After watching the film "The Corporation" I was struck by the lengths a plc will go in order to make a profit. Does anyone know how these multi-nationals who are systematically destroying the planet be stopped or is it already too late?
137405
Many free-marketeers forget that corporations are government creations and although are treated as "legal persons", they have rights and powers beyond human beings, including limited liability for illegal and/or destructive actions.  Even libertarians and anarcho-capitalists want to limit or eliminate corporate charters.  Ultimately, it is our and our governments fault and responsibility.  I hope it's not too late.
505339
First off, I strongly disagree with the person right above me, but respectfully so. I just don't think it's possible that a wack country could get enough weapons to "destroy" earth. And we wouldn't need to destroy the earth to respond. I just think that is an unlikely scenario. Will nukes be lit off in our time? Probably, but I don't think it will destroy the world.\n\nHowever, regarding your specific item, your prof is right that the United States is destroying itself. Here are my points:\n\n* Dysfunctional families. 50% divorce rates, parents working two jobs, single parents, teen parents (on the rise). Through our history we have relied on a solid social foundation, where families were expected to raise kids right. That doesn't happen now, and once you start sliding, it is near impossible to stop. On this point, I see the reasoning behind diehard conservatives and their hate for liberals. Well, I am a liberal (so to speak), but I am a firm believer in a solid family, with children being dealt with strictly as needed (not beat, but made to know the rights and wrongs).\n\n* Media onslaught. Gets worse and worse. MTV, television in general. I don't even like taking my kids to supposed "G-rated" movies anymore. Pop culture, or whatever you call it, is slowly destroying our traditional culture. And with kids and too much free time, video games, internet, and tv really are doing some damage.\n\n* Educational issues. In this day and age, it is impossible to "leave no child behind". Our schools should be geared to handle the upper level kids, college bound kids. Riff-raff that are there for fun and games should have a half-day school, and job corps the other half to get real life skills. Our college-bound learners are being brought down by an increasing number of riff-raff kids.\n\n* Economical issues. Because of educational issues, and greed on the profit margin, companies are outsourcing white-collar jobs to India and China, where better educated people will work for less pay.\n\nThere is more. I think your prof is right in a way. We are losing our edge.
112846
Dear Ms. Kitty,\n\nNo I do not believe Worldcom and Enron would still be around. The internal policies set in place at both those Fortune 500 companies are no different then any other company, in fact they were actually more stringent then most. If the internal policies failed then that would mean that every company that has more lenient policies should have gone out of business. The failure was caused by two things. \n1). The unethical actions of a few.\n2). The regulatory system that took sanctions against the company as a whole, which resulted in the closure of the company, opposed to the few that broke the law and their direct superiors that aloud the corruption to happen.\n\nTo give you a comparison Enron employs X thousand people, more people then a small to medium town. This would be like shutting down an entire town because one person or a select few decided to rob a bank in that town, and the town didn't have enough internal processes (police force or strict punishments) to prevent this from occuring. The SEC punished the entire town (thousands of lost jobs) instead of punishing the corrupt few.\n\nWelcome to politics, where politicians use the media to develop the reality for politcal gain. It's a lot bigger news story to be the politician that took down an entire "corrupt company" then the politician that got a couple of people fired because they stole from the shareholders.
431533
Annie, the issue really doesn't appear to be if global changes are happening but why. The movie has some truths to it but the alarmist nature of the movie is a bit over the top in my view and that of many others who have seen it. No doubt we must do what we can within reason to stop adding to a problem, but we also have to be able to reasonably show that us making a change would have an effect and not make decisions in haste that will negatively affect other unless they will make a difference. Not good to go off running and shouting about the sky falling unless it really is falling.\n\n\nedit: I applaud you thinking for yourself in this matter. Gather all the information you can find, check it out and make up your own mind rather than just fall in line.
