Valkyrie
6th July 2004, 03:25
Published on Monday, July 5, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
US-Chartered Corporations Unpatriotic Behavior
by Ralph Nader
During this 4th of July weekend, why not assess the behavior of giant U.S. chartered multinational corporations by the yardsticks of patriotism to the supportive country of their birth? These standards for the corporate entities themselves are important for the moral, legal and political persuasion necessary to improve their patriotic performance? Let a few examples do for many. 1. During the Vietnam War the Department of Defense learned that the second leading cause of hospitalization for the troops was malaria. Fed up by the refusal of the profit glutted drug companies to research for new medicines, the Department established its own in-house, first class drug research division at Walter Reed Institute of Health. Many new medicines to treat malaria and other tropical diseases were discovered and made available to the world with staggering efficiency compared to the private drug companies. These drug companies continue to avoid investing their money in vaccines or other related medicines needed for Americans and natives in tropical regions. This is the same industry that receives billions of dollars each year in NIH research and development (e.g. Taxol, AZT) and tax credits. UNPATRIOTIC BEHAVIOR. 2. U.S. corporations, with your taxpayer subsidies, are selling weapons of rapid destruction to regimes all over the world -- many of which are dictatorships and oligarchies oppressing their people and reshipping these weapons wherever they please. Moreover, these corporations for years have been pressing to over-ride export controls and sell advanced computer technologies to countries hostile or potentially hostile to our country. These arms sales range from fighter planes to lethal "anti-personnel" weapons thatslice into innocent children and adults. UNPATRIOTIC BEHAVIOR.
rest of article
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0705-07.htm
US-Chartered Corporations Unpatriotic Behavior
by Ralph Nader
During this 4th of July weekend, why not assess the behavior of giant U.S. chartered multinational corporations by the yardsticks of patriotism to the supportive country of their birth? These standards for the corporate entities themselves are important for the moral, legal and political persuasion necessary to improve their patriotic performance? Let a few examples do for many. 1. During the Vietnam War the Department of Defense learned that the second leading cause of hospitalization for the troops was malaria. Fed up by the refusal of the profit glutted drug companies to research for new medicines, the Department established its own in-house, first class drug research division at Walter Reed Institute of Health. Many new medicines to treat malaria and other tropical diseases were discovered and made available to the world with staggering efficiency compared to the private drug companies. These drug companies continue to avoid investing their money in vaccines or other related medicines needed for Americans and natives in tropical regions. This is the same industry that receives billions of dollars each year in NIH research and development (e.g. Taxol, AZT) and tax credits. UNPATRIOTIC BEHAVIOR. 2. U.S. corporations, with your taxpayer subsidies, are selling weapons of rapid destruction to regimes all over the world -- many of which are dictatorships and oligarchies oppressing their people and reshipping these weapons wherever they please. Moreover, these corporations for years have been pressing to over-ride export controls and sell advanced computer technologies to countries hostile or potentially hostile to our country. These arms sales range from fighter planes to lethal "anti-personnel" weapons thatslice into innocent children and adults. UNPATRIOTIC BEHAVIOR.
rest of article
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0705-07.htm