Spencer Heath Archive

Item 892

Random taping by Spencer MacCallum of conversation with Heath

No date

White envelope has item 892 & 893.

There is no such thing as a corporation too big — and I mean a business corporation. Now, government corporations are all too big. The smallest one in the world is too big.

“You don’t think Hertz would get too big under your plan?”

How can he get too big? As soon as he gets too big, he loses money. As long as he’s making money, he’s serving me. If he makes more and more money, he’s serving me and other people more and better. That’s a great contrast. No honest business in free enterprise can ever get too big, because as soon as he gets so big that he serves less, he earns less. But there’s no political corporation that isn’t already too big, I don’t care how small it is.

“How do you mean, as soon as it gets so big that it earns and serves less? That seems to be a contradiction or a puzzle.”

Well, when it becomes unwieldy so that the overhead comes up as compared to what it would be in a smaller size, it can’t afford to be big. And the government corporations can’t afford to be small because they can never live within their means.