Global Recession really over?

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

Not at all surprising about corporate behavior. You have to remember why corporations are formed. To make money for the principle stockholders/inverters (who are also often upper management). That is their only reason to exist; to turn as much of a profit as they possibly can for the shareholders. Also, investors in corporations are highly protected legally should the company screw up or break the law.

This is why they do all the hideous things they do in the world, and get away with it too. They don't care at all about their employees, or sustainability, or the harm they do, be it environmentally or economically (or both). Their structuring is one of diffused responsibility "I'm not responsible, I am just a shareholder" "I'm not responsible, the shareholders dictate what I do", and thus utterly lacking in ethics or care as well. If they can get labor cheaper someplace else, they will go there. If they can use the local government to further exploit their workers, even better still.

This is the basic nature of capitalism (of which corporations are the spawn of). You exploit those with much less capital (money/power) than you to make you self more capital. You provide the money, they do all the hard work, and you reap the reward. Ideally to make the most capital from your workers you try to find a way of making them totally dependent on you, that way you can dictate what ever terms you like as far as wages and benefits. This is even easier if there is a large pool of unemployed persons available as they in an effort to survive will try to undercut your existing employees. Lastly to keep the workforce from eventually revolting against you, you convince them that if they work hard enough, they can become you (aka the American dream).

This is not to say that all companies and corporations are like this. But unfortunately most of them are. Not a new phenomenon either, this started right at the dawn of capitalism during the industrial revolution.

Agreed. I'm currently writing a paper on corporate social responsibility and how (minimal) govt. regulations and oversight are necessary for the sake of the free market system. Greed is good, but every game must have rules to ensure fair play, or the game collapses.

And in other news, Motor Trend named the 2010 Ford Fushion the Car of the Year, and Ford hit a 2 year high of $9 a share. Drinks are on me