When Corporations Rule the World

Rating:
Summary: Seeing the Big Picture
Review: Seeing the Big Picture

When Corporations Rule the World argues that corporations are becoming more powerful than governments. David C. Korten argues that large corporations are becoming more powerful as world trade becomes easier. As more companies enter the world market the problem will become worse. Organizations such as the World Trade Organization and the World Bank are fueling this problem by making trade with out government regulation easier. As trade becomes easier the rich of the world will make profits even larger, thus making the gap between rich and poor larger. If this trend continues Korten believes that we are going to exhaust the worlds resources through over consumption. Korten believes that this problem can only be remedied by removing corporations out of politics. Korten says that these corporations can shape governments and their policies by backing politicians.
The sides of this issue consist of the world's largest corporations and most powerful governments versus a global movement of volunteers from civil organizations that are focused on democracy, community, equity, and the web of planetary life. The large corporations and the powerful governments believe that if they can move goods around the world with a ideal borderless global economy they will be able to spread democracy and create the wealth needed to help the poor areas of the world. They feel that democracy and the spread of wealth will help save the environment. The global movement of volunteers believes that corporations are making an extreme amount of money for the rich at the expense of the rest of the world. Their operations are polluting our planet and creating a huge gap between the rich and poor.
This book helped me understand how large companies are affecting the fate of our planet. These large corporations are taking advantage of cheap labor and less restrictive environmental regulations in poor countries in order to turn a very large profit in developed countries. This has direct environmental and economic effects on the undeveloped countries. Because of the ratio of profits made from selling in developed countries to profits from production that undeveloped countries get; the undeveloped countries will never be able to break out of being poor. The gap between the two will keep getting larger as time goes on.
One part of the Book that I found to be interesting was how Korten divided people of the world into three groups. These groups included overconsumers, sustainers, and excluded. Overconsumers consume far greater amounts of resources than they need, sustainers consume enough resources to maintain healthy and profitable lives, and excluders have inadequate diets and are generally living day by day. I realized that all areas of the world from developed powerful countries to undeveloped countries have some representation of each of these groups. However, the problem is developed countries have the most overconsumers and undeveloped countries have the most of the excluded group. Another problem is that there is all ready to many overconsumers.
I would recommend this book anyone interested in the global economy and environmental issues. It gives you a perspective on how we all effect the environment. I thought that the book was hard to put down. Each page that you read makes you think a little more about the situation that we are all in.

Rating:
Summary: Corporations offer mirage of good living while world suffers
Review: When Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten raises awareness about what the human race has done to this world and how they have chosen to treat their fellow man. Korten does an excellent job of highlighting how the world's environmental and social problems are all interrelated. This combination of bad habits, selfish values, and wasteful ideologies are reacting together to heading straight into a negative future. It is not all bleak, as Korten does put together themes for a sustainable future that will not enrage even the most conservative American taxpayer and businessman. The bottom line is the image of the happy, technologically advanced; prosperous society pitched by avid supporters of market capitalism only comes true for the few. The vast majority of the world is suffering the consequences of a wasteful, competitive, and present minded way of life that is losing sight of basic human and environmental needs.
Besides the provocative and alarming facts that Koten uses I also appreciate the history of the human centered world, more particularly the American Democracy. The book comes together to show how today's capitalist democracy is not as conducive to harmonious living as businesses advertise.
For example, a modern industrial country that has learned the lethal and costly price of war would not put their citizens in danger. However, the number of civilians killed in warfare is far greater than it was a century ago. Moreover, it is massively disproportionate to the number of soldiers killed.
Another example of the negative trends that are present in the modern technologically advanced world is the evidence of social stress. Our medical and psychological knowledge is more advanced now than ever before however, the pressures of competitive market economy have overtaken our culture to make it acceptable to work from dawn till dusk without time for recreation or time with one's family just to make ends meet. The reality that people are working extremely hard to earn minimum wage while executive are getting paid hand over foot to play golf. When Corporation Rule the World admits the ugly truth that urban housing is only used to watching TV and grabbing a couple of hours sleep before the next daily grind.
This modern society, which has the technology to put robots on mars, the Internet on the beach, or TVs in airline seats, cannot even provide adequate health care or job security in even the most affluent industrial nations. This is not to mention the hundreds of million of people who are living on less than one American dollar a day. With the inescapable facts of population growth these problems are getting worse, not better.
Korten lived up to many of the accolades in the preface of the book. Korten said things that many humane and rational people were thinking. He does a great job of bringing together the multiple social, environmental, and organizational problems of the globe. This book has the power to change many people's perception on things, and to look into the future with a more sustainable mindset.

