Do I really have to go into the musty bureaucracy of corporate hierarchies? The incestual relationship between CEOs and corporate boards? The sweetheart deals? The nepotism? The stacking of the deck against non-establishment players? The corruption of government to prevent market prices on pollution?
And sure, union culture mobilizes labor to vote because they have bodies. But corporations are more than happy to mobilize and coordinate billions of dollars to effectively bribe government officials, either pre- or post-election. And that's just directly: just as unions have fostered a culture where labor and their families will vote for their interests, corporations have fostered a culture where management and shareholders will give money to corrupt and warp government.
A small detail here. Corporations use THEIR money to follow what they want to do. That is not for your to decide what they should do or not do. Unless they indulge in illegal activities. And let's not make a generalization here. There may be a few big corporations actually involved in bribing, but most certainly a large majority has never done so. This is not the core of their business.
Unions regularly abuse taxpayer money with their agendas. And you have no say about it. Their business is corruption and pressure on officials. That is what they thrive on. Thay do not "produce" anything.
Corner bakery
Local health club
Childcare center
Starbucks
Children's Hospital
Cancer Centers of America
Local used car dealership
IT Consultant
Your kids' Karate studio
Your little girl's Dance studio
The restaurant you might frequent
The only remaining local book store
The Bed and Breakfast at that camping spot
The bicycle rental shop
Chevron
GE
United Airlines
Ford
The Humane Society
Microsoft
Google
Facebook
Apple
And, probably most businesses you frequent, recommend and have worked for.
All evil? All colluding to destroy the planet? All secretly communicating through back channels to concoct schemes to extract untold profits by polluting and buying-off politicians?
I don't know you so none of the following is aimed at you whatsoever. Again, this comment is not --it is NOT-- about you:
This is the kind of crap our colleges and universities are pounding into kids brains simply because most professors don't have a clue as to how the real world works.
Very often when I hear pro-union, anti-corporation, anti-business or anti-capitalism comments its from people who have had very little experience in what I call "the real world".
No experience in actually making something. No experience taking a risk; failing; taking another risk; failing again; not giving up; taking yet another risk; and finally succeeding. Yet, these people want and use all of the benefits that come from evil corporations and capitalism. And, yet again, these people think that entrepreneurs magically become evil once they make it and particularly if they make it big.
The very computers and the communications networks they use to spew-off these moronic ideas are monuments to the triumph of the free market system over every other idea in history. Yet, as they make use of everything that these economic system have provided they insist that all of it is evil.
I have yet to see one of these people forgo all that has come out of these evil systems and go live somewhere where capitalism is rejected and corporations are not allowed. Somewhere where, presumably, everything is owned and run by the --always benevolent, of course-- government and nobody is allowed to make a profit beyond a government-approved level. I'd love to see see folks who spew out these ideals actually live by their own words for a few years and then compare notes.
The good news is that we still have such bastions of alternative though in this world. Pick one. Go live there. Have fun.
To re-iterate, none of this is about you.
The general sentiment expressed by these groups also reminds me of an argument a good friend of mine had with his neighbor. He is into guns. I'm not, but I don't have any issues with people owning them. His neighbor is as anti-gun as you can possibly get, to the point of harassing my friend about his gun hobby (not very smart, if you ask me). They've had this argument for years. One day my friend decided to settle the argument once and for all. He had these nice large signs printed. The first red something like: "We own guns and support your right to own them" while the second said "We are against guns and don't own any". In the middle of the night he placed the sign on their corresponding lawns. Predictably, in the morning his doorbell rang. The neighbor was angry about this sign. When my friend asked him why this sign was a problem if it was what he believed he replied: "We'll get robbed". Case closed.
Don't like capitalism and corporations? Go find a place that does it some other way and enjoy.
> Don't like capitalism and corporations? Go find a place that does it some other way and enjoy.
Luckily enough (well it depends on one's perspective) we have a number of examples of how countries turn without free market, where evil, self-centered, corrupted corporations are abolished and where people are closer to experiencing true Paradise on Earth: Cuba, North Korea, the former Soviet Union, former East Germany, former China...
And sure, union culture mobilizes labor to vote because they have bodies. But corporations are more than happy to mobilize and coordinate billions of dollars to effectively bribe government officials, either pre- or post-election. And that's just directly: just as unions have fostered a culture where labor and their families will vote for their interests, corporations have fostered a culture where management and shareholders will give money to corrupt and warp government.