Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
The only responsibility that big companies have to the 99% is to offer employment, and produce products.
They are responsible to their requirement to profit and to ensure that their shareholders get good return on their investment.
The community stuff that they do, or charitable donations are not requirements but bonuses to those programs.
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The point I was raising wasn't a question of what responsibilities big companies do
legally have, but what responsibilities they
should have.
My point is that it being taken for granted that a company's responsibilities to the community it operates in extend only as far as the law and shareholder interest dictate is in itself a sign of a problem.
A community where members' responsibilities only extend as far as taking care of their own interests is a community that a lot of people don't want to live in. A community where only those members who have the most influence and power are taken for granted as exempt from community responsibilities is even less desirable.
As I've said before, I don't think the problem is not so much a matter of some people making it big with high salaries as it is a problem of equity largely tied to social values.
I realize you've mostly been talking about the situation in Canada, and I'm thinking more of the situation in America, but the question of how responsible companies should be to the communities in which the operate applies anywhere. The answer depends upon values.