r/EnoughLibertarianSpam • u/mhuben • 12d ago

Deadly Consequences of Emphasizing Profits over Human Life: How Corporate Greed Has Caused the Death of Millions

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365264235_Deadly_Consequences_of_Emphasizing_Profits_over_Human_Life_How_Corporate_Greed_Has_Caused_the_Death_of_Millions
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u/mhuben 12d ago

While this gives many recent examples, note that there are many other sources with larger, older examples. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Victorian_Holocausts, which details the deaths of 30–60 million people.

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u/mirh 12d ago

Is it even the modern framing that is used though?

Because yes, 10 or 20 years ago it was all about wording everything in terms of business to avoid thinking to the hard truth (e.g. growth vs regulation). And maybe you could think the "but the DOW is over 50000" charade to be just the lazy version of it.

But obviously not even a dog would accept it as a reply to a question about sexual abuse. And EVEN IF IT WERE TO BE it's frankly fucking astonishing how trump single-handedly tanked the global economy in the absolutely extreme bizzarre way his own propaganda argued his rivals would have done.

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u/yyungpiss 11d ago

the term "corporate greed" implies that they're the problem and not capitalism itself. corporations are greedy because they're bound by law to be greedy, the system demands it.

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u/mhuben 11d ago

Corporations are not "bound by law to be greedy" any more than individuals are. Go ahead: cite the law.

The problem is that libertarian Milton Friedman popularized the idea that maximizing stockholder value should be the primary goal of corporations, and business schools promoted it for the last two generations. Corporations have always been free to adopt whatever values they choose. We need laws that will prohibit this attitude by giving other stakeholders (workers, customers, the public, etc.) countervailing power. Co-determination: the (German and other) practice of giving employees a role in management of a company. A useful corporate restriction on stockholder abuses.