Big-Business and How It Is Affecting All Americans

In an article on AlterNet entitled “Fast-Food CEOs Making 1,200 Times Workers’ Wages Have No Idea What Their Greed Does To Employees” it revealed just how pathetic this industry really is. In the article by Alyssa Figueroa, she stated that “In the past decade, fast-food CEOs’ wages have increased more than 400 percent, while workers’ wages increased 0.3 percent”. In a later statement, “the average fast food CEO salary at $23.8 million in 2013 and the average worker salary at $19,000”. If we are a country that recognizes the issue of income inequality, why are we not doing anything in relation to this issue? The article featured numerous testimonies including many occurrences of wage theft. In a testimony by a woman named Marie Sanders, she states “I was 17 years old and I had problems at home, so I needed to budget my money in order to pay my expenses, I just stumbled upon it. I would ask my manager for printouts of my time. And that’s when I had noticed that I had been clocked out for days that I did not take breaks. And it would be

The backbone of America, the workers, are being treated appallingly. The working class of America creates the foundation for our nation. It is key to treat the working people of this nation with

This system is only apparent in my opinion within the capitalist system, for the capitalist system makes cutting corners seems like a requirement in order to actually make it and be a successful business. The other problem I have with this is that it makes people as I said earlier dispensable commodities who are trade by their bosses for labor with less pay expecting more work while the boss sits up at the top and makes more money while never lifting a finger other than to go out and play golf with their buddies and talk about how production is really up for the month. The other problem that I have with this is that the this puts more value on money and it forces people to think money equals happiness so they must subordinate themselves to this horrible treatment in order to actually make it somewhere in

The American political system is built on simple but revolutionary principles from our founding Fathers. These principles state that self-governance is an absolute right and the governments purpose is to serve the interests of the people. Characteristics which are essential to a healthy, functioning democracy. But America has stumbled upon a formidable roadblock to the realization of our founding fathers dream, as Lincoln said, of a country that is "of the people, by the people and for the people"( Citizens at Work, 2003). There are many factors that distort this reality and the main

With advanced technology comes the globalization and moving businesses to third world countries from U.S. This movement caused the rate of unemployment to rise and people see themselves in struggle to take care of their families. These issue are the complex of corporations in America. After seeing the movie (The Corporation) based on the book written by Canadian Professor Joel Bakan, we see that corporations are institutions that creates great wealth and profit but in the other hand causes enormous and hidden harm to people. Corporation cannot be imprisoned for criminal activities. Corporations are not humans they are designed by law to be concerned only for their stockholders. This is the issues that we see in our modern society the rich

As mentioned, big corporations had accumulated too much power and sway politically. For example, Governing California in the first 21st century

After watching the video Wealth Inequality in America (2012) and reading the article Apple’s Retail Army, Long on Loyalty but short on Pay by David Segal (2012), I started reflecting on how blind we have become to the conception of America’s growing economy. While the social stratification is an ideal ladder, for the poor to middle classes to seek for economical growth to reach the top, the wealth class. There’s a misconception on how corporations are helping society’s economic growth. While growing in value for its shareholders, corporations are rising inequality among the workplace. The reality of an uneven economy is notorious for the poor, yet its magnitude is not imaginable by many. President Barack Obama has tried to address this issue with a proposal of raising

this company is destroying many local businesses, they sell so much more than a local store and still refuse to give more to the hard-working

For instance, by 2012 the median salary had only increased by a mere 7 percent sinc3 1973. Decent paying jobs are continually being moved overseas and due to an increasing need for automation, available jobs have declined at a rapid speed since lesser manpower is required in most fields. Those who have lost their jobs as a result of these changes, are often unsuccessful in finding suitable work, much less one that compares to their previous salary. Americans who have managed to remain employed, are not necessarily out of the water either. Company owners and leaders are becoming richer while the poor gets poorer; frequently underpaying their employees and keeping a larger amount of profit for themselves. With such a competitive market for much needed work, employees are often faced with the decision to accept their meager salaries or try to find better work elsewhere. Because other well-paying jobs are harder to find, American’s are becoming increasingly willing to accept the mediocre pay offered to them, even if they know that they are being underpaid

