The Corporation

Image taken from http://blog.wataugawatch.net/2009_09_01_archive.html

According to the video we watched in the last class here are some answers to important questions that are very interesting:

1) Should corporations be entitled to the same legal rights as individuals? Where should the line be drawn?
After watching the video “The Corporation”, it’s pretty clear that corporations are not individuals, and that’s why they shouldn’t be treated as if they were, so they shouldn’t have the rights that individuals have, because as they say in a documental corporations are like a big fish that if you give him the chance he will eat you. So it wouldn’t be fare that corporations have the same rights that individuals have because there wouldn’t be a balance in the society, and the power they will get if something like this happened would be incredible.
The rights we have as individuals are something that belong to us, and if we give them to corporations they will just increase their earnings and power and would start doing unethical things having the rights as a shield. It would be just unimaginable that companies have these rights because there wouldn’t be a drawn line between what a company can do or not, I think that if this happened all the effort that many unions and persons have made to keep the balance of power equal would be dropped in the trash.

2) How can we ensure corporations are held accountable for their actions?
In today’s world it is very difficult to ensure that the companies respond for their acts, because there are many interest that are moved behind the justice, but the solution for this problem is to put several laws for companies that take advantage of their power to make illegal acts. Another thing that the government should do to control this kind of acts is to give some tax benefits for companies that really concerned about their employees and the society.

3. Should individuals bear any responsability for the actions of a corporation? If so, to what degree
Us as individuals should respond for what we do, that’s why I think that individuals should be responsible for their acts but just if the individual acts with bad purposes. I think that the ones that administrate the corporation or the ones that have high charges inside it are the ones that should have more responsibility, because at the end they are the ones that take the decisions and the ones that lead the company for the good or bad way, but how I said before just if the person acts with bad faith.

4. What are the benefits of the corporate form? could an alternative model offer these as well?
The corporate form of organization has an advantage over its two rivals in at least three respects:
1) It diffuses financial responsibility,
2) It survives the death of its owners
3) It permits of larger accumulations of capital
(Taken from http://chestofbooks.com/finance/economics/Elementary-Economics/Advantages-And-Disadvantages-Of-The-Corporate-Form-Of-Organi.html)
We also have to recognize that there are some big companies like Microsoft or coca cola that are very concerned about their employees and about the entire society, so this kinds of corporations are just impossible to change because what they offer to the state and to the society its unbeatable for any other system or model.