Libby and I made one of those rare trips into Perth last night to see the documentary The Corporation at Cinema Paradiso.
Fantastic film. Deep and wide with ideas and concepts. Here are a few that struck me:
1. Corporations exist as ‘persons’ under the law. They tend to behave with all the symptoms of a psychotic person, even if most of the individuals in the Corporation are be reasonable, moral, caring people.
2. Some Corporations view illegal behaviour and resulting fines as a cost of doing business and therefore make a habit of breaking the law and paying the fines because it is cheaper than behaving legally.
3. Corporations have got really good at getting themselves out of their expensive impacts on others and the world. These ignored impacts are called externalities. The more stuff that corporations can make somebody else’s problem, the more profit they can make.
4. It is possible for a Corporation to be ‘put to death’ or have its charter removed by government. It rarely, if ever, happens.
There is lots more there. It is sobering and ironic and funny in places. Well worth a look. See William’s review for more.
We stopped in at the Greek Taverna for a bite afterwards. It was crap. Don’t bother.
HI Gra. I’ve not seen the film…
But the “China Syndrome” is interesting – if you (and the film makers) think that western corportations can be immoral, then whats happening in China is far worse…
I’ve just been reading about the impending China water crisis, but the point more generally is that manufacture in China is very very cheap because nobody is paying for western style labour standards, or (equally importantly) for the environmental degradation they cause. Its all a rape and pillage mentality. Things might not be real good here but at least we have an EPA, laws to punish people or corporations who steal, pollute, defraud, or injure.
To me, I get that sinking feeling when you see something for sale for a ridiculously cheap price and you just know that a bunch of people got screwed making it and a whole lot of waste got dumped in a river somewhere or toxic smoke poured into the sky over people’s houses.
I like gravy