Are Corporations Psychopathic?

You may have picked up on my theme this week: the evils of business. I wanted to start by exploring what is wrong with business, to create a healthy appetite for a solution.

My friend BBMed me after I finished my first blog post, "Talk to me about your business paper!!" (Let's call this friend Willy "Billy" Wong during this blog post). Willy is a very bright guy (also a lawyer) and I was curious to hear his thoughts (and surprised at his immediate interest). Meeting downtown for coffee the next day, he tells me that it is not legally possible for a corporation to run its business solely based on Christian values. A corporation is legally bound to work only for the best interests of its shareholders, which means long-term maximum profitability. You can run a corporation according to "Christian values" as long as you maximize profits. But when there is a conflict, profit wins. He told me to watch the documentary, "The Corporation."

Having watched half the movie so far, I am already sick to my stomach and starving for a solution to this mess.

Let me take a few steps back to explain. Corporations are one type of business, but by far the largest and most influential type in the world today. Walmart. Google. Apple. Amazon. Shell. Toyota. All the largest businesses in the world are corporations.

A corporations is recognized by the law to have rights and responsibilities like an individual person. It can buy and sell property. It can run business. It can sue and be sued. It is a member of society. Corporations are special kinds of persons with no moral conscience, designed by law only to be concerned for its shareholders. Interviewed in the movie, Michael Moore says, "The problem of a corporation comes from profit motivation. There is no such thing as enough." It is required by law to place the financial interest of its shareholders above other competitive interests. It is bound by law to put its bottom line in front of everything else, even the public good.

The documentary asks the question, "If a corporation is a person, what type of person would it be?" It then began to explore the actions of corporations.

Harm to human health: Dangerous Products, Toxic Waste, Pollution, Synthetic Chemicals.

Harm to workers: Layoffs, Union busting, Factory Fires, Sweatshops.

Harm to animals: Habitat destruction, Factory farming, Experimentation.

Harm to biosphere: Clearcuts, Co2 emissions, Nuclear waste.

The filmakers came up with this list: Personality Diagnostic Checklist for a Corporation

- Callous unconcern for the feelings of others

- Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships

- Reckless disregard for the safety of others

- Deceitfulness (repeated lying and conning others for profit)

- Incapacity to experience guilt

- Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviour

Diagnosis: Psychopath

The writers of the documentary gravely state, "In our search for wealth and profit, we created something (the corporation) that is going to destroy us."

You might argue that this documentary is solely focusing on the evils of a corporation, and I would agree with you. But just the fact that there was so much dirt that could be found makes me feel more than a bit unsettled. What is the source of all this evil and harm? It seems to me that it is the goal of a corporation: to maximize profits for shareholders above all else.

Can profit maximization be a goal that honors God?