I, and I think many Americans, have come to the conclusion that the entity known to us as the corporation, or rather the elite club of back scratching good old boys who run them known as "the board", is the most corrupt, immoral, and damaging spawn of capitalism this country has yet to produce. A board of directors of a corporation is supposedly charged with the responsibility of running the company in a profitable, socially constructive manner, giving equal attention to customers, workers, and investors. What we have ended up with is a mechanism for those with the proper connections to share cash cows with each other, sticking it to investors, employees, and customers alike, while enriching themselves with obscene salaries and bonuses, supposedly because their expertise in running these monsters is well worth getting paid more than 300% of the base wage of the lowest paid employees in the corporation. Amazingly, these boards will award their buddies running this companies outlandish salaries and bonuses even when the company is going down the tubes. Enron was just one example of the lengths these people will go to to drown themselves in cash while screwing over their employees and customers. Why, how, can this happen? Think about it. Who is running this country? A collection of the same breed of people. In the name of freedom and democracy and everything else this country used to stand for, our country is becoming a Corporate "Democracy" owned and operated by a new breed of politician that intends to do to this country what the corporations have been doing to the American worker. And at the risk of sounding both judgmental and confrontational, my friends, if you don't know what's happened to the average American over the last 6 years, then it's only because your head's been so far up your own ass you're way past kissing it.
Those of you who think you've been basking in the benefits of free trade, "less" government, "lower" taxes, etc, are only standing in line waiting to have your ass handed to you by the powers that be. The trade deficit with China is one example of something gone terribly awry. We buy billions of dollars of goods from China; China buys a mere fraction of stuff from us. They make everything; we don't want to pay an American worker anything to make anything. Walmart is selling us tons of stuff made in China for practically nothing, making Sam Walton and his family tons of money and leaving their employees with little or no health coverage and pathetic wages. Walmart even dictates to it's suppliers how much they they can charge for their products, profitability for that company be damned. They can always get that product from some third world country who pay their workers less than a tenth of what minimum wage workers make here. Perhaps you work in an industry, perhaps information technology, thinking your career is safe. Think again. There's an Indian across the ocean who will do your job, albeit with an accent, for less than half of your salary. And your boss is well aware of it, and is planning accordingly.
OK, you retort, I sure know how to bitch and moan, but what would I do about it? Well, my friend, you and I as individuals can do absolutely nothing about this. However, just as unionization took advantage of the power of numbers to force the old companies to start treating their employees with some measure of humanity, so can the American people. Stop avoiding political discussions with your friends, coworkers and family. Start educating those you know who just aren't getting it. Stop being a part of the problem by being a good little sheep in your own organization, never saying a word when the company starts screwing everybody, hoping that you alone, being special, will keep your job with your pathetic loyalty. Call your congressman, conservative, democrat, whatever, and scream bloody murder, demanding he do his job serving YOU and your fellow americans instead of his special interests. If you have two bozos running for office in your district that you know are just two good old boys who will just give you more of the same, write "none of the above" on your ballot when you go to the polls. And quite blaming the unions for all these problems. Those unions are responsible for you having anything you DO have, and they are fighting tooth and nail to protect their members from further assaults on their livelihoods. And start electing people who can promise you they will accept nothing but their salaries for doing their job, and watch them after they are elected. A man who does his job can get re-elected without having to raise millions from special interests. You put him there, you can damn well KEEP him there. Spend a few pennies more for things you can find somewhere other than Walmart, maybe giving up something you damn well know you don't need in order to do so. When you do go to Walmart, start asking the managers every time you go where the items are that are made in America. Grit your teeth and buy cars that make sense, instead of a huge gas guzzler just to impress your friends and neighbors. When you go to a hospital, or some other business, and your receive caring, competent care and service, write a letter to the President of that business, telling them the employees did so and so for you, and what did HE do? Stop taking your frustrations out on retail employees when they are understaffed and can't help you fast enough. If the service is that bad, tell the management that if they can't staff their business well enough to serve you, you will take your business elsewhere. When you call customer service, if you detect an accent other than American, demand to speak to an American. Every time you fly on an airline, write a letter demanding to know why the seats were so close together you felt like you were in a cattle car, and remind them there are buses. Start making some damn NOISE, people, because it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, not quiet compliance with crap because "that's just the way it is".
