I think this headline in the Guardian is telling:
VW admits emissions scandal was caused by 'whole chain' of failures
German carmaker says company suffered from mindset that tolerated rule-breaking
I am quite sure that was not just with regard to emissions.
And not just in VW.
The corporate world has, in far too large part, had that mindset with regard to tax.
And I'm not convinced that it's by any means changed as yet.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Buy me a coffee!
In my experience, the multinational corporations I have worked with since the 1990’s have all been run by greedy, arrogant and intolerant individuals who achieve their personal financial objectives (set by their equally if not more so greedy, arrogant and intolerant shareholders) by hook or by crook.
They have scant regards for national laws that do not suit their objectives and constantly break them while trying to find legal workarounds. I remember negotiating multinational commercial contracts with a US based global technology company which were in flagrant breach of EU rules but was told by the board in no uncertain terms to go ahead as they believed the EU had no teeth to enforce them.
The potential fine was up to 10% of turnover (not profits) so this just goes to show the level of risk that the board were willing to take to make sure they hit their commercial targets.
The culture was elitest, self-centred, egotistical and shameless. I’m sure VW is no different from all the others.
“overhaul the culture of the company by making it more open, less hierarchical”
Not a bad idea – turn it into a co-operative, the CEO’s don’t seem to have a clue what#s going on (too busy calculating their buy-back dividends).
I can’t help recalling how, within 24 hours of his resignation as Leader of the Labour Party, Yvette Cooper was busy kicking Ed Milliband’s still warm political corpse, by castigating his attack on “predatory capitalism” as being anti-business.
What is VW’s behaviour in this instance other than predatory capitalism, since it constitutes a willingness to make a profit at the expense of the generality of the public’s health?
The ignorance ofYvette Cooper is what is causing war within the Labour party now! Corbyn’s quiet good sense and social policy aimed at returning the Labour party to its democratic roots, are being drowned out by the greedy, hate-filled and petulant screams of Blairs spoilt, Tory leaning children of the labour Right!
Unfortunately they are being assisted by the mogul owning non doms in control of most UK media.
Those of us with any sense of community and fairness are labled as terrorist sympathises by all.
Global predatory capitalism driven by global predatory finance are concepts that no national political party has got to grips with, they just have no idea how to take on these dark forces and end up going with the flow.
One of my favourite articles on the subject is from the very enlightened US team at http://www.truth-out.org
The Political Economy of Predatory Capitalism
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/21138-the-political-economy-of-predatory-capitalism
Capitalism is antithetical to economic democracy.
Neoliberal economics is, of course, plain “voodoo economics.”
Keith-Richard Wolff is great – he speaks clearly, directly about these issues in jargon busting language. Great educator-I watch his monthly Global Capitalism Updates religiously.
Richard Wolff has some quite strange ideas on the “economic exploitation of women by men” – if you go through his lectures on Marx’s “Capital”, which are extensive; but he’s a great communicator and always informative. Here’s his November talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ns8ErdaJoQ
He’s well worth a long listen. This one has an interesting discussion of US companies’ tax avoidance in general, together will other forms of their commercial malpractice. At once amusing and depressing: “Just switch on the tv and everything will be all right. You don’t have to come here and listen to this.”
Re Sports Direct:
“Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors, said: “Unfortunately, the actions of Sports Direct will leave a scar on British business. IoD members share the public’s outrage. At a time when the reputation of corporate Britain is on shaky foundations, another scandal is hard to stomach for the overwhelming majority of businesses that have integrity at their core.”
I wonder if this isn’t all culturally linked.
And lets not forget the role of Big 4 firms in helping them break the rules. My research on their regulatory arbitrage services may enlighten your readers. https://www.academia.edu/19497525/KPMGS_REGULATORY_ARBITRAGE_CULTURE
Using the professional brand and the audit licence, states and the public are being exploited left, right and centre. This has to be blocked by a global coalition, and your work Richard has been truly exemplary.
And then, one day later, I read this in The Guardian, Richard:
‘In revelations that will raise questions over the British government’s commitment to the climate change deal agreed in Paris at the weekend, papers obtained by ClientEarth, a firm of environmental legal experts, and seen by the Guardian, showed the UK had pushed for limits on pollution to be relaxed.
Paris climate deal: the world’s greatest diplomatic success
Read more
The government’s papers called for carmakers to be allowed to far exceed the nitrogen oxides (NO2) limit of 80mg/km until 2021, and to be allowed to go 40% over the current limit after that.’
So in fact the situation is far, far worse than your blog indicates, because we don’t just have multinational corporations that are morally and ethical corrupt but governments totally at ease with that, and indeed actively supporting the furtherance of practices that in this case kill many thousands of people each year.
As I’ve said before, for our government as with many (most/all) large corporations, there’s no such thing as doing anything that’s in the public interest. Profit before people, always and everywhere. Period.
I am not sure whether to cry or just get angry, again
Although I think you know the answer to that
You may not find this funny – but it is true nontheless. Coming back to the original point of the post & VW/Audi. They now offer a range of cars running on compressed natural gas (CNG). Although these still emit some NOx, they do not emit PM10s or 2.5s. What is more, at least in Germany, the cars are fuelled by synthetic natural gas (i.e. nat gas made using renewable electricity). This means they are carbon neutral. You would think that VW/Audi would be pressing the loud pedal on this one – my contact with suggests – maybe not. Also, at least in the UK, there are no CNG re-fuelling stations.