Social Murder

Book excerpt: Corporate power is one of the strongest forces shaping our world. More than half of the top 100 economic entities today are private corporations. With their immense size comes commensurate influence, to the point where corporations are able to wreak social and environmental destruction with few serious consequences. Yet, amazingly, this subject is essentially absent from the study of economics. The conservative economic theory that dominates the profession is based on the core belief that as little as possible should interfere with businesses' pursuit of profit. This approach to economics ignores history, politics, poverty, the natural environment, and social class, among other inconvenient realities. Conservative economics would almost be laughable--were it not for the fact that this way of thinking helps prop up the worst excesses of capitalism.