Book

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

2006

Synopsis

Wade Rowland’s Greed, Inc. presents a historical and philosophical investigation into the legal and structural evolution of the modern corporation, arguing that its current form is fundamentally incompatible with human morality. The central thesis is that the corporation was redesigned during the nineteenth century into a "legal person" with a singular, mandated purpose: the maximization of profit. Rowland posits that this transformation effectively stripped the entity of any capacity for ethical judgment, creating a moral vacuum where the only metric for success is financial accumulation. By defining the corporation as an artificial organism that must prioritize its own growth above all else, the legal system has essentially institutionalized greed and granted it dominance over democratic and social values.

The book further explores how this corporate architecture has allowed these entities to transcend the control of nation-states and traditional social contracts. Rowland argues that because corporations are legally bound to serve shareholders rather than the public good, they inevitably treat the environment, labor, and community health as mere externalities or obstacles to be managed. He traces this development back to the shift from the Enlightenment's focus on humanistic progress to a narrow, utilitarian obsession with efficiency and market mechanics. Ultimately, Rowland suggests that the crisis of modern society is not a result of "bad" individuals running these companies, but rather a systemic flaw in the corporate "DNA" that mandates sociopathic behavior as a legal requirement.

ApexNews

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

Synopsis

Related Topics

Suggested Reading

Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls: How Not to Fight Inflation

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York