The Corporations are simultaneously holding us all hostage and destroying our lives and democracy...

[MrScorpio]

Please discuss.

[MindMover]

1. Prove it........ to help get ya started... http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002507523

[Octafish]

7. BFEE runs Bartertown.

The people who tried to overthrow FDR in 1933 had kids.

[Iris]

2. Couldn't agree more

It's insipid. When I got out of college in the early 90s, I remember reading an article about how difficult working for Corporate America could be but the author said there were alternative - education and healthcare. Now CA has taken over those as well, so there are no alternatives.

[FreakinDJ]

3. DING DING DING - We have a Winner

could not agree more

[Autumn]

4. Absolutely right. And since the politicians we elect look out

for their wants and not our needs, we are all fucked.

[banned from Kos]

5. Corporations are not inherently evil at all - they just profit when a sociopath

runs one of them.

There are a few CEO's that run socially aware and employee-responsible companies.

Power corrupts, no doubt.

[meow2u3]

9. Corporations are only as good or evil as the people who run them

That's why corporations are not persons. Persons, i.e., human beings, have free will and intellect; corporations do not. Corporations are mere puppets of the people who run them; they do not have a life of their own apart from their human (or inhuman) handlers.

[Prophet 451]

11. The problem there...

... is that the traits which define sociopathy (glibness, superficial charm; lack of empathy, conscience, guilt or remorse, etc) are the exact same traits which the corporate environment selects for. In effect, the corporate environment selects for and rewards those who either have the personality disorder (others might say mental illness but I'm going by Robert Hare's definition) or act as though they do. Yes, there are a few exceptions but they are defined by a CEO and/or corporate environment where the merciless pursuit of profit at all costs has been de-emphasised or, at least, moderated. However, since it is a corporation's only legal responsibility to ensure the highest profit for it's shareholders, I'm uncertain on how it would be possible to implement that kind of corporate environment in other corporations.

Also, I would suggest that the nature of the corporation lends itself especially well to sociopathic behaviours. With a small business, there is a direct interaction between owner/manager and customer. The owner sees their customers every day, has to look into their eyes and, presuming he isn't sociopathic, that human contact makes the customer emotionally "real" to him. However, to the CEO, the customers are just numbers, accounts in a ledger and so, aren't emotionally "real" to him. It's going to be naturally more difficult to cut off Mary-Beth's insurance than it is to cancel policy #82517. I have a couple of ideas for how that emotional linkage could be restored but, in teh current political climate, none of them would be able to pass.

[banned from Kos]

15. You improved my post 100x.

I worked in large corporations for 30 years. Advancing to the top of one takes being a bastard for a long time in most cases.

As you note, its the nature of a large organization. IMO there is nothing that can be done about it.

[provis99]

6. conservatives have helped in the destruction, too.

I get the impression that if the voters were 100% liberal, we wouldn't be having the problems with corporations that we are...

[Octafish]

8. Well, they do own the Supreme Court.

And Congress.

And what looks like a lot of the Executive.

So, where does that leave We the People in the pecking order of Things?

[Flying Squirrel]

10. They hold us hostage by tying health care to our job, thus trapping us there

then they destroy the economy, removing us from said job or keeping wages stagnant. But they still need us to buy their stuff, so they give us easy credit. Then they ramp up credit card rates so we'll never pay it off. Then they make it so we can't get a different job if our credit isn't good enough. Then they further indebt us when something goes wrong with our health. Then they take our homes. And on and on it goes... The cycle of poverty is becoming the norm in this country. Slavery, really. Oh, and then just for good measure they strip search us if we try to protest.

[Shankapotomus]

12. They feed the cycle of dependence

The less we are dependent on corporations to live, the better off we'll be. When you concede any part of your life to depending on others it becomes a trap when that relationship turns exploitative.

[nopubsorbds]

13. Very True statement

However the only way to change it via our current system is to STOP Electing Politicians who cater and pander to them no matter which party they belong too.

Face it the current Democratic Party is not interested in stopping corporate power in fact the current party leadership embraces corporate power.

Change will never happen as long as both parties cater to the corporations.

The very sad part is that this country was formed as a direct result of a single corporation having too much power, now this very country is being held hostage by multiple corporations.

I have the feeling that history will have to repeat itself in America once again so that the people can be truly free once again.

[baldguy]

14. Clear, succinct. You've summed it up perfectly.