The Myth of Corporate Accountability by Howard Dean

[madfloridian]

I did a search and did not see this posted yet. It is Dean's column for this week. If it is a dupe, forgive.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092804V.shtml

In recent years, thousands of good paying American jobs have been sent overseas. Free trade has made it much easier for corporations to do business elsewhere, but free trade does not make it easier to protect workers and the environment elsewhere. This results in lost American jobs and downward pressure on American wages and benefits; leading to just what short sighted leaders in the world business community hoped for - to make quarterly results better.

But the truth is that there are very few "American" corporations of any size left. An even sadder truth is that many of these large multinationals no longer value employees as people, they see labor as nothing more than a commodity. And in the last ten years, they have seen small investors as a commodity as well....."

SNIP..."If we want more and better jobs, a fair trade policy, better behavior by corporate leaders, more pay equity between those who work and those who lead and better corporate morals, we need to make that happen by doing the following:

Insist that Congress stop voting for trade agreements with no enforceable labor or environmental standards.

Government contracts should be preferentially given to real American companies, particularly defense contracts.

Create stronger federal enforcement of corporate accountability to shareholders.

Open the election process for directors of publicly owned corporations so investors can easily nominate and elect outside directors. Public ownership of companies should mean public majorities on the boards - in other words more outside directors that are not hand picked by CEOs.

Hold CEOs accountable for what they say. If pay packages for workers are determined by merit and by results, so should the pay packages of corporate leadership. Hypocrisy leads to disrespect, which undermines any organization....".

[xray s]

1. He needs to go one extra step

"Insist that Congress stop voting for trade agreements with no enforceable labor or environmental standards."

Congress should renegotiate current trade agreements to include enforceable labor and environmental standards!

[welshTerrier2]

2. from the Green Party platform

One point remains unequivocal: Because corporations have become the dominant economic institution of the planet, they must address and squarely face the social and environmental problems that afflict humankind.

1. The federal government doles out billions in subsidies and tax breaks to corporate special interests. The current level of influence now being exerted by corporate interests over the public interest is unacceptable. We challenge the propriety and equity of corporate welfare that comes in the form of tax breaks, subsidies, payments, grants, bailouts, giveaways, unenforced laws and regulations; and in historic, continuing access to our vast public resources, including the airwaves, millions of acres of land, forests, mineral resources, intellectual property rights, and government-created research.

2. We support strong national standards for labor rights and the environment so that corporations can no longer force states and cities into a brutal competition for jobs at any cost. Legal doctrines must be continually revised in recognition of the changing needs of an active, democratic citizenry. Huge multinational corporations are artificial creations, not natural persons uniquely sheltered under constitutional protections. We support local and state government attempts to define corporations and to prevent them from exercising democratic rights that are uniquely possessed by the citizens of the United States.