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Corporations

Started by Ecurb Noselrub, April 10, 2020, 06:14:55 PM

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Ecurb Noselrub

Corporations are the root of all evil. That really doesn't contradict the old saying that "the love of money is the root of all evil", because corporations are all about the love of money.  Whatever the stated mission, goal, values and principles of any given corporation, the real purpose of it is money, and more specifically, to make sure that the guys at the top have money.  All the rest of their proclamations is nothing more than marketing.  It's all about the bottom line. 

I work in one, which I shall not name.  Yes, it, like other corporations, provides some products or services that are beneficial to humankind.  But once you peel away the wrappings, what you find at the core is the love of money. That is the true raison d'etre of the business.  Even "non-profits" are about this - there are no stockholders getting rich, but the guys at the top of the "non-profit" are profiting.   

If you have something to say about corporations, here's your chance.

Tank

I agree. Primarily because the shareholder is legally more important than employees or customers.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

No one

I dated a corporation once, American Airlines. It didn't work out, there was just too much baggage.

Ecurb Noselrub

Quote from: No one on April 10, 2020, 09:05:58 PM
I dated a corporation once, American Airlines. It didn't work out, there was just too much baggage.

I imagine that was a First Class disaster.  Probably a one-way ticket to nowhere. That's what happens when you get involved with those high fliers.

No one

Well, we attempted to wing it, but it just didn't take off. I ended up catching  the red eye. It all ended one terrible May day.

xSilverPhinx

Besides the savage capitalistic blood running in the veins of big corporations, what I find dangerous about them is they routinely poke their noses in politics as well, lobbying for and pushing their self-serving policies into lawmaking. They may create hundreds or thousands of exploitation vacancies...or 'jobs'... but they are not what economically support a country. Small and medium sized businesses do. Many mega corporations eat those up like they are nothing.   

However, being a highly price-oriented person myself and assuming most people are as well, some mega corporations do have more accessible prices which some of their smaller scale competitors simply cannot beat. Which is good for the buyer. Competition can be a double-edged sword. 
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Ecurb Noselrub

Quote from: xSilverPhinx on April 10, 2020, 10:46:27 PM
Besides the savage capitalistic blood running in the veins of big corporations, what I find dangerous about them is they routinely poke their noses in politics as well, lobbying for and pushing their self-serving policies into lawmaking. They may create hundreds or thousands of exploitation vacancies...or 'jobs'... but they are not what economically support a country. Small and medium sized businesses do. Many mega corporations eat those up like they are nothing.   

However, being a highly price-oriented person myself and assuming most people are as well, some mega corporations do have more accessible prices which some of their smaller scale competitors simply cannot beat. Which is good for the buyer. Competition can be a double-edged sword.

The good things they offer are how they get you addicted to them. Then they control you, like a drug cartel.  We become spoiled for the good life, and that leads to our addiction.  During the Covid-19 shut down, I can see how dependent I had become on corporate goodies.  I'm ashamed of myself.

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on April 11, 2020, 12:07:13 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on April 10, 2020, 10:46:27 PM
Besides the savage capitalistic blood running in the veins of big corporations, what I find dangerous about them is they routinely poke their noses in politics as well, lobbying for and pushing their self-serving policies into lawmaking. They may create hundreds or thousands of exploitation vacancies...or 'jobs'... but they are not what economically support a country. Small and medium sized businesses do. Many mega corporations eat those up like they are nothing.   

However, being a highly price-oriented person myself and assuming most people are as well, some mega corporations do have more accessible prices which some of their smaller scale competitors simply cannot beat. Which is good for the buyer. Competition can be a double-edged sword.

The good things they offer are how they get you addicted to them. Then they control you, like a drug cartel.  We become spoiled for the good life, and that leads to our addiction.  During the Covid-19 shut down, I can see how dependent I had become on corporate goodies.  I'm ashamed of myself.

I don't think people should feel ashamed of themselves for becoming dependent on some level on corporate goodies. It's too easy to get hooked on that stuff and too easy to lose sight of what's really important, IMO. I'm rediscovering some things myself during this crisis.
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Old Seer

The combining of corporations/industry and government is fascism, that is according to Herman Goering a Nazi leader and general of Hitler. If that's true, this world is in trouble.  In his own words- "fascism is corporatism". One alternative is to return to the times previous to the 60s.
The only thing possible the world needs saving from are the ones running it.
Oh lord, save us from those wanting to save us.
I'm not a Theist.

Randy

#9
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on April 11, 2020, 12:07:13 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on April 10, 2020, 10:46:27 PM
Besides the savage capitalistic blood running in the veins of big corporations, what I find dangerous about them is they routinely poke their noses in politics as well, lobbying for and pushing their self-serving policies into lawmaking. They may create hundreds or thousands of exploitation vacancies...or 'jobs'... but they are not what economically support a country. Small and medium sized businesses do. Many mega corporations eat those up like they are nothing.   

However, being a highly price-oriented person myself and assuming most people are as well, some mega corporations do have more accessible prices which some of their smaller scale competitors simply cannot beat. Which is good for the buyer. Competition can be a double-edged sword.

