Kakki, I know you are getting burned out, don't feel obliged to respond- Kakki wrote:
> others here, too, have made these allusions to > "corporations" here quite a lot with the implication that they are the root > of all evil. What is this all about? Are all corporations evil, even the > ones who process and deliver our food to us, the ones who bring us > alternative energy, the ones who bring us medicine, the ones who bring us > everything most need to live their lives. Are all lobbyists evil, even the > ones who lobby for the environment, like the Sierra Club or education or for > consumer protections? Corporations to me are really just collectives of > people, although not everyone is paid equally no matter what they put in. Not really. A corporation is a legal entity. One thing that is wrong with corporations is that the people running them can make bad, illegal or rapacious decisions, and the can hide behind the shield of protection a corporation provides. They are not personally liable. Another problem is that, by virtue of it's structure, a corporation is ruled by the bottom line, it's quarterly earnings. A couple repercussions of this are that, lets say a corporate CEO wants to follow his conscience and maybe pay his Indonesian sweatshop works $2 a day instead of $1. He can be ousted and replaced by someone who will do what is neccesary to maximize profits. Or, a new CEO comes in, slashes thousands of jobs, the quarterly earnings increase, stock goes up, he and his pals ditch in their golden parachutes, the workers are screwed, the company possibly ruined. This has become a whole genre for certain executives. There is a movement for corporate reform or abolishment as we know it. It's the structure. Someone starting a business (that's large enough to warrant it) would be foolish not to incorporate because of the advantages. > > Sure there are lobbyists who are corrupt but not all lobbyists and there are > laws or can be laws to regulate them. You can't legally bribe a judge or cop that is enforcing the law. You CAN bribe a politician that is making the laws. It goes by the name of lobbying, campaign contributions, etc. but very often amounts to the same thing. To say that these groups do not get a return on their investment in the form of special consideration would be ludicrous. Politicians should be untouchable, we need to take the money out of the equation, and make it a serious crime to try to buy favor. I have read recently that, like payola or whatever they call it these days, corporations are getting tired of the system, too, and feel caught in it. They contribute to both sides, feeling they have to in order to get their agendas met. > People who depend on their job to put > food on their table and a roof over their head. They could still have jobs, maybe better conditions if things were restructured. The trend in America in the last decade or so has been longer hours, less (or no) benefits, exporting jobs. > I read about these > organizations who vilify the "corporation" and wonder what this vilification > does to improve or enhance our community. Corporations are frequently very poor members of the community. Locally, the Pacific Lumber Company, previously a model for sustainable forestry, was victim of a hostile takeover by the preditory Maxxam Corporation.. First move was to gut the workers pension fund. Next move was to start liquidating the main assets (ancient redwood forests) to pay off the huge 'junk bond' debt used to buy the company. This is one example, not an isolated one, I'm afraid. Enron. The papers say the heads of the company will probably not get jail time, that what they did may not have even been illegal, but, had they robbed a store instead of ripping off millions and screwing their own workers, they would have been in trouble. Is it any wonder people say there is something wrong with this picture? > They wish the downfall of > millions of peoples' livelihoods? Probably a third of the people in the > U.S. if not more, work for corporations. Sure it is not neccessaily fun to > have to go sit in a office 8 hours a day when we'd rather be off doing what > we really love to do. Sure we'd all rather have a bigger nicer house like > the boss, but that is not all there is to life. Hasn't it always been that > way since the beginning of time - people have to work, often hard, to make a > living and survive? I get the feeling that these anit-coporate types think > they have some better enlightened answer to it all but I'll be damned if I > can figure it out, other than that they want a complete revolution As George Harrison's cartoon character in Yellow Submarine said "It's all in the mind" Revolution, that is. > and > forced redistribution of the "wealth." Jello Biafra (political activist, Dead Kennedys) believes we should put a $100,000 cap on earnings. My problem with this is, who runs it? You're back to a bureaucracy like Russia. Don't know what the answer is. Bill Gates has an obscene $90 billion. Others starve. You tell me. Kakki wrote: Then I grew up and actually worked in a few > of those big corporations and military industrial concerns, There > are also layers upon layers of laws that prevent them from having some kind > of special "in" with the government. > The laws that are in place will eventually and do get the ones > who are out of line everytime, trust me. You can't seriously be contending that corporations do not have influence and privledge in the halls of power, and that they never get away with anything! I mean, really...... RR
