Sucking on the Teat of Society

Below is an artcile that I had originally published on the very first Rant Place page back in 1996. I believed that it was very relavent back then and in the light of recent corporate state of affairs (Enron, Worldcomm, etc.), I believe that it is still relavent. Even though we would like to believe that things have changed regarding America's corporations, they really haven't. We, as a people, are still the "fodder" for their profits and the corporate execusitve really don't care about anyone else other then themselves. So, without further adeiu.......

Corporate Irresponsibility

There are so many things that I find annoying that I needed to focus on one thing. That one thing is the total disregard that corporations are conducting their business.
Look at any newspaper, on any given day, and you'll find somewhere written about corporations and downsizing, rightsizing, or whatever PR words they're using that day. It always amazes me whenever a spokesperson talks about the corporation they refer to it as a living entity, expecting all the rights and priviledges that are bestowed on us citizens. However, they do NOT expect to be placed under the same obligations asthe rest of us. When was the last time you heard that a corporation was drafted to serve in the armed forces? Serve on jury duty? BUT, when they hear about "their" taxes going up, they will scream and threaten to shut "their" operations in the area dowprotect them.
Wouldn't it be nice if the government would send in the Marines whenever a US citizen called for them?? Yes, it is definitely one-sided. With all the downsizing/rightsizing going on, why don't we hear about some of the overpaid executives' jobs being eliminated? Why don't we ship their jobs overseas? You hear about people's jobs being shipped overseas because the labor is cheaper and then we know that the Japanese can manage corproations better. Why don't corporations ship the executive jobs to Japan?
I've always wondered what the corporate executives do to warrant such high salaries that go up into the millions. What service or value to they add to the product being sold? Are they more important than the assembly worker, the engineer, the office supCan you vote them out? Probably not. None of us "little people" own enough stock on our own or carry enough influence to sway from the path that the board has already decided.
Why aren't the corporations required to be "good citizens"? They expect the same service as we do. We, as citizens, are expected to "do our fair share". Maybe it's time that the corporations, and mainly the actual people behind the facade, be held accountable for their actions and decisions.
How many people remember these wonderful corporate gems:

• General Electric "buy-out" of RCA. I wonder who the winners and losers were?
• All the different defense corporation mergers, etc. Too many to list here!
• Anyone remember the insurance companies' reaction to NJ State going to have them account for the manner in which they establish their rates? They threatened to stop doing business in the State of NJ!
• Bell Atlantic and NYNEX merging. Did I hear someone say no jobs were to be lost?? I think someone should tell the 200+ people whose jobs will be eliminated.

As more coporations move their operations overseas and they desert the US, all the while expecting the same support from the government as before, they should lose their registration as a US corporation when their percentage of overseas operations exceeds 15%. Now that would be an interesting concept. It'll never happen, though. The powers to be in Washington will never agree to this....they're looking for their next job after they leave office. Gee, and guess where they'll end up? You got it!! On the board of one of the coporations.