UNITED STATES: Too much corporate power?

UNITED STATES: Too much corporate power?

SAN FRANCISCO — Working people — workers, small farmers and those
called "middle-income families" — know in their guts corporations have
too much power. The September 11 Business Week confirmed it. Some
72% of those polled said corporations have too much power over too many
aspects of American life.

The issues ranged from corporate power over art, the food we eat and
what it's made from (in Europe they call it “Frankenfoods”) and the commercialism
in schools (Nike and Coke symbols are everywhere).

So, why did the editors of the most widely read US business weekly feature
on its cover: "Too Much Corporate Power"? Because it's a warning siren
to the chieftains of the biggest companies in the United States: act now,
or suffer greatly at the bottom line.

Worse for the bosses who run the corporations are the growing sentiments
against what's called “corporate welfare” and “globalisation”. These sentiments,
generated by anti-WTO, IMF and World Bank protests organised on the streets
of Seattle, Washington, and those at the Republican and Democratic Party
conventions and on college campuses (mainly against Nike and other shoe
manufacturers' sweatshops), are penetrating all walks of society.

The Business Week article notes, “It's no longer a youth or hippie
thing. Today, those angry at business come from all parts of US society."

It turns out that the anti-corporate message of the Green Party presidential
candidate, consumer advocate Ralph Nader, does touch a raw nerve of the
average citizen. Nader's campaign is becoming so popular among the young
that all mainstream women's rights, civil rights and trade union leaders
are attacking him. Most make up lies; others simply follow the old “lesser
evilism” argument that a vote for Nader is a vote for George W. Bush, the
Republican presidential candidate.

But the Business Week survey shows that anger is widespread.
A root cause is that the eight-year-long economic expansion is mainly serving
up more super-profits for the wealthy as the poor get poorer. There are
more jobs than ever, but they are lower paying. The average American worker
and family is working more hours per week to pay for basic necessities.

“Many Americans”, the article points out, “feel they're not getting
their fair share of the riches. The reason: Average wages and benefits
have outpaced inflation by only 7.6% since the last recession ended in
1992, while productivity has jumped by 17.9%. The gap between the rich
and the poor also grates on many middle-class people. Chief executives
inflame matters by granting themselves multimillion-dollar pay packages,
which 73% of the public sees as excessive, the poll shows."

Answers to the following question were most revealing: "Which of the
following statements do you agree with more strongly?

“US corporations should have only one purpose — to make the most profit
for their shareholders — and their pursuit of that goal will be best for
Americans in the long run?"

Or, “US corporations should have more than one purpose. They also owe
something to their workers and the communities in which they operate, and
they should sometimes sacrifice some profit for the sake of making things
better for their workers and communities".

The results: 95% yes to the second question; only 5% said the only purpose
of corporations is to make profits.

The United States does not have national health insurance. So working
people must fend for themselves. That's why some 45 million Americans (out
of 270 million) do not have health insurance. Both the Democrats and Republicans
want to make private insurance more accessible, particularly urging more
families to join HMOs (Health Maintenance Organisations).

Some 43% of those polled think HMOs serve their customers poorly. That's
the same number for tobacco companies; but worse than for oil companies
(39%) and insurance companies (32%).

Americans are also upset about the social impact of the "New Economy",
in which more companies are spying on and monitoring them more. Their email
is monitored, as is even their physical being. Major corporations take
blood tests for drugs and other diseases to decide if a worker gets a job.

Safety is also a big issue. It's not just that the tobacco companies
lied about cigarettes causing cancer. The big tyre and auto companies have
lied and continue to sell defective products. The ongoing scandal of Firestone
tyres on Ford vehicles, which have caused over 100 roll-over deaths, is
another example of an abuse of corporate power.

And the use of genetically modified food is now coming under increased
scrutiny too. Taco shells produced by the food giant Kraft, for example,
have been found to be made of modified ingredients not fit for human consumption.

Of course, Vice-President Al Gore and Texas governor George W. Bush
are both in the hip pockets of Big Oil, Big Insurance and the big polluters.
Only Ralph Nader speaks the truth on these issues.

Why did Business Week run the poll and feature the results? The
editors answer, “Corporate America, ignore these trends at your peril".

In other words, the demonstrations in Seattle against the impact of
corporate globalisation are just the beginning. If a serious shift in wealth
domestically and between the industrialised countries and Third World nations
doesn't occur, the future facing corporate conglomerates is one of even
more serious protests by working people — in the US and around the world.

But can corporations change? History has shown that modifications will
be made by capitalist institutions, including corporations, if it is a
question of maintaining their profits and power. Generally it is done late
and after facing a loss of some of their economic power.

The editors of Business Week — serving as the corporate bosses'
intellectual consciousness — make some suggestions. Corporations, they
write, must take more responsibility for overseas factories (the contractors
who run their sweatshops); limit corporate fundraising for politicians
(be less blatant); and spread the wealth to lower- and middle-income workers;
and write-off more of the debts of Third World countries.

The problem for the capitalist corporations is that their drive for
profits is in the very nature of the market system. It is their purpose.
The public's perception, reflected in the poll (95%), is that only profits
matter — and that's completely accurate.

Mass protests, disruptions, social rebellions — that's what the capitalists
fear.

The challenge for the militant street activists and “neo-populists”
(Business Week's words) led by Nader — who has set up more than
30 public interest groups that are a thorn in the side of corporate America
— is to continue to build a mass citizens' movement for participatory democracy
even if a few reforms are won. Ending corporate power ultimately means
replacing the market system with a democratically planned economy.

BY MALIK MIAH

From GLW issue 423