At 17:52 26-1-01 -0500, Gautum Mukunda wrote:
>Being an artificial
>person gives a corporation a group of rights, all of which are vital
>to its functioning in an economy. The most important of these is the
>right to be sued.
So, for corporations being sued is a *given right*? I'd think corporations
would consider being sued a problem, not a right.
Microsoft must be really happy that the US Justice Dept. makes such an
effort to respect Microsoft's rights... <grin>
>And, of course, all of this ignores the most powerful force in any
>democracy - votes. Elections aren't decided by who has the largest
>bankroll.
No, but since the last presidential elections, it's clear that elections
also aren't always won by the person who gets the most votes.
>Kristin, let me ask you this - in the last 30 years, American air and
>water quality has improved by orders of magnitude. The _Bush_
>Administration, as a matter of fact, passed some of the most
>far-reaching environmental legislation in American history - far more
>important than any passed by Clinton. If economic power is as
>malevolent and strong as you claim that it is, how did any of this
>happen?
How? Certainly not because Bush and his buddies suddenly became
environmentalists. It happened because environmentalist organizations
became so powerful that the government had no choice but to listen to them.
Politicians aren't all that stupid -- all those people that support
environmentalist organizations are also the people who will vote in the
next election. And if you don't give a damn about the environment, those
people will definitely not vote for *you*...
>Why are fuel economy standards vastly higher than they were a
>generation ago? Why is air quality better? Why is water quality
>better? Why are carcinogens so closely monitored? Why have CFCs been
>essentially eliminated from the global economy, to the extent that the
>ozone hole problem has essentially been solved? Note that the United
>States has often been far in advance of most European countries on
>environmental issues ranging from whale protection to the removal of
>leaded gasoline, and _every_ capitalist country has been far in
>advance of every non-capitalist country on the same.
Again, that only happened because the politicians finally realized the
environmentalists had become a force to be reckoned with. If it weren't for
the environmentalist movements, corporations would still be sacrificing the
environment for monetary gain. OK, they still *are* polluting for monetary
gain, but at least now they have to do whatever they can to limit the damage.
Jeroen
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