Yes, I’m tired of hearing that line from people who should know better. But when was the last time you heard a defense of corporate responsibility (i.e., creating more wealth for shareholders) from the corporate world? If those who are getting the brunt of the criticism aren’t willing to defend themselves, don’t expect politicians to do the dirty work of defending every twist and turn of the capitalist/free market system. It’s the equivalent of defending Sen. Larry Craig’s rights in the name of protecting the dignity of the U.S. Senate.
This is an important point. Also the fact that businesses create products, goods, and services for the rest of us. In today's situation, the "corporate greed" everyone is so angry about amounts to this: financial institutions such as AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others put up billions of dollars of new home mortgage credit. Millions of people who bought homes in the last decade could not have done so, or at least would have had to pay far higher interest rates, if these "greedy corporations" had not gone into the business of supplying mortgage money for their use.
I do not deny that some corporations were naive or ignorant of the mortgage products they were buying (and selling). They were ignorant, for example, that the federal govt. (always ready to "help you") was forcing mortgage banks, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac to lend trillions of dollars in high-risk, teaser-rate, subprime mortgages that could easily foreclose in hard times (and did). They were ignorant because they believed wrongly that the good intentions of Congress absolved Congressional obtuseness about the economic disaster Congress was setting up. They were ignorant because they thought Fannie and Freddie were "government sponsored enterprises" whose credibility could not be questioned, so these "greedy corporations" simply followed the lead of the GSEs instead of doing their due diligence and rejecting rotten government-forced predatory lending.
In the future, we may hope that "greedy corporations" will look with a more skeptical eye on any "government sponsored enterprise" that says "we are here to help millions of low-income Americans buy homes."
The Barney Franks, Chris Dodds, and Barack Obamas who foisted these predatory mortgages on low-income Americans and "greedy corporations" were of course not "greedy" for money. All they got out of it was about a hundred thousand dollars in campaign contributions -- chump change. They were, however, ambitious for power, a higher and more dangerous passion in the wrong souls. If there is a moral failing to be indignant about today, ambition for power should be right up there above "corporate greed."
In declaring they will repeal deregulation, Obama et al will have carte blanche to dismantle the Reagan Revolution and replace it with a super-sized New Deal.
It doesn't matter because Obama will only be a placeholder until our new masters (the Arab terrorists) take over. What does sharia law saw about regulating big business?
Actually, Corporate Social Responsibility is a huge buzzword in the corporate world right now. I'm at business school at the moment and we have a number of mandatory courses on leadership, ethics, CSR, etc.
The problem, I think, is that corporations are feeling really beaten down by the external atmosphere -- and the media absolutely refuses to believe that any corporation could be on the right side of an issue.