"Corporations should not have many opinions and should operate within the law."
That would almost be ok if corporations weren't allowed to lobby the government, have their employees, owners or board members go work in politics or have other types of influence on politicians.
But they have tremendous influence on the laws that they themselves ostensibly have to follow.
Not to mention that:
- even when they break laws they tend to get just a slap on the wrist
- the corporate execs responsible for the lawbreaking rarely go to jail
- even if they're unlucky enough to go to jail the jails tend to be cushy country clubs
- execs have golden parachutes that let them cash out even if they screw the company, and can easily get jobs elsewhere (not that the people at the top who bear ultimate responsibility for the company even have to work another day in their life)
- corporations manipulate voters' opinions through (perfectly legal) advertising, PR, media ownership/influence, sponsorship, greenwashing, astroturfing, etc
That would almost be ok if corporations weren't allowed to lobby the government, have their employees, owners or board members go work in politics or have other types of influence on politicians.
But they have tremendous influence on the laws that they themselves ostensibly have to follow.
Not to mention that:
- even when they break laws they tend to get just a slap on the wrist
- the corporate execs responsible for the lawbreaking rarely go to jail
- even if they're unlucky enough to go to jail the jails tend to be cushy country clubs
- execs have golden parachutes that let them cash out even if they screw the company, and can easily get jobs elsewhere (not that the people at the top who bear ultimate responsibility for the company even have to work another day in their life)
- corporations manipulate voters' opinions through (perfectly legal) advertising, PR, media ownership/influence, sponsorship, greenwashing, astroturfing, etc