Has the rise in power of the corporation in American and world economies corrupted the ideal of capitalism ?

Question

Has the rise in power of the corporation in American and world economies corrupted the ideal of capitalism ?
Have you ever wondered why corporations exist and when they came to control so much of the world's resources and poltical power....I am starting to hate them..and what is a corporation anyway?

Answer 1

With any philosophical system, the idea in theory is much different than the idea in practice.
There are many things I find hinder true capatalism, and corporations are definately one of them. Within the setting of big business and companies, I doubt little changes as far as top positions go. The money tends to stay within a small community of people, and it is virtually impossible for a "normal" citizen with no involvement to work their way up to such a high amount of power.
Then there are all the other issues that hinder people from rising to higher levels of power as well--racial inequalities, gender inequalities, set monetary niches...
I don't know, I really am not too fond of many things about the US, and I think the system of Capitalism is one thing I'm very eh about.

Answer 2

Corporations exits to make profit and increase shareholder's value. Corporations are necessary to support the every growing world population, "shareholders invest - a corporation is created - corporations employee people who get salaries for the services provided to the corporation - shareholders make money and the employees make money - both consume and save - consumption creates demand of goods and other services - creates more corporations " creating a vicious which supports the whole economy, some corporations also have CSR -corporate social responsibility - they also give back to the society by funding schools and hospitals.

Hence unless corporations indulge into bad practices like doing the shareholders my misrepresenting the facts to fudge financial statements and make shareholders invest more in the company, pollute the environment beyond a tolerance limit, corporations are a necessary evil for this world to continue.

If you dont want any corporations, we will have to back to primitive times where human beings survived only by hunting and farming, barter system with no world trade. This would make sure that corporations dontt exist.

Having said all this I support Corporations.

Answer 3

industrial age ,cars,electricity,etc when the problems of world domination,or as it called today globalization started,good idea before than . but the ball gets rolling there's no st oping it,the only way to stop it is by destroying it,by destroying it you will have to kill millions of people,all you can do is ride on top of the wave and hope for best in 30years the air,economics,society,will come to a head, those who took advantage of the opportunity's now will be better off the corporations are changing laws so they can grab the small businesses markets.could go on all day talking about it.but i would sound like a nut,people only listen to what they want to hear.plus I'm not good at the key board

Answer 4

Most corporations are pretty benign - it's a way for the owners of a business to reduce their risk. Say you and five investors buy a restaurant for $150,000 each. Invariably, someone gets an upset stomach and, whether its from food poisoning or their 4-year-old's stomach flu, sues the restaurant.

If the business is incorporated, the most he or she can win from you is the business itself, which would force liquidation, and the five of you are out the $750,000. The corporation is therefore like a person in itself, in a purely legal sense.

If the business is NOT incorporated, ALL of your assets - including house, autos, cash value of life insurance, retirement savings, etc., are on the block.

Corporations then are something of a balance that allows people to take on risk and proceed in business without fear of being owned by someone who is wronged. This is especially important in our litigious society.

Owners of a corporation don't get off entirely scot-free. If the corporation's shares are publicly traded, there's the potential for a hostile take-over, and the filing requirements (ie, year-end financial statements and tax returns) are greatly more complicated and much more expensive. Plus, the marginal rate on corporate taxes is significantly higher than that of sole proprietorships (which are generally treated as an extension of the person). And then there's concept of 'piercing the corporate veil', which means that the corporation doesn't protect a group of owners who hide behind it for purely malicious reasons (ie, to escape punishment for flagrant abuses of legal or moral issues).

I'm thinking you're angry at multi-national corporations (MNC), those behemoths of money and power that seem to suffer scandal every week. They're hard to like. But think also about the nature of the business that makes it more prone to file as a corporation, and how businesses tend to conglomerate and grow. And think also about the number of people employed, the amount of tax revenue (to be used - hopefully - for beneficial public works) generated, and the philanthropic efforts possible by pooling so much money together. Think also about the wealth created by corporations that enriches vast numbers of people connected therein.

An MNC, for all its ills, is generally a powerful conduit for technological advancement and the proliferation of ideas. Unfortunately, those ideas can be myopic at times, but the power inherent to them is clear.

Answer 5

Yes. "Well, it's too late, Baby!" Read the following sources:

1) "Blood, Money And Greed", by Cliff Ford

2) "Secrets of The Temple" and "One World, Ready Or Not", by William Greider

3) "The Coming Cashless Society", by Thomas Ice & Timothy Demy

4) "En Route To Global Occupation" by Gary Kah

5) "The Unseen Hand" by Ralph Epperson

6) "The Day The Dollar Dies" by Willard Cantelon

Answer 6

companies doesn't exist in the adventure that they did not have clients and fill a favor. case in factor, Western Union (telegraphs) not components that out of date international-huge provider. don't like 'em? then seem in a reflect... what's the authentic criminal is inventory speculators and spinoff investors - I propose who else can make money without generating a product except a state-of-the-paintings wager. and then there are leveraged buyout specialists that get rid of jobs by using mergers. those adult males redistribute a employer's wealth to three fortunate persons on the full and the "funding bankers" and brokers who placed those deals mutually. No genuine value further yet a lot of lost jobs.

Answer 7

I dont think so. We have a continuing widening of the gap between the filthy rich and the middle class poor. Isn't that what capitalism is all about?Economies are more easily manipulated with this mess. Look at the gas prices and who is in power.

Answer 8

Ridiculous. The corporations ARE capitalism! They control all that power because they are designed for that very purpose. I think that you just hate capitalism. I do not blame you.

Answer 9

I would say that the "corporation" is the shinning star of what capitalism can achieve once it is left unregulated by the government.

Events of recent years have certainly brought the issue of trust into the headlines: WorldCom fakes nearly $4 billion in operation cash flow. Enron executives manipulate their financial statements. Tyco International’s CEO is charged with cheating on sales taxes. Merrill Lynch pays $100 million in fines for misleading investors. Stanley Works tries to evade taxes by setting up sham headquarters in Bermuda. Martha Steward is accused of insider trading and obstructing justice. Hundreds of priests in the Roman Catholic Church are charged with sexual abuse. These leaders who recklessly used organizational resources for their personal benefit and executives who broke laws and crossed ethical lines in order to generate financial numbers that temporarily inflated stock prices and allowed leaders to cash in millions of dollars in stock options

Companies, after all, are composed of people, and people screw up, reward mediocrity, play politics, and otherwise commit myriad organizational sins.

Yet, Corporations create jobs and a tax base of which economies need to survive. For the most part; corporations are good for the capitalist economy.

Answer 10

Yes. Why do we give corporations rights like people but shield the people behind them. Oh and I'm glad your dead Ken Lay.