Picture yourself in a courtroom. You stand accused of defamation after publishing an article critical of the dealings of a ghoulish individual. You are indicted with undermining his character and transgressing his rights. Even if the court’s decision lands in your favour, the inevitable bleeding of your meagre funds through the appeal process will render this person all the stronger. You scan the courtroom trying to locate your accuser, but in vain. He is not only fathomlessly wealthy – he is both invisible and immortal.
With regret, this is not a story about unethical vampires. The individual you are faced with is a corporation. As tempting as it is to apply ‘blood-sucking’ and ‘undead’ to the multi-nationals that control many aspects of our lives, it would insult Dracula, who at least once lived as a man.* You might question this comparison, however consider the fact that a corporation not only has the same rights as you do, it is considered just as human as you are in the eyes of the law.
In theory, the creation of the corporation was a beneficial concept for all – a “free association of people pooling their capital.” The early 17th Century saw the creation of the East India Company, which allowed English merchants to purchase a stake in the lucrative spice trade from Asia, guaranteed by a Royal Charter for fifteen years of competitor-free business. After a few successful voyages, the East India Company saw astronomical profits and the joint-stock company was born, along with what we now know as shareholders.
With regret, this is not a story about unethical vampires. The individual you are faced with is a corporation. As tempting as it is to apply ‘blood-sucking’ and ‘undead’ to the multi-nationals that control many aspects of our lives, it would insult Dracula, who at least once lived as a man.* You might question this comparison, however consider the fact that a corporation not only has the same rights as you do, it is considered just as human as you are in the eyes of the law.
In theory, the creation of the corporation was a beneficial concept for all – a “free association of people pooling their capital.” The early 17th Century saw the creation of the East India Company, which allowed English merchants to purchase a stake in the lucrative spice trade from Asia, guaranteed by a Royal Charter for fifteen years of competitor-free business. After a few successful voyages, the East India Company saw astronomical profits and the joint-stock company was born, along with what we now know as shareholders.
"We don't want to control you personally,
just every aspect of your life."
In practice, the East India Company was a power unto itself – commanding a formidable military force, declaring war and peace at will, and constructing fortresses at strategic trading outposts. Coupled with a general disregard for any native people along the way, the company eventually hacked and bribed its way into India by the 1750s; effectively becoming the rulers of the subcontinent. The British Empire could only dream of the efficiency in which contemporary multi-nationals hold entire governments to ransom with a single threat of moving their business elsewhere.
Think of a corporation as a loaf of bread, made from small amounts of dough contributed by many people – the baked product being shared by all in dividends. The idea of ‘limited liability’ means that if the bread fails to rise, you only lose the amount of dough you originally put in and are not responsible for the consequent hunger. When the bread gets big enough, a Board of Directors assumes responsibility for the baking, often with some dough of their own mixed in. Simple enough, but once the bread takes on a legal personality, is protected by freedom of speech, can donate to political parties and grows so large it absorbs all the other dough around it – you get some idea of the position the public is now in.
Today, the dough is baked into ever-larger loaves and shareholders expect more bread in return, year after year. Huge banks and massive multi-nationals were built on the back of the ‘free market’, yet the entire capitalist system has shot itself in the foot as our ‘competitive’ commercial choices are owned by fewer and more powerful corporations. Pretending that corporations are people is a nice way to accumulate a lot of money – however this same pretence has seen commercial interests become not only the equivalent of human rights, but often their superior.
* As an added twist, the word corporation derives from the Latin corpus, meaning ‘body’ or a ‘body of people’.
Think of a corporation as a loaf of bread, made from small amounts of dough contributed by many people – the baked product being shared by all in dividends. The idea of ‘limited liability’ means that if the bread fails to rise, you only lose the amount of dough you originally put in and are not responsible for the consequent hunger. When the bread gets big enough, a Board of Directors assumes responsibility for the baking, often with some dough of their own mixed in. Simple enough, but once the bread takes on a legal personality, is protected by freedom of speech, can donate to political parties and grows so large it absorbs all the other dough around it – you get some idea of the position the public is now in.
Today, the dough is baked into ever-larger loaves and shareholders expect more bread in return, year after year. Huge banks and massive multi-nationals were built on the back of the ‘free market’, yet the entire capitalist system has shot itself in the foot as our ‘competitive’ commercial choices are owned by fewer and more powerful corporations. Pretending that corporations are people is a nice way to accumulate a lot of money – however this same pretence has seen commercial interests become not only the equivalent of human rights, but often their superior.
* As an added twist, the word corporation derives from the Latin corpus, meaning ‘body’ or a ‘body of people’.
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