10 Worst Corporations of 2001 Named by Multinational Monitor

U.S. Newswire ^ | 12/31/2001 | U.S. Newswire

[hchutch]

10 Worst Corporations of 2001 Named by Multinational Monitor
U.S. Newswire
31 Dec 10:36

10 Worst Corporations Of 2001 Named By Multinational Monitor Magazine
To: National and Business desks
Contact: Robert Weissman of Multinational Monitor, 202-387-8030

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by Multinational Monitor:

Abbott Laboratories, Argenbright, Bayer, Coke, Enron, Exxon Mobil, Philip Morris, Sara lee, Southern Co. and Wal-Mart have been named the 10 worst corporations of 2001, in Multinational Monitor magazine's annual listing.

"These behemoths have ripped off the public, polluted the environment, abused their workers and debased our culture," said Robert Weissman, editor of Multinational Monitor. "They appear in our lives everyday, disguised as 'respectable members of the community.' They deserve public opprobrium, and, in many cases, government sanction."

Multinational Monitor is a Washington, D.C.-based monthly magazine that tracks the activities of multinational corporations. It was founded by Ralph Nader.

Abbott Laboratories made the 10 worst list for its TAP Pharmaceuticals, a joint venture with Japanese Takeda Pharmaceuticals. TAP was forced to pay $875 million to resolve criminal charges and civil liability in connection with allegations of major Medicare reimbursement fraud.

Argenbright, the security company, was named to the list for repeat violations of regulations for airport security. Argenbright's appalling record helped convince Congress to federalize U.S. airport security operations.

Bayer appears on the list for its overcharge of the government and public for the anti-anthrax drug Cipro, as well as dangerous peddling of antibiotics for poultry (contributing to antibiotic resistance among humans) and its harassment of a corporate accountability group.

Coca Cola was named among the 10 worst for its sponsorship of the first Harry Potter movie and possible sequels, using a children's favorite to hawks its unhealthy product, and for alleged complicity with death squads in Colombia targeting union leaders there.

Enron made the 10 worst list for costing many of its employees their life savings by refusing to let them dump Enron stock from their pension plans, as the company plunged toward bankruptcy.

ExxonMobil earned a spot on the list for leading the global warming denial campaign and blocking efforts at appropriate remedial action, plus a host of other reckless activities.

Philip Morris asserted its claim to be among the 10 worst by virtue of a "we've changed" marketing campaign -- revealed to be a hoax by a Czech study it commissioned alleging the cost savings from smoking-related premature death, as well as the company's ongoing efforts to addict millions of new smokers.

Sara Lee was named to the list because of a scandal involving its Ball Park Franks hot dogs. Contaminated hot dogs due to company negligence killed 21.

Southern Co., the largest electric utility in the United States, grabbed a place on the list for its efforts to defeat sensible air pollution regulations.

Wal-Mart secured its place among the 10 worst by mistreating workers domestically and abroad, and by contributing to the sprawl that blights the U.S. landscape.

Corporations on Multinational Monitor's 10 worst list appear alphabetically, and are not ranked internally.

For a complete copy of Multinational Monitor's article naming the 10 worst corporations of 2001, see www.essential.org/monitor.

KEYWORDS: CONSUMER ISSUES, POLICY, ENVIRONMENT

[glockmeister40]

If this goof says they're bad, it's time to buy stock in all of them.

[Red Jones]

I am not a liberal/leftist/statist, I am a conservative who believes in freedom. That is why I criticize the Republicans for promoting corporate welfare and special tax breaks and other special policies for big corporations, big corporations as they behave in America do not actually create jobs for Americans. It is a myth.

I know a bit about the intellectual history of fascism. Fascism as an ideology was invented by Mussolini in 1916 who promoted it as an alternative to international socialism which was a euphemism for communism at the time. Mussolini called this new idea 'national socialism' which was later shortened to 'nazi' by the Germans which was their acronym for national socialism. I don't know who came up with the fascist label, but it was an ideology of the intellectual left when it was invented, that's true.

In the 1930's the Republicans were a lot like the Republicans of today. There were prominent Republicans who did in fact openly praise Hitler for getting the job done in Germany. One Republican, Henry Ford, invested heavily in Germany during the 1930's. He built them all kinds of factories that they later used to build weapons with.

So, today's corporate welfare and special corporate tax breaks by the Republicans are nothing new.

If you don't believe me that Republicans seem to worship big corporations, then just read what you wrote. You said that we'd all die without them and that we owe them something special. No, they are nothing special and deserve no special consideration. Individuals are citizens of the United States. Corporations that have an American charter are not and our government should not serve them.

[Doomonyou]

No Hurl alert?

I hate corporations that provide millions of jobs and provide billions of goods and services to people at a reasonable price.

I know I couldn't survive with out the commie nanny's telling me how to live.

[sam_paine]

Abbott defrauded taxpayers, transferring their money to stockholders illegally.

Good. Then I've found a way to retrieve at least some of my tax dollars by being an Abbott shareholder.

[Red Jones]

but Motorola has publicly said that the American