OT: 1 For Corporate America, Zero For the Working Man

[Chopper]

Susan's post really got me thinking about a certain issue that has affected my community.  A very dear friend of mine, whom I also used to work for, used to own a middle eastern restaurant.  He grew up in Palestine and amidst all the war and terror in his country he had the strength to leave it to come to America and pursue his education.  He earned his master's in business admin. and started his own business.  To many people I'm sure this sounds like the American dream, which it was for a little while.

It turns out the little rich boy who was renting out the building to my friend was making secret (and unethical!) business deals behind my friend's back, which resulted in him selling off the business to some corporate monster, who as far as I know is just going to either turn the cafe into a parking lot for another store or a starbucks (PUKE!).

This event has deeply devastated my community.  My friend's restaurant was one of the true real Middle Eastern cafes in my entire state.  It was not just that though, it was a true grass roots hang out where friends could come together, a place that was a haven for free thought.  My friend taught me so many great lessons about life, which I will never forget.

I wonder how much it's going to take before our country really stomps the ugly shadow that corporate power has casted over this great land, which to the best of my knowledge has a constitution that guarantees: "the right to the pursuit of happiness."

[odinn7]

>...has a constitution that guarantees: "the right to the pursuit of happiness."<

Ah, yes, the right to the pursuit of happiness... but there's nothing that states that you should actually be able to achieve it or if you do, that you should be able to keep it.
For the most part I love this country but there certainly are some things that need changing.

[Scott]

Yea, sucess is dangled before us all, only to have it snatched away by some one with more money and legal power. What a shame. Once you become successful you then have to compete insessantly to maintain your success.The catch-22 is that I won't comdemm free enterprise till I've become successful at it myself and if I became sucessful would I give it up to live a fair and equal life with those around me. The whole world is becoming more centralised under this massive corperate reality that determines how many of us will live our lives. The bottom line is that what is benificial to the corperate world becomes a priority. I read it somewhere that there is no goverment. There is only the corperation which is fine if your on the inside. : )



Post Edited (01-05-05 08:20)

[daveblackeye15]

DAMN IT!!!!

(Forgive my lack of anything intelignet to say at the moment but I'm mad)

[Chopper]

i met a lawyer once who used to work in constitutional law. he said it was extremely mindracking because the constitution (like everything written in english) can be manipulated to mean so many different things. so we could both read the same clause but walk away with totally different perspectives.

so to sum up my point i see what you're saying but the way i read it is that the founding fathers felt this country was built on many principles, the right to pursuit of happiness being one of them, but also on the principle that the state offers protection from the abuses of capitalism. i could be wrong of course, who knows what was going through their minds back then.



Post Edited (01-05-05 20:40)

[Drezzy Mac]

Ski masks. Gasoline. 8 to 10 sixpacks of bottled beer. 48-60 bandanas and/or cotton hankerchiefs. 4 to 6 lighters.

THAT is how you get even.

[Menard]

I saw nothing; I heard nothing.

[JohnL]

Thing will never change as long as we have a government "By the corporations, of the corporations, for the corporations"...

[dean]

Viva la revolution!!

The path to freedom lies through blood!!!!

I really really hate big corporations. I really do, because the fact of the matter is: if they really cared that much about us, we'd be hearing alot more about big companies giving money away to charity for the Tsunami aid effort and I have as yet heard of one major corporation giving a substantial amount of money away.

[blkrider]

I have mixed feelings about them--some of them create a lot of jobs, though in many cases such as Wal-Mart those jobs don't pay enough to really be an asset for a community [apparently in many cases Wal-Mart instructs their employees in how to apply for government assistance.].  What I don't like is when they somehow limit my choices--I really don't like most chain restaurants, for example.  

I've found the best remedy is to live in an area where people support locally owned business.

[Susan]

Big corporations don't "create jobs", that is an illusion. They take jobs away. Ever notice how everything is made in china? Many people I know have been forced into early retirement or spend their last few months with a company training someone via satellite in india to take over their job because it saves the company money to pay someone over there a mere fraction of what they would be expected to pay an american employee. All for the almighty bottom dollar. It's all about the profit margin.

[Dave Munger]

I hear that Amazon dot com is giving more money than a lot of countries. And Chinamen gotta eat too. I like small bussinesses better in general though. Big ones tend to favor the kind of ultimately anti-capitalist legislation that keeps small bussinesses from becomeing big bussinesses and competing with them. Reno might not have gone after Microsoft if it hadn't been for the b***hing from the competition. That said, I've heard of no cures that weren't WAY worse than the "disease".

[dean]

Big Corporations suck but at least alot of them marginally got behind this massive telethon charity raising event we had in Australia where the three main free to air tv channels got together, organised a big event to raise money for relief aid, and some big companies put in a fair bit of money [although compared to their billion dollar profits, not a substantial amount, but hey a million or two goes a long way]

There are benefits on either side of the pro/con corporation argument although I'm more [obviously] on the negative side and I know about more negatives, but hey who knows...