Proposal: Corporations Are Not Beneficial to Society

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TruthSeeker

TruthSeeker

Fancy Virtual Reality Monkey
Valued Senior Member
Given ALL the actions of corporations, it is my belief that their existence is not beneficial to human society. Altough some of their actions and aspects are beneficial (for instance, cars helps us move around), other actions and aspects are not (cars polute too much and hurt the environment) and the net effect is negative (it's not worthwhile to have cars that hurt the environment).

Standard rules are fine.

Who wants to join?
 
Wow... that was quick... LOL! :D

Cool! Now we only need a couple of people who think corporations are just fine!
 
Corporations are just fine.. if you're one of the higher-ups in the company or are reaping benefits with them from the stock market. ;)

I hate em. Too big. Why is big government bad yet big corporations okay? We say big government is bad due to the power they can have over us with laws and funding, yet these same corporations and lobbyist groups are the ones that control our government, and even worse, goods that we all eat, drink, buy for pleasure, etc.

- N
 
A better question would be...is the net effect of corporate advertising negative?
 
It's not just advertising....

Would you like me to create the discussion thread in advance, if that is allowed?
 
Neildo said:
Corporations are just fine.. if you're one of the higher-ups in the company or are reaping benefits with them from the stock market. ;)

I hate em. Too big. Why is big government bad yet big corporations okay? We say big government is bad due to the power they can have over us with laws and funding, yet these same corporations and lobbyist groups are the ones that control our government, and even worse, goods that we all eat, drink, buy for pleasure, etc.

- N
Click to expand...

Wouldn't the actual problem there be government, and not corporations? Much corporate power is given to them by the government. Why do you think it costs so much to buy sugar or ethanol from Brazil? Save the farmers? They all moved west in the Grapes of Wrath.
 
Wouldn't the actual problem there be government, and not corporations?
Click to expand...

In a capitalistic society such as the U.S., government and corporations are one in the same. What's the saying? The difference between capitalism and communism is that with communism, the government controls corporations and with capitalism, corporations control the government? ;)

- N
 
This is a proposal thread. Let's get 2 people to oppose the null hypothesis.
 
I don't think thats going to happen, a lot of people hate corporations.
Unless you can PM mountainhare to see if he cares..
 
There are actually plenty of ppl on SF who support large corporations. Funny how none of them responded to this thread yet.
 
I support corporations. If you have read any of my previous posts, you will probably be falling out of your chair by now. Corporations are a very good at making and distributing goods effectively and efficiently when operating in competitive enviroments. But unfortunately, that is not the environment in which they operate today.

Where we run into problems is when they are allowed to run free and unrestrained…what we have today in the United States. Under those conditions they tend to restrict competition and create monopolies and become inefficient and costly, witness the healthcare and oil industries in the United States. And CEOs become kings and queens and run their companies by fiat and paying themselves huge sums of money for substandard performance and manipulating numbers as a substitute for performance. Performance becomes optional for the CEO since they control all aspects of the corporation including the board and stockholders. For the most part, stockholders have little power in corporations. Because few individual stockholders hold enough stock to make a difference.

Corporations must be controlled in order to optimize their value and performance to society. And that is where we fall down today. Corporations have run amok! Our brothers and sisters who live in countries with parliamentary forms of government have been much better at controlling corporations than we in the United States. I think it is much easier to for corporations to control a two party political system than a multi-party parliamentary system.

Government and the people should be placing constraints on corporations so that they can become effective organs of society. We saw what happened in the early 20th century with unrestrained capitalism. It generated the age of robber barons. We have a similar problem today, with the age of the CEO. Too much corporate power is vested in the CEOs of major corporations. And they use that power to feather their beds at the expense of everyone else. We desperately need corporate governance reform!

We saw a very weak attempt at corporate reform after Enron and a few other major corporate scandals in recent years. But still much work needs to be done. But that work will not happen until we, the citizens wrench our government out of the clutches of the corporate lobbyists and CEOs. That is why I am supporting Edwards for president. He is the only one really pushing the anti lobbyist platform…unfortunately. And that is why this election is so very important!
 
Well, Truthseeker, you have your opponent, Let the games begin.. Erm, I mean, debates.. In a separate thread of course.
 
I'm not sure if he is an opponent. I kinda agree with some of his points....
 
Though I personally don't like multinationals, I am willing to debate against you. I will argue that their existence is beneficial to society.
 
Corporations allow the accumulation of capital to produce goods we would not otherwise have in large cheap supply, e.g. computers. Corporations are great for the economy and employ millions - providing food, shelter and clothing. Corporations produces ungodly amounts of food so that our population can grow. Corporations are great!
 
Corporations are a result of a capitalist minded society ...

that said, they do accompish the goals set forth.
 
Frankly, the corporate entity itself is only a means of protecting the shareholders from personal liability. The practical effect of a corporation versus a large privately owned company on society is the same. Aren't you guys really rallying against large organizations - not just corporations?
 
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