Stuff about corporations have come up a lot this election. Corporate interests, corporate welfare, raising (or rather, not) raising the minimum wage, corporate influence on politicians, etc.
Because it's easy for politicians, both Republican and Democrat, to attack corporations. That's why it comes up a lot.
One particularly horrible individual even said that companies are people.
Technically, corporations are people. The whole point of the creation of corporations hundreds of years ago was to create an entity that has the rights of a person. By giving corporations the rights of a person, creditors can only target the assets of said corporation, not the assets of the shareholders. Without the rights of personhood, a creditor such as a bank, can target any asset it wants of the shareholders if the corporation.
For example, lets say that you owned .000001% of Walmart. But then one day Walmart goes belly up (which isn't going to happen, but go with me here). With the rights of personhood, all the people that are owed money by Walmart can only target the assets that are owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Without the rights of personhood, the people that are owed money can just come and take your house to settle the debts because there is no distinction between you, the shareholder who owns shares of Walmart, and the corporate entity Wal-Mart Stores Inc. It's a necessary evil that is designed to protect people like you.
So when people like Mitt Romney say that corporations are people too. They are indeed correct. Legally speaking, corporations are people. And people who say that the Supreme Court made corporations people with
Citizens United v. FEC are people who don't know what they're talking about. Things like this don't sound nice, but it's the reality and the way it has always been.
And that's the thing, when something is endowed with the rights of personhood, that includes all rights, including things like free speech. You can't just cherry pick rights. It's a bit of a shame because a corporation isn't a person. They can't feel anger or compassion or think or appreciate rights the way a real person does. And that is where people have problems with the idea of corporate personhood. But as I already said, it's a necessary evil.
But I do have to wonder. The way some corporations behave. Treat their employees like slaves, pollute, embezzle, even try to cover up human experimentation and murder...
In god damn China where there isn't respect for basic human rights to begin with. But in today's Western society, that's a bit of an over-exaggeration.
What the hell is up with that? If they were people, well, we'd execute them for crimes against humanity.
No we wouldn't.
I mean, granted, this is nothing new. From the Robber Barons to industrialists who enabled Nazi Germany (whose companies are still around, and doing great), corporations have always done dubious things.
Now not all corporations are evil. It's a short list, but there are some that go out of their way to have good policies for their employees.
Here's the thing that people have to understand to whom corporations are ultimately responsible for, corporations are not responsible to their employees or to their governments or whatever. The only people they are responsible to are their shareholders who demand that the corporation makes as much money as humanly possible. The sole reason why these people invest in these corporations is to make money. That is the legal and genuine responsibility of the corporation and its board of directors. If said corporation failed at that one duty, the shareholders have every right to revolt, sell their shares, get the board of directors fired, sue, etc.
But I just have to wonder, are the people running these things evil? Is it just deliberate malevolence?
Doctor EVO and Schlosser said it best, they're not being malevolent. They're being indifferent.
I would just love to talk to the CEO of a fast food chain, and ask.
You don't have to, I can answer for you.
This part of how I personally feel is going to make me come of a bit cold and callous and even a bit malicious, but the people who are attacking the fast food industry over low pay, do not know what the hell they are talking about and I wish they shut up.
My passionate anger over this issue comes from my own personal experience since I am a person who works in the food industry in a real restaurant. If there was a caste system of the food industry, fast food workers are essentially the equivalent of the untouchables. We really do not have much respect for their jobs. While we make real food, they just warm up premade crap and throw things in a fryer. The fact that there are some fast food workers who are trying to get paid more than me just boils my blood. Now I'm not saying that they're lazy good for nothing welfare moochers, but the non-existent skill level in their job does not equate to them deserving more money than me, someone who actually makes real food over horrible tasting fast food crap.
Now move on from the morality of higher pay (and why I hate it) and into the economics of pay in the fast food industry and why it's just bad policy.
First of all, the overwhelming majority of people who own fast food establishments are small business owners, not corporate billionaires. The vast majority of fast food restaurants are franchises whose owners really cannot afford the higher wages as opposed to the actual corporations that make billions of dollars. The McDonald's Corporation only owns and operates 15% of their establishments. Burger King Worldwide Inc. is transitioning itself to where it will eventually own and operate none of its establishments and be 100% franchised. Yum! Brands, the largest fast food company in the world, owns about 20% of their establishments. The majority of people who work in fast food restaurants are not working for the actual fast food corporations and are not actual employees of McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell, Wendy's, etc., but are the employees of people who make far, far, far less money.
Second, let's look at the overall dynamics of fast food. People really only eat fast food for two reasons: 1. It's cheap. 2. It's quick. The reason why the food is cheap is because the labor is cheap. People are not eating fast food because it's good (nutritionally, digestively, or flavorly). Take away the cheap factor. Take away the cheap food that is propped up by cheap labor and people just aren't going to go to fast food restaurants. Why go to a fast food restaurant if they offer food at prices similar to restaurants that serve good food instead? Case in point, McDonald's, which has gotten rid of the dollar menu and has increased their prices by 3% this year, is seeing their profits declining. The low quality of food at higher prices is driving customers away to slightly higher quality restaurants such as Denny's, IHOP, Chili's, and Applebee's because they offer slightly higher quality food at similar prices to what McDonald's is charging now.
Basically, if you move fast food employees up to a living wage that many are calling for, it's essentially going to be the end of fast food or speed up the process of automation, which we are seeing right now. Which means that millions of people aren't going to have jobs anymore. Now which is worse? A crappy paying job? Or no job at all? The fast food industry just cannot support the higher wage that people are demanding.
