
Samsung Group Is Doing a Cozy Merger - dsri
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-01/samsung-group-is-doing-a-cozy-merger
======
treme
Considering Samsung's been paying off justices & politicians for decades, it's
very unlikely that they will lose any sort of legal battle in Korea.

About a decade ago, the chief legal counsel of Samsung blew whistle on the
extent of corruption that goes on within the company. Of course, nothing of
consequence happened.

Source: Korean Wiki on the whole incident linked below

Google translate is poor for Korean, but you will get the gist of it.

[https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%82%BC%EC%84%B1_%EB%B9%84%E...](https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%82%BC%EC%84%B1_%EB%B9%84%EC%9E%90%EA%B8%88_%EA%B4%80%EB%A0%A8_%ED%8F%AD%EB%A1%9C)

~~~
speeder
By the way: the family that owns Samsung are distant relatives of the deposed
royal family and of several current politicians, so familial loyalty might be
in play too.

------
hkmurakami
I remember having dinner with a Korean friend (he grew up there and and came
to the States for college) where I asked how strongly the family owning
Samsung influences government.

His response: "They don't influence government. They are above the
government."

~~~
dba7dba
Wall Street doesn't influence US govt. They are above the govt.

~~~
adventured
How do you explain the fact that finance is among the most regulated
industries on earth, and the Fed directly controls the banks in numerous ways?

How do you explain the Treasury forcing banks like Wells Fargo to join TARP
against their own will?

Wall Street is a branch office of the US Government's financial interests.
They tell Wall Street what to do, and when to do it. They control all of the
regulations, they have all of the guns, and they have all of the money (both
taxing power and the US dollar).

Hell, the US Government earns more on just student loan interest annually than
the combined profit of both JP Morgan and Wells Fargo. Wall Street is
comically weak compared to the US Government and the Fed. One single month of
QE by the Fed tends to be more than the combined profit of the ten biggest
American banks.

Samsung revenue: $305 billion vs. South Korea GDP: ~$1.3 trillion

That's one company with sales equal to 23% the entire size of their economy.
By comparison, America's biggest company has sales equal to 2.7% of GDP.

Wall Street doesn't even come close to the kind of economic dominance over the
US economy that Samsung has over South Korea. America's biggest banks
_combined_ are about as big as Apple or Walmart in terms of sheer economic
clout.

~~~
dba7dba
Which Wall Street top head was charged and actually punished in court for
brining about the Great Recession? None. Samsung's chairperson was charged and
actually punished in court (although no actual prison time). At least he did
go through the motion.

WellsFargo/TARP happened because of the extraordinary circumstance called the
Great Recession, WHICH was made possible because Wall Street got rid of
regulations they didn't like, separation of retail-bank/investment-bank.

------
honest_joe
Korea needs another Park Chung Hee

~~~
pcurve
That's what a lot of elder generation Koreans want now.

Korea has been following the foot path of other industrialized nations, but at
more accelerated pace.

The country has peaked and its current course is not sustainable.

~~~
thepk
Does Korea have it's own version of the US's Sherman Anti-trust act?

I'm no expert but doesn't having an entire country's economy beholden to a
handful of super conglomerates make it potentially dangerous for the country
and its economy in large?

~~~
pcurve
Most Koreans see it as a necessary evil because the system of cozy
relationship between government and large conglomerates have served the
country so well, at least in their mind.

I think the system is starting to backfire because the income gap between
those affiliated with the conglomerates and those who don't has
stratospherically diverged, creating 2/3-tiered society.

~~~
honest_joe
But most koreans are not employed by conglomerates or at least not directly
(laws). There are more and more anti-chaebol laws (they can't make soap and
jeopardize small and medium makers).

