Since I have really nailed down the “rich people” argument this week I might as well round it out with Corporations today. Wish the mood could have been lighter going into the holiday, but this is where we are at.
Corporations are very much like “rich people” in their treatment by government. Corporations are favorite targets of politicians trying to score points or lay blame away from themselves. Yet, the very same politicians who throw them under the bus grovel at their feet when it is time for campaign donations. Some people (occupiers) believe corporations have ruined good government. I look at pimps and prostitutes and see no innocent parties.
The last decade has seen one surprising turn…corporations now see social responsibility as a core tenant of their value system. This is not an accident or without calculation. They do it because you demand it. You want to work for socially responsible companies, they want to attract you, so they adopt your views as their own. Nice really. Just like in the 70′s when corporations quit polluting rivers and the air because if they didn’t we would stop buying their products. So corporations do respond to us.
Also, I want corporations to make money. If there was no money to be made by Apple, Toyota, General Electric, the list goes on and on where would we be? Sure life would go on and things might be great without those companies, but we’d certainly have much less great stuff. Some of that stuff (medical advancements, safer cars, smartphones…) has made our lives better and you can’t convince me otherwise. Also, when those companies make money…they give me some…because I bought part of the company as stocks. If you have a 401K then you own part of them too. You are Apple, you are Toyota….and you’re not evil. Are you?
