The Corporation

Throughout history there has always been someone with power over the public. Historically this person has been a monarch, dictator, president, or prime minister. However in the 21^st century a new leader has emerged, this new leader is corporation. A corporation is an association of people that do something. The documentary The Corporation discusses the contemporary corporate world and the potential problems that are arising because of corporations.

In the U.S. corporations carry the same rights as an individual person.  However, corporations are not human and therefore don’t have the same moral obligation as a human being. Because Corporations are associations of people they are unable to feel guilt like a normal person would.

The problem with the corporate structure is that corporations are created to make money. Many corporations pay workers unfair wages, they deplete the world of its natural resources, and they have a general disregard for the safety of others. Corporations do all these things because they are profit motivated.

Many corporations have had to pay fines for disregarding the environment or the safety of others. The problem with fining corporations when they do something wrong is that the punishment is often less than the profit. Therefore, it’s just like any other business decision, a business will break a law if they can make enough money that the penalty doesn’t really hurt them financially.

Often corporations fund both sides of a conflict. For example, a corporation may pay workers in one country unfair wages for making a product, and then donate a part of the proceeds from that product to poor people in another country. So even when corporations help people they may still be hurting others. Because of their drive for money corporations don’t care for the well being of other humans. When a company sets up a factory in a desperate country they pay workers just enough money not to starve. After a while the workers become un-desperate because they have money. Then the corporation must move their factory to another country because the people wont work for such little wages any longer. This is called the science of exploitation.

I agree with most of the ideas brought up in the film the corporation. I believe that corporations for the most part have a reckless disregard for the well being of others. Also I believe that corporations shouldn’t be allowed to have the same rights as humans because they are unable to have a moral obligation like a typical human being. However, I also believe that corporations aren’t always bad, I believe there are good corporations out there, and I believe that corporations don’t always knowingly and willingly hurt their workers or the environment.