I could write you a book on this. But let's just say the "alternative" is all in attitude and what we care about in society. The person I responded to literally just says "well the corporation only exists to give profit to the shareholders!! that is their legal obligation!"
As if that is some kind of fact of nature?
That is a debatable topic. As in- SHOULD that be the case? The older I've gotten the more I realize we are taught all of these constructs and never to question their actual intentions.
What is the intention behind the construct of a corporation that the primary responsibility is to give back to the shareholders? Green & rewarding people that already have money.
Why can't the main intention be a company to given stable employment to workers and adequate rights? To pay reasonable taxes on your profits to give back to the welfare of society?
But no.. we have a system in place here where a company is basically not required to give paid sick leave, no maternity leave, limited healthcare, zero paid time off, no sort of retirement/safety nets, no guarantee that you won't be fired the next day and have zero severance.. etc etc etc
Everything that's wrong with not helping people in our society is all intermingled right now. We need to increase taxes significantly on corporations and the wealthy. We need to guarantee healthcare, early childcare, significant maternity leave, paid sick days, vacation, way more higher education assistance.
Then even if corporations get to continue to be more greedy, at least they are paying their share and have to provide way more benefits to people.
Now since we are on HN- someone is going to say "Intel and X tech corporation do that!" And hey, fair enough they do a lot of that. But you know what? They are giving benefits to the people WHO HAVE MONEY! We are literally in a society where the people with the best benefits are the ones who make enough money where they could manage without them.
Yet most of the workforce that does more random jobs are the ones who get screwed with basically no benefits while making shit money.
Long story short? It's all connected and so much needs to change. But I have little hope any of this will in the US.
As if that is some kind of fact of nature?
That is a debatable topic. As in- SHOULD that be the case? The older I've gotten the more I realize we are taught all of these constructs and never to question their actual intentions.
What is the intention behind the construct of a corporation that the primary responsibility is to give back to the shareholders? Green & rewarding people that already have money.
Why can't the main intention be a company to given stable employment to workers and adequate rights? To pay reasonable taxes on your profits to give back to the welfare of society?
But no.. we have a system in place here where a company is basically not required to give paid sick leave, no maternity leave, limited healthcare, zero paid time off, no sort of retirement/safety nets, no guarantee that you won't be fired the next day and have zero severance.. etc etc etc
Everything that's wrong with not helping people in our society is all intermingled right now. We need to increase taxes significantly on corporations and the wealthy. We need to guarantee healthcare, early childcare, significant maternity leave, paid sick days, vacation, way more higher education assistance.
Then even if corporations get to continue to be more greedy, at least they are paying their share and have to provide way more benefits to people.
Now since we are on HN- someone is going to say "Intel and X tech corporation do that!" And hey, fair enough they do a lot of that. But you know what? They are giving benefits to the people WHO HAVE MONEY! We are literally in a society where the people with the best benefits are the ones who make enough money where they could manage without them.
Yet most of the workforce that does more random jobs are the ones who get screwed with basically no benefits while making shit money.
Long story short? It's all connected and so much needs to change. But I have little hope any of this will in the US.