Issue130socialresponsibilityx英语四六级雅思托福考研GRE高考GMAT大小作文宝典策略技巧范文模板.docVIP

p.3529, Issue 130 Some people believe that corporations have a responsibility to promote the well-being of the societies and environments in which they operate. Others believe that the only responsibility of corporations, provided they operate within the law, is to make as much money as possible. Free market fundamentalists notwithstanding, money may be not just a neutral medium of exchange. Money is power. With power comes responsibility. Since corporations represent an unparalleled force for money acquisition, they are under a heavy responsibility to use that power – in part – for the public good. Consider the innocuous-sounding claim that as long as corporations operate within the law their sole aim is to maximize profits. In the 18th century, this might have been true. At least it rang plausible. Today, corporations spend tens of millions dollars in campaign contributions influencing which laws get made. Since a private entity has usurped the public function of legislating, the responsibility to make laws wisely must come with it nevertheless. To buttress this claim, it is well to reflect on/close look at how corporations have transformed the social landscape these recent decades. Their influence will be seen in some cases to exceed that which any American government would dare attempt. Most strikingly,/Conspicuously/eye-popping the rise of the corporation has meant the death of small business. The corner shoe store cannot compete with Wal-Mart. An entire subset of the middle class – the owners – has become marginalized hourly-wage earners. Such dislocation, while serving the shareholders’ economic good, strikes a blow at what the Constitution calls the “common good.” To benefit a few, the corporation reduces the living standard of the many. In politics, this is called tyranny, in economics “the vissicitudesvicissitudes of the market.” The change of phrase does not alter the reality. In stark term, the corporation owes those it deprived of livelihood. Likewise,