Website/notes

• Capitalism results in a survival of the fittest situation, inspiring greed.
• Capitalism can limit the dignity and worth of humans, turning them into units of production with less integral value.
• The wealthy often have an advantage in capitalism, increasing the class divide and making the wealthy unaware of issues.
• Wealth in capitalism produces options, leading to better health and a better society.
• Communist countries usually go bankrupt due to lack of competition, producing inefficiencies and poverty.
• Socialist countries often end up poorer in capitalism.
• The market is neutral in capitalism.
• Trickle down economics is a concept where the wealthy's cash trickles down to poor people.
• We have social security and job seekers allowance in capitalism.
• We all get pensions in capitalism, with both the employer and employee paying into pension.
• We all get minimum wage in capitalism, which is good because it improves living standards and equality.
• Jeffrey Wigand took on tobacco giants Brown and Williamson, which closed in 2004.
• Jeffrey Wigand signed a confidentiality agreement.
• Jeffrey Wigand was employed by Brown and Williamson in 1989 to reduce the danger of cigarettes.
• Jeffrey Wigand revealed that attorney Kendrick Wells rewrote minutes of a meeting to hide the dangers of cigarettes.
• Jeffrey Wigand requested Brown and Williamson to stop using Loumerin, a proven carcinogen, but they refused as it would hit profits.
• Although Jeffrey Wigand was paid severance and health insurance, Brown and Williamson sued him.
• 24 April 2013 Rana Plaza Bangladeshi factory collapsed, 1100 People died, 2500 injured. Supplied Primark, Wal-Mart, Benetton etc with low-cost clothes. 

  Day before, shops on ground floor close, after cracks in building appeared but garment workers ordered to return to work and threatened with docking a month’s pay. 

   

  Investigation showed upper floors had been built without permits and without reinforcement for heavy clothes making machines.  

  Allegations made that workers ordered to go back to structurally unsafe buildings because factory owners under pressure to fulfil contracts  
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the theory that a business has ethical responsibilities towards the environment and the communities it is part of or affects.
• Most if not all cases of whistleblowing seem to involve exploitative or deceptive business practices that treat people as a mere means.
• Environmental CSR is the responsibility a business has towards the environment, including reducing negative impact on the environment such as pollution and non-recycled products, increasing the reliance on ‘green’ renewable and sustainable energy and products, and offsetting negative impact done to the environment for example by donating to pro-environment groups that will make conservation efforts.
• Community CSR is the responsibility a business has to its social community, respecting human rights and avoiding exploitation.
• Reducing negative impact on the environment can include paying workers enough, providing a safe work environment, avoiding fraud or deceptive advertising, and avoiding polluting the environment or having a net negative impact on the environment.
• Examples of CSR include Innocent smoothie, which advertises on every bottle that they give 10% of all their profits to charity, and Pret-a-manger, which gave away their left over food to charities at the end of the day.
• CSR is typically a centrist or centre-left position, and those further left often regard CSR as hypocritical window-dressing, meaning making something appear good while overall it is bad.
• Corporate social responsibility is a sham.
• Becoming global entities has given businesses an unprecedented level of money, and money is power.
• If its new levels of power allow it to pressure peoples, cultures and governments, then it will do that.
• We need you to do less harm.
• Businesses may be less likely to violate CSR in western countries, but globalisation certainly allows them to violate CSR in developing countries instead.
• Offshore outsourcing – where businesses build products in factories in third world countries
• “We don’t need you to do more good
• A business will do whatever it can to increase profit.
• Globalisation can cause the violation of corporate social responsibilities and even undermine the free market itself.
• Anand’s point is that businesses like Amazon, who don’t pay taxes and bust unions, are the actual cause of the problem that they then give a tiny amount of their profits to ‘address’
• Corporate social responsibility is not about businesses giving away their profits for the good of society, it is about businesses not being part of the cause of economic problems like inequality.
• Globalisation is the phenomenon where businesses are now global entities spanning multiple countries and continents and its impact on stakeholders.
• If a business gains enough power over a market, they can essentially fix or rig the system, altering the way the market functions, to reduce or eliminate competition and ultimately benefit themselves.
• Capitalism can be encouraged with a slightly healthier version, which can make people less motivated to address the problems of capitalism or be deceived that capitalism is not the cause of the problems.
• A business which engages in CSR for public relations purposes might be doing so to distract from their unethical practices.