Some of the people most responsible for creating the "winner takes all" mentality that has reigned over the neoliberal world economy, and that has led to unprecedented inequality, pollution, wars and the genuine belief that "greed is good," are united in an exclusive club called the "Business Roundtable".
President Obama Meets with the Business Roundtable - source: Obama White House Archives
The Business Roundtable consists of the CEO's of the 180 or so biggest, richest and most influential mega corporations including Apple, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, Amazon, Boeing, Bank Of America, Citigroup, Comcast, Ford, Dell and many more. The chairman and CEO of this Business Roundtable, the top CEO of the top CEO's so to speak, is JP Morgan Chase & Co's Jamie Dimon. Together they represent some 30% of America's capitalization and together they are the prime architects of all our daily lifes; theirs are the interests served by governments all over the world, they hire expensive lobbyists to fight raising minimum wages and taxation of the rich, privatization of everything and to beg for yet another overseas war. They are the receivers of billions of dollars of government subsidies and bail-outs at the expense of everyone else's opportunities in life.
I hope you understand that everything is economy; the way we collectively produce the things we need and want shapes our daily lifes more than anything else. As such, these movers of the economy at large are the ones who truly shape our reality. For decades these top CEO's adhered to the principle of focusing on creating shareholder value; a company's prime objective is making as much profits as possible as to increase shareholders' value. The corporations exist to make shareholders money, and nothing else; this mindset is responsible for all that's wrong with society right now, and has led to an outcry for fundamental change, so much so that Americans voted for a halfwit game-show host as their current president. It's this mindset, this retarded belief that "enlightened self-interest" will somehow bring about Paradise.
The robber barons club is getting nervous though, and Bernie Sanders' sudden rise to popularity has a lot to do with that. After decades of subscribing to Milton Friedman's doctrine of shareholder primacy, they issued a new Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation in which they claim to have seen the error of their ways and commit to serving the interests of ALL stakeholders in their economy, not just the shareholders, but the customers, employees, suppliers, communities and the environment as well. I hope you immediately see that this is yet another untruth, another unrealistic referral to their mythical "win-win" scenario in which all parties benefit. In the real world there are no win-win scenarios, not under capitalism and not in a free market system based on profit. The lies already start in the very first paragraph of their statement:
Americans deserve an economy that allows each person to succeed through hard work and creativity and to lead a life of meaning and dignity. We believe the free-market system is the best means of generating good jobs, a strong and sustainable economy, innovation, a healthy environment and economic opportunity for all.
source: Business Roundtable
Business Roundtable Changes
"Succeed through hard work"? They don't believe that. They believe in keeping alive that myth. Believe in the free-market system? Who are you trying to fool here? You don't believe that at all and know as well as I do that here has never been and there will never be a free market; again, it's the belief you want to keep alive. "Generating good jobs"? No, markets don't generate jobs, corporations buy labor as cheap as they can get it. It goes on repeating the usual lies like businesses fostering innovation and providing essential goods and services; they only innovate when it's profitable and they create demand for goods and products that aren't essential at all. Then comes their commitment:
- Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations.
- Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them fairly and providing important benefits. It also includes supporting them through training and education that help develop new skills for a rapidly changing world. We foster diversity and inclusion, dignity and respect.
- Dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers. We are dedicated to serving as good partners to the other companies, large and small, that help us meet our missions.
- Supporting the communities in which we work. We respect the people in our communities and protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses.
- Generating long-term value for shareholders, who provide the capital that allows companies to invest, grow and innovate. We are committed to transparency and effective engagement with shareholders.
All lies and empty promises. They don't say a word about HOW they will change. They still subscribe to the absolute need for economic growth. Not one word about raising wages or cutting exorbitant bonuses, nor about raising taxes, or even just paying taxes. These sociopaths ruling the world and managing our daily lifes are just desperately reacting to increasing distress in corporate America, as big companies face mounting global discontent over income inequality, harmful products and poor working conditions. Let's also not forget the corporate wholesale of democracy.
“The ideology of shareholder primacy has contributed to the economic inequality we see today in America,” Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation and a Pepsi board member, said in an interview. “The Chicago school of economics is so embedded in the psyche of investors and legal theory and the C.E.O. mind-set. Overcoming that won’t be easy.”
source: New York Times
In this NYT article it's clear for the observant reader to see how this new statement of the Business Roundtable is nothing but a bunch of words designed to appease the masses. Regard these two paragraphs:
Last year, Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase and the chairman of the Business Roundtable, began an effort to update its principles. “We looked at this thing that was written in 1997 and we didn’t agree with it,” Mr. Dimon said in an interview. “It didn’t fairly describe what we think our jobs are.”
Mr. Dimon proposed making a formal revision to the annual statement at a Business Roundtable board meeting in Washington this spring. It then fell to Alex Gorsky, the chief executive of Johnson & Johnson, who runs the group’s governance committee, to create the language.
source: New York Times
See? “It didn’t fairly describe what we think our jobs are.” Mr. Dimon thinks there's nothing wrong with the Friedman Doctrine, just that it didn't fairly describe his job. The language has changed to suit the popular uprising against these plutocrats' absolute power over their lifes. The really sad thing is that I believe these modern day shadow tyrants aren't really bad people, and that many of them truly believe that they're doing the world a favor. It's not on them alone that they are convinced that they're better than us. The above linked video shows how this belief is propagated by falling for, and seriously discussing the lies written in the Business Roundtable's new statement on the purpose of a corporation; nothing will change if you leave the changing to the ones who don't want any change.
Listen to the below linked conversation between Michael Moore and Anand Giridharadas as they share their experiences talking to these corporate emperors; they believe their own lies and won't take their boot of the neck of the people and want to make us believe that change is possible without removing that boot. It's rather long, but it's really good in my opinion. Like Bernie Sanders, these two gentlemen have made a name fighting and exposing the corporate vampires that suck the life out of the world and all its inhabitants, and see right through the lies.
Nowhere has the new scrutiny on corporations been more pronounced than on the presidential campaign trail. On Monday, Mr. Sanders said in an interview that the Business Roundtable was “feeling the pressure from working families all over the country.”
“I don’t believe what they’re saying for a moment,” he said. “If they were sincere, they would talk about raising the minimum wage in this country to a living wage, the need for the rich and powerful to pay their fair share of taxes.”
source: New York Times
Please Let Me Rob You, I'm Woke (feat. Anand Giridharadas)
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