The 10 Worst Corporations of 2008 - by Robert Weissman
There never has been a year like 2008. The financial crisis first gripping Wall Street and now spreading rapidly throughout the world is, in many ways, emblematic of the worst of the corporate-dominated political and economic system that is exposed in the annual 10 Worst corporations list. The "winners" this year are:
AIG: "Money for Nothing" (USA)
Cargill: "Food Profiteers" (USA)
Chevron: "We can't let little countries screw around with big companies" (USA)
Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)."Fueling Violence in Darfur" (CHINA)
Constellation Energy: "Nuclear Operators" (USA)
Dole: "The Sour Taste of Pineapple" (USA)
GE: "Creative Accounting (USA)
Imperial Sugar: "13 Dead" (USA)
Philip Morris International: Unshackled. Philip Morris USA sells cigarettes in the US and
Philip Morris International tramples over the rest of the world. (USA)
Roche: Saving Lives is Not Our Business (Swiss)
Corporations dominate the policy-making process, from city councils to global institutions like the World Trade Organization. Over the last 30 years, and especially in the last decade, Wall Street interests leveraged their political power to remove many of the regulations that had restricted their activities. There are at least a dozen separate and significant examples of this, including the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, which permitted the merger of banks and investment banks. In a form of corporate civil disobedience, Citibank and Travelers Group merged in 1998 - a move that was illegal at the time, but for which they were given a two-year forbearance - on the assumption that they would be able to force a change in the relevant law.
What is most revealing about the financial meltdown and economic crisis, however, is that it illustrates that corporations - if left to their own worst instincts - will destroy themselves and the system that nurtures them. It is rare that this lesson has been so graphically illustrated. It is one the world must quickly learn, if we are to avoid the most serious existential threat we still have to face: climate change.
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