You can't get fooled again

A couple of thoughts stirred up by a recent Motley Fool on NPR:

First, the CEO of Netflix claims that he does not know the meaning of the word "throttling." Nor does he know the meaning of the word "unlimited."

Hastings said the company has no specified limit on rentals, but "`unlimited' doesn't mean you should expect to get 10,000 a month."

I'd be okay with it if Netflix advertised "up to 9,999 movies per month." But that's still not unlimited. Perhaps this guy has been using the same dictionary that Congress has.

Second, some guy was pitching his book, The Wal-Mart Effect, which is deliciously ironically available on walmart.com. He didn't quite have the spine to call Wal-Mart evil, but apparently he dug up enough dirt to make it obvious.

He explained that Wal-Mart creates and takes advantage of sweatshops in other countries even though OSHA wouldn't stand for such things here. What he didn't mention (at least on the radio) is that Wal-Mart creates them here, too.

While it would be nice if the United States would forbid or at least restrict trade with countries that don't respect human rights, it's not going to happen. China would be first on the list, and it would be political suicide to even mention cutting off trade with them.

Here at home, though, we can make baby steps. Wal-Mart, like all big companies who are practiced and skilled at breaking the law, points its finger. "It was the contractor who hired the illegal immigrants, so you can't blame us." Bullshit. If a person gets caught buying stolen goods from a shady character in a dark alley, that person isn't allowed to keep the stuff. The stuff goes back to the proper owner. And the buyer may be facing charges for possessing stolen property.

If Wal-Mart makes (saves) money by hiring out its dirty work, it has no right to that money. That money should go to the workers from whom it was taken, illegally, in the form of unpaid wages. Wal-Mart should be fined punitive damages as well, the amount increasing each time they do it.

Corporations have no soul, no morals, and no God save The Bottom Line. They aren't swayed by stern warnings the way people can be, and you can't put one in prison. They will follow the law if and only if doing so is more profitable than otherwise. We must make it too expensive for them to break it.