Comments on: Unaccountable, Irresponsible and Infinitely Powerful Authority

By: Fred Gosling

Fred Gosling — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:08:27 +0000

Plutocracy 5
Democracy 4

Impeach them. Now.

By: Joyce L. Arnold

Joyce L. Arnold — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:35:22 +0000

“Grackles of greed” – Reba
Having just come in from chasing, yet again, flocks of grackles from an area of newly planted seeds, I’m particularly strong in my approval of that symbol.

” … I sure won’t live long enough to prove it so.” – Glenn
Me either, damn it.

By: David Kaib

David Kaib — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:35:20 +0000

They behave the way they do because that is what they have been programmed to do — their prime directive is to return value to their stockholders.

Charlotte, you are absolutely right that “corporations are OUR creations” and that we can change them. But I’m not sure about the quote above. I think corporations generally behave in ways that maximize the return value to their executives. Actually, shareholders and the rest of society are both getting screwed by the people who run corporations – which is something to think about as we mobilize in response.

While it’s certainly true that are political institutions are failing, for the most part regular Americans simply haven’t engaged the issue of corporate power. My guess is that if we do, our institutions will perform better in response to our demands. Quiescence, more than institutional inertia, is the problem.

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:58:29 +0000

Despite what the Supremes have to say, corporations are NOT persons. They behave the way they do because that is what they have been programmed to do — their prime directive is to return value to their stockholders. To demonize them is analogous to the demonization of the wolf, whose bent is to attack the sheep and other helpless livestock. The wolf is not a devil; it is doing what it is genetically programmed to do. The difference is that, unlike the wolf, corporations are OUR creation. We can change these creatures so that their motivations are completely different from what they are today. And yet we don’t, in part because their power has taken over the very institutions that created them, the very instituions that are most at hand in order to effect change. This is our dilemma. I see no solution available from within our current political institutions, but I do observe that if the US government ceases to exist, so do all US corporations. Is that what we must resort to?

By: Glenn W. Smith

Glenn W. Smith — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:41:49 +0000

Actually, I started to take “infinitely” out. But, relative to the power of real folk, infinite captures it in a way “absolute” doesn’t. I admit to mathematical incorrectness. Poetic license and all that.

As to the whether corporations are “finite ‘beings,’” an interesting note. In an exchange last evening with a constitutional expert who is more or less supportive of the decision, I was informed that corporations were, constitutionally, “persons” when it comes to matters such as free speech, but “not persons” when it comes to matters such as imprisonment. To which I responded, “Aha, corporations are Schrodinger’s Cats!” The are both alive and not alive. Finite? I suppose, but I sure won’t live long enough to prove it so.

By: Vaughn

Vaughn — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 06:39:35 +0000

One thing I disagree with is the idea that the corporations are “infinitely powerful.” Maybe it’s my mathematics background that makes me say that, but I do believe that, bad as the Supreme Court decision is (and it definitely is bad), we cannot give up. Corporations are finite “beings,” and they are not monolithic.

By: Claudia

Claudia — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:21:48 +0000

Well put, Glenn.
Why bother with elections anymore? Just have auctions.

By: Reba saxon

Reba saxon — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:30:09 +0000

Oh, my gosh. Walking outside at dusk in Austin it comes to me. Grackles! The grackles of greed!

By: Janice

Janice — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:59:42 +0000

Consider it done — thanks for helping me articulate my argument!!!

By: Reba Saxon

Reba Saxon — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:29:41 +0000

At the risk of making it seem like we’re just writing back and forth to each other on our respective blogposts today, I want to bring up another bird since you took off on that in my post. I’ve been searching for a myth, a parable, a symbol, something to create a graphic interface for the anticorporatist movement. Greek mythology: Midas. No, he actually WAS a man, and the point, as you made it, is that the corporations have outgrown the humans who hosted them in a malevolent way, so the symbol has to be unhuman, maybe HAL from 2001. Or maybe the Raven, who represented greed in European and Native American cultures. The Raven is never full, and wins contests of wit with all of the other animals by either destroying and eating them or driving them off and securing their food. Yeah, that might work. A simple, horrible image. Now all we need is money to promote it–oh yeah, that brings us back to the beginning, they have all the money.