I just saw the documentary The Corporation which is a scathing indictment of modern corporate anti-social and environmentally destructive behavior. It's an excellent movie that unfortunately will not be seen by nearly enough people. The movie's website is: b]http://www.thecorporation.com/[/b]
I think it's commonly known that there are many corporations that have terrible social and environmental policies, but people don't generally know who the worst offenders are, or what it is that they do specifically. It's not something that is widely reported in the mainstream media. But the information is out there. http://www.responsibleshopper.com/ analyzes the practices of a large number of corporations and rates them on their Social Insight and their Environmental Insight. They only analyze the parent corporations, but they list all the companies that are owned by them. For example, if you knew you hated Phillip Morris, you would find out that they also own Kraft Foods, General Foods, Miller Brewing Co., and many others. Below is a list of just a few of the better known parent corporations who had the worst social practices. There are many others who also had terrible environmental practices that I haven't listed.
Altria Group Inc. (formerly Phillip Morris)
General Electric Company
Toshiba Corp.
Circuit City
Sears Roebuck
Gap
JC Penney
Kohl's
Wal-Mart Stores
Rite Aid
Enron (of course)
Con Agra
Nestle USA
Hershey Foods
Tyson Foods
Exxon Mobil
Royal Dutch/Shell Group
Disney
MCI
People need to demand greater accountability from the corporations they do business with. If people keep buying their stuff at Wal-Mart just because it's cheaper, they're directly contibuting to a whole host of social and environmental ills. It is possible to shop without becoming an accomplice to a wide array of corporate crimes.
You mention Tyson foods, a big processor of chickens. I see that name in the paper every few years. If I recall correctly, they have a history of being accused of bribing politicians.
I personally have never bought Nike shoes, for the reason that they stuff huge amounts of endorsement money into the pockets of athletes who, in my opinion, are already grotesquely overpaid.
Originally posted by Paul DiracTyson's litany of abuses can be read at:
You mention Tyson foods, a big processor of chickens. I see that name in the paper every few years. If I recall correctly, they have a history of being accused of bribing politicians.
I personally have never bought Nike shoes, for the reason that they stuff huge amounts of endorsement money into the pockets of athletes who, in my opinion, are already grotesquely overpaid.
http://www.responsibleshopper.com/basic.cfm?cusip=902494
Just as a side note; why do you think athletes are overpaid? Why would it matter to you one way or another what they get paid? And do you think it's just athletes who are overpaid, or do you think corporate CEOs are overpaid as well?
Originally posted by rwingettBeing the thirty-third best human in the world at sticking a hollow rubber sphere through a steel ring elevated teen feet above the ground is worth, oh, about five million dollars a year in the free market. I am not saying down with capitalism or anything like that. But I personally choose to not buy tickets to professional sporting events.
... why do you think athletes are overpaid? Why would it matter to you one way or another what they get paid? And do you think it's just athletes who are overpaid, or do you think corporate CEOs are overpaid as well?
I don't know much about the what goes on inside corporate boardrooms. But I tend to think CEOs of big corporations are drastically overpaid, and I suspect the board members are encouraged to arrange for huge compensation for the guy at the top.
If corporate compensation is supposed to motivate the CEO to work hard and put in long hours, there has to be (it seems to me) some saturation point beyond which the shareholders are the losers because the person is not physically and mentally capable of giving anything more to the company.
If Disney was only going to compensate Michael Eisner with a half million dollars over the next 12 months, would Eisner sleep in late on workday mornings? Would he read the paper during meetings? Would he spend his office time watching sitcoms on his office TV set?