Big business has a constructive and positive influence on America. Corporations contribute much more to a country’s economic well being. Bigger businesses are more productive, pay higher salaries and hourly wages, generate more jobs, and are more successful in international markets. However, not everyone believes big business has a positive impact in the US. These people believe that big businesses are corrupt, and can damage an economy. It is important to distinguish the difference between big business and small business. Many people believe that big business will not be as effective as small businesses. J. D. Harrison (2013), a

Chapter 3 of “Runaway Inequality” deals with the flattening of worker’s wages while CEO wages increase exponentially. The Better Business Climate model calls for cutting taxes and regulation on the wealthy and on large moneymaking industries. Cutting regulations and reducing government social spending have not worked as this makes the rich richer. Other factors such as globalization, advances in technology, and the lack of government support for both unions and workers have causes of wage inequality. Wall Street uses financial influence to have their agenda pushed to keep their money safe.

Specifically, managerial power has used shifting corporate responsibility to its shareholders as a justification for such undemocratic policies and business tactics. In the 1980s, there were clear efforts for corporate management to hold priority of shareholder's interests over that of their employees. Since the 1990s, C.E.O. pay drastically grew to be mostly comprised of capital gains thus influencing management's own self-interest to be more aligned with that of the shareholders (Frydman). As a result, corporate management practices were more willing to fire, outsource, and underpay American workers for the sake of turning a profit (Miniter). Evidently, this shift in values became reflective of the working class's deteriorating bargaining and political power. Over 30% of the nation's private-sector workforce was unionized in 1950, today this number has dropped considerably with the help of corporate managers discouraging unionization (Saving Capitalism, Ch 10-12, 144). In effect, laborers no longer had the bargaining power to demand higher wages or advocate for policies that protected their incomes (Saving Capitalism, ch 18,

This is not the first time in history that companies have lacked sympathy for their employees. All one has to do is visit an internet search engine and type in the words: industrial and revolution to learn how poorly most companies treated their employees when unchecked. It is common American knowledge that during the industrial revolution children, five and older, often worked in mines and sweat shops for more then sixteen hours a day. It is also widely known that workers received ridiculously low wages, and that when a factory worker was injured on the job, they were most likely fired with out receiving any benefits or money to help with the medical costs.

Shaw says that these people would throw the blame at the government's interference with the market (Shaw 125). They would say if it was truly a free market then everything would work the way it is suppose to. Shifting the blame is how I see a person would defend from this objection. To be honest it is a good tactic too because lots of times when dealing with multiple organizations they just bounce you around hoping that you go away. Although there are others that would simply deny that they are responsible for the inequality and leave it be (Shaw 125). Unfortunately, these attitudes do exist in big business and they just claim it is someone else's

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world 's largest retail enterprise, with total revenue of $421.8 billion and a net income of $16.4 billion in 2011. 1 It is also the world 's largest employer, with 2.1 million employees worldwide in 2010 2, not including workers hired by its providers. In my opinion, Wal-Mart provides a clear illustration through which to look at how many multinational companies (MNCs) take part in an illegal and unethical behavior. They use their bargaining power and market control to pressure countries to overlook environmental degradation and violation of national labor laws. They dictate expected pricing for products, particularly through imports from overseas countries. Labor is fulfilled mostly by underage and underpaid employees. In the United States, since 2005, Wal-Mart has paid about $1 billion in damages to U.S. employees in six different cases related to unpaid work. 3 Furthermore, Wal-Mart opposes any form of collective action, even when employees are not seeking unionization, but simply more respect. 4 The fact that Wal-Mart opposes unions exist. The company has a long history of fighting them, to the point of closing stores after employees organize. Managers have been instructed to talk to their teams about why unions are so unwanted in their business. Overseas, the company was involved in a series of scandals, including multiple cases of bribery. In April 2012, The New York Times published a story that