Why are people so suspicious of Big Business in the Western world ?

[aneeshm]

Well - why ? Why are mega-gigantic businesses looked to with so much suspicion and distrust in Europe and America ? I find it rather strange , considering the system we have .

Over here in India , the biggest businesses are run and owned by the great business families ( the Tatas , the Birlas , the Godrejs , the Ambanis , etc. ) of India . The business always stays within family hands . All top managerial posts are , as far as I know , filled by family members . Yet the whole of India trusts them to behave properly , and behave they do . Till now , there has not been a single violation of the trust the public placed in these businesses .

My question is - why is it that the Indian system , which has an inherently higher potential for abuse ( the whole thing in the hands of one family ) , still works to the point that the people have trust bordering on faith in these businesses , whereas in the west , though the system is less prone to abuse , big business is still looked to with suspicion and distrust ? What is the difference ?

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Perhaps there is some notion of family honour in the business, whereas in the west profits are king. (Although I imagine profits are important for Indians too)

 

[luiz]

People are suspicious of anything powerful, which is good. Unfortunately many westerners have the idiotic idea that big business is more powerful than the government, so they get their "fear list" wrong.

 

[nonconformist]

Union Carbide?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Because 'big business' is originally a Western concept. Western ideas have fallen out of favor of late.

 

[North King]

Mainly because they look out only for themselves, being entities whose declared purpose is to solely make a profit. Big Business is perhaps the only Conservative idea which I still simply loathe; I'm a capitalist now, but Big Business is disgusting in the amount of influence it wields over politicians.

 

[Inqvisitor]

Big Business tears down families, lives, nations, relations, and morals, and incites wars, injustice, corruption, and oppression. Each and every corporation got where it was by greed and exploitation. No moral individual could possibly look upon such dreadful institutions with anything but disdain.

But how they control us all...

 

[CartesianFart]

Well - why ? Why are mega-gigantic businesses looked to with so much suspicion and distrust in Europe and America ? I find it rather strange , considering the system we have .

In all advanced industrial society of democracy,capitalism have made a culture of consumerism.Consumerism is a reality that the whole of the western world have become obsess purchase buyers.The strange thing to me it is a reason for happiness. When a big corporation get too big,it have a effect on cost.The bigger the corporation with no competition of other corporations on prices is surely will have the monopoly of it said price.This is the reason why consumers(the people)is suspicious.

My question is - why is it that the Indian system , which has an inherently higher potential for abuse ( the whole thing in the hands of one family ) , still works to the point that the people have trust bordering on faith in these businesses , whereas in the west , though the system is less prone to abuse , big business is still looked to with suspicion and distrust ? What is the difference ?

India is still developing as somewhat an asian/western capitalistic state.Give it time and the ethic of consumerism of the people of India will develop more maturely.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Big Business tears down families, lives, nations, relations, and morals, and incites wars, injustice, corruption, and oppression. Each and every corporation got where it was by greed and exploitation. No moral individual could possibly look upon such dreadful institutions with anything but disdain.

But how they control us all...

Dont you mean:

But how they employ us all.

 

[Inqvisitor]

Dont you mean:

But how they employ us all.

Like the Romans employed the Greeks, or the American Southerners employed the blacks?

Under the current capitalist system, everyone is a wage slave for "Big Business."

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Would you rather not have a job, or be forced to work with a plough, trudging behind an ox all day, up to your knees in mud, and its excrement? That was the lot of most humans, before the advent of 'evil' big business concepts.

 

[CartesianFart]

Would you rather not have a job, or be forced to work with a plough, trudging behind an ox all day, up to your knees in mud, and its excrement? That was the lot of most humans, before the advent of 'evil' big business concepts.

There is some current trend in some University professors preaching that Catholicism act as a modern corporation of this very day.Kinda make you think that history is indeed cyclical.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Catholicism was just one early corporation that ruled the Western world in days gone by. The various royal families of Europe were the others. The more things change, the more they stay the same. At least these days we have hot and cold running water, clean clothes, and yearly vacations by the seashore. Those are the benifits brought by the modern version of 'big business'.

 

[Inqvisitor]

Would you rather not have a job, or be forced to work with a plough, trudging behind an ox all day, up to your knees in mud, and its excrement?

You are confusing business practices with technological innovation. If Big Business had taken power ten centuries ago, you would still be forced to "work with a plough, trudging behind an ox all day, up to your knees in mud, and its excrement." If anything, Big Business has hindered further advancement of humanity due to its excessive focus on profits.

People used to have jobs where they could actually make a living, own their own home, and allow their wife to stay home and attend to large families. No more when corporate interests run the show...

Modern, sanitary working conditions and a morally just economic system are not exclusive to each other.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Do you believe that without capitalism, the innovation thats created the modern world would ever have taken place?

 

[Inqvisitor]

There is some current trend in some University professors preaching that Catholicism act as a modern corporation of this very day.Kinda make you think that history is indeed cyclical.

The traditional Roman Catholic Church condemns greed and unjust economic systems. Catholicism is in direct opposition to greedy monopolies and profit-mongering corporations which place no value on humanity.

 

[Inqvisitor]

Do you believe that without capitalism, the innovation thats created the modern world would ever have taken place?

I believe that without capitalism, the horrible place that is the modern world would never have come to be. Rather a much more fair and noble world would have come to fruition. Without capitalist injustices, we would never had had to deal with the evils of communism either.

 

[blackheart]

The traditional Roman Catholic Church condemns greed and unjust economic systems. Catholicism is in direct opposition to greedy monopolies and profit-mongering corporations which place no value on humanity.

Then why didn't the Catholic Church speak up against serfdom or slavery? Or why did it sell indulgences?

I believe that without capitalism, the horrible place that is the modern world would never have come to be. Rather a much more fair and noble world would have come to fruition. Without capitalist injustices, we would never had had to deal with the evils of communism either.

What would have risen in the place of capitalism?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

I believe that without capitalism, the horrible place that is the modern world would never have come to be. Rather a much more fair and noble world would have come to fruition. Without capitalist injustices, we would never had had to deal with the evils of communism either.

So you pine for the days of high infant mortality, and average lifespan of forty, because in your opinion those were the 'good old days'?

 

[superisis]

Do you believe that without capitalism, the innovation thats created the modern world would ever have taken place?

Do you believe that big business is the pinnicle of capitalism?

People are suspicious of anything powerful, which is good. Unfortunately many westerners have the idiotic idea that big business is more powerful than the government, so they get their "fear list" wrong.

big business can be as strong as the government, it can also be more active in it's persecution.

But there is usually not a black and white line... Business and government are melting into one... now that is scary.