I haven't read this book, but it sounds relevant. Sally >Date: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 14:36:31 -0500 >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk >From: Robert Weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: Multiple recipients of list CORP-FOCUS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: corporation nation >MIME-Version: 1.0 >X-Comment: Please see http://lists.essential.org for help > >Exxon merges with Mobil. Citicorp marries Travelers. Daimler Benz gobbles >up Chrysler. BankAmerica takes over NationsBank. WorldCom eats MCI. > >Corporations are getting bigger and bigger, and their influence over our >lives continues to grow. America is in an era of corporate ascendancy, the >likes of which we haven't seen since the Gilded Age. > >Charles Derber, a professor of sociology at Boston College, believes that, >contrary to the lessons our civics teacher taught us, it is undemocratic >corporations, not governments, that are dominating and controlling >society. > >In his most recent book, Corporation Nation (St. Martin's Press, 1998), >Derber argues that the consequence of the growing power of giant corporate >multinationals is increased disparity in wealth, rampant downsizing and >million dollar CEOs making billion dollar decisions with little regard for >average American. > >A couple of years ago, Derber wrote The Wilding of America (St. Martin's >Press, 1996) in which he argued that the American Dream had transmuted >into a semi-criminal, semi-violent virus that is afflicting large parts of >the elites of the country. > >That book tried to call attention to the extent to which violent behavior >could be understood as a product of oversocialization. > >"The problem was not that they had been underexposed to American values, >but that they could not buffer themselves from those values," Derber told >us. "They had lost the ability to constrain any kind of anti-social >behavior -- because of obsessions with success -- the American Dream." > >By anti-social behavior, Derber means the epitome of Reaganism -- "a kind >of warping of the more healthy forms of individualism in our culture into >a hyperindividualism in which people asserted their own interests without >regard to its impact on others." > >At the time, Derber was interviewed on a Geraldo show about paid assassins >-- people who killed for money. > >"It was scary to be around young people who confessed to killing for >relatively small amounts of money -- a few thousand dollars," Derber said. >"They said things like -- 'you have to understand, this is just a >business, everybody has to make money.' I pointed out on the show that >this was the language that business usually uses." > >At the same time, Newsweek ran a cover story titled "Corporate Killers." >On the cover, Newsweek ran the mug shots of four CEOs who had downsized in >profitable periods and upped their own salaries. > >"These corporate executives tended to use the same language as the paid >assassins on the Geraldo show, 'I feel fine about this because I'm just >doing what the market requires,'" Derber explains. "I develop an analogy >between paid assassins on the street and those in the suites. In the most >general sense, these corporate executives are paid hitmen who use very >much the same language and rationalization. I argue that corporations are >exemplifying a form of anti-social behavior which is undermining a great >deal of the social fabric and civilized values that we would hope to >sustain." > >With the hitmen parallel fresh in his mind, Derber began writing >Corporation Nation. In it, Derber points to the parallels between today >and the age of the robber barons 100 years ago -- the wave of corporate >mergers, the widening gulf between rich and poor (Bill Gates' net worth >(well over $50 billion) is more than that of the bottom 100 million >Americans), the enormous influence of corporations over democratic >institutions, both major parties bought off by big business, and a >Democratic President closely aligned with big business (Grover Cleveland >then, Bill Clinton today). > >One big difference between then and now: back then, a real grassroots >populist movement rose up to challenge corporate power, though it did not >succeed in attaining its core goals. > >Today, while there are many isolated movements challenging individual >corporate crimes, there is no mass movement attacking the corporation as >the cause of the wealth disparity, destruction of the environment, and all >the many other corporate driven ills afflicting society. > >Derber, a professor of sociology at Boston College, says that when he asks >his students, "Have you ever thought about the question of whether >corporations in general have too much power," they uniformly say they have >never had that question raised. > >Derber says that one good way to again build a populist movement to attack >corporate power is to study the language and tactics of the populists of >100 years ago. He has, and he makes clear in his book that the original >conception of the corporation was one of a public -- not private -- >entity. > >We the people created the corporation to build roads, and bridges, and >deliver the goods. If the corporation didn't do as we said, we yanked >their charter. > >The corporate lawyers quickly got their hands around that idea, smashed >it, and replaced it with the current conception of the corporation, a >private person under the law, with the rights and privileges of any other >living and breathing citizen. > >Thus, a quick transformation from "we decide" to "they decide." > >Derber is a bit too modest to say it, so we will: perhaps the best way to >rebuild a strong, vibrant and populist movement is to get this book into >the hands of people who care about democracy. The corporations have us on >the run, but we should pause for a moment or two, find a quiet place, and >read this book. > >Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime >Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based >Multinational Monitor. > >(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman > >Focus on the Corporation is a weekly column written by Russell Mokhiber >and Robert Weissman. Please feel free to forward the column to friends or >repost the column on other lists. If you would like to post the column on >a web site or publish it in print format, we ask that you first contact us >([EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED]). > >Focus on the Corporation is distributed to individuals on the listserve >[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to corp-focus, send an e-mail >message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following all in one line: > >subscribe corp-focus <your name> (no period). > >Focus on the Corporation columns are posted on the Multinational Monitor >web site <www.essential.org/monitor>. > >Postings on corp-focus are limited to the columns. If you would like to >comment on the columns, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >
