Posted by Don in Missouri [108.162.216.43] on Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 14:42:15 :
In Reply to: Re: OT tearing the Fabric of the American Flag. posted by birdo [162.158.255.51] on Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 13:41:05 :
Agreed. Growth and profits should not be the only measure of our success. Corporations have a singular focus on profits. That's what they are supposed to do. However, corporations are not people. Corporations are not good at weighing other meaningful impacts, right and wrong, or social costs/benefits. When corporations have too much power over our social structure, i.e. government, we all suffer.
I hope what we are going through are signs of change. It doesn't have to be a road to ruin. Many, many things are better today than they ever have been. When we see signs of things slipping into the wrong direction, it creates fear that we could lose every great thing we have accomplished. The world has changed a lot in the last 100 years. Nothing stays the same. It has to keep changing, and its up to us to change it for the better.
Economy of scale and globalization are powerful in bringing benefits to society, but there are drawbacks, too. Finding that balance is hard, and made harder by government policies and financial institutions that favor big businesses over local businesses.