If you look the word power up in dictionary, you will find 16 different definitions. The 5th and 6th definitions, define power as, "A person, group, or nation having great influence or control over others and
[t]he might of a nation, political organization or similar group"(The American Heritage College dictionary, 1072). Power in my opinion is what most people seek, weather it be in their daily life or in the working world. The problem with power though is it can lead to greed and treating other very unfairly! In the book, The Politics of Power, the authors tell a story on page 32 about corporate capitalism that you would hope to be false and the sad reality is, the story is all facts. A little of what they say is as follows, "Suppose it was learned that a small group had gained control over vast concentrations of economic resources and political power in the United States. Imagine that in a country with a population of 270 million people, several thousand Americans-unrepresentative, not democratically chosen, not even known to most people-controlled key aspects of American economic life. This small group determined what the level of investment would be, where investment would occur, what would be produced, and how production would be organized." The authors go on to state, "[T]hey based their decisions not on what the country needed but on what would be most profitable for them. This small group used its vast wealth to buy private islands in the Caribbean,drive luxury cars, and live in stately homes in various cities and fashionable vacation spots. At the same time, tens of millions of other Americans could not afford to obtain medical care, pay the rent, care for their kids, or put food on the table (Katznelson, Kesselman, Draper, 32). This is not right and it is true!!! Now I am not in favor of a socialist government, however there is something wrong with this picture! Power comes into play in ever aspect of the world today.
Power plays such a huge role in the government, the economy and politics today. I was shocked to read how much power does actually play a role. It seems that power is almost like a disease that has infected all three. I am most shocked about how much power plays in our economy. Again in the book, The Power of Politics, the authors write that, "The total corporate revenues of this group [Fortune 500] of giant corporations were $6.3 trillion in 1999, accounting for over half the gross domestic product (GDP) of the entire American economy and employing about one-seventh of the American workforce" (Katznelson, Kesselman, Draper, 33). The corporations make or break our economy. We have so much invested in them and don't have much of a say as to how they manage and run their businesses. In the book the authors say that most of these companies have stocks, most of the CEO and executives own stock, so they are shareholders of the company and the boards are run by the shareholders, so basically the company insiders run the company and have the say so, there are not really any outsiders who have the authority to make any decisions. We as Americans are left to see what this small group decides to do with their companies and reap what they sow,so to speak. Something that I thought was interesting in the book was on page 37 when the authors are writing about corporate executives, they write, "Many corporate executives come from upper-class families, attend the most selective colleges, are graduates of either business or law school or both, and are generally white and male, although there has been a small increase in minority members and women within the top ranks of the business elite"(Katznelson, Kesselman, Draper). In my opinion the bottom line is, if you have a lot of money and a good name, you have power. You have the power to give money to politicians that can get you more power, the politicians are apart of the government and in turn you fund the government and get that power. It seems like it is a vicious cycle. It starts with the corporate executives though. The Fortune 500 runs the American economy, politics and in turn government in my opinion.
No comments:
Post a Comment