Yet, TransDigm's stock price thrives because Wall Street loves monopolies, regardless of who they are taking advantage of.
Implicit in this passage is a judgment of Wall Street, a laying of blame, but that is misplaced, because while investors may be in a good place to assess the national security implications of the company's strategies, they are not in a position to address them. Failing to maintain critical supply chains and human capital is not their mistake to make. If the government (or governments, the 50 states matter just as much) allows or encourages certain mergers, permits off-shoring of critical industries and does little to ensure the technical capability of a new generation of Americans, investors are basically stuck with that. They can choose to buy or sell; they aren't policy makers.
Absolutely. The problem is not that Wall Street loves monopolies, but that every other part of the American society that was supposed to _not_ love monopolies, has been asleep at the switch in this regard for decades.
It's both. You can always invest in companies that make money and do less evil. Even better, mandate that they form as public-benefit companies or non-profits chartered to act like a profit-seeking business but minimize known forms of harm. Can get us some of the way. On buyer side, buy from ethical suppliers or just more ethical ones. My easy example is getting stuff from Costco vs Amazon if available at both. AFAIK, Costco isn't putting anyone in ambulances to avoid air conditioning or other major evils.
Implicit in this passage is a judgment of Wall Street, a laying of blame, but that is misplaced, because while investors may be in a good place to assess the national security implications of the company's strategies, they are not in a position to address them. Failing to maintain critical supply chains and human capital is not their mistake to make. If the government (or governments, the 50 states matter just as much) allows or encourages certain mergers, permits off-shoring of critical industries and does little to ensure the technical capability of a new generation of Americans, investors are basically stuck with that. They can choose to buy or sell; they aren't policy makers.