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Corporations are not working for the 99%. But this wasn’t always the case. In a special 5-part AlterNet
series, William Lazonick, professor at UMass, president of the
Academic-Industry Research Network, and one of the leading expert on the
American corporation, along with journalist Ken Jacobson and AlterNet’s
Lynn Parramore, will examine the foundations, history, and purpose of
the corporation to answer this vital question: How can the public take
control of the business corporation and make it work for the real
economy?
The wealth of the American nation depends on the productive power of our major business corporations. In 2008 there were 981 companies in
the United States with 10,000 or more employees. Although they were
less than two percent of all U.S. firms, they employed 27 percent of the
labor force and accounted for 31 percent of all payrolls. Literally
millions of smaller businesses depend, directly or indirectly, on the
productivity of these big businesses and the disposable incomes of their
employees.
When the executives
who control big-business investment decisions place a high priority on
innovation and job creation, then we all have a chance for a prosperous
tomorrow. Unfortunately, over the past few decades, the top executives
of our major corporations have turned the productive power of the people
into massive and concentrated financial wealth for themselves. Indeed
the very emergence of “the 1%” is largely the result of this usurpation
of corporate power. And executives’ use of this power to benefit
themselves often undermines investment in innovation and job creation. READ MORE
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