The good things they offer are how they get you addicted to them. Then they control you, like a drug cartel.  We become spoiled for the good life, and that leads to our addiction.  During the Covid-19 shut down, I can see how dependent I had become on corporate goodies.  I'm ashamed of myself.

Unfortunately, life for me hasn't changed during the outbreak. But at one time, whenever I needed something, I always knew I could go to one of the big stores and they would have it. The small shops never crossed my mind. I wish they had.

Every job I had I worked for a corporation of some sort. During the Great Recession as it started up I lost my job. I was a computer programmer there. There were two people who owned the company, a husband and wife team. They laid off several programmers.

At the end of the year they gave themselves a 1.3 million dollar bonus each along with their salaries. I wondered how they could sleep at night when that bonus could have kept some of the employees with that. I would have taken a pay cut. I was unemployed for a year trying to make money doing anything I could along with my unemployment check just to pay the mortgage and utilities.

There is another company that comes to mind but I'll save that for another topic should it come up.
"Maybe it's just a bunch of stuff that happens." -- Homer Simpson
"Some people focus on the destination. Atheists focus on the journey." -- Barry Goldberg

Tom62

I used to work for an American corporation that did a lot of admirable things around the world (like donating refurbished medical equipment to African hospitals with free maintenance and training). Corporate culture and atmosphere was great, management was ethical, caring and did everything for their employees and customers. Then I started to work for a UK/German corporation that was managed and ultimately destroyed by incompetent greedy managers, who didn't give a shit about their employees.

What I'm trying to say is that there are good and bad apples in the corporate world, Also being a capitalist "institution" doesn't make a corporation by definition "evil". However, the further away a corporate gets out of touch with the "real" world; thinks that it can make it's own rules or starts to rip its customers off then it can become quite evil.
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein

Randy

Quote from: Tom62 on May 16, 2020, 11:57:36 AM
I used to work for an American corporation that did a lot of admirable things around the world (like donating refurbished medical equipment to African hospitals with free maintenance and training). Corporate culture and atmosphere was great, management was ethical, caring and did everything for their employees and customers. Then I started to work for a UK/German corporation that was managed and ultimately destroyed by incompetent greedy managers, who didn't give a shit about their employees.

What I'm trying to say is that there are good and bad apples in the corporate world, Also being a capitalist "institution" doesn't make a corporation by definition "evil". However, the further away a corporate gets out of touch with the "real" world; thinks that it can make it's own rules or starts to rip its customers off then it can become quite evil.

You have a good point. No, not all of them are. My last company I worked for our CEO and chairman kept his son in check. It was a family owned corporation. Then he died. His son took over and decided that he wanted the business to grow into a billion dollar industry.

My new boss (the old one was demoted and moved to another branch of the company) said that we were going to start working sixty hours a week and that we would be on call at nights and weekends, even on vacation.

I wrote an e-mail back to him, the CEO, the COO, and the vice-president of Human resources, telling him our department was not going to stand for it. Among other things, I had just gotten diagnosed with cancer but had not gone through treatment or anything yet. I used it to my advantage.

Within five minutes I was called to a meeting. There all three were and myself. My boss started back peddling and got all the long hours and so-forth removed. Eventually the CEO's plans took a giant step backwards and he lost most of the company and his name which was the same as the company.

His greed was his undoing and his blind spot was my boss who was given carte blanch to bring our company technology wise to the latest and greatest thing. He no longer works for them I found.
"Maybe it's just a bunch of stuff that happens." -- Homer Simpson
"Some people focus on the destination. Atheists focus on the journey." -- Barry Goldberg

billy rubin

one summer i was cruising around the pacific coazt looking for wintering yards for beez. talked to a man who was growing strawberries. he said he used to work for an up and coming chemical manufacturing company. donr remember what they made.

at the annual meetng, the ceo stood up and announced how happy he was that the vompany was doing so well. to illustrate, he explained that they had passed a milestone: the company was now profiable enough that it could afford to settle a wrongful death lawsuit. "we can now afford a death," he said.

the man told me he quit the company soon after.



"I cannot understand the popularity of that kind of music, which is based on repetition. In a civilized society, things don't need to be said more than three times."

Randy

Quote from: billy rubin on May 16, 2020, 04:11:18 PM
one summer i was cruising around the pacific coazt looking for wintering yards for beez. talked to a man who was growing strawberries. he said he used to work for an up and coming chemical manufacturing company. donr remember what they made.

at the annual meetng, the ceo stood up and announced how happy he was that the vompany was doing so well. to illustrate, he explained that they had passed a milestone: the company was now profiable enough that it could afford to settle a wrongful death lawsuit. "we can now afford a death," he said.

the man told me he quit the company soon after.

Ouch! That is a pretty cold statement. I probably would have quit too.

I quit once when I was on call and an emergency came up before I went to bed. I was up all night with the operators on the phone. I was scheduled for an implementation and I pleaded to let someone else take over. I had been up for something like 38 hours. No, it had to be me. I fell asleep at the keyboard for about two hours.

People were ticked off and I told them to relieve me which they could have. I got scolded when I walked into the office the next morning. I found another job pretty quickly and gave notice. I was burned out.
"Maybe it's just a bunch of stuff that happens." -- Homer Simpson
"Some people focus on the destination. Atheists focus on the journey." -- Barry Goldberg