tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7559231377548707755.post7680535337588297864..comments2023-05-04T05:58:35.283-07:00Comments on Chris B. Leyerle: Making Good ChoicesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04761284828479640582noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7559231377548707755.post-64529019576042947552012-06-16T16:12:07.976-07:002012-06-16T16:12:07.976-07:00Jeff, thanks for commenting and sharing your and C...Jeff, thanks for commenting and sharing your and Craig's thoughts.<br /><br />We need some other kinds of laws, with real consequences attending their breaking. What we have currently is demonstrably inadequate, and the notion it will be better if we vacate more laws is, simply, the triumph of ideology over evidence (and lately, like second marriages) that of hope over experience. What those laws could or should be is tricky, but it is essential that we enforce more responsible corporate citizenship. (I use corporate "citizenship" for want of a better term; they cannot be co-equal as actual citizens.)<br /><br />While it will be hard to craft effective workable laws with teeth, it will be vastly harder still to summon the political might to even start. <a href="http://www.corporations.org/media/" title="Corporate media concentration and dominance" rel="nofollow">One big reason</a>. Alas.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04761284828479640582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7559231377548707755.post-79495902955145963312012-06-12T09:38:49.481-07:002012-06-12T09:38:49.481-07:00Craig Farlinger responded to a post I made on Face...Craig Farlinger responded to a post I made on Facebook with a very creative approach to ensuring corporate responsibility. <br /><br />I copy his notes below. <br /><br />"It's systemic. It can't be fixed my friend. Only educating the public will have an effect. Regulators can decide what "kinds" of financial products certain institutions can offer and some criteria, but they can't decide the "quality" of what is offered. White-washed pigs will always sneak into the system and their importance is why Wall Street hires snakes who know how to dress up and flog "verisimilitude" product that makes them wealthy at the expense of unsophisticated investors.<br />I'm pessimistic because what I think is needed is "Corporate Responsibility" legislation with conflict of interest provisions and consumer protection laws. Like the 43-101 "resource estimation" regulations which were instituted after the Bre-X scandal, I think laws like this would add value to companies that comply, but there is strong philosophical opposition. <br />There is no chance anything like that would ever pass in the USA. In Canada under an NDP or Liberal government it could happen but without a corresponding law in the USA it wouldn't do much good since the economies are so integrated.<br />You could make signing on to the "Corporate Responsibility" charter voluntary, then make being a charter member a requirement for all government contracts and assistance. That might fly in the USA. <br />Sort of a reverse Grover Norquist pledge."<br /><br />As a freshly minted citizen in the USA (this election will be my first to vote for a president) with a keen interest in participatory democracy I think the "Ling" has perhaps hit upon a path to make corporations contribute to "the commonwealth", a term that I find interestingly used in the naming of Massachusetts. <br />I find the phrase accurately embodies the concept of shared responsibility for the greater good. <br />It takes emphasis off of the maligned concept of "spreading the wealth around" and focuses it instead on the common good. <br /><br />I've enjoyed reading a number of your previous blog posts, thanks for sharing your thoughts.Jeff Boycehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04857295340163275892noreply@blogger.com