Rating:
Summary: Opening the eyes of even the blindest consumer
Review: In the face of recent economic troubles, corporate scandal and consumer apathy you might think today's culture is getting sick of being trounced upon by corporate greediness. One would think society would notice that we're filling internal voids (and landfills) with material things we only think we need because we saw it in an advertisement. One would think we'd aware of these things... but When Corporations Rule the World presents quite a different take on this situation. In this book, David Korten presents several many well thought-out arguments for how individuals, or more specifically, global society, is bearing the burden of corporate greed and is, for the most part, completely unaware of it. He describes three major crises on a global scale: deepening poverty, social disintegration and environmental destruction; his main point consistently being that corporations have infiltrated and altered almost every aspect of our lives and done so for their own benefit.
Korten argues that we, as a society, are becoming more and more dependant on environmentally un-friendly, socially un-just products and technologies which are produced by corporations. Everyday, we full-heartedly believe that economic growth is a good thing for everyone involved, but Korten undercuts that argument with supporting evidence regarding development gone-awry from Thailand, Brazil and Costa Rica. In these cases, development promised heath care, a professional class and an overall higher standard of living but did just the opposite. Obviously, corporate interests do not lie with local people.
Korten effectively sounds off against global corporations and the consequences of their increasing power. He argues that corporations represent unhinged, dangerous and conscious-free entities that have intentionally and sardonically altered our economy, government and minds for their benefit.
The importance of government regulation is emphasized by Korten because without it, a market "produces socially optimal outcomes only when governmental and civil society are empowered..." Unregulated markets, according to the author, allow democracy to be pawn of private interests. A regulated economy, not a free economy, is the least destructive market choice says a man who, interestingly, in the beginning of the book, described himself as a traditional conservative afraid of big government.
Overall, Korten provides a convincing argument for people to take action, however oftentimes it can be difficult to follow the detailed accounts of corporate history and descriptions of financial trails. Also it seems, at times, just how one can get involved at a local level (i.e. not restructuring our government and economy) is left unmentioned. Idealistic and informative are better words to describe this book than strategic and 'how to guide-esque.' However, the facts and stories spoke for themselves and Korten honestly made this reader reconsider several of her values and consumer tendencies. But it is often quite difficult to get past the huge amount of bias held by the author. The entire introduction is devoted to explaining how Korten's experiences shaped him into the man he is today, so is he really presenting data that's unbiased? C'mon, the man has a well-written agenda in the beginning of his book. Is he simply 'greening-up' data, just as Phillip Morris would dress up death rates of smokers? Despite these questions, one is given a degree of confidence in the quality of his facts because of the sheer amount of citations given. However, where those numbers came from is another thing to consider altogether. Obviously, the author's choice to provide an enormous amount of examples for each main argument he presented helped validate such a radical (or is it progressive?) viewpoint. Depressing at times, sometimes agitating but never offering anything less than hope, Korten wields the power and truth to open even the blindest consumer's eyes to be wary of when corporations do truly rule the world.

Rating:
Summary: Discover what the rulers of our days don't want you to know
Review: I believe that a lot of people have already realized that we live in a world where corporations have a lot of power. Any business student will tell you the purpose of a corpotation : "To maximize shareholder's wealth," in the constant race for profits companies are capable of the unthinkable. There is no concern for human or animal life, there is no concern for communities or the environment - none at all.

We are in a turning point in history, important changes will need to happen in order to save the planet and improve the quality of life on Earth. Korten's book will help you open your eyes to many of the problems we face; and once the eyes are opened, there is no alternative but to act.

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Summary: Rediscover Democracy, America
Review: (This review is of the 2001 updated and explanded second edition of When Corporatinos Ruled the World. With 5 new chapters, updated statistics and a revamp, we now know that it is possible to improve upon perfection.)

By far, the most comprehensive, well-researched, incisive documentation of systemic corporate abuse available. However, When Corporations Rule is not simply a litany of profligate corporate excess. Korten explains the dysfunctional logic of our system, outlines the horrendous consequences for community and environment, and provides clear, cogent plans of action to restore democracy and awaken culturally.

