Reply #19: Dana b, health insurance CEOs ARE sociopaths...

[AnArmyVeteran]

Have you noticed how when leaders of companies like Enron, tobacco companies, Worldcom, etc are called before congress to testify they all say the same thing: "I have no idea what is going on in my company" or "I am not involved in the daily workings of the company". If they have no idea what is going on then why are they paid millions or hundreds of millions a year? I have long contended that dart throwing monkeys could make better decisions and make better CEOs than a lot of business 'leaders'. At least monkeys would be more honest.

Thanks for the tip about Thom Hartmann. I watch his show occasionally and I love how his 'take no prisoner' approach to the news. He tells it like it is. What is strange is how conservatives almost worship CEOs. They actually believe CEOs are somehow blessed by God with special talents and abilities. There are a lot of decent, creative and intelligent CEOs who started their own businesses by having a great idea. But they are very rare.

I have worked in corporations and I have seen what it takes to get ahead. In order to move up through the different corporate levels one has to almost sell their souls. They have to demonstrate their loyalty and strictly tout their corporate line. Mavericks are shunned or eliminated. To advance to the highest levels of a corporation you almost have to do what the mob or a gang requires, like doing something heinous so you can be 'trusted' to be in the inner circle.

Look at the corporate abuses that have occurred. The culprits are always a very tight inner circle of sociopaths at the top of the companies who conspire against their stockholders and the public. And because corporations virtually own our government they have written the laws to virtually make themselves immune to prosecution. On one hand they claim corporations are citizens and should have all the rights of citizenship. But they don't want any of the responsibilities of being a citizen like being accountable for the crimes they commit. In other countries, like Japan, when a company is found to be negligent, as after the Kobe earthquake, business leaders were thrown in prison. That would not happen in the US where corporate leaders have insulated themselves from accountability by using their vast amounts of money to write laws to 'legally' protect themselves.

And now the corrupt conservative-dominated Supreme Court has ruled corporations should have even more power and more influence in our elections. Even foreign corporations can corrupt our local elections. And most dimwitted conservatives mindlessly cheer on the increasing corporate domination of our country, without even realizing that as corporate powers increase, their voices get more and more silenced. I find it hard to understand how conservatives can allow themselves to be so gullible.