"Why Did I Write This?"

The Corporation was certainly an intellectual, academic read. I felt Joel Bakan accomplished one of his main goals of appealing to the lay audience. Many of his claims were sufficiently cited with reputable sources, but he also was mindful of not falling into a purely academic monologue. Moreover, despite Bakan’s brief, somewhat unfounded tirades, the novel generally stayed on track and presented what could become a lively, healthy debate on the future of the corporation. On the whole, this book achieved many of the goals it strived to accomplish, all while maintaining a fascinating and entertaining tone.

This novel has taught me to see the ubiquitous, monolithic corporation in a new light. Where before I might have given little thought to the organizations that influence such a large part of my life, The Corporation has caused me to reflect on these goliath consortiums and the effect their growth might have in the future. In addition, Bakan compelled me to open my beliefs up to scrutiny, as well as forced me to reevaluate and reassert my own convictions on many political issues. Even if this book did not entirely sway my thoughts, The Corporation did at least allow me to take a bit of a step back and objectively view the issue without (too much) prejudice.

Overall, it was a great book. However, despite my love of blog-writing, I have just realized that this will be my 13th blog, so I am done. Good assignment though.

Democracy and The Corporate "Citizen"

I think this last presidential election is indicative of an unfortunate growing trend towards unnecessary spending in the American political machine. According to Bloomberg, Obama alone spent $740.6 million on his race in a record-setting year for campaign expenditures. While I understand the necessity for raising funds for campaign activities, I cannot help but notice the irony in terms of both candidates’ platforms of financial restraint and governmental reform. This is not a partisan issue by any means. It is an issue that spans the whole political landscape.

However, just because I believe that political candidates are spending exorbitant amounts on political races does not mean that I also believe the system is broken. This is a growing trend that does not sit well with my financially conservative roots. As technology lowers the cost of communication, I cannot fathom how such large sums can be spent on one single election. But again, even in the most recent presidential race, both candidates acted within the boundaries of the law, and therefore did no legal wrong.

Because of my underlying political beliefs, I feel uncomfortable criticizing the current political situation. This is because I believe that in the course of history, we as citizens have acted in unison to create a body law under which to abide. On countless occasions throughout our history, if a law goes against popular opinion, it is generally changed in a relatively prompt manner. For this reason, I believe that if current laws regarding the political mechanisms and corporations are deemed unfit, they too will be changed.

Yet, I am not so insulated and single-minded as to believe that the corporation is not a unique citizen. Unlike everybody else, the corporation indeed wields substantial and disproportionate power in terms of political influence. The problem is that we have already gone a very long way in giving corporations legal rights. This means that it will be very difficult to enact any legislative change taking these rights away.

I hold that, because the judicial system gave the corporation rights as a “legal citizen,” we must honor those rights if we are to hold any legitimacy as a democracy. However, if corporations prove to truly undemocratic at their core, legal mechanisms still exist to overthrow or rescind rights previously given to them. At this point in time, I think that the corporation has begun to wield more power than people at first expected, and the ramifications of this fact will be a reevaluation of what role citizens in America want corporations to play.

The Two-Sided Corporation

Corporations present humanity with a morally confusing duality. On one hand, the corporation is an economic engine that has already created and spread vast amounts of wealth to much of the Western World. Through both capitalistic and legal mandates, the corporation has acted as precise and ever-efficient system to allocate wealth to shareholders. On the other hand, many people have noted the somewhat troubling practice employed by corporations of externalizing every cost possible in the pursuit of a more attractive bottom line. Overall, the corporation remains a two-sided entity capable of both laudable good and terrible wrongs.

In Natasha Werther’s case, she acknowledges the inherent nastiness of a corporation. Like Bakan notes in The Corporation, it is an organization that pathologically pursues power and profit. As such, often times the worker can be subjugated in these single-minded pursuits. Werther remembers with apprehension the fifteen cameras that constantly monitored the workers rather than the clientele. With this store policy, the corporation is projecting the very same negative aura of distrust and paranoia that causes people throughout the corporate world to consider places like Kinko’s “soulless.” And as Bakan explains, through the organization and legal freedoms of the corporation, this paranoiac, inhuman behavior will continue to persist and oppress stakeholders in the name of the shareholder.

However, despite the many negative aspects of the corporation, financial and economic benefits allow it to persist. For example, a large portion of people in our society work for or with corporations to earn an income and provide for their families. Because corporations are so large, they provide many people with financial backing and a sense of security. In addition, the multi-national corporation allows people to enjoy consistency. For example, McDonald’s will offer a very similar product all over the world, whereas a mom and pop business offers a product that a consumer may have less comfort in purchasing. In general, the monolithic corporation has a few key beneficial aspects, especially the financial security offered by such an enormous business.

