General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: You know what is NOT happening in Baltimore? [View all]Caliman73
(11,756 posts)It is an entire system, in which employees and consumers have the least amount of power.
Take for instance, climate change. Fossil fuel industry leaders absolutely knew, since the 1960's that pumping CO2 into the atmosphere was having a major effect on the climate. Did they work to make cars more fuel efficient? Did they look for alternatives for engine design? Did they take any steps at all to deal with the situation? No. They said to the consumer... "You need to reduce your carbon footprint". Recycle, reuse, etc... which don't get me wrong, those are good things and necessary, but have NOWHERE near the effect that even minor changes within the industry would have on climate change. They blocked at every turn, the technology for renewable sources of energy, to protect their revenue. They pitted employees of their companies against others, not for the benefit of the employees, but for their bottom line.
They vilified Hillary Clinton when she told the truth that coal needed to be reduced and eventually eliminated, with the explicit promise that new, good paying jobs would be found for those workers. Instead they said, "Hillary Clinton hates coal and hates you".
Employees are considered "liabilities" in accounting practice. An expense for the Capitalists, so they are expendable. The goal of for profit businesses are to make as much money as possible. The incentive is to sell more and cut expenses. That means cutting employees as if they were just a waste product of industries. Companies work more on marketing and branding than on the quality of the products. They think, and know they can fool people and create loyalty rather than producing good, long lasting products.
The conditions are created by the incentive structures. Don't get me wrong, we consumers do have a role to play, but that role, compared to the people who make millions, and billions of dollars, is fairly small.