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Household Wealth: Median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households between 2005 and 2009, mainly because of the mortgage banking collapse. Almost half of Americans have ZEROwealth, with their assets surpassed by debt.
Water and Food: Life-giving seeds and drinking water have been increasingly treated as products to be bought and sold.
All these areas of life have been degraded by a free-market system that has thrived on publicly-funded research, infrastructure, and defense. Yet in a brazen show of hypocrisy, major corporations have ignored all the problems they've caused, choosing instead to cut their taxes in half despite doubling their profits, to hold 60% of its cash offshore, to eliminate workers rather than create jobs, and to reduce the pay of their remaining employees.
An Apple executive explained: "We don't have an obligation to solve America's problems."
The World Bank estimates the total cost for a successful attack on malnutrition would be approximately $10.3 to $11.8 billion annually. Apple alone underpaid its 2012 taxes by $11 billion, based on a 35% rate.
It may be time to update [Apple's] quote: "We don't have an obligation to solve the world's problems."
Big business is making its way around the world like a modern-day Attila the Hun, pillaging and despoiling the planet.
May 19, 2013
The damage caused by the relentless corporate drive for profits has become more clear in recent years. In the most important areas of American life, devastating changes have occurred:
There have been many times when I have skipped the doctor when I thought it was a small enough problem that spending the money wasn't worthwhile. The UNICEF study deseves a thread of it's own, but it's results are a little questionable. I hope no one is claiming that hospitals make a huge profit. Pharmaceuticals, maybe, but not doctors and hospitals.
Health Care: Almost half of the working-age adults in America passed up doctor visits or other medical services because they couldn't afford to pay. The system hasn't supported kids, either. A UNICEF study places the U.S. 26th out of 29 OECD countries in the overall well-being of its children.
Isn't that largely fueled by government student loan programs which make more and more money available, so colleges can up their tuition? I'm not sure that qualifies as corporate hunger for profits.
Education: Student loan balances increased by 75% between 2007 and 2012.
Again, I think this is driven largely by government policies and consumer misjudgments.
Household Wealth: Median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households and 53% among black households between 2005 and 2009, mainly because of the mortgage banking collapse. Almost half of Americans have ZEROwealth, with their assets surpassed by debt.
Designer seeds being sold? Sure, because farmers have concluded it's a better deal for them. I think only bottled water is being sold, unless you count municipal taxes and sewer fees. That doesn't sound corporate to me either.
Water and Food: Life-giving seeds and drinking water have been increasingly treated as products to be bought and sold.
I don't see how that's hypocrisy, and as the Apple executive said, we're just following the tax laws the American government has written. We're following the law. Change it, and we'll probably change our behavior.
Yet in a brazen show of hypocrisy, major corporations have ignored all the problems they've caused, choosing instead to cut their taxes in half despite doubling their profits, to hold 60% of its cash offshore,
Inequality in the US is based largely on the loss of wealth Americans suffered when there home values fell. It's the household wealth issue again, stated in different terms.
Inequality continues to grow, both between and within countries. Poverty levels haven't changed much in 30 years, with almost half of humanity, up to three billion people, living on less than $2.50 a day. A quarter of the world's children - over 170 million kids under age five - are growing up stunted because of malnutrition.
As mentioned earlier, companies are paying the taxes that the law tells them to pay. If they were cheating, fine, go after them. But the problem seems to be government policies again.
there IS an obligation to pay for global energy consumption and infrastructure usage and industrial pollution. Yet a review of 25 multinational companies shows clear negligence in meeting that responsibility. The 25 companies, with almost a half-trillion dollars in 2011-12 income, paid just 8% in taxes to the U.S. and 9% to foreign countries. A 35% tax -- paid to ANY country or countries -- would have generated another $90 billion over two years, four times the amount needed to battle malnutrition.
Isn't China the world's largest polluter? And if countries don't want certain industries, they can keep them out through government action.
A recent study estimated that toxic pollution affects the health of more than 100 million people, shortening their productive life spans by 12.7 years on average. A related study concluded that in 2010 over 8 million individuals were at risk of exposure to industrial pollutants at 373 toxic waste sites in three low-income countries (India, Indonesia, and the Philippines).
That's the right point to make, and I'm glad you made it.
I understand your points, and I realize that lack of regulation and weak laws "can" be blamed, but people TAKING ADVANTAGE of those opportunities with NO REGARD for how it affects others is more of an issue.
Dear Ambassadors, there is a need for financial reform along ethical lines that would produce in its turn an economic reform to benefit everyone. This would nevertheless require a courageous change of attitude on the part of political leaders. I urge them to face this challenge with determination and farsightedness, taking account, naturally, of their particular situations. Money has to serve, not to rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but the Pope has the duty, in Christ’s name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them. The Pope appeals for disinterested solidarity and for a return to person-centred ethics in the world of finance and economics.
I think that is responsible business management. No "law" involved, just the "right thing to do."
Yes, I see your point and agree completely.
Why should it be a "law" to make it necessary or doable?
It isn't.
But, I do see your points. In my mind, it's immoral and negligent of the Human Resource factor. It takes EVERYONE on a team to win. Do you see my point?
I'm glad you did, that sort of thing can corrupt most people, given enough time.
And yet, the most recognition the housekeepers get is one week a year they have 'donuts' bought by management for them. It's called "housekeeping appreciation week." What a farce. I had to leave that job it made me so sick....physically sick due to the damage of my sensibilities and values. I couldn't support management in good conscience, but they were willing to go against their own moral compass "because Corporate says we have to." It's impossible for me to do that. So, I left.
The corruption of people in power leads to tremendous suffering, whether it's corporate power, governmental, corporate, academic, or in any field. There may be some temporary relief of the symptoms, but that's not the cure. I believe that a good government is one which makes it easy for it's citizens to be good.
Originally posted by Hopechest
reply to post by wildtimes
Are you suggesting that corporations not be concerned with profit?
Seems rather silly.
Are you suggesting we go to a communist system where the people control everything?
I see the outline of a problem but absolutely no solutions being put up.
So somehow it's business fault that people breed more than they can feed.
Am I missing something here.
Originally posted by Hopechest
reply to post by wildtimes
Are you suggesting that corporations not be concerned with profit?
Seems rather silly.
Are you suggesting we go to a communist system where the people control everything?
I see the outline of a problem but absolutely no solutions being put up.