also The Corporation a film by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott & Joel Bakan;
Zeitgeist Video, 2005 DVD format

A review by Bob Fizzell

A favorite scifi theme is of robots who take on a life of their own and then take over their masters. Inherent in this is the irony that the masters wrote the program. Of course, herein always lies the solution.

Today this scenario has become real. The only question is whether we are astute enough to rewrite the program before our creation destroys us.

The evil program is called “The Corporation” and it resides in the memory of our legal system.

Joel Bakan, in a brief book and a well filled pair of DVDs, reveals the origin and true nature of this program, showing how and why it represents a real threat to our future. Far greater than the threat offered by even a few thousand terrorists, a handful of large corporations are poised, capable of and directed toward the ultimate conquest and destruction of our democracy.

Sound over dramatic? What would you think of our turning over huge power to a few individuals who are irresponsible, highly manipulative, grandiose, lacking in empathy, characterized by asocial tendencies and completely superficial in their relations to others? These characteristics of a psychopath are also necessary descriptors of a modern corporation.

Bakan begins with the historical origins of the corporation as a means to acquire sufficient capital and control liability in the 17th century. Early on it was a highly suspect structure and was generally banned in England from 1720 until 1825. By that time, significant frauds had already become notorious. In the later half of the 19th Century, corporations evolved into legal entities that were gradually freed of social controls and responsibilities while taking on the legal status of a person.

The last serious effort to rein in the corporation occurred at the start of the 20th century. Confronted with rapid growth through mergers, the public demanded restraints. Teddy Roosevelt and the “trust busters” created regulations to control the “robber barons.” The corporate response was to begin a sophisticated public relations campaign to change their image. From being monstrosities that rode rough shod over the public, they portrayed themselves as “friendly neighbors,” “helping hands,” and “pillars of the community.” Today they transcend regulation by nations and write their own rules in trade agreements over which signatory nations have no real control. Assets of individual corporations often exceed the GNPs of most nations. Corporate interests, through their financial power and their trade agreements now supersede the interests of any nation.

To hear the media, however, these huge powers are tempered by a “social consciousness” in our best corporations. Today we hear constantly of “green” corporations, “socially responsible” corporations. Bakan notes that there is a fundamental problem with this concept, however. Since the Dodge vs Ford decision 90 years ago, the courts have been consistent in their rulings that the only responsibility of every corporation is a profit for its owners. In fact, this responsibility is so predominant that a board of directors can be held liable for any action that conflicts with profit maximization. Thus we return to the corporation as a psychopath. It can be nothing else if it is a person. Its only interest is self interest.

In the second half of the book and in several hours of interviews on the DVDs, Bakan develops and supports these ideas. But his thesis is simple: corporations are in direct conflict with democracy and nationalism. He develops this thesis with an abundance of evidence and makes clear the implications for our future. If you care about our future, you definitely must become familiar with either the book or the DVDs. I recommend both.

We must either rewrite the program for “the corporation” or be prepared for the robots to follow their course.