Corporate “people” are very dangerous as we're learning again in the Gulf. The flesh and blood humans making the choices between safety and shareholder profitability are forced by law to do the latter but the corporation they serve bears the liability of those choices and the choosers get to sail off into a golden sunset. Meanwhile the corporations have insurance and limited liability laws to protect them. PB says verbally they'll pay all the costs but in writing they add 'that they are libel for'. Just like in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the insurance companies left holding the multi-billion dollar bags will quickly go bankrupt. BP will do everything it can to avoid joining them. BP is just about to pay $10billion to shareholders, that money should be set aside to cover the future costs their bad choices produced. BP will never be able to pay the full costs, most of them aren't financial. The US will end up borrowing more money to cover the human losses somewhat but the enviroment will pay the lion's share.
Real people are being shafted by the vague shadowy corporate people who've carved a legal cave in the mountain of common sense. i realize the article below is US centered and so is the Gulf of Mexico example but we all face the same demon, the 'corporate person' demon. Perhaps the US will lead us all out of this mess via the Amendment route, they got us in it with a weird Supreme Court non-decision in the early 1800's. i propose a trade: the 'personhood' rights the corporations now hold be traded to the mydrid millions of living stakeholders who form the web of life that sustains us real people.
Real People v. Corporate “People”: The Fight Is On - The Supreme Court says corporations can spend as much money as they want on political advertising. Millions of Americans say they've had it.