When compared to other businesses, a corporation has many unique aspects that present both advantages and drawbacks. An employee of a small business can expect a work environment that is more flexible and relaxed than what potentially might be the norm at a Kinko’s or a Wal-Mart. However, the aforementioned security of a corporation is not necessarily as a prevalent for a person employed by a smaller business. Because of the financial enormity of a corporation, it is better suited to weather economic recessions than a smaller, more localized business. Some employees seek shelter in this more insulated environment. But one must remember that on the whole, this job security is often sacrificed at the cost of a sense of individuality and the potential for greater reward that a smaller company offers.

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
-Thomas Jefferson

The Enigmatic Corporation

According to Bakan, a corporation is an institution, but even more than that it is a legal institution. More specifically, it is a “unique structure and set of imperatives that direct the actions of people within it.” However, after this cursory definition, Bakan spends the rest of the first chapter discussing the development of the corporation, as well as the form it exists in today. Especially pertinent is his description of the recent events having to do with Enron, Arthur Andersen, and eventually the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

In a historical view, corporations are only a relatively recent phenomenon. Before the 1800s, no real attempts had been made towards the creation of such an organization. However, with the growing capital demands of the Industrial Revolution, the corporation quickly became a necessary and useful tool for economic growth and development. However, as corporations first came about, the unique qualities caused many people to regard them as immoral and somewhat corrupt. This same fear and mistrust was the impetus for Justice Louis Baker to call corporations “Frankenstein monsters.” It is understandable that he and others would regard these purely economic organizations as alien because the very idea behind the corporation is a seemingly unnatural compulsion for shareholder wealth. Before the formation of the corporation, business was conducted on a much more personal level, and the rise of the corporation signaled for many a beginning of a new, odd, and mystifying age of disjointed and inhuman economic interaction. Through the creation of the corporation, the economic engine progressed from a personable, microcosmic experience, to a more removed, artificial, and nonhuman development.

Interestingly, I have never thought deeply about the impact of corporations, or even about their very existence. Now that I have reflected, the whole progression of this type of organization does seem very odd and somehow inhuman. A far cry from the businesses of centuries past, the corporation is at once both an exceedingly efficient economic model and a somewhat troubling societal development. At no other time in history has such a paradoxical mix presented itself to society. On one hand it is an unequaled system for generating wealth and production. On the other, it has pointed flaws and tends to be oblivious in terms of the human aspect of work. Overall, thinking about such a system allows me to readily acknowledge the duality of the corporation, which can act simultaneously as both a benevolent and malevolent societal entity.

Accounting... and Outsourcing?

For Writing Project #2, I am thinking about writing about the onset of technology in the field of accounting. Similar to the computer programmers who we have discussed in class, many lower-skilled accounting roles are being outsourced to places like Bangalore, India. Even a decade ago, the outsourcing of accounting would have seemed unthinkable, but today the practice is growing at breakneck speed.

Staying true to the trends in outsourcing, the accounting work being sent abroad is fairly menial work that consists of simple forms and calculations. Rather than spend the extra money on a trained accountant in the United States, a company can benefit from flawlessly completed work at only a fraction of the price. The only necessity for a foreign business to enter into this growing industry is an understanding of American accounting practices, as well as access to a pool of talented college graduates. As is the pattern in other industries, such a talent pool is readily available in developing countries like China and India.

Another facet of this outsourcing is the timeliness with which Indian and Chinese workers can deliver the work. Because of the time difference, a work contract may be signed late in the work day in America, which is at the beginning of the day in India. Then, as their American counterparts sleep, the Indian accountants are able to diligently finish their contracted work and have it ready at the beginning of the work day in the United States. This symbiotic relationship is extremely beneficial to both sides, and is yet another unforeseen gain yielded from the onset of the technology revolution.

Although this practice is growing in popularity and will no doubt eventually achieve widespread use, there will always be a demand for skilled American accountants as well. Just as Silicon Valley firms must higher senior managers in the United States to maintain business relationships and cultivate new clients, so too must American accounting firms uphold a domestic presence in terms of workers. This fact holds true because in the field of accounting, some work requires an intimate understanding of both the company’s financial status and the state of U.S. tax law at the time. So as a matter of fact, outsourcing will never completely pervade the accounting industry as it exists today.

