"More importantly the corporations can shoot or imprison you the way the government can. "
They can just take all the jobs to other countries and financially impoverish you.
No they can't. More importantly they aren't. Unemployment in the US is low, and average real total compensation is doing ok. Over time the average American gets wealthier.
And even if they where, I'd rather be unemployed then either shot or imprisoned.
"Free trade weakens the power of the corporations."
I disagree. They are the ones pushing for free trade.
They are not a monolithic bloc. They are pushing for it and against it. In fact sometimes the same company is pushing for it and against it (free imports for its suppliers, but restricted imports for its competitors).
In any case free trade is generally good for Americans. I understand you disagree, and that's fine, but at least allowing you to import things from other countries is hardly a power applied against you. Even if it actually does have negative consequences (and on the whole it does not), that isn't about rising power, but about rising freedom that happens to not be in your particular interest.
They also love the idea of extorting expensive concessions out of governments on the threat that they will move to another country or region if the government does not play ball.
That's true, and unfortunate, but its as much or more the responsibility of the government as it is the corporation. Hell if the government was going to give me money I'd take it too. Also the more you move away from free markets the more this type of thing happens (unless you move so far away that the government can control where businesses locate, and that "cure" is far worse than the "disease").
To put it in fewer words your complaint is really about the actions of government. They are giving subsidies to businesses. Move to a more truly free market system, and this doesn't happen as much.
But huge corporations have the money to strangle in court anyone who speaks out in opposition to their activities
Not always, and in fact they are often hit with big lawsuits which they are forced to settle, or even lose. Certainly some of these are legitimate, but not all of them are, and they do increase costs for regular consumers, and harm the economy as a whole.
so there is even less incentive to act with any social conscience
Its not their social conscience which we need, for the most part, but rather their response to consumer demand.
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."
- Adam Smith
And even in terms of social conscience, its not like businesses are generally evil, certainly not more so than politicians. |