483908
Its about time someone started thinking along these lines. See my question in the government section also." Has capitalism failed the British public?" It has failed the Americans but I'm not so sure most of them are smart enough to know this. Trillions and Trillions of debt to live like Brittany Spears and the others. But when the book is looked at, you have sold your soul to a faceless fat cat who has hidden accounts off shore where he does not even pay taxes. They buy the politicians to oil the system. Bravo! I'm with you on this one.
640227
I don't believe you can.  It would definitely help if the environment was at the forefront of most American's minds so that littering and dumping of chemical wastes would cease and maybe some of the negative effects would eventually dissipate.  But private owned companies are becoming more and more greedy and regulators are not encouraged to watch dog over them so the world is dissipating and we along with it.
422527
Hey hey LBJ,  how many kids did you kill today?  It sounds like the same people running this one ran Vietnam.  Bush is not there to prevent disorder,but to  preserve it.  All so the plunder can continue while our military are security police for Halliburton and whatever other agents are there carrying out the plunder.  And don't forget we threw Afghanistan in as well.  Tell it like it is.  It does not exceed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but it is right up there on the scaremeter.  Well done!
657482
Of course, we're heading to the end of the world...in a few billion years, when the sun expands and consumes our planet along with the other inner planets. All life on this planet will be extinguished well before that happens. However, human beings may very well extinguish their civilization and themselves sometime in the next few centuries. The problem is not the science. Of course, many well-respected scientists have been speaking out on the problems humanity faces. While some, like James Lovelock, may think we have already passed the point of no return; other scientists argue that we are still within a narrow window of opportunity to halt and perhaps even reverse the destructive policies and technologies that are presently damaging the environment. \n\nThe real problem is humanity, its cultures, and its governments. Most people around the world still hold a world view based upon ideas that were held to be valid back in the Stone Age... many people even believe that some supernatural agency will rescue humanity and clean up the world as soon as things have gotten as bad as they can get. Meanwhile, most governments base their decisions upon corporate interests and upon national interests... thus more global problems and their solutions are pretty much ignored. Short-sightedness is the overwhelming curse of humanity and its institutions.\n\nLife will continue in one form or another on this planet, whether there are human beings there to observe said life or not.
388281
why does the local organized crime gang burn down a restaurant and then make the owner pay exorbitant prices to have crime family business rebuild it again? we destroyed their country and now iraqi oil and u.s. taxes will have to pay haliburton, bechtel and all their pals to build it again. nice trick, don't you think?
255837
Just don't mind. You are welcome. It is the same with me I guess I am through this forum for 10 days or something less than that.  Some transnational companies are there to delete my questions. But I am continuously changing my name to hide it from them, not from you. Until they find me, thousands of people will have learned that America is no more controlled by national companies. Transnational companies are a great threat both for America and the world. A transnational company is one that feels no loyalty to any nation. They don’t pay any taxes to any government and they are so strong enough to overthrow governments all over the world. For the time being they are using Americans. They threat America by the fact that if they draw their capital and investments from America 25 % of its population will be jobless. \n\nThe fight and the tension between the members of the Senate is in fact a fight between the American and non-American capital owners. Right after the 9/11 the American capital owners became a little bit stronger and passed a decree from the senate to the effect that the central government and the states are to buy their weapons from national war industries... But at present non-American capital owners have become stronger enough to sip petroleum out of Iraq by using American ARMY. \n\nSorry for the terrible English. See you again. Never mind to have the yahoo cops delete my questions. Wish you prosperity and happiness. I am a mere warrior to enlighten people about facts.… Yes, they are my facts. But believe me they aren’t groundless.
