| | ||||||| | |||
Put your link here with Text Link Ads New on Spike:
Apathy and Other Small Victories - Paul Neilan "...Angst plus equal parts sublimated anger, life seen through the grime of a Greyhound bus window, disposable culture and disposable life..." Jack London - The Iron Heel "...As prediction, satire and warning, The Iron Heel is in many ways more prophetic than either 1984 or Brave New World...." Bukowski: Born Into This "...a documentary that follows the trajectory of the writer's life until his death in 1994. Directed by John Dullaghan, what we encounter in this film is an unadulterated and edgy look at the writer of Post Office..." Charlatans - Simpatico "...You know what these songs are going to sound like before you hear them. And you're right...." Girl With A One Track Mind - the Abby Lee interview "...it's about time that a different - non-sexist, non-passive, progressive female - perspective on sexuality broke though into the mainstream, so the more of us doing it, the better..." |
writers: chris | steve | ismo | ben | | splinters by email
Monday, October 24, 2005 :: Ben GThe Corporation � Our Psychopathic Rulers I've just finished reading The Corporation by Joel Bakan, a highly absorbing examination of the malignant over-reaching influence said institution has over all our lives. There's a film to go with it I haven't seen yet. Okay, so "Big Corporations Are Nasty" is hardly scoop of the century material, but this is an extremely well-sourced, wide-ranging and compelling narrative explaining just how thoroughly we're being frigged over. The facts about General Motors alone provide you with ammunition to reel off for a few years. The most memorable insight is that the corporation is a legal individual entity, with the rights of a human being, but with none of the capacity for punishment a man or woman has. You can't arrest a corporation. You can only fine it, currently at such a level which can be, and is, safely ignored. So on they go. The corporation is a creature which by its very existence can have no other goal than maximising its own profit for shareholders, and nothing can stand in its way. The directors could be the fluffiest and saintliest people in the world; it matters not. The final line, the bottom line, the profit line, will always be the first and last consideration, no matter what it takes to achieve that. Bakan makes the astute observation that an entity which stops at nothing to achieve its ends with no regards for the consequence is a psychopath. So we're governed by psychopaths. That can't be prosecuted. Nice. The other memorable observation is that the corporation, far from being an eternal "fact of life" is a comparatively young invention. First emerging in the 17th century, they were in fact suppressed by the British government in the same era when it saw the breeding ground for corruption they caused. It wasn't until the 20th century they really took off, and it wasn't until the end of the 1970s that they finally became so powerful as to convince governments to remove all restraints on them, with the results we see around us. Indeed, as Bakan observes, even Adam Smith, the great grand-daddy of the free-market himself saw the institution as inherently corrupt. He argued against any company which passed the buck onto it's shareholders, negating any responsibility for the directors themselves, and that "negligence and profusion therefore must prevail, more or less, in the management of such a company." He wouldn't have been surprised about Enron. I wonder what the modern day Institute which bares his name would have to say about that? [permalink] | [0 comments]
recently on splinters: complete archives: popular pages on spikemagazine.com: |
Recently on Splinters
Will Self: As Serious As Cancer Will Self on the pain of trying to acquire quotation rights to that early 80s masterpiece "Rhythm Is A Dancer". [Read more] The Internet Is A Giant Experimental Language Lab James Gleick in the NY Times on the Oxford English Dictionary's quiet revolution to keep up with the incredible speed of change in the English language. "The scouring of the Internet for evidence .. [Read more] Using Squidoo To Promote Your Book If you're an author with a book who doesn't have the time, money or inclination to set up your own blog or website, Squidoo.com provides a free, quick method of at least having one page on the Net abo.. [Read more] Bush Whacked Okay, so the Democrats may be a whimpering vacuum. But surely it takes a heart of slate not to thump for joy today at the sound kicking dealt to the most foetid, shameless, venal administration in US .. [Read more] Naked Lunch - Pollution of Mind, Pollution of World Over at openDemocracy, Tom Burgis draws an interesting parallel between the pathology of apocalyptic addiction represented in Burroughs' Naked Lunch and the cosmic consumerist death wish of the world .. [Read more]
|
| | ||||||| | |||
spike hosting: Knightsbridge.net | site design: Chris Mitchell |
recommended web hosting and domain name registration
Other sites by Chris:
Free New Books [recent books to download for free]
- Thailand Diving [scuba liveaboards] - My Thai [Thailand journal]
Divehappy [Scuba Diving in Thailand, Borneo and Vietnam] - Travelhappy [Backpacking in Thailand] - Thailand Diving
More bookshops:
Scuba Diving Bookshop | Travel Bookshop
Bored of books? Try something a little more stimulating!
Lovehoney
| Durex Play | Hen Night |
UK Sex Toys | Fleshlight UK | Tracey Cox
| Cheap Sex Toys | Cheap Lingerie
Lovehoney bestsellers: Jessica Rabbit Vibrator
| iBuzz | Hitachi Magic Wand | Hitachi Magic Wand UK
Hitachi Magic Wand Attachments | Stag Night Party Ideas | Pink Lady Fleshlight | KY Warming Liquid
Prostate Massager |Future Tech Ultra 7 Jessica Rabbit | Silencer Vibrator | Buy Condoms Online
Sex Toys Ireland | Gay Sex Toys | VigRX | Want more? See the Lovehoney Blog