Overall, this is a striking trend that I must be aware of in the coming years. Because of this trend, I face continually shrinking career opportunities, as well as a changing reality of work as an accountant. If I am to succeed as I graduate college and move into the job market, I must realize and adapt to the changes taking place in the industry.

Outsourcing: A Menace or Savior?

Outsourcing is certainly a new phenomenon, both to the United States and the rest of the world. By its very nature, this unique business strategy is sure to face continued dissent from many Americans. Yet, despite its undesirable and seemingly harmful side effects, I contend that it is just another growing pain to be experienced by the American economy. Following the cycle of many other technological innovations before it (farming machinery, automated factories, etc.), outsourcing is sure to destroy many jobs that existed before its inception. This does not necessarily mean that outsourcing is bad or that it will not lead to greater job growth in the future.

Overall, outsourcing is not solely to blame for the current lack of jobs in the United States. It has been documented that technological breakthroughs such as these contribute only to brief periods of unemployment, during which time workers and companies alike must innovate and adapt. The specific term for this sort of unemployment is “structural unemployment,” and it exists for a relatively short period of time before the economy acclimates to the change and subsequently emerges stronger. Similarly, workers displaced will find new, previously undiscovered niches, where their services are desired and rewarded.

That is not to say that practices like outsourcing do not cause real pain and suffering. Like it was mentioned in the readings, 3.3 million jobs are projected to be lost to firms overseas. These millions of people face staggering losses and real consequences for this paradigm shift. However, this provides the macroeconomy with a vital opportunity to utilize the skills and willingness of these workers in new, unimaginable ways. On one hand, I recognize the toll outsourcing has taken. But on the other, I must applaud its steps toward a more efficient, globalized tomorrow.

A recent book on this topic, The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman, dwells touches on the many perspectives of outsourcing. The sentiments of Friedman throughout the work mirror my own. In it, he acknowledges the pains associated with outsourcing, but also greets its development with enthusiastic optimism. Central to his thesis is the idea that, while old jobs may be lost, new, more cutting edge jobs will crop up in their stead. In this respect, Friedman is looking past the temporary pains that are being caused by outsourcing now, and instead embracing the exciting possibilities of tomorrow’s American economy made possible by this growing phenomenon.

In general, I see the pains of outsourcing as temporary and relatively small. I cannot fail to recognize the real pain that it is causing. However, I feel that moving realization is overshadowed by the thrilling, untold prospects set forth by the onset of outsourcing.

"New Consumerism" and Me!

For better or worse, American society as a whole can be characterized as malcontented and upward-striving. If you look back in time, as the first houses with electricity were being built, every American wanted their family to have a house with electricity. Then, as innovation spurred the development of radio, color television, and other products, a similar cycle of people’s desire to be on the forefront recurred. In a fatefully ironic spiral, people waste their lives always looking for progress in the future, rather than enjoying the time they are given. This seemingly unreasonable compulsion has led to the development of Juliet Schor’s “new consumerism.” Where a suburban house with two kids and a dog would have sufficed a decade ago, this self-imposed duress compels people to be dissatisfied with the status quo, and has thus pressed people to look even farther upward to the opulence and excess of the upper classes.

I think this unspoken insecurity and unfulfilled feeling exists as a root cause of Rifkin’s description of “high-tech stress.” Normally, the technology of the present would offer untold leisure as described by Schor. Instead, it has proven only to be a mechanism for further competition and prolonged work weeks. However, I think it is important to note that this technological progress is not the source of stress itself. Rather, it is the human operating the ubiquitous BlackBerry or IPhone that contributes to their own stress. Rifkin’s thesis of greater stress in the technology age is undeniable. Yet, the implicit theme that I found is that the technology itself only provides an avenue for us workers to exacerbate the already prominent problem of high stress. Like I mentioned in the paragraph above, the compulsion to work ever harder is not a foreign methodology introduced to people by complex technology, but instead a primitive and visceral instinct that we exercise in hopes of “getting ahead.”

I have found many ways of dealing with and/or avoiding stress at work and school. First, I only allow myself a set amount of time to devote to either of those facets in my life. These quotas help me predict and manage my time, which helps greatly in dealing with stress. Also, as another means of escaping the stress-filled realms of work and school, I play recreational sports whenever I have the chance. Like many other college-students, the act of kicking a soccer ball or jogging around campus can do wonders for alleviating a bit of stress. However, I wonder greatly to what extent will stress affect my life later on, when I will be working as an accountant or something similar. Undeniably, this job will be slightly more trying and stressful than the carefree life of a freshman college student.