ABSTRACT
There are good and bad corporations just like there are good and bad individuals. While no corporation or person is without flaws, some corporate cultures like Starbucks have a better reputation than others in providing healthcare benefits for its workers and their children. Other corporations like Enron deceived their employees and left many of them penniless. Our grandparents and great-grandparents focused on “making a decent living” while many in our generation focus on “living large.” The virtues of their world were “waste not, want not.” They saved until they could purchase what they needed or they did without. They were inclined to be independent and self-reliant and community-minded. In today’s world with the help of corporate advertising, we are encouraged to consume, not conserve. We are told we should “have it our way”— right here and right now. We do not need to save for college. We can borrow the money. After all, it is for our education so it is okay to go into thousands of dollars worth of debt. We are also entitled to a house whether we can afford one or not. We are not here to serve others, but to be served. It is an ‘all you can get as quick as you can get it’ world-everybody for themselves. Self-esteem more than self-respect is what we are after. No matter how we feel or what problem we face, the ad on TV reassures us that there is a drug we can purchase that will solve our problem. Not only are we entitled to the good life, but if we just invest in this or that stock or financial scheme, we can retire rich and early. Our value is equated with how much money we make and how much we can spend on the latest fashion and technological gadget. We live in a world of “bling” where excess is a virtue and simplicity is a vice. In the world of
credit cards and online shopping, the Internet with its tracking devices knows us better than we know ourselves. It is in this kind of world that some corporations thrive in taking advantage of our vanity and insecurities, a culture that buys and sells influence and avoids legal and ethical responsibility whenever possible for the sake of profit and power.
