Corporations... - I don't know what it is..

[ComradeJunichi]

Someone explain to me. I must sound very ignorant...

[Supermodel]

Can you narrow the question? Are you talking about big corporations? Multinationals?

[ComradeJunichi]

I don't know how to narrow the question because I don't really know anything about it. So yeah...



That's cool your a Patron of Che-Lives. I want to be too!

[Radikkal Rebel]

im not sure what you mean, but il try to awnser your question. do you mean like big multinational corporations like mcdonalds? i dont know how t awnser this but i could give you my opinion . i personally am against big corporaationssuch as mcdonalds and the gap because there is usually exloitation and human rights violation invoved in the process. i hope this helped you but it probably didnt

[vox]

For a textbook definition of a corporation, go here (http://www.legalzoom.com/law_library/corporations/what.html).

The corporation has changed much throughout the history of the USA. In the beginning, a corporation was very limited. If, for example, a bridge needed to be built, several people could get a corporate charter themselves and build it. However, after the project was over, the corporation was dissolved.

Actually, I had a rather lengthy post on this a while back, which I'll quote here rather than rewriting everything:

From Our Hidden History (http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/plutocracy/CorporateHidden.html):

The corporate charter is an operating license that citizens may give, and likewise, may choose to revoke. Our country's founders had a healthy fear of corporate corruption and limited corporations exclusively to a business role:

*A charter was granted for a limited time.

*Corporations were explicitly chartered for the purpose of serving the public interest — profit for shareholders was the means to that end.

*They could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.

*Corporations were terminated if they exceeded their authority or if they caused public harm.

*Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts they committed on the job.

*Corporations could not make any political contributions, nor spend money to influence legislation.

*Corporations could not purchase or own stock in other corporations, nor own any property other than that necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.

From Adbusters:

"By the middle of the 19th century, the nation's commercial engine was humming, and corporations were becoming an indispensable part of business life. They pushed for and gained extended rights and freedoms in their charters. Then, in a series of landmark decisions, state legislators, one after another, enacted 'free incorporation laws' that gave corporations the right to engage in any kind of business they wanted. This was a crucial step in the evolution of the corporate form. Corporations were no longer limited to activities that served the public good, yet they continued to enjoy the extraordinary 'limited liability' exemption from investor responsibility that they had historically obtained in the name of public service. During the Civil War, corporations bagged huge profits from procurement contracts. They took advantage of the chaos and corruption of the times to buy judges, legislatures and even presidents. They forced amendments to laws limiting their profits and, in hundreds of cases, won minor legal victories extending their rights and privileges. They had immense political clout. Civil society was reeling, unable to keep up." (Source (http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/corporate/tour/questions/p2q2.html))

But then comes the really big one: in the case Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad, the Supreme Court granted corporations "personhood," meaning that they have all the rights of an individual. Sixty years after this decision Supreme Court Justice William Douglas claimed that this case was "...Not supported by history, logic, or reason." (Source (http://www.worldmediagroup.net/arie/evil/Santa%20Clara%20County%20vs.%20Southern%20Pacific% 20Railroad/))

Appropriately, corporations gained much power because of that most brutal of human activities: war. In this case, the US Civil War. Though not a Founding Father, Abraham Lincoln is often cited as a great president and elevated to a similar status. Here's what Lincoln had to say about the rise of corporate power:

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavour to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
— Abraham Lincoln 1865 (Source (http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/plutocracy/CorporateHidden.html))

I think that it's clear that the Founding Fathers did not envision a corporate plutocracy for the US. But don't take my word for it, let's see what Thomas Jefferson had to say about it:

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
— Thomas Jefferson 1812

It's funny, really. A lot of right-wingers talk about the "original intent" of the Founding Fathers. Bork (remember him?) was big on this. If this was really true, and not just a way of masking their true intent, conservative judicial activism, conservative judges would overturn Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad. But they don't, and they won't, for their agenda is clear. History shows us that.

vox




(Edited by vox at 8:01 pm on July 19, 2002)

[Field Marshal]

my god vox, that site is amazing. I ask that we all try to read everything on that website that vox has provided. It's just amazing!

[komsomol]

Junchi, for questions like this you might want to go to www.dictionary.com or search on google for five minutes.