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Partnering with the Devil
Blatant lies, PR cover-ups, and a culture of total impunity are now central to the corporate business model.
Dec 20, 2015
As a raker of muck, it's my job to root out the nefarious doings and innate immorality of the corporate creature.
But these days I'm being rendered obsolete by how ordinary corporate nefariousness has become. The wrongdoings of major corporations, and even entire industries, are now so commonplace that one hardly has to root them out at all. Their corruption is constantly oozing to the surface of today's fetid corporate swamp on its own.
What's happened is that a profiteering imperative has taken hold of the executive suites. Not content with merely making a profit, CEOs are out to make a killing -- no matter what it costs the rest of us.
This has turned them into rank thieves -- who are richly rewarded for exploiting America's workforce, plundering the environment, and corrupting our government. Top executives have seen that they'll pay no personal price for rapacious behavior, since the corrupted political and judicial systems show no serious interest in prosecuting perpetrators who get caught.
In recent months, two huge examples of this rampant crime spree have erupted.
In one, after Big Pharma bought out several reasonably priced medicines from independent drug makers --including a vital AIDS medication -- the avaricious giants immediately gouged unsuspecting patients by quadrupling their prices or worse.
In the other, Volkswagen joined the automobile hall of shame by secretly rigging computers on its much-hyped "green" vehicles to hide the fact that they actually spew horrendous amounts of pollution into Earth's atmosphere.
An ethos of "anything goes" now rules the top floor of suites of most major corporations. Blatant lies, PR cover-ups, and a culture of total impunity are now central to the corporate business model. They don't care if they get caught. Profit has taken ethics prisoner, and corporate elites now call the devil "partner."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
As a raker of muck, it's my job to root out the nefarious doings and innate immorality of the corporate creature.
But these days I'm being rendered obsolete by how ordinary corporate nefariousness has become. The wrongdoings of major corporations, and even entire industries, are now so commonplace that one hardly has to root them out at all. Their corruption is constantly oozing to the surface of today's fetid corporate swamp on its own.
What's happened is that a profiteering imperative has taken hold of the executive suites. Not content with merely making a profit, CEOs are out to make a killing -- no matter what it costs the rest of us.
This has turned them into rank thieves -- who are richly rewarded for exploiting America's workforce, plundering the environment, and corrupting our government. Top executives have seen that they'll pay no personal price for rapacious behavior, since the corrupted political and judicial systems show no serious interest in prosecuting perpetrators who get caught.
In recent months, two huge examples of this rampant crime spree have erupted.
In one, after Big Pharma bought out several reasonably priced medicines from independent drug makers --including a vital AIDS medication -- the avaricious giants immediately gouged unsuspecting patients by quadrupling their prices or worse.
In the other, Volkswagen joined the automobile hall of shame by secretly rigging computers on its much-hyped "green" vehicles to hide the fact that they actually spew horrendous amounts of pollution into Earth's atmosphere.
An ethos of "anything goes" now rules the top floor of suites of most major corporations. Blatant lies, PR cover-ups, and a culture of total impunity are now central to the corporate business model. They don't care if they get caught. Profit has taken ethics prisoner, and corporate elites now call the devil "partner."
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
As a raker of muck, it's my job to root out the nefarious doings and innate immorality of the corporate creature.
But these days I'm being rendered obsolete by how ordinary corporate nefariousness has become. The wrongdoings of major corporations, and even entire industries, are now so commonplace that one hardly has to root them out at all. Their corruption is constantly oozing to the surface of today's fetid corporate swamp on its own.
What's happened is that a profiteering imperative has taken hold of the executive suites. Not content with merely making a profit, CEOs are out to make a killing -- no matter what it costs the rest of us.
This has turned them into rank thieves -- who are richly rewarded for exploiting America's workforce, plundering the environment, and corrupting our government. Top executives have seen that they'll pay no personal price for rapacious behavior, since the corrupted political and judicial systems show no serious interest in prosecuting perpetrators who get caught.
In recent months, two huge examples of this rampant crime spree have erupted.
In one, after Big Pharma bought out several reasonably priced medicines from independent drug makers --including a vital AIDS medication -- the avaricious giants immediately gouged unsuspecting patients by quadrupling their prices or worse.
In the other, Volkswagen joined the automobile hall of shame by secretly rigging computers on its much-hyped "green" vehicles to hide the fact that they actually spew horrendous amounts of pollution into Earth's atmosphere.
An ethos of "anything goes" now rules the top floor of suites of most major corporations. Blatant lies, PR cover-ups, and a culture of total impunity are now central to the corporate business model. They don't care if they get caught. Profit has taken ethics prisoner, and corporate elites now call the devil "partner."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.