You’d think people would have learned their lesson after years of financial industry shenanigans, corporate tax avoidance, and worker abuse.
You’d think they’d get smart when they see companies moving their business overseas and hoarding profits abroad. Or when companies make mass layoffs in tough times while paying exorbitant salaries and bonuses to top executives. Or when corporate interests fight against raising the minimum wage, trying to keep unions out, or failing to improve unsafe working conditions.
But no. Despite the evidence before their eyes, most people around the world and in the United States still have more faith in business “doing the right thing” than other major institutional sectors.
That’s the key takeaway from a report by giant public relations firm Edelman, released earlier this month at the Davos gathering of the world’s power brokers and tycoons: People across the 28 countries surveyed say they trust business more, that Right to do as media, government or non-governmental organizations.
They rate the business higher than these other institutions for competence, which might be justified. But business also outperforms government by 30 points on ethics.
What? How can that be? But it’s true – globally and in the United States, where 55% of respondents said they trust companies to do the right thing, compared to 50% of NGOs, 43% of the media and 42% of governments.
I don’t want to pretend that all business people are corrupt or untrustworthy, or that the capitalist system should be dismantled tomorrow. But to single out business as the most trusted institution just strikes me as bizarre.
Consider a story in The Times, also published earlier this month. It began:
“In perhaps the most unexpected turn in the field of climate science, new research suggests that Exxon Mobil Corp. had a keener insight into the looming dangers of global warming than even NASA experts, yet waged a decades-long campaign to discredit the science of climate change and its connection to fossil fuel burning.”
That doesn’t make Exxon Mobil sound very trustworthy to me. And despite what the article says, it’s not very “unexpected” either.
That’s not unexpected, because as history notes, we already knew from a “growing body of evidence” that Exxon Mobil recognized decades ago, in the late 1970s, that burning fossil fuels was warming the earth, “even if it was.” piling up publicly questioned that notion.”
But it’s not unexpected either, as this type of corporate deception is all too common.
Tobacco companies spent decades suppressing the evidence and discrediting the science that showed links between smoking and cancer, even though the companies knew the link was real. Meanwhile, millions died prematurely from smoking-related diseases.
Opioid manufacturers spent years promoting their addictive painkillers to healthcare providers they knew were prescribing them for unsafe and ineffective purposes, contributing to a national tragedy of addiction — but driving profits to astounding levels.
The financial services industry has engaged in abusive, self-interested mortgage practices, including making risky loans — wreaking havoc on ordinary Americans hoping to buy homes and helping to trigger a global recession.
Pharmaceutical companies, major food companies, arms manufacturers – all have misled their customers at one point or another. It’s not deviant behavior from a few bad apples; They are companies that do what the market tells them to do.
Businesses don’t exist to make the world a better place or to provide customers with the goods and services they need. Rather, the overarching goal is profit maximization. And sometimes, according to some executives, that requires being less than honest.
Sure, some company employees might push back and some whistleblowers might show up, but they’ll only gain some of the time.
I’m not suggesting that people should put all their trust in government instead. It’s hard to trust politicians when the likes of George Santos are running around the Capitol. And when the Washington Post cataloged more than 30,000 lies from President Donald Trump during his four-year tenure. And if three Los Angeles City Council members have been charged, pleaded guilty, or served in recent years.
But NGOs? What have NGOs ever done wrong that compares to corporate misconduct? (To their credit, survey respondents gave scientists a high trust rating, higher than CEOs.)
I suspect that people’s relatively high level of confidence in business, at least in the US, is due at least in part to the enduring power of the classic American dream — the increasingly archaic belief that whoever works hard and follows the rules is our free-market economy , business-friendly society can climb the ladder from poverty to prosperity.
The sad fact, however, is that we live in an America where ascension is no longer the norm.
I’m not a Marxist. I believe capitalism has many advantages over the alternatives.
But it is a mistake to think that corporate interests are aligned with our own. What’s good for General Motors isn’t necessarily good for the country. We want the jobs that the economy provides and the goods that it produces, and of course we want a healthy, vibrant and dynamic economy. But companies need to be regulated and monitored if they are to do the right thing.
And while we work to hold them accountable, by no means should we blindly trust them.
Nicholas Goldberg is Associate Editor and Op-Ed columnist for The LA Times