The thesis is so obvious it is a wonder no one has formulated before. We always harangue socialism as an "extreme ideology," but capitalism is also an extreme ideology. Socialism concentrates power in a centralized government, creating unsupportable social and environmental costs. Likewise, capitalism concentrates power in huge private institutions (the modern multinational corporation), which also have enormous social and environmental costs. Both advance the concentration of rights of ownership without limit, to the exclusion of the needs and rights of the many who own virtually nothing. And as Korten points out, the impoverished many are growing.

As of 1992, the richest 20 percent of the global population received as much as 82.7 percent of the total world income. The poorest 20 percent received 1.4 percent. These figures indicate growing economic inequality, which is has become even more pronounced in the last decade. In 1998, the world's top three billionaires totaled more assets than the combined GNP of all the least developing countries and their 600 million people. Of the world's 6 billion people, 2.8 - that is, nearly half - were living on less than $2 a day. Some 1.2 billion of that half lived on less than a dollar a day.

Inside America - the global economic trendsetter - this growing global inequality is mirrored in microcosm. In fact, inequality and hardship is even more exaggerated in the Land of the Free. The wealthiest 10 percent now owns almost 90 percent of all business equity, 88.5 percent of all bonds, and 89.3 percent of all stocks. In 1999, the total compensation of U.S. corporate CEOs was 475 times the average production worker's pay; and 29 percent of all U.S. workers were in jobs paying poverty level wages, defined as an hourly wage too low to meet the needs of a family of four. Moreover, with each new mega-merger, more capital, power and control are concentrated in these already mammoth institutions.

These are just a few of the statistics sited in the book, but When Corporations Rule offers more than statistical analysis. With laser precision, Korten assays economic and political history, uncovering the reasons for these global trends: including the illusion of growth, the loss of governmental oversight in the affairs of corporations, the rise of the Newtonian mechanical worldview and its subsequent devaluation of spiritual values, etc. His critique of globalization was absolutely stunning: including the effects of NAFTA, and the general policies of the WTO, the WB and the IMF. Finally, his call for localism, activism, spiritualism, and an ecological awakening are inspiring and timely.

Not a stone goes uncovered. The failure of development strategies for the Third World (his stated specialty), critical discussion of traditional economic theory, the rise of PR, global poverty, currency speculation and corporate raiding, downsizing, contracting labor, automating, the loss of the small farm, the effects of Wal-Mart and the like, ecological collapse, the coming Ecological Revolution, sustainability, socially responsible investment, systems theory, urban design, history of the current globalization protest movement, detailed agenda for democratic change - these and so many other important issues are weaved together in a remarkable argument that will move you. I cannot think of a more important book for this troubled planet.

Rating:
Summary: The Truth About Corporate Socialism
Review: The most interesting thing about this book was when it first appeared - 1995, just when the late 90's stock market boom was getting started and everybody and their brother were loving corporations to death. Korten was breaking some new ground back then, and this book is now more relevant than ever with our recent corporate carnage,

Another very useful aspect of the book is that it highlights the absurdity in conservative political opinions toward corporate power. I won't try to start a left vs. right argument here, but remember that conservatives are always against the concentration of political power and preach a local, populist stance. Conservatives also promote free trade and the rights of corporate self-interest, and that's the paradox. Consider the way that corporations behave. Profits are centralized while costs are inflicted on local people through economic servitude or environmental damage. Corporations are full of middle managers and bureaucrats, with a few executives holding vastly more power than legions of workers (i.e. regular folks). Remove the economic angle from those concepts and replace them with socio-political power, and what do you have - socialism! Isn't that what conservatives hate with all their hearts? And speaking of socialism, the huge tax breaks and subsidies provided by the government to keep corporations artificially profitable are the biggest socialist handout in the world, and is thousands of times larger than the welfare given to poor people, which is the common conservative whipping boy for "wasteful" spending.

