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Corporations are not necessarily the problem. Properly regulated, they can provide goods and services with great efficiency, to the benefit of all. But corporations, by their very nature, attempt to reduce their costs. If not held accountable for their actions, they end up pushing their costs (the damage that their production wreaks upon the environment, the inequality that their low wages impose upon the population) onto society as a whole. Their economic power also translates into undue amounts of political power when there are not enough checks upon that power--for instance, adequate limitations on corporate contributions to political candidates. I raise this issue because too much of the reaction to corporate power is stated in extreme, ultimately untruthful terms. To be honest with ourselves, we have to recognize the good and bad of anything we judge--whether it be corporations, or government, or grassroots movements. Also, extremist statements may be good for mobilizing hate, but they aren't very helpful for building peaceful societies. If we are to create a more just, more democratic way of life, we have to be fair to everyone involved--and we have to avoid the temptation of seeing our society according to a simplistic notion of Good vs. Evil. For more about the ways that corporations "externalize" their costs, see When Corporations Rule the World, by David Korten (Kumarian Press, 1995). |