Quote: "What do you want to do, penalize success? If a company does "too good" by your figures, fine 'em a bunch of money and tell them to stop growing? North America was built by industry, and you want to stifle innovation. Nice "
I don't want to penalize success, I want to penalize the methods that said success was reached by. You shouldn't be allowed to ruthelessly attempt to monopolize any industry whatsoever. Whatever happened to checks and balances? IBM was HUGE back in the day in the home computer industry, but I didn't see them attempting to squeeze every ounce of life out of their competition. And where are they now? A multi-billion dollar company who DOESN'T screw over their competition to get ahead.
Quote: " have *never* seen a minimum-wage employer offer health benefits--- EVER. If Wal-Mart would rather keep that money for their coffers, then don't work there. Plain and simple. Let's see you get your health benefits at the rundown, overpriced mom-and-pop store :-P"
Radioshack. Major corporation pays their employees a little tiny bit more than minimum wage (about the same amount that Wal-Mart offers in wages, in fact). What do they offer? Health insurance. Wal-Mart could buy out every Radioshack in the world and still turn over several billions of dollars, let alone offer health insurance without really denting their profits, but do they? No. Why? Because they're evil, plain and simple. Joe's Drum Shop. Never heard of it? It's a little music store here in Binghamton, owned by a guy named Joe. he isn't in business anymore due to family problems (wal-mart had nothing to do with it, since they don't sell drum kits), but what did he offer to his two employees, excluding himself? Health benefits. And I know of at least two other locally-owned businesses who offer the same. One of those two, a little pizzeria, not only offers health benefits but dental, too. So yeah, I'm pretty sure Wal-Mart could try a little harder to treat their employees with the respect they deserve. Even a greeter works for a living, albeit it mindlessly simple work. But what about the people in the back who literally do all of the heavy lifting? Those guys (and girls) deserve health benefits, seeing as how they could get hurt on the job and the company forces them to sign waivers stating they won't sue if an accident should occur.
Quote: "Listen, *your* ethics don't have to be the same as everyone else's ethics. Your mommy instilled values in you, and so did mine, but they don't have to match. I hate when people try to cram their morales down my throat like they're on some kind of higher plain than me. "
Don't kill, don't steal, don't rape, don't lie... there's my four basic rules in life and I don't intend to (A) break them, or (B) socialize with people who do. I'm pretty sure most of us on here believe in those ethics too. In business, ethics exist to attempt to defend the little guy from the big guy (and vice-versa if somehow that should ever come up), to set up a silent code wherein you don't destroy other businesses just to make a name for yourself. And if you twist those ethics, those moral foundations, and re-conform them "LEGO-style" into some oddly-shaped misinterpretation, then the bi-product of your toying with generally-accepted ethical codes of conduct is the destruction of said codes completely. There is NO moral justification for destroying a local business. None. Zip. Nada. And those aren't my morals... none of us were alive when the codebook of business ethical conduct was written. In college, *I* learned that ethics are, in a nutshell, a means to protect consumers from companies, companies from consumers, and companies from other companies. And we discussed Wal-Mart a lot in that class for their lack of any morality whatsoever. It may have only been a lowly 116 class, but the general idea I walked away with was that you don't screw over the little guy just because you can, at every possible juncture that presents itself.
Quote: "If you really hate big corporations (even though they pay a ton of tax which goes toward social programs, etc.) then write your congress members letters every day asking them to change corporate law. Or run for senator yourself. What's stopping you??
"
I don't hate all of them. Some of 'em are alright. The afforementioned Radioshack doesn't lash out against their competition... they openly endorse their employees to suggest other stores, preferably local ones, to customers. And their a huge corporation with thousands of stores. McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy's fued constantly, but they don't attempt to shut each other down. They move into a local area but rarely in the food industry does a fastfood chain shut down a local joint... anyway, they don't kill each other (just us with their naughty food), and they actually provide options when they're all grouped up like that.
I wrote to my congressmen several times, but no reply. My governor, Pataki, is a power-tool so I wouldn't even bother. And Hillary Clinton? I may be a hardcore firebrand democrat leftist liberal extremist, but her friend I ain't. And of course I tried sending an e-mail to George W. Bush, mostly to be funny while hanging out with friends, which of course got the standard "The President loves you, fight terror" response. The only response from a government official I've ever gotten was from Chuck Shumer, where at least a secretary responded with a pre-written "he'll look into it" letter. When I turn 35 I'm going to run for president, lose, drink for two years, spend 2 years sobering up, then run again
That's my ultimate goal.
"In an interstellar burst, I'm back to save the universe"