Korten does an excellent job bringing these troubling trends to light. Unfortunately this book's execution leaves something to be desired. Korten proves his points early on but can't stop giving examples, leading to a highly repetitive and predictable list of evil corporate acts and social problems. Korten is also obsessed with proving his conservative background, as his thesis is relevant in ways far beyond mere left vs. right politics. However, this merely shows his paranoia about debunking future critics, at the expense of enlightening the present reader. And finally, Korten's solutions to the current problems of corporate domination are weak, consisting mostly of platitudes about individual people "taking the power back" at the local level. This is not the solution, but the utopia that would come after the solution. That utopia is the end, not the means. Fixing the current system (which badly needs to be fixed) does not require pie-in-the-sky idealism, but real drastic and meaningful events. Maybe the collapse of gigantic and so-called indestructible companies like Enron or Worldcom will become a trend that induces real change.

Rating:
Summary: Some good points, but one sided, and predictable...
Review: I read this a number of years ago and took it to heart. P>Like Korten, I have problems with corporate rule, which is a real threat. But I tend to have more respect for a person who lives simply than I do for someone who's taken full advantage of the system which s/he then knocks down mercilessly. Further, there IS a corporate trickle down much more than from "activists."Ask those who're working for corporations and are making more than they thought possible a few years ago.

Unless alternatives are offered, I have no use for this kind of rhetoric any more...

Rating:
Summary: Negative Reviews
Review: The people who gave this book one star obviously did not read the book, just looked at the title, maybe read he dust jacket, and decided to rail against it on Amazon for the benefit of their greed-soaked souls. OK, so maybe that last bit was a low blow, but seriously, their objections are WAY off base. Korten is not a communist. It is funny how people can still confuse autocratic communism as practised by the Soviet Union and China with the kind of democratic pluralism advocated by Korten, and realized to a small extent in a few industrialized nations. If you read even a chapter of this book, it is obvous that Korten is in favor of the market, but subordinated to the interest of the people, something that the negative reviewers must find repugnant.

He is also not a conspiracy theorist. All of his assertions are based on the principles of positive feedback and greed which it is easy to see operating in the world today. Greedy corporations amass wealth and power thus allowing them to satiate their greed with a freer hand. It happens.

He does, in fact, address the issue of overpopulation, but one reviewer here lies and states the opposite. Overpopulation is a problem, and Korten does not say otherwise, but notes that those of the first world usually focus on it to the exclusion of all else, a point seemingly proven in this very forum.

My last salvo against the negative reviewers is that they, with the exception of the liar, refuse to deal with any of what Korten actually says in the book. They cannot refute his positions--particularly thorny must be the well written analysis of how modern business, which claims to idolize Adam Smith, actually completely disregards his conditions for an efficient market--so they simply resort to ad hominem attacks, typical of the conservative movement. Most amusing of all is the reviewer who implies that the book isn't even worth talking about by saying he won't dignify it with further analysis or comments. Pray tell, sir, why you bothered to write a review at all? He cannot refute its positions through analysis, so he will not analyze it at all.

All in all, this is a fantastic book for anyone who knows deep down that something is wrong with the current world order but lacks the information or the economic tools to really uncover what it is. Korten lays it out, but it's up to us to change it.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read For Libertarians And Other Free Market Zealots
Review: Probably the best book I've read in a year. A searing indictment of the status quo and it's defenders. Korten sets his sights on the very real problems in our society and provides a devastating, insightful and well thought out critic of the myths that rule our society. Explodes the politically correct myths of the corporate liberals who worship free trade and see the market as the answer to every problem. Clearly states the central problem of the corporate capitalist state, the fact that the market is considered sacred and more important than the people themselves. Shows how the very consumerism that the 'one worlders' espouse is causing the crime and alienation that run rampant in our society today. Denies the assumptions of the high priests of corporate liberalism, and uses their own Holy Books (like Adam Smith) against them. Uses concrete examples to suggest that the big corporations and there defenders will gladly pollute the environment, squander natural resources and even kill people who get in their way. One need not agree with Korten's solutions to recognize the accuracy of his critic. Highly recommended for critics of the status quo of all political stripes, but especially for those who believe the lie that the market can be or is a solution. Read It

Rating:
Summary: A Bible for the 21st Century
Review: Ever wonder how it got this way? Corporate America insures its goals will be advanced thanks to control of the media and the government. We go from Bush to Clinton to Bush, wishing for change, will the cause of the corporation, namely domination, gets advanced thanks to GATT, WTO, IMF, Trilaterals and Bilderbergers. This book explains how it got this way and how the tide can be turned.