But Jacobs' clearly shows that the two are s different from each other: where one is required to shun trade, the other has to shun force; one has to adhere to tradition, the other has to promote inventiveness. One can go through all the precepts and see that business is so distinct from the government.
Unfortunately, Jacobs also shows in her work that these two spheres of society have began working together, hence causing confusion in the very foundation of its existence. The government has began to work like a business, prioritizing the need to provide for its people before it starts to guard its territorpromote courage unity. Thanks to the presence of World Bank and IMF, which masks itself as commercial ventures, guardians have been able to perform commercial activities, to the detriment of other countries who are unfortunate to not have the prowess to resist impositions from world powers. Meanwhile, several businesses have become so huge and far-reaching - some even bigger than the economies of countries. They have been able to force countries to institute policies and laws that help perpetuate their business, regardless of its consequences.
"'Investment banking should be defined only by customer needs and imagination in meeting those needs.' It used to be deined by much else, specifically commercial morality" (Jacobs, 2013, p.142).
What is the purpose of commercial entreprise? If we are to base economic theory, it is to fulfill the physical needs of people so that they are able to fulfill their purpose as individuals in the society. It is the role of commerce to produce and to develop technologies to increase production. This is the reason why unlike guardians, commericial institutions thrive on change. The goal was to be able to distribute enough resources to the community, while the guardian ensures that such resources were distributed equally.
The problem now is that production and accumulation of wealth has become a function for those who can invest on it. And because commerce has become bigger than guardians, they have been able to dictate even the function of governments. Now, guardians do not safeguard equality, but rather, what some people call as "justice". The word of an...