265387
for a long time if we hurry and grow up and learn responsible, sustainable living practices.  no more two kids per family, no more mcdonalds, no more flushing my toilet that uses 0.8 gallons of perfectly fine potable water per flush.  neither buying goods imported from anywhere, we would have to make things for ourselves, or at least keep things local.  no more tritium seeping out of our reactors.  producing our own food, namely agricultual goods, instead of relying on corporate greed.  our 1 person per vehicle goingto work everyday thing would have to stop, and a revolutionary mass transportation system developed.  FUSION would have to be viable, because we cannot keep on the path of mining our earth for things we just use up like coal, oil, titanium, gold, diamonds.  i'm not saying we would have to go back to our hunter/gatherer roots, but our disposable lifestyles need to be halted.  we could be a civilized planet that makes due with moderation with the basics.  but if we continue the way we are right now, the very, very wealthy people/families (saudi royal family for example) will engineer a mass kill off (big war) so that they can stay in power on a suitable living sphere.  the human race is compareable to a 72 hour bacterial culture in a petri dish.......we will use up our resources within 72 hours, and at the same time be producing toxins that will kill/mutate us (our own poop, our man made chemicals, etc.)  fusion, and a little help from aliens, and we could change everything.  hope is what i've got; that we will figure it out sooner rather than later.  keep learning, knowledge is pure power.
247441
Yes, I think they did get their just due, so to speak.  More significantly, this is one big wake up call to Corporate America.  It says, People aren't going to tolerate being deceived.  Wake up Execs!  Run your company with the best interest of your people at heart.  You are accountable.  And the 'System' will not protect you.
569872
Well...there are too many issues involved..one is Globalisation and secondly ,by and large we all support capitalism and we want it to win over all else.Having said so, when the business drives the economy, we also should allow it to function with botton line focus.Otherwise business does not flourish.One parameter every businessmen wants to reduce is costs.The call centre operates on "Labour arbitrage"..."Arbitrage" in stock market means investor sells and buys same script at the same time,but geographically in  different location and make money.It is possible for me,for example to buy Microsoft  stock at Sydney and sell in New york simultaneously and make money.Call centres arbitrage labour.They buy and sell labour simultaneously to cut costs.So please, don't allow your socialistic views to affect capitalistic foundation.
154500
The whole system...OPEC on down to Exxon... all-time record profits for any company ever are EXTREMELY SUSPICIOUS... regardless of the situation... and it usually points to violations of anti-trust laws... is there one... I don't know... but it's suspicious...
184585
Here is the problem... "HOW".\n\nDo you honestly think that big corporate interests would allow the possibility that our government would be changed?  \n\nOur current system of government exists for the benefit of big business.  Corporate welfare runs this country.  Any attempt to change this government runs the risk that:\n\n1.  the new government could be potentially unstable.  Not good for investment.  Our economy would have severe problems.\n\n2.  how would we decide on a new form of government?  We would never be able to agree on anything as a population\n\n3.  So "who" would decide if we can't?  Big Business!  They would step in and we would create a government even more corrupt than before!\n\n4.  Reality:  The average American prefers safety and security.  I doubt that they would be interested in eliminating the current government.  I imagine that most would actively fight to keep the old one.  Look at the rampant scandals currently going on... and a significant portion of the population still supports their actions!\n\n5.  The media.  If you actually managed to start a grass-roots effort to oust the government and form a new one... how will you communicate your messages nationwide?  When Ross Perot ran for President, he HAD TO SUE to get his commercials on the air!!!  Do you honestly think that the media corporations would allow such a movement to gain significant steam?\n\nI applaud your enthusiasm... I recommend voting your conscience (i.e. vote for a third party) in future elections and spread your message to friends and neighbors.  However, I think that corporations have replaced human beings as the dominant life-form on this planet.
127549
Okay I just reread the case on the Internet and yes I agree with you whole heartedly.Hang them on a public square and then maybe any other corporation will think twice about cheating their investors.They are the skum on the top of a cest pool of lying maggots.
144283
exactly like what Julius Ceasar, Napoleon, and Hitler wanted...this isn't to say that it might not work and make the majority of people happy given a compassionate and good leader.  However, the world is too big, and some militant extremist group would start some crap.  It's not quite possible.\n\nHowever, I've read science fiction novels about the world being run by corporations in the future.  This is a very interesting idea, and seems more probable than everyone being considered one country.