You know how in so many Hollywood movies, the bad guy (or
girl) is completely amoral? They have absolutely no redeeming qualities or
allegiances, no heart, and have only one goal in their miserable lives (world
domination, killing the hero, the Holy Grail, the gold in Ft. Knox, etc.)?
Well, think about it. What is the one real-world parallel that turns people
into amoral, single-minded tyrants? Profits.
If companies are people, as the Supreme Court says they are,
they are amoral organisms that have one purpose and one purpose only: to make a
profit. Everything else is superfluous or incidental and subservient to the
goal of staying in the black. Today’s large corporations have no national
allegiance, no community allegiance, no concern for their workers other than
that they perform their assigned duties competently, and absolutely no
conscience.
To argue against free market capitalism in America is to
invite stoning, shunning, career suicide and any number of other punishments. It’s
not a serious part of anyone’s political discourse, with the possible exception
of Bernie Sanders, and, to Tea Partiers, calling Obama a socialist is the
modern day equivalent of labeling him a son of Satan.
Unregulated or even poorly regulated capitalism is a recipe
for disaster, and that disaster is playing itself out as I type this. The
economy has limped along since 2008, but much worse is on horizon as we
continue to allow unchecked companies to move to lower wage countries, pay
little to nothing in taxes, pay CEOs exorbitant salaries and keep hordes of
money stockpiled in offshore accounts.
Politicians working with lobbyists have created an amoral
corporate monster that lives only for profits and gives almost nothing back in
return.
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