Mattel, China and Disinfo, page 1

Originally posted by Beachcoma
What matters the most to corporations is money and the bottom line. Morality has no place in capitalism.

True.

Remember in the China stock threads I mentioned a documentary analyzing the psychologi of corporate behavior?

Dug it out, here it is.

To create maximum profit takes a psychopath. A great part of top executives actually fit into the category.

Using the WHO definitions for a psychopath, it requires six behavorial attitudes to be met.

1)Callous unconcern for the feelings of others
2)Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships
3)Reckless disregard for the safety of others
4)Deceitfulness: Repeated lying to and deceiving of others for profit
5)Incapacity to experience guilt
6)Failure to conform to the social norms with respect to lawful behaviors

The corporation fulfills them all.

A psychopath diagnose is the only psychiatric ailment where the patient does not suffer. Only the surroundings do.

The observation is not my own, but from a book: Joel Bakan "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power".

A 3-part TV documentary has been made over it as well, a Canadian production by Mark Achbar's and Jennifer Abbott's, "The Corporation".

Why corporations can get away with it, is because they are persons. The benchmark is justified, because they are NOT entities, they are individuals equal in rights to the flesh'n-blood kind.

Comes down to the 14th amendment, initially added to state the rights of freed slaves.

However between 1890 and 1910 307 cases were brought to the Supreme Court dealing with the 14th amendment. Out of the 307 only 19 cases were made by African Americans. The 288 came from corporate lawyers seeking "equal" rights for their corporate entities.

That's the presedence.
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To get back on topic: worst case I know of is this one.

A case from Panama killing at least 100 children through tainted glycol used in cough medicine.

The story is here.

From China to Panama, a Trail of Poisoned Medicine

Only this NYT article gave it attention in American mainstream media. Maybe because it was not pets and not our children.
www.nytimes.com...

Let me say I'm sure similar and just as horrific cases occure inside China. We just don't hear about them, because they're seldom reported in local media. The NYT article gives some hints about the problem domestic.

The reason for this tainting of goods as well as image, is to be found in a huge unregulated market ridden by corruption from state level downwards.

Also the mentality must be taken into account. A mentality which I still -after living almost a decade in that part of the world- just don't get. They don't give a damn about the welfare and lives of others.

But they care alot about reputation. So it's a combination of greed, corruption and a lack of regulation that causes it.

As for the greed, the ordering companies do have a part responsibility.