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The Corporation
In the video about the corporation, the main ideas expressed concern externalities that are caused by the big firms as they seek to become more profitable. One of the video defines externalities in economics as the negative impacts that results from transactions between two parties to a third party who is not involved. In many cases, the externalities caused by corporations affect entire societies such as through environmental degradation that is causing global warming. Today, externalities that are occurring from the transactions made by the corporations are varied and can be in different ways. Environmental degradation is one of them while others include poor payment and working conditions for workers in the developing countries and child labor.
Most of the big corporations that outsource their manufacturing do it in order to reduce costs. The main way they reduce costs is by paying low wages to workers who are not of legal age. Currently, labor practices in the developing countries where these corporations set up their manufacturing are very poor. For instance, a worker in the United States is paid many times more than a worker in Thailand is for the same work. In addition, United States workers will get more benefits including medical and pensions while those in Thailand only get pennies for doing the same job. Furthermore, the firms are not concerned about the working conditions that the children laborers are working in.
The other issue is unethical behavior by corporations in pursuit of profits. The video shows that some companies made chemicals for controlling pests in firms that caused more harm than good. Majority of the chemicals used have increased cancer rates of the people affected. It also shows genetic mutations where animals are born with defects. One example was a child born without eyes. It indicates that some use of chemicals caused 50,000 birth defects to the developing areas. Other issues concerned drugs made for animals such as cows to enhance mild production. The antibiotics used caused more diseases to the cows, with some of them being consumed by the people through the milk. This increases resistance to drugs, which in turn can result in bacteria getting more resistance and causing more harm to the body.
Some of these issues happen as people watch. The responsible parties are aware of the predicament but do nothing to stop it. They are so inclined to making profits that ethical and moral issues do not concern them. This cannot only be blamed on the corporate official. It can also be blamed on the people who watch as such issues happen yet do nothing. One of the main causes of people failing to act is fear of losing what they have. Today, corporations have a lot of influence on the society. With the current global issues that include economic crisis, people are ready to accept anything despite how wrong it might be. In order to influence the masses, the corporations use advertisements and promotions that convince people they are supposed to be consumers. Many will purchase things they do not need because of the influence from the corporations. Children are the most affected by such advertisements considering they do not have enough cognitive judgment to realize what is wrong. Some scholars argue this is illegal because it is taking advantage of children who are not aware of what they are doing.
By watching the three videos, one can see how corporations are ruining societies while people stand and do nothing. They have become so powerful that they can influence societies in many ways. Today, many people will such for answers to their problems from big corporations, which they trust more than them selves. The externalities witnessed in these videos raise a lot of concern over the future of coming generations. The videos have defined the corporation as an externalizing machine, designed in efficient ways to achieve certain objectives. In its quest to do so, many negative impacts unaccounted for happen, which harm the public.