The late Senator, Arlen Specter, stated, that when it came to gross corporate misconduct that “I see fines with some frequency and think that they are expensive licenses for criminal misconduct.” The esteemed Senator made an absolutely valid point, which is that when it comes to corporate malfeasance, corporate wrongs, and nefarious corporate acts so committed, that the justice system, in general, seldom prosecutes such as criminal activities against corporate persons, in regards to those bad corporation actions so taken that would appear to lend themselves to criminal charges of, for instance, negligent homicide, manslaughter, environmental pollution, toxic waste, fraud, and money laundering. Rather, what we do so find, is that way too often those corporations committing what would appear to be clear and obvious crimes, aren’t subject to criminal prosecution, at all; but rather, when so prosecuted, are prosecuted only from the level of monetary fines, as well as being subject to possible corporate restrictions or probations so mandated for their business enterprise. In other words, corporations, are treated as an entity that apparently, to the justice system, does not appear to be run by human beings, on behalf of those human peoples, and for the benefit of those human beings; but, instead, these bad acts committed with aforethought by those corporations, are treated as if such appears to be acts solely committed by some artificial entity, known as a corporation, and none else; as if there are no responsible human beings within these corporate entities, at all.
The thing about the rich and powerful, and in particular, those that are rich and powerful, within the corporate world, is that those that consider committing bad or hazardous acts in regards to outright fraud, environmental pollution, the selling of dangerous and addictive drugs, and other harms to the commonwealth or people, is that the very people that make these decisions, often in the highest of corporate executive offices, typically do so, with the abiding knowledge that they, themselves, will not ever be held to personal account. This thus indicates to these corporate VIPs, that the decisions that they make are permitted to go far beyond the line, of what is right or sort of grayish, into crossing over to that which is undeniably wrong, with the sure knowledge that in their lust for profits, and unrelenting growth, that they will not personally suffer criminal prosecution, if they should somehow be subject to some sort of investigation.
Those of the corporate world that have money and influence, and of which, their primary objective is to secure more money and influence without ever being concerned about scruples or of the doing of that which is proper; aren’t worried ever about anything, whatsoever, as long as they are assured by their legal counsel and/or the justice system of this nation, that they will not ever have to suffer from the possibility that they will be charged under some sort of criminal statue. Basically, every rich corporate person, with dubious ethics, desires to live within a construct in which their corporate money and their corporate influence will buy them out of trouble; and when that is the case, then what we so have, is what the good Senator has stated – corporations that are thereby constructed in which they are permitted to buy carte blanche expensive licenses for that which is essentially criminal misconduct, which simply put, allows these corporate entities, to commit crime, without ever having to ever pay with their own personal blood.