My friends, none of these things happen in a vacuum. Many of you blame the "liberal media" for painting such a bad picture of people getting caught in scandal after scandal. Maybe it's time to realize that ducks are ducks because they look, waddle, and quack like them. If the asshole that happens to get caught with his hand in the till happens to be a republican, don't blame the "liberal media" for the crime, blame the damn criminal. Same thing with democrats. We know damn well they have their share of greedy bastards. It doesn't matter WHAT party these creatures are affiliated with, unethical and downright criminal behavior is unacceptable from a public servant PERIOD.
George Bush's ratings are at an all time low, but what amazes me is that a sizable percentage of Americans still think he's done a great job. THOSE people, my fellow Americans, have perception issues, and will smile and slap each other on their backs for being such good. loyal, patriotic, conservative Americans while this whole country goes down in flames. That is, if you who honestly think you have any grey matter left in your skulls let them. Remember, it was true then, and it's truer now than ever; "We shall all hang together, or we shall all hang separately."
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4 comments:
You've raised some interesting issues.
For some reasons that are not 100% conscious or rational, I find coroporations to be dangerous. They tend to remind me of old-west-movie style lynchings. One corporation leads the way into some unethical territory and the others follow along.
Once mankind served kings and nobles who owned them. Now we have corporations.
I try to develop a world view that encompases knowledge from psychology, sociology, ethics, philosophy, evolution, etc, and I cannot honestly accept corporate ethics and behavior. Corporations are not necessarily evil but they have become that way with their emphasis on profits to the exclusion of all other issues.
The last fifty years saw a tremendous change in attitudes, laws and society as it relates to racial prejudice. Activists made a difference in their effors to oppose the evils of racism. I hope the future will record the same thing about corporations. People working together can oppose unethical, evil and down-right mean corporate actions.
Are you familiar with Walter Rauschenbush? He has been long dead but he was a theologian of the last century who advocated a "social gospel". To over simply his message: A person who calls himself a christian must treat people with respect, honesty and compassion. We need more people like Rauschenbush -- both inside and outside the relgious community -- who have integrity, see though religious, political and greedy BS and take a stand for humane, ethical behavior on the part of everyone -- including CEOs and board members.
You preach it brother!!
I gotta ask, my friend, where did you get the idea there was any purpose to business other than making a profit?
Well, Buf, you couch that question in the simplest of terms, and the answer is anything but. Why do you work? Why do you do things you might not really wish to do because someone will fire your butt if you don't? Yep, you are absolutely correct, ONE of the purposes of a business is to turn a profit. But why? And for who's benefit? If you could earn more profits for your company by utilizing slave labor, would that serve the purpose of business? It certainly was deemed acceptable in this country for a period. Would you pay someone the least amount possible for their labors if you could get away with it, even knowing you are making life for this employee as difficult as possible? If people didn't have bills to pay, didn't need some purpose in life, then there would be no need for business period. So, if the sole purpose of business is to create profits, then I don't see what purpose they serve other than that. And since these profits are funneled into the pockets of individuals running these business at everyone elses expense, then I see an issue with the very definition of business rather than anything else. If we just were upfront about the whole situation, and told every worker that we were going to screw them over as much as we possibly could in order to create wealth for a few people, then maybe people would not be so willing to become the worker bees they really are.
To understand what my definition of a business SHOULD be, you only need look at Mr Waldon, the gentleman who owned the textile mill that burned down a number of years ago. Mr Waldon stepped up to the plate, insured his loyal workforce that he would continue their paychecks and get the mill back up and running as soon as possible. Your average capitalist would have said Mr Waldon was a nutcase. I consider Mr Waldon to be a decent Human being who fully understood what the purpose of business was.
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