Jordan Marks

Long

English 10

18  October 2015

A Coalition of Corporate Cats Control Countries and Cause Chaos

America, the home of capitalism. A place where politics and profits often go hand in hand. But this connection runs much deeper than many people think. With corporations often making very generous donations to politicians to fund campaigns, it is obvious that many corporations have some sort of control over the people who run the country. While many people may point the finger at one or two corporations, or simply dismiss the whole notion, those people are utterly wrong. The fact of the matter is, the corporate system, or a coalition of corporations, have control of not only this country, but a majority of the world. Through seedy deals and a lot of money, the corporation have used their power to take over the American government to make deals that protect them, not caring about what happens to the rest of us; they have capitalized on the capitalist system.

To get to the center of this, we have to look at how this has happened.  The ultimate goal of capitalism is to make a profit. The extent of this definition has changed considerably since the 1950s. According to Robert Reich -a Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley,“A half-century ago, CEOs typically managed companies for the benefit of all their stakeholders – not just shareholders, but also their employees, communities, and the nation as a whole,” (Reich “Widening Inequality”). Essentially, the CEOs of that era were more interested in benefiting the world as a whole, instead of just the companies’ profits. But that era has come to pass. Reich further states, “But starting in the late 1970s, a new vision of the corporation and the role of CEOs emerged – prodded by corporate “raiders,” hostile takeovers, junk bonds, and leveraged buyouts. Shareholders began to predominate over other stakeholders. And CEOs began to view their primary role as driving up share prices. To do this, they had to cut costs – especially payrolls, which constituted their largest expense,” (Reich “Widening Inequality”). According to Reich, and obviously seen in the real world, CEOs have become “corporate butchers” who will do anything to make a profit for the shareholders. This evident in the fact CEO salaries have gone from a 20-1 pay gap between CEO and regular workers, to a whooping 300-1 today, again according to Reich. But evidence of the ruthless tactics used by the corporate system can be found in more than just the business world.

With corporations out to make the biggest buck possible, their grasp often, if not always, reaches far beyond the business world  in order to better benefit their profits. An article written by the BBC has a simple claim: that the “US is an oligarchy, not a democracy” and that “The US is is dominated by a rich and powerful elite.” The evident when you look at how often corporations donate to politicians and how easily corporate based bills pass through Congress. The corporate system controls politics, as proven in a study by Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page.  “A proposed policy change with low support among economically elite Americans (one-out-of-five in favor) is adopted only about 18% of the time," they write, "while a proposed change with high support (four-out-of-five in favor) is adopted about 45% of the time, "(Long & Gilens “Testing Theories of American Politics”). With these kinds of numbers, even when a majority of the population supports a change in policy, it will not pass unless also backed by a majority of elites. Therefore, the corporate system essentially has control of the American government -and most likely many more- having the ability to make any laws they like, no matter the consequences or effect it has on regular people.

With the corporations controlling policy making, they often create policies that benefit them greatly, that included very negative effects for everyone else. In an article written by Joseph E. Stiglitz for Project Syndicate, he states that inside the recent Trans-Pacific Partnership proposal, a lot of malcontent is hidden, with the most “dishonest” parts of the agreement involving investor protections. “The real intent of these provisions is to impede health, environmental, safety, and, yes, even financial regulations meant to protect America’s own economy and citizens. Companies can sue governments for full compensation for any reduction in their future expected profits resulting from regulatory changes, ” (Stiglitz “The Secret Corporate Takeover”). With these in place, companies can sue governments when their products are literally killing people, and that government is just trying to protect the people. In fact, an issue that  this is happening right now, which is mentioned in both this article, and in an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The company Phillip Morris, a tobacco company, is suing the governments of Uruguay and Australia for having packs of cigarettes that contain many health warnings and often graphic pictures of what smoking can cause. As most people know, smoking can cause all kinds of fatal diseases such as lung cancer or heart disease. The worst part about this is Philip Morris knows exactly what their products do to people, and chose to ignore this in order to make money. If Philip Morris gets away with this, an example will be set that any corporation can sue at any sign of resistance to their products or ideas. That not what America is about. That is not what the world should be about.

The corporate system has provided the world with a serious issue.. The corporate system has control of many governments, and write laws that benefit them, even when their products kill people, all in the name of capitalism. The corporate system wants control of everything. A lot needs to happen for this to stop. A lot that one person can’t accomplish alone. In order to end this, we first need to educate ourselves on how far this really goes. We need to get the wisdom to change the system. Then, maybe we can look forward to a world free of corporate greed.

Works Cited

Gilens, Martin, and Benjamin I. Page. Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens. Cambridge University, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

Reich, Robert. "Harvard Business School's Role in Widening Inequality." Robert Reich (Harvard Business School's Role in Widening...). Robert Reich, 13 Sept. 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

Schmookler, Andy. "What's Taking Over America." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 July 2015. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

Stiglitz, Joseph E. "The Secret Corporate Takeover." Project Syndicate. Project Syndicate, 15 May 2015. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

"Study: US Is an Oligarchy, Not a Democracy - BBC News." BBC News. BBc, 17 Apr. 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

Oliver, John. "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Tobacco (HBO)."YouTube. YouTube, 15 Feb. 2015. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.