Some on the right have reduced the view of us lefties on “the corporation” to this: We think they are evil. This is much akin to saying that predators are evil when they kill prey. It has to be contextualized to be understood.
The problem is one of accountability. The military is the perfect example. Troops on the ground are given orders to carry out atrocities by distant commanders, and are subject to harsh punishment if they do not obey. Resisting is far harder than obeying, and so the town is destroyed, the bombs dropped, the chemicals sprayed on the jungle. Killing another person is hard for just about everyone, and yet in the military it is done routinely (though, to our credit, we have developed elaborate means by which to do our massacres from great distances, making it easier). It could not be so without the command structure.
The corporation offers us a military-like structure. The reason why the structure itself is rightly criticized is because of lack of accountability. Dave Budge recently gave me a heart-rending account of his corporate experience where managers anguished over the necessity of denying or reducing health care benefits for other employees. That’s kind of like the point. The orders came down from above. It had to be done. There was no accountability – the people above answer only to stockholders, who are even less accountable.
Normal people don’t behave well in the unaccountable environment. Sociopaths present an even greater danger. If Martha Stout is right, and if 4-6% of the male population are sociopaths, and if these people are drawn to the business world out of sheer boredom, then the corporation offers the perfect lair for antisocial behavior.
And that is the problem with the corporation. The behavior of people down the food chain is mandated by people at the top who are not accountable, and are often enough sociopaths.
This is why health insurance companies refuse to cover people with preexisting conditions and rescind policies for sick people. It’s sociopathic behavior, but perfectly normal in the corporate environment. This is why corporations should not be in charge of our health care system.
I am not saying that corporations should not exist or that they are no socially useful. I am only saying that they need to be heavily monitored and regulated, and their executives held accountable for antisocial acts. If the day should ever come when they are in charge of most of our affairs, if they ever manage to take over government, then we are in deep, deep trouble.
Piece of Mindful 
I bet you would complain about insurance companies refusing to ensure a house for fire when the house is on fire!
That is a real stupid comment, Mark – detracts from the rest of your point.
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Not hardly! It goes right to he heart of the question: Private health insurance companies should not be in charge of health insurance.
I do understand the nature of insurance. It is you who does not understand the nature of health care.
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And if they refuse to insure health care, what are you going to do? Force them at a point of a gun?
You do not understand the nature of economics.
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This is why corporations should not be in charge of our health care system.
They aren’t and never were.
You are in charge of your own health. All they do is provide a choice for you. You can take it, or do without.
Remember, if they weren’t there at all, the answer would be just “do with out”!
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Not hardly! That is as far off the mark as you have ever been.
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What are you going to do? Get a gun and FORCE them to take care of you?
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And, finally, a corporation is a creation of government.
From “You are probably a Statist if…”
* You vote in every election, but soon after your candidate takes office, you wonder aloud (or secretly) about his qualifications.
* You have voted for political candidates in your own party, expecting them to care more about you than the people who actually paid for them to be elected.
* You have voted for political candidates in different political parties than your own, expecting a different result than voting for a candidate in your own party.
* You believe some bureaucrat in Washington, who doesn’t know you from Batman, actually cares about you.
* You complain to all who will listen about the terrible policies of The Other Guy, but somehow think Your Guy’s policies, demonstrably no different, are better.
* You think that a person who happens to show great skill in one narrow area, such as public speaking, is qualified to make decisions about the lives of others across many areas, as if the fastest runner in a tribe is automatically qualified to be Chief.
* You hate greedy corporations, but think an organization such as a government – itself the Creator of (and factually a horribly-mutated form of) a greedy corporation – will protect you from (… wait for it …) greedy corporations.
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My only response is that we have some control over government, none over corporations.
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You have NO CONTROL over government – you don’t have a gun big enough.
You barely can control corporations by (1) be a shareholder or more powerfully (2) buy or don’t buy their goods.
Whereas you get to vote once every 4 years for a politician, you vote every day with your dollar.
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Would no preexisting conditions and cancelations be more prevalent under limited choices that the state mandates?
Or would thousands of insurance companies competing for your health care dollar with out govt interference provide better policies?
Corporations aren’t evil.
The govt make them that way.
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It is not the inability of health insurance companies to cross state lines that limits their policy availability. They want to under-insure everyone, and avoid those states that regulate their behavior. If we all abide by Arizona regulations, we’ll all be under-insured.
Funny thing – we just had dinner last night with a couple that just switched from private health insurance to Medicare. They said it was a huge sigh of relief – their choices were no longer limited. He has a history of colon cancer in his family, and for that reason wants a colonoscopy every three years. His private health insurance company said no way. Medicare: No problem.
Again, Swede, and if I had a bat I would hit you over the head with this – in the real world of health care as demonstrated by 38 other countries, it doesn’t
work at all like you say it does. You are at odds with reality, and this fact never seems to penetrate.
‘
Why does that not make an impression on you?
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Swede,
Corporations are evil to the core.
They exist to deflect or mitigate responsibility of one’s actions.
An officer can do an action, and all the positive consequences he reaps – but the negative ones he avoids.
Consequences are a zero-sum game. If the person responsible is able to avoid them, an innocent person suffers.
Doing injury upon innocent people is evil.
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Neither Mark or you BF answered my question. Federal or state laws, or the lack of such create a much greater problem than the avoidance of responsibility. For instance, didn’t laws create the corporation in the first place?
And Mark your 38 better countries is BS. Its a political statement. You’d be better to judge countries on the percentage of scooter chairs per capita.
Last time I was in Costa Rica there wasn’t any.
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Swede,
That is my point.
Only law by government creates Corporation
It requires law because the Corporation needs the guns and bullets of the government to force others to accept the negative consequences created by the Corporations actions – otherwise, no one would accept them!
Re: Free choice.
You bet! Let the Free Market figure out how to make a profit by delivering a valuable service to those that want it.
Heck, how many TV ads do we see about term life insurance?
Are you over 60? No life insurance? We have a plan – and no medical required!
Gawd, if THEY can figure it out ….(you get the point)!
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a couple that just switched from private health insurance to Medicare. They said it was a huge sigh of relief – their choices were no longer limited.
For how long?
I suspect Medicare will turn into the demon that you see in private health insurance.
Or do you think this fraudulent schtick will go on forever?
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For how long, indeed! How long will the U.S. collect taxes? That long.
China, Japan, the Fed, and a whole lot of other funds are betting on U.S. taxation futures. Neoliberals, and other “free-market” ideologues, are betting on private capital, losing consistently, and needing bailouts to cover their bad bets.
Health care costs are way overpriced, but are being propped-up, sure as the big banks, auto manufacturers, real estate assets, and the pentagon (“military-industrial complex”). Taxes prop up the world’s gamblers, legal and illegal. Get used to it.
To me, Medicare looks pretty solid against that kind of backdrop.
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