GE, Cargill, Chevron, Roche "Honored" On Worst Corporations o

[Brad Kenney]

...not to say I agree (some of the reasoning seems pretty hysterical) but the Multinational Monitor (MM) has been publishing this same list for two decades now, and has covered some doozies along the way (Bhopal and Union Carbide ring a bell?)

Some prominent manufacturers were so "honored" on this year's list, for a variety of reasons.

This go-round, GE made the list for some creative accounting and corruption allegations concerning its Brazilian subsidiaries. However, the MM notes that GE's past appearances are every bit as diversified as its product lines, and include "defense contractor fraud, labor rights abuses, toxic and radioactive pollution, manufacturing nuclear weaponry, workplace safety violations and media conflicts of interest (GE owns television network NBC)."

Imperial Sugar made an appearance based on the multiple violations of facility safety regs that led to the deadly explosion earlier this year, and Cargill gets slammed for manipulating global commodities at the expense of the poorest of the poor.

Perennial list candidate Philip Morris gets mentioned for a number of reasons this year, including using new packaging sleight-of-hand techniques to obscure health-oriented warning labels, and even dividing up the corporation into two separate legal firms in order to unshackle the Marlboro Man from the cruel bonds of US liability law.

Pharma heavyweight Roche got dinged for withholding its HIV medications from the Korean market:

Like most industrialized countries, Korea maintains a form of price controls — the national health insurance program sets prices for medicines. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs listed Fuzeon at $18,000 a year. Korea’s per capita income is roughly half that of the United States. Instead of providing Fuzeon, for a profit, at Korea’s listed level, Roche refuses to make the drug available in Korea.

Korea is not a developing country, emphasizes Roche spokesperson Martina Rupp. “South Korea is a developed country like the U.S. or like Switzerland.”

Finally, Chevron earns the MM's ire for trying to have it both ways in court -- arguing that a long-standing case should be litigated in Ecuador (and not the US), then complaining about the verdict when it came down in favor of the plaintiffs, and then having its lobbyists mouth off to journalists with what has to be a candidate for stupidest quote of the year.

Having argued vociferously that Ecuadorian courts were fair and impartial, Chevron is now unhappy with how the litigation has proceeded in that country. So unhappy, in fact, that it is lobbying the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to impose trade sanctions on Ecuador if the Ecuadorian government does not make the case go away.

“We can’t let little countries screw around with big companies like this — companies that have made big investments around the world,” a Chevron lobbyist said to Newsweek in August.

[Abogle]

My vote goes to GE this year.

GE has transformed itself from an innovation and wealth generating mfg company into a financial services company. most of its mfg goods are outsourced and private labeled

Pretty emblematic of the US economy as a whole from one of production to one of shifting money around

Other honorable mentions:

Walmart who continues on over-reliance on exploitation of workers and the importation of cheap mfg goods thus accelerating the race to the bottom, and its anti small business, anti competition, and anti US mfg practices.

Exxon Mobil - who managed with help from the supreme court to weasel out of their obligation to pay for the clean up their drunken sea captians worst oil spill in history, despite record profits biggger than any company ever in history

[rbrooku]

Originally Posted by Abogle

My vote goes to GE this year.

GE has transformed itself from an innovation and wealth generating mfg company into a financial services company. most of its mfg goods are outsourced and private labeled

Pretty emblematic of the US economy as a whole from one of production to one of shifting money around

Other honorable mentions:

Walmart who continues on over-reliance on exploitation of workers and the importation of cheap mfg goods thus accelerating the race to the bottom, and its anti small business, anti competition, and anti US mfg practices.

Exxon Mobil - who managed with help from the supreme court to weasel out of their obligation to pay for the clean up their drunken sea captians worst oil spill in history, despite record profits biggger than any company ever in history

The most succinct and accurate definition of Capitalism: "Capitalism is the expectation of profits from the exploitation of labor and resources".

So what would you expect when you turn that into a dogma and enact laws and regulations to enshrine it as the way to the Good of humanity? It is what it is and requires the proper balance of laws and regulations to keep it from running amuck while allowing it to function appropriately to serve the balanced needs of society.

The U.S. is sinking in a world of unethical transfer of wealth to the very wealthy from everyone else. As the U.S. loses its wealth and influence it serves as an object lesson for the rest of humanity.