This post by Dave Ramsey captures a lot of what I feel about the Occupy Wall Street folks (
HT to the Pantsless One).
The one thing Dave doesn't really cover that has struck me as I've read
various stories and laughed at some of the signs is that there seems to
be a
lack of understanding on what a corporation is and does. Mostly this has been addressed with the type of sarcasm shown in the linked picture above.
What
I would like to do is to discuss what a corporation is and some of my
personal experiences with "evil" corporations. A corporation is simply a
legal entity that provides a group of individuals personal protection
from legal and financial liability. If a corporation goes bankrupt or
is accused of a crime the individuals making up the corporation don't
automatically end up bankrupt or in jail.
My younger
brother is a chiropractor. He is also the sole owner of a corporation.
His corporation of one is not uncommon. It allows him to practice
medicine with a lower financial risk. Many of his patients have no
idea he is also a corporation. As an individual and a doctor, he treats
them, but he bills them as a corporation. Is he rich? Far from it
Since opening his own practice he is barely breaking even, and most
months puts almost all of his profit back into his business. This is
the "evil" of a corporation. Healing people with his own two hands.
I've
worked for a couple of corporations. One was the type most folks think
of when they hear corporation. It was (and is) a multinational
corporation with manufacturing in the United States, China, Italy,
India, and Switzerland to name a few. Their sales offices are all
across the world. This evil corporation payed me a good salary, trained
me, and sent me to their manufacturing facilities in Switzerland and
Italy for further training. I got to ride a train through the alps
thanks to an evil corporation. I also got to become a much better
engineer. I was also personally involved in supplying parts so that a
hospital, a water treatment plant, a geothermal power plant, and many
other industries and facilities could either be built or continue to
operate. We made money, but I don't remember having to fulfill our evil
quotient.
One of the other corporations I worked for
even had the evil word in its name. When I started there we had four
full time employees and three part time employees. This corporation
gave me my first job. The pay wasn't great, but the experience was
invaluable. Working at a corporation of 7 forced me to wear many hats,
and gave me an understanding of business and engineering that many of my
peers do not have because they haven't been exposed to it.
So when I see signs
protesting the evils of the corporation, understand why I might have a
tendency to point laugh and shake my head in disgust. Corporations have
allowed me to feed and clothe my family. Corporations have provided me
training and allowed me to grow as a professional. Corporations have
allowed me to be where and what I am today, and I'm not the only one.
