A Progressive Living Book Review Representative Quotations Mission Statement "The point of departure of When Corporations Rule the World is the evidence that we are experiencing accelerating social and environmental disintegration in nearly every country of the world—as revealed by a rise in poverty, unemployment, inequality, violent crime, failing families, and environmental degradation. These problems stem in part from a fivefold increase in economic output since 1950 that has pushed human demands on the ecosystem beyond what the planet is capable of sustaining. . . . Governments seem wholly incapable of responding, and public frustration is turning to rage. It is more than a failure of government bureaucracies, however. It is a crisis of governance born of a convergence of ideological, political, and technological forces behind a process of economic globalization that is shifting power away from governments responsible for the public good and toward a handful of corporations and financial institutions driven by a single imperative—the quest for short-term financial gain. This has concentrated massive economic and political power in the hands of an elite few whose absolute share of the products of a declining pool of natural wealth continues to increase at a substantial rate—thus reassuring them that the system is working perfectly well. . . . When Corporations Rule the World outlines a citizen's agenda to . . . [get] corporations out of politics and [create] localized economies that empower communities within a system of global cooperation." Samples "If economic rationalists and market liberals had a serious allegiance to market principles and human rights, they would be calling for policies aimed at achieving the conditions in which markets function in a democratic fashion in the public interest. They would be calling for measures to end subsidies and preferential treatment for large corporations, break up corporate monopolies, encourage the distribution of property ownership, internalize social and environmental costs, root capital in place, secure the rights of workers to the just fruits of their labor, and limit opportunities to obtain extravagant individual incomes far greater than productive contributions. "Corporate libertarianism is not about creating the market conditions that market theory argues will result in optimizing the public interest. It is not about the public interest at all. It is about defending and institutionalizing the right of the economically powerful to do whatever best serves their immediate interests without public accountability for the consequences. It places power in institutions that are blind to issue of equity and environmental balance." "One of the most basic rules of market economics is that participants in market transactions must bear the full costs of their decisions—in addition to reaping the benefits. In practice, market players commonly go to considerable lengths to capture the benefits of success for themslves and pass the costs to others. This creates a tension between what efficient markets require and what self-interested market players are prone to do. "Market players are attracted to the corporation as a form of business organization specifically because the legal nature and structure of the corporation tend to exempt both the corporation and its decision makers from accountability for many of the costs of their activities. Actual shareholders, the real owners, rarely have any voice in corporate affairs and bear no personal liability beyond the value of their investments. Directors and officers are protected from financial liability for acts of negligence or commission by insurance policies paid for by the corporation. The generous compensation of top managers bears little relation to performance, and they are rarely prosecuted for the illegal acts of the corporation. Acts that would bring stiff prison sentences or even death for individuals result—at worst—in small fines for corporations that are generally inconsequential in relation to corporate assets. Civil liability suits pose perhaps the greatest threat to corporate malfeasance, but even here, corporations can marshal massive legal resources in their own defense and they aggressively seek legislation further limiting their liability; if they lose, insurance companies may pick up the tab. It is with good reason that William M. Dugger characterizeds the corporation as 'organized irresponsibility.'" "The owners and managers of corporations have the full rights of any citizen—in their capacity as citizens—to participate in defining public goals and policies. However, corporations themselves, as non-human legal entities created to serve the public interest, have no place using their resources to influence the processes by which citizens define the public interest and set the rules of corporate conduct. Corporations are not people. They are alien to the ways of life and blind to the complex nonmaterial needs of human societies. They should be wholly barred from any form of political participation. . . . "A corporate charter represents a privilege—not a right—that is extended in return for the acceptance of corresponding obligations. It is up to the people, the members of civil society—not the fictitious persona of the corporation—to define these privileges and obligations. We are learning through harsh experience that the survival of democracy depends on holding firmly to this principle."
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