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You’d think people would learn a lesson from years of financial industry gimmicks, corporate tax avoidance, and worker abuse.
You would think they would be smart when they saw companies moving their operations offshore and hiding their profits offshore. Or when a company pays exorbitant salaries and bonuses to executives while making mass layoffs in tough times. Or if business interests oppose raising the minimum wage, try to keep unions out, or fail to improve dangerous working conditions.
But no. Despite the evidence before them, most people around the world and in the United States trust corporations to ‘do the right thing’ more than they trust other large institutional sectors.
opinion columnist
Nicholas Goldberg
Nicholas Goldberg has been editor of the editorial page for 11 years and former editor of the editorial page and the Sunday opinion section.
That’s a key finding in a report by public relations giant Edelman released earlier this month as the world’s power brokers and heavyweights gathered in Davos. than the media, government or non-governmental organizations.
They rate business competence higher than other institutions, and this may be justified. But businesses also outperform governments by 30 points on ethics.
what? how is that? But it is a fact. Globally and in the U.S., 55% of respondents said they trust businesses to do the right thing, compared to NGOs at 50%, media at 43% and governments at 42%.
I am not saying that everyone in business is corrupt or untrustworthy or that the capitalist system should be dismantled tomorrow.But to single out a business as of The most trusted authority just seems strange.
Consider this article in The Times, also published earlier this month. It started:
“In perhaps the most unexpected twist in the field of climate science, a new study shows that even though ExxonMobil had better insight into the imminent danger of global warming than NASA experts, climate It suggests a decades-long campaign to discredit the science of variability and its connection to burning fossil fuels.”
This doesn’t make Exxon Mobil trustworthy. Contrary to what the article says, it’s not all that “unexpected”.
As the story points out, we already know from the “growing body of evidence” that ExxonMobil realized decades ago, in the late 1970s, that the burning of fossil fuels was warming the planet. Knowing that, it’s not unexpected. Doubt the idea publicly. ”
But this kind of deception by companies is all too common, so it’s not unexpected either.
For decades, tobacco companies hid evidence of a link between smoking and cancer, discrediting the science, but they knew the link was real. Meanwhile, millions died prematurely from smoking-related illnesses.
Opioid makers have spent years promoting addictive pain relievers to health care providers, knowing they are prescribing them for dangerous and ineffective purposes, contributing to the national tragedy of addiction, but not the benefits. has been pushed to astonishing levels.
The financial services industry is involved in vicious and self-serving mortgage practices, including offering high-risk loans, that wreak havoc on ordinary Americans looking to buy a home and threaten the world. It is helping to ignite an economic recession.
Somewhere along the line, pharmaceutical companies, food giants, and firearms makers have misled their customers. This is not anomalous behavior due to some bad apples. It is the companies that do what the market incentivizes them to do.
Companies do not exist to make the world a better place or to provide products and services that customers need. Rather, the overall goal is to maximize profit. And sometimes that requires being honest, in some executives’ views.
Sure, some employees may argue back and some whistleblowers may show up, but only a small percentage of the time they win.
I am not advocating that people should put their full trust in government instead. It’s hard to trust politicians when people like George Santos are kicking the Capitol down. And when the Washington Post cataloged over 30,000 lies during Trump’s four-year tenure. And when three members of the Los Angeles City Council were indicted, pleaded guilty and served time in the last few years.
But NGOs? What types of misconduct have been committed by NGOs compared to corporate misconduct? (To their credit, survey respondents gave scientists a high degree of I rated him higher than the CEO.)
In any case, I believe that in the United States, the relatively high trust people place in business is, at least in part, a result of the enduring power of the classic American dream. Our free-market, business-friendly society can climb the ladder from poverty to abundance.
But sadly we live in America where upward liquidity is no longer the rule.
I am not a Marxist. I believe that capitalism has many advantages over other alternatives.
But it would be a mistake to think that corporate interests align with our interests. What’s good for General Motors isn’t necessarily good for the country. We want the jobs our business offers and the goods it produces, and we want a healthy, vibrant, and dynamic economy. But if companies are to do the right thing, they need regulation and oversight.
And while we strive to hold them accountable, the last thing we should do is trust them blindly.
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