Bird Flu Corporations (and shareholders)
In his book „The Corporation (The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power)“, which Mark Achbar made into an award winning film documentary with the same title, Joel Bakan outlines how publicly traded corporations are required by law to maximize returns to shareholders. In the books “Introduction” Joel Bakan says, and I quote: “The corporation’s legally defined mandate is to pursue, relentlessly and without exception, its own self-interest, regardless of the often harmful consequences it might cause to others. As a result, I (Joel Bakan) argue, the corporation is a pathological institution, a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and societies.” (end of quote)
In his book Joel Bakan, a professor of law at the University of British Colombia, gives us the carefully researched details that support his statement. Well written and clear, even to people like me who have no legal understanding, it is both extremely interesting and extremely shocking. It is the fire alarm that goes off when it detects smoke. And one thing we can be sure of is, where there is smoke there is fire, and I think we can also be sure that it is past the smouldering stage.
Many people like myself have known for a long time that things are not right in the world of business, even those of us who have no connection whatsoever with anti-globalisation organisations and protesters. But to me and perhaps many other people it was like a jigsaw puzzle. I could see parts of the jigsaw but lacked pieces of the puzzle to assemble a complete picture. Joel Bakan’s book “The Corporation” (and the DVD) gave me all the jigsaw pieces, explaining and fitting them together, cutting free the legal and other jargon so that I was able to form that complete and extremely shocking and alarming picture.
Recently in the news we have all read or heard stories of collapsing companies, directors and chairmen who award themselves massive financial rewards for just doing their job (even in some cases when the company is going bust and thousands of people are losing their jobs, incomes and houses) even though they earn vast and ludicrous sums of money in the first place, and additionally all kinds of extra perks. We hear stories of corruption and greed and a very tiny amount of prosecutions from which most escape with acquittal or lenient fines, but most don’t even get prosecuted in the first place. Shareholders demanding even greater returns for their investments, complaining quickly when they feel they have not reaped large enough rewards and putting pressure on, or getting rid of anyone who does not get them that reward or is in some way a threat to that reward. It does not matter how many people lose their jobs, or work inhuman long hours for peanuts, or how many people are financially and emotionally and even physically destroyed. It does not matter if it is their own countrymen or another, or if it destroys this or that life, or this or that person, as long as it is not them and they get their rewards, and rewards they often feel should be increased more and more to fill more and more space on their bank accounts at banks who are just as involved and active in the whole process.
Now we are faced with the possibility of a world-wide pandemic, Bird Flu. Already I have seen news articles which state that companies are preparing themselves for a pandemic so that they can stay in business when the, or a, pandemic breaks out. Once again the purpose is purely to keep the company going and making money for the shareholders and not purely in the interest of (all) the workers health since when limited stocks of anti-viral drugs are available only “essential employees” will receive these, no doubt of course including the directors (shareholders will no doubt have sufficient means to take care of themselves). One such company that has a pandemic plan in place is the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche. Now Roche also happens to be the company that produces the anti-viral drug Tamiflu which is the frontline anti-viral treatments available for bird flu at the present time (the only other anti-viral treatment is Relenza produced by GlaxoSmitkline).
No one knows if this bird flu will turn into a human pandemic, and if it does when, or how many people will die due to this. In the 1918 pandemic 40 million people died world-wide. Present forecasts put deaths in any future pandemic at anywhere between 20 to 150 million people world-wide. Even the lowest estimates amount to a lot of deaths. At present there is no cure and no vaccine against bird flu. This can only be created when the exact type and construction of any pandemic influenza is known (after it has started then, which for millions of people will be too late). At the present moment all we have to help us against the current deadly H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus are the frontline Tamiflu, and the Relenza. However although the pharmaceutical company Roche has in place its own pandemic emergency plan to make sure the “essential workers” are protected and production is maintained, while no doubt making incredible profits for its shareholders and possibly future high bonus payouts for the directors, the company refuses to allow other companies or Generics companies to freely make versions of its patent Tamiflu in the interest of human health (this is one of the things Joel Bakan warns about in his book “The Corporation”). Although Roche has stepped up production of Tamiflu there is presently not enough to fill the demands that are there now and it will take the company at least one year to fill the present demands as it says production is complicated and slow. Despite the extremely high death forecasts of any possible pandemic the company puts profit and so called “intellectual rights” in the foreground, these come first. The company says it is waiting to see if a pandemic does break out, but if it does then production of any drug will take time and Roche has already stated that the production of Tamiflu is a complicated and slow process. So obviously waiting is not the right solution, but still Roche put (company and shareholder) profits and intellectual rights above the possible prevention of millions deaths.
This is the world of Corporations where profit (for shareholders) are put above (almost) all else.
The Corporation is a book that should be read (and seen) and the warnings taken notice of and acted upon because it is our life, our children’s and our family and friend’s lives that are at risk, as well as the world as we know it now. And the lives of people all around the world.
In his book Joel Bakan, a professor of law at the University of British Colombia, gives us the carefully researched details that support his statement. Well written and clear, even to people like me who have no legal understanding, it is both extremely interesting and extremely shocking. It is the fire alarm that goes off when it detects smoke. And one thing we can be sure of is, where there is smoke there is fire, and I think we can also be sure that it is past the smouldering stage.
Many people like myself have known for a long time that things are not right in the world of business, even those of us who have no connection whatsoever with anti-globalisation organisations and protesters. But to me and perhaps many other people it was like a jigsaw puzzle. I could see parts of the jigsaw but lacked pieces of the puzzle to assemble a complete picture. Joel Bakan’s book “The Corporation” (and the DVD) gave me all the jigsaw pieces, explaining and fitting them together, cutting free the legal and other jargon so that I was able to form that complete and extremely shocking and alarming picture.
Recently in the news we have all read or heard stories of collapsing companies, directors and chairmen who award themselves massive financial rewards for just doing their job (even in some cases when the company is going bust and thousands of people are losing their jobs, incomes and houses) even though they earn vast and ludicrous sums of money in the first place, and additionally all kinds of extra perks. We hear stories of corruption and greed and a very tiny amount of prosecutions from which most escape with acquittal or lenient fines, but most don’t even get prosecuted in the first place. Shareholders demanding even greater returns for their investments, complaining quickly when they feel they have not reaped large enough rewards and putting pressure on, or getting rid of anyone who does not get them that reward or is in some way a threat to that reward. It does not matter how many people lose their jobs, or work inhuman long hours for peanuts, or how many people are financially and emotionally and even physically destroyed. It does not matter if it is their own countrymen or another, or if it destroys this or that life, or this or that person, as long as it is not them and they get their rewards, and rewards they often feel should be increased more and more to fill more and more space on their bank accounts at banks who are just as involved and active in the whole process.
Now we are faced with the possibility of a world-wide pandemic, Bird Flu. Already I have seen news articles which state that companies are preparing themselves for a pandemic so that they can stay in business when the, or a, pandemic breaks out. Once again the purpose is purely to keep the company going and making money for the shareholders and not purely in the interest of (all) the workers health since when limited stocks of anti-viral drugs are available only “essential employees” will receive these, no doubt of course including the directors (shareholders will no doubt have sufficient means to take care of themselves). One such company that has a pandemic plan in place is the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche. Now Roche also happens to be the company that produces the anti-viral drug Tamiflu which is the frontline anti-viral treatments available for bird flu at the present time (the only other anti-viral treatment is Relenza produced by GlaxoSmitkline).
No one knows if this bird flu will turn into a human pandemic, and if it does when, or how many people will die due to this. In the 1918 pandemic 40 million people died world-wide. Present forecasts put deaths in any future pandemic at anywhere between 20 to 150 million people world-wide. Even the lowest estimates amount to a lot of deaths. At present there is no cure and no vaccine against bird flu. This can only be created when the exact type and construction of any pandemic influenza is known (after it has started then, which for millions of people will be too late). At the present moment all we have to help us against the current deadly H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus are the frontline Tamiflu, and the Relenza. However although the pharmaceutical company Roche has in place its own pandemic emergency plan to make sure the “essential workers” are protected and production is maintained, while no doubt making incredible profits for its shareholders and possibly future high bonus payouts for the directors, the company refuses to allow other companies or Generics companies to freely make versions of its patent Tamiflu in the interest of human health (this is one of the things Joel Bakan warns about in his book “The Corporation”). Although Roche has stepped up production of Tamiflu there is presently not enough to fill the demands that are there now and it will take the company at least one year to fill the present demands as it says production is complicated and slow. Despite the extremely high death forecasts of any possible pandemic the company puts profit and so called “intellectual rights” in the foreground, these come first. The company says it is waiting to see if a pandemic does break out, but if it does then production of any drug will take time and Roche has already stated that the production of Tamiflu is a complicated and slow process. So obviously waiting is not the right solution, but still Roche put (company and shareholder) profits and intellectual rights above the possible prevention of millions deaths.
This is the world of Corporations where profit (for shareholders) are put above (almost) all else.
The Corporation is a book that should be read (and seen) and the warnings taken notice of and acted upon because it is our life, our children’s and our family and friend’s lives that are at risk, as well as the world as we know it now. And the lives of people all around the world.
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