Greedy Corporations

2005-8-6 03:17:00

Nirvana writes:

Of course the corporations take advantage of people.

Why do you say this and where is your evidence? I have dealt with thousands of corporations in my life and never had even one take unjust advantage of me. Where do you find these devilish ones?

Out best customer is a large corporation and they treat us great - much more fairly than the average individual.

To demonize corporations and single them out as evil is unjust in itself. After all what are corporations? They are groups of people. To call them evil is like calling blacks evil, dentists evil or nuns or whatever.

Just like all people and groups of people some are better than others, but as a whole they are not devils in the flesh.

Nirvana:

They don't just make a profit, they make a huge profit.

Again, you're lumping them all together under the same roof. The truth is this. A small handful make a huge profit (even this is usually temporary) some make a reasonable profit, some are fighting for their lives and barely surviving. Some, as a last ditch effort, have gone abroad in hope of turning their profit margin around so they can stay in business.

Which corporation makes the most obscene profits? It's hard to find one that makes a greater profit margin than Microsoft. After a new operating system is developed it costs them about 30 cents to put it on a disc and they sell it for around $100. They do very little employing in the third world. Why? Because their profits are so good that they do not have to.

Nirvana:

They can afford to give them more. They are just too lazy to make an effort to do that. And structure what they are doing with this goal in mind.

Just like people, some can do more others cannot. They have to make a decent profit abroad because of the great risk. For instance, American oil companies developed the fields in Saudi Arabia and then one day the government turned on them and stole them all and claimed all development as their own. This would have bankrupted them if they had not been making a reasonable profit and had some cushion.

Nirvana:

You think they really care? Of course they don't, their excuse is we are helping them. But they only help them in order to help themselves.

Again, this is like saying Jews don't care, the government doesn't care, doctors don't care etc.

Corporations are made of people and some care and some do not, but any business has to operate on this principle. They provide a service and for doing so they seek to make a return that will exceed their costs. We ought to be thankful they are doing this or none of us would have a job.

Some companies are unjustly accused of making an "obscene" profit. In many cases they have lost money for a year or two and then for a few months make a large profit and get criticized. Yet they have to make hay while the sun shines so they can weather the future financial storms.

Larry made a great post illustrating the truth of the situation. The branching out of business to the poorer countries is part of the process of natural evolution that will eventually bring them prosperity.

Look at evolution of life in nature. It is not a pretty thing in many examples. In many cases an animal has to kill or injure another animal just to make it through the day. If I throw a handful of nuts out to the cute little squirrels in my back yard and a weaker one comes and takes it, a stronger one will tear into him and bite him. Then the stronger one will stay there and eat the nuts while the weaker ones just look on with their mouths drooling. The only way to feed them all is to give out more nuts than the strong one can eat.

Unfortunately in nature scarcity is the rule rather than the exception.

Now we can look at these animals and call them greedy and evil but when we look at the overall picture we see that this is not the case. Instead they are following their nature which is a necessary part of evolution, essential for their survival.

Even so a businesses must survive so it can accomplish the greater good of supplying livelihood for millions of people. To survive it must make a reasonable profit when the opportunity permits.

Bill Gates has made perhaps the most "obscene profits" in history and he also gives more money to charity than any man in history as well as creating more millionaires than any man in history.

I find that most people who criticize the obscene profits have never been in business for themselves and do not have a feel of what it takes to succeed. Having been in numerous business efforts in my life and operating a small business in the present I do understand and therefore I do not condemn.

Creating a successful business involves tremendous personal risk that few would take without a strong profit motive. I admire any person who can pull it off and play by the rules.

Even so, I hope to be a part of a force that initiates higher business principles that can bring greater equality and prosperity to all. But any effort has to take into consideration the imperfections that exist among us mortals and work with them.

To the critics of business profits I again ask: Do you practice what you preach? Do you take from your obscene wages and give to those not making as much as you so they are equal with you?

No you say. You give some but need most of your wages just to survive.

That's the way a business feels.

In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears -- and that is our problem.  Thomas Friedman