We have many young people now getting their MBAs and looking toward a life in which they can do well and do good, working for a corporation that is socially responsible. I think they’re fooling themselves. I would rather those young people, if they’re genuinely concerned about the state of the planet, roll up their sleeves and get involved in either politics or some organization that is going to affect politics. At the end of the day, it’s our laws and rules that set the terms of our market economy. No company is going to sacrifice profits for the sake of some vision of social good, and indeed, no company has a right to. Investors are not putting their money into a particular company because the company is going to do charitable things with that money.
We — citizens — have to stop expecting corporations to be socially responsible and blaming them for not being so, and we have to have heightened skepticism about corporate claims to be acting in the public interest when all that the companies are seeking is a competitive advantage through politics and public policy.
Click to Add the First »