Bad for business… Good for business… Two terms that one hears quite often. We apparently need business to some extent to meet our daily needs. The unfortunate aspect of business is that to a large extent it is based on the profit motive which often translates into unbridled greed. The way businesses and corporations are structured in this country it tends to shield individuals from most responsibility for less than desirable actions. A familiar buzz phrase is “corporate citizen” which in my mind is the paradigm for explaining what an oxymoron is.
When I hear something is bad for business it generally grates on my nerves. It frequently is a case of the tail wagging the dog. In this country, businesses and corporations have garnered more than their fair share of wealth. This wealth has bought politicians and who knows whom else. This wealth has managed to change the laws to shield and benefit these legal fictions. It has reached the point that if Lincoln was giving the Gettysburg Address today, his closing would read “and that government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations, shall not perish from the Congress.”
What started me down this well trodden path again was a news story this morning on NPR. It was reported that “Louisiana’s coast is disappearing at the rate of about a football field an hour. Since the 1930s, the Gulf of Mexico has swallowed up an area the size of Delaware.”
Many folks allege that this erosion of the wetlands that provide a buffer between hurricanes and New Orleans is the responsibility of the various oil companies operating in the area. For mysterious reason some of these folks feel that the entities that caused the erosion due to their business activities should pay to restore the land. It is costing Continue reading “Bad for business… Good for business…”