The Corporation

One claim the book makes that I found surprising was that “[corporate executives] must always put their corporation’s best interests first and not act out of concern for anyone or anything else…The money they manage and invest is not theirs” (50).  I just do not understand why the executives do not have any concern for the harm that they could do to people or the environment.  The money the corporation has is from shareholders.  I feel that if the executives wanted to gain as many shareholders as they could, they would have concern for the people.  This way people would know the company could be trusted.

            The passage that I chose about corporations and environmental concerns is about BP potentially drilling for oil in the Artic Circle where a caribou herd lives.  There is a representative from the Artic Circle that is speaking out for the sake of the caribou and for her people against BP drilling there.  The book presents her opinions and facts first.  Then it gives a statement from BP and some more facts about the caribou.  Ultimately, the book sides with BP and says they should take the opportunity to drill there.  I feel that the argument is pretty effective, given that the book backs up its siding with numerous facts.  However, the book does say that BP has no concern for harming the caribou or destroying the native people’s way of life.  The corporation is just looking for profit.  Once again, as I said above, I feel that the company should have some compassion for what and whom they could potentially harm just for their own gain.