Corporate totalitarianism?

[Ken Brown]

Steve Thompson wrote:
> 
> Quoting Aimee Farr (aimee.farr at pobox.com):
> > I received the following today, by Robert Weissman, co-author of _Corporate
> > Predators_, (corporatepredators.org) in regard to the Sara Lee Ball Park
> > Frank Hot Dog incident, in which 21 people died. It prompted them to visit
> > the White House to inquire as to 'a corporate death penalty.'

Over here in t he UK there is a company called Railtrack that about 20
million people would be happy to see executed :-)
 
> How strange.  It's always individuals working within a corporation who should
> be culpable for offences committed as a result of its business practices.

There is surely no suggestion that the individuals cease to be liable,
just that the whole company is as well?

> Will this not have the effect of divorcing personal responsibility further
> from the executive and employees of a company?

But if the corporation as a whole is killed the shareholders lose their
investment. XYZ inc no longer exists, there are no shares, no dividends.
Presumably the assets of the company get sold off at public auction like
houses with unpaid mortgages, or cars picked up off the street. 

> Furthermore, might not the `death' of a company in some cases penalise other
> companies which depend on the products or services of the `offender' leading
> to a reluctance to prosecute the largest and arguably the worst criminals?

Most businesses have competitors, who will no doubt be happy to pick up
the sales. Along with the assets, sold off cheap. 

It will penalise the workers, which might be more important to
government, because they will have votes and a large company will have
many votes, which might be very concentrated. Not much of a problem in a
big city, where there are always other jobs, but in a small town or
semi-rural area a single employer might be a huge part of the local
economy.
 
> At least when the responsible individuals are prosecuted, there is an
> opportunity to `clean house' and reform the offending institution, as it
> were.

Shareholder pressure should do that very effectively. If the managers
break the law, you lose your investment. A big boost to corporate
ethics.

My previous employer's business directly killed about 200 people  during
the years I worked there. I mean directly, in industrial accidents, I'm
not talking about pollution or product liability.  But shareholder
pressure would have been very effective in helping keep things safe. 

Ken Brown