Greed, Inc.: Why Corporations Rule Our World and How We Let It Happen

"Greed is good," says Gordon Gecko in the film "Wall Street." And that may be true for humans, says Wade Rowland, in his book Greed, Inc. Greed does motivate us in capitalist economies. And in humans, greed is tempered by other human characteristics and motivations. But for corporations, greed is not good. Wade Rowland has really nailed the problem with modern corporations, that they are motivated solely by greed. To corporations, nothing matters but profits. And with corporations, nothing tempers that raw greed. Even though they are made up of normal people, what strange things corporations have become. Rowland compares corporations to Frankenstein's monster, rampaging out of control over us "natural people," even though we created them. Corporations have accountability to us for only one thing, making a profit. Small wonder, then, that greed is their one and only focus. I'm usually not one to rail against corporations. Quite the reverse. As a lawyer for 20 years, I've been immersed in the corporate world. But Rowland convinces me that we should rein in corporations and put them under our control. The only problem is how to do that. Knowing that we need to put a bell on the cat does not answer the question -- how? Rowland gives some suggestions. Unfortunately, they seem hard to do and unlikely to help. Perhaps the monster we created will never again be under our control. Or to mix in another metaphor, perhaps this is one cat that will not be belled. Nonetheless, we should try. The first step is to read Greed, Inc. Well worth the effort.

GREED, INC: WHY CORPORATIONS RULE OUR WORLD asks some hard questions about major corporations and ethical direction, considering how information is falsified and how the modern corporation seems to often rest on laurels of greed. But it wasn't always so: Wade Rowland traces the origins of such greed to Rationalism which decreed nature something untamed, to be controlled. His survey of virtue, morality and ethics in the modern workplace examines ideas of money's connections to evil and greed's connections to corporate strategy. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

have been a fan of the authors since reading Ockham's Razor. His books are always provocative, stimulating, challenging and ultimately satisfying. This one is all of those things, and it is directed at a very real and current problem. This is the best take-out of the ethically messed-up business corporation I've seen. It gives you the complete history of the corporation, along with an excellent discussion of morality, where it comes from, and why its absent in publicly traded corporations. Anybody who works for a big corporation at any level ought to read it, as should our political leaders

If you liked the documentary "The Corporation" you'll love this book. It answers a lot of the questions left dangling in the movie, such as: why do ordinary people do extraordinarily bad things when they work in big corporations? Rowland's idea that calling corporations psychopaths is not very productive struck home for me. It implies a misunderstanding of what corporations are--they are machines, as Rowland says, and therefore incapable of moral judgement. We should not be surprised when they behave in immoral and inhuman ways, but we need to regulate them carefully. I though the analogy with the military was a good one. Like the military, the corporation is useful, and a necessary evil. But we don't let the military take control and we shouldn't let corporations, either. Highly recommended for ease of reading and original content.

I have been a fan of the authors since reading Ockham's Razor. His books are always provocative, stimulating, challenging and ultimately satisfying. This one is all of those things, and it is directed at a very real and current problem.This is the best take-out of the ethically messed-up business corporation I've seen. It gives you the complete history of the corporation, along with an excellent discussion of morality, where it comes from, and why its absent in publicly traded corporations. Anybody who works for a big corporation at any level ought to read it, as should our political leaders.