Increasing Profits In Any Way Imaginable!

trump-corporates

 

Republicans believe that Corporations are people too !!! So either make sure they pay … [Who does he mean … like himself? – S. D.]

In many affairs, the bottom line involves boosting profits regardless of the methods used to achieve this aim. The reason is that unbridled greed can express itself with no limits in sight.

Indeed, certain excessive behaviors, on a biological level, are “programmed” into species. For example, hoarding is well known amongst rats. Sharing is simply too hard to implement regardless that some will starve while others, like King Midas, will guard their too large mound of corn (or gold).

In a similar vein, a closed petri dish with its own atmosphere and agar (nourishment) supply, as well as a few bacteria, will soon be devoid of life. The bacteria will have reproduced beyond the supply, although sometimes, in this experiment, they die due to the overload of their waste gases polluting the air before the surrounding food completely disappears.

In other words, the dissipation of ambient atmospheric conditions can initiate ruin before nutrients, sufficiently, deplete. As such, it is hard to resist drawing some sort of loose analogy between life in a finite petri dish and life on an atmospherically enclosed, finite planet. Relative to human overpopulation, assorted forms of waste materials contaminating water, land and air (including the excess carbon related to global warming); diminishing food supply (due to increasingly abnormal weather patterns, loss of top soil, etc.), the petri dish can provide a simple and clear warning.

Yet with mammals, the interactions of various factors are a bit more complicated. For example, a too large deer herd, that is not sufficiently culled by predators (i.e., wolves), can easily outstrip its food source and become weakened en masse to such a degree that immune systems are compromised pretty much across the board at which point one ill deer can more readily contaminate nearly the whole herd with a death dealing infection. Hence, the herd, eventually, gets culled, anyway, although not before the surrounding plant life has been almost thoroughly destroyed. In any case, the natural world does provide means, albeit often harsh ones, to re-balance itself after excesses. Yet, great damage to the environment often occurs beforehand. … The Introduction, Increase, and Crash of Reindeer on St. Matthew Island

Meanwhile, this process transpires, in an analogous vein, for humans. Deeply tragic although it is, widely spread death happens in those regions wherein needs outstrip available local resources (i.e., food, clean water, adequate housing, etc.). Particularly when overcrowded conditions come into this mix — diseases, including easily preventable ones, run rampant and spread through the indigenous population, as well as to others (i.e., via overseas travelers). In other words, there are predictable reasons that new flu variations originate where and when they do. As such, the deer, unfortunately, provide a largely apt model.

All considered, these assorted problems, en toto, lead to a method to curtail human intemperance in various regions. When coupled with humans not sharing (food, medicine, other resources) with those who have exceeded their own environment’s carrying capacity, much dire and avoidable misery results.

Then again, many people consider that the poor and afflicted will always be present as people, like the bacteria in the dish, keep pressing the current limits in sustainability. Therefore, population growth will always occur when opportunity presents based on most couple’s desire to have several children, sex drive being pronounced for a large number of years in our species, lack of inexpensive and universally available birth control techniques, and cultural (including religious) influences that, overall, propel expansion.

Even so, it is unconscionable that desire for profit prevents inexpensive malarial and other drugs to be doled out to impoverished populations. The same conclusion applies to other valuable resources, including birth control measures, along with the related education concerning an imperative for keeping our numbers reasonable relative to other species and the overall limits of the earth.

In a sense then, this is a huge omission on our part collectively. Yet, many, who are affluent, simply like their relative status and choose to maintain it regardless of the impact on others. They, simply, don’t much like to share. They, also, don’t care one whit about the breeding pattern of others elsewhere as long as it doesn’t lead to desperate immigrants fleeing into their specific countries to find jobs, decent housing, access to medical intervention, public schools and other provisions lacking in abandoned homelands.

Nonetheless, this whole scenario is less horrific than groups of wealthy individuals deliberately devising policies that, actually, make a profit off of the demise of others. This goes far beyond any omission based on indifference or inability to respond to others’ needs due to alternative causes. Nonetheless, the commission rate of such actions is high.

One of the most cold blooded and calculating sorts was one about which I was told years ago by people urging others to boycott Nestle products as a form of protest. It concerned the time that Nestle overproduced powdered baby formula.

Subsequently, a large amount of product went out-of-date due to not having been purchased beforehand. Yet, some Nestle managers refused to subsume the related fiscal loss. As a result, they concocted a plan to dress women up into white, nurse-like uniforms in impoverished countries and paid them modest salaries to seek out women, who were either near delivery or who had, recently, given birth.

Then from a rehearsed script, the pseudo-nurses stated that Nestle administrators were happy for the new life and were giving the women gifts of baby formula to celebrate the occasion. (The supply was just large enough to ensure that mother’s own milk would not develop were the formula solely used.) The women were, also, told that modern women in first-world countries didn’t breast feed in that it was considered primitive and animal-like. Then they were asked whether they wanted to be like modern successful mothers or like stupid farm animals. They were, also, given a cut rate for purchase of further outdated formula — to be used when the cost-free gift was entirely depleted.

The long and short of it was that many of the women discovered, after they were hooked on the plan, that they couldn’t afford to buy enough formula to give an adequate amount in terms of required number of calories that newborns need. So, they thinned it down with water too much. In addition, many of the infants, rather than receiving the immune system benefits provided by human milk, were made drastically ill due to pathogens in the unclean water supply used to dilute the powdered formula. In short, the whole situation was a recipe built for disaster — that is, it was except for Nestle. While an uncountable number of babies either got extremely sick or died from dysentery and lack of sufficient nutrition, Nestle made a tremendous financial coup on the bad formula.

If this appears like an isolated incident, look again. All considered, this is the very same practice (with varying details) that many global companies implement.

uncle-sam

Artful distraction, while his rich family and friends actually …

Artful distraction, while his rich family and friends actually send jobs overseas for disgusting profit

Another case in point is Nike. As with the rapacious Nestle plan, there were whistle blowers for this conglomerate, too: 35,000 in all inundated the CEO with letters and voice mail telling him that they would no longer buy his products. This was due to his not protecting workers with proper precautions relative to toxic glue and other dangerous substances required to make footwear in giant Asian sweatshops.

Some of those contacting him even mentioned that they would tell all of their associates to forego Nike. Indeed, he felt so pressured by this voluminous outpouring that he sent out announcements to all those contacting him. He, also used mainstream advertisements to state that the requested corrections would transpire.

However, the problem with remedies is that consumers can never know for how long they will stay in place unless independent regulators, ones not employed by the offending company, keep watch-dogging in all of the factories. Moreover, we live in a fast paced societies. As such, “out of sight and out of mind” is generally the “rule of thumb.” Therefore, a contrite CEO can easily go back to his “old ways” without many people being informed of the relapse.

In this sense, it becomes hard to keep up with which company is doing what to whom and where. Equally difficult is knowing when any, actually, do revert to prior ruthlessness when not the current focus of attention. In this vein, who knows what Nestle and most other transnational companies are doing these days? Certainly, we cannot find out through most mainstream sources, especially since most of these malicious operations are deliberately hidden from public scrutiny by mainstream media, which often get their dollars from having advertisements for these horrendous companies..

Yet, some companies still do make the news. However, they are certainly not mentioned across the board, especially as common broadcast sources tend to, purposefully, foster the status quo. All the same, many of us do know, for instance, about Monsanto. [i] We, also, get alarmed when we hear about unintended trans-species modifications.

For example, a genetically altered bacteria introduced into some of Italy’s grape crop, to curtail mold growth, was found in the stomachs of Swiss bees despite that Italian farmers were reassured by the GM supplier that no transference was ever possible. Meanwhile, who knows whatever will happen to the bees and the other species that might be similarly impacted as the bacteria continues to mutate in such manners as to be accepted into further host organisms (including, possibly, humans)!

Then again, who is to judge whether Monsanto is better or worse that Coke? Whether the farmers and surrounding communities are ruined by pesticides like Roundup and Frankenseeds or irrigation water being diverted to be bottled at a plant — what’s the difference in the end? [ii]

In the same vein, what is the difference whether it involves food, water or any other supply on which life, absolutely, depends? There isn’t much. Nonetheless, many different kinds of industries, deliberately, maintain unethical and criminal practices — especially many of the pharmaceutical one.

For example, Bayer management, knowingly, sold contaminated products that killed users. This sort of practice goes on at many additional drug corporations. Meanwhile, relative to the cost of lawsuits, the income reaped by the time that the litigation proceeds, is a staggering sum above the cost to pay wrongful death and damage suits. [iii].

All considered, the happenings with the S&L scandal, Enron, White Water and other corporate thefts pale in comparison to the wrongs perpetuated by executives choosing to garner revenue through deliberately meting out death and injury. In this manner, their organizations proceed much in the way that the US government has in Iraq –slaughtering innocent peoples and fomenting many further forms of devastation all in the pursuit of self-gain (oil and other, less tangible kinds).

In the final reckoning, we must resist purchase of products by companies responsible for these outrageous horrors. We must, likewise, forego endorsement of all war efforts and turn our back on support of any government representatives choosing to serve their own best interests in lieu of their constituents. Similarly, we must let all parties involved in transgressions know of our deep and adamant ire over their unconscionable practices.

As the harried Nike CEO realized, one must seek positive (although unwelcome) changes when enough people refuse to condone deeply vile practices. This in mind, let us, in unison, push for this outcome to occur again and again whenever and wherever needed!

Whether against grievous government practices or those carried out in corporate boardrooms, critical transformations will, eventually, occur when enough people band together to resist grave wrongdoings. Let us, too, remember about what happens when we forget that we are all in these circumstances together. Martin Niemöller spelled out the consequences quite well. [iv]

Notes

[i] Please refer to: PANNA: Monsanto Hurts Texas Farmers, Monsanto—THE model (bad) corporation, The Bad Seeds – Monsanto Co’s plans to dominate farming – Brief …, Monsanto in the McSpotlight.

[ii] Please refer to: The South Asian: Coke Steals, Pollutes and Spins, India Resource Center, ZNet Commentary: Coke Pepsi and the Politics of Food Safety, Internet Archive Search: subject:”coca-cola”.

[iii] Please refer to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS3mhjt7TrY, Online Journal , Evelyn Pringle: Drug Companies Want Women of Childrearing Years, Under The Influence, 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft Reports On Drug …, Liberty News TV–Episode 27–April 2007–Corrected.

[iv] Please refer to: http://www.serendipity.li/cda/niemoll.html.

Sally Dugman is a writer from MA, USA.

 

Tags:

Support Countercurrents

Countercurrents is answerable only to our readers. Support honest journalism because we have no PLANET B.
Become a Patron at Patreon

Join Our Newsletter

GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX

Join our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Get CounterCurrents updates on our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Related Posts

Join Our Newsletter


Annual Subscription

Join Countercurrents Annual Fund Raising Campaign and help us

Latest News