In "The Corporate Cult" he examines the rise of the corporation, and the destructive influence it has had on our social welfare. Since the great boom of the 90's, it has been common to hear expressions of faith in the corporate system, such as the "triumph of capitalism" or the "global village". People espouse "freedom" and "democracy" as the highest individual and collective values of the society. But how can we be free participants in a true democracy when a few mega-corporations control nearly the entire economy and dictate the way most of us spend our working days? There is no "freedom" for a corporate employee. And there is often no democratic choice for a community that would rather not have a corporate behemoth, such as Walmart, move in and destroy the traditional economic community. Zubaty asserts that faith in the corporation, and empty concepts of freedom, is a form of cultic behavior. Just as cult members unquestioningly obey and support dubious gurus, the subjects of corporate regimes willingly submit to corporate masters and recite the empty slogans picked up in school. People praise corporations, and marvel at the supremacy of the "American way of life", even as our social lives become more isolating and impoverished.
Zubaty examines the rise of the corporation and how it came to be defined as a legal "person" with all the rights and privileges of a human being. The trouble is, a corporate person has no real responsibility to anything other than the concept of profit. And due to its vast economic resources and unlimited lifespan, it becomes a monster against which individual flesh and blood people cannot compete. The modern corporation is a tool of unbridled greed for the few who own the major portion of corporate stock. Corporations bring profit to the few with out any corresponding responsibility for the social and environmental damages caused. The managers are professional employees with little stake in the communities in which they reside. Profits extracted from communities are funneled to a remote headquarters while residents are given low wage jobs. Small innovative businesses with a real stake in the community go out of business, while a generic "Super Walmart" thrives on the edge of town, paying no taxes to support the community that feeds it.
Things have not always been this way. Zubaty has been to corners of the world where the incursion of corporate values is resisted. People in these places are happy and less afflicted with the endless desire for consumer goods fostered by our corporate society. But as corporations increasingly operate in a "global economy", traditional values and lifeways are destroyed. When the human values of community, friendship, and faith, are supplanted by the endless quest for "profit", people begin to feel a malaise that has no solution. The quest for possessions takes the place of community activity and political action. Corporations gain profit and power even as they destroy the quality of community life. The growth is like a cancer, eventually destroying the host.
Zubaty's writing style interweaves pages of cogent analysis with stories of his encounters with less "advanced" and more happy cultures. It varies the pace of his presentation and makes for a very enjoyable reading experience.
I found the book upsetting at times, but this is the nature of Zubaty's messages. You have to love a guy capable of such pithy statements as, "You need a woman who puts God first, you second, her kids third, and her job fourth." Or: "We send diplomats to Japan and Israel. We should be sending diplomats to General Electric and Archer Daniels Midland to find out what the hell they're doing on our soil and if we like it or not." Or a guy capable of some pointed juxtapositions: "Corporations spend $138 billion per year on advertising -- more than the total salaries we pay for all of our public elementary and secondary schoolteachers and administrators. One and a half times what we spend on institutions of higher learning." We are reminded (or learn for the first time) that, even excluding the chronically unemployed, one in four men is out of work. Between 1972 and 1994, real wages fell 19%, the longest slide in our nation's history. "If someone robs a bank and accidentally shoots someone are we content if the guy gives back part of the money? That's what corporations get away with every day."
The bottom line is, you'll be glad you read this book. -- Steven Svoboda
"You can't judge a book by lookin' at the cover...And you sure can't trust reviewers you don't even know!So flip open to any page and read any sentence.Yes, NOW!"
Quite a bold statement when most authors just want a flashy cover. So I took his challenge. He's right. You can start on any page, any paragraph, and just read and read. I would classify Zubaty as a social Galileo of our times- he knows the score but people refuse to listen. They refuse to listen because he tells the truth in its dirty, raw, and sobering form. It's too much reality for those who haven't been tested in life. I spend my days making good money designing tools and parts on the computer. Zubaty calls me a "manhole", a man who spends his days in front of the computer all day, worried about money and toys. And the nut was right. And I like him for his honesty. And I keep reading. Zubaty goes on to explain that corporations are no longer treating people as people and instead as "units". No new news here, but he keeps going and going, paddling his way further and further from political correctedness, ending up in a place where you are free to think for yourself without worrying about offending anyone. He speaks of a village girl who goes to town every day to try to get a loan approved. She gets her family involved. She lies to her friends. She forges papers. Zubaty hones in with laser-like precision to the observation she's acting like a greedy dimwit who is taken over by American idealism. She wants the money but has no use for it. And then there's Joe the fisherman. You can decide to not like Zubaty, but I don't think he minds as he's sipping coconut milk or fishing for the families who let him in. Read the book. You'll understand.