The Issues, No. 21 - Corporate America

Tuesday's posting (See "The Issues, No. 19 - The Media") talked about the tremendous responsibility the media has in our country and how, unfortunately, much of the media doesn't seem to care about its responsibility. Corporate America also has a large responsibility in America and much of it doesn't do any better than the media.

I think we should want our corporations to succeed and make profits and I think we should all be for an economy in which competition exists. Success and profits mean jobs with good pay and good benefits. Competition keeps prices realistic. But there have been too many instances in recent history where profits are excessive and appear to be based on collusion (look at the oil industry and maybe even the cable TV industry). There also have been a number of instances recently where company books have been "cooked", investors mislead, and companies collapsing where many people lose their jobs and retirement monies. And just recently there has been the near collapse of the housing market and the credit industry resulting in many people losing their homes and not being able to pay their credit card debt because the companies became too greedy and loaned money to people who couldn't afford to pay it back. When these type of things happen, everyone loses and the corporations involved have let the whole country down.

The only people who seem to benefit from any of the circumstance mentioned above are the corporate executives who are paid totally unreasonable amounts of money and walk away from even a company they have ruined, with outrageous compensation packages. And even the executives who have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar seem to get no punishment and still walk away with tons of money. So, together, these situations set a very bad example.

We as consumers and stockholders should demand that our corporations operate honestly and openly, and strive to produce quality products at reasonable prices. They should compensate their executives generously but not outrageously and maybe tie their compensation packages to the success of the company. And they should fire and prosecute those who break the law. Corporate America needs to constantly remind itself that it is a key piece to the continuing strength and success of our Democracy and that our country's continued economic success lies in its ability to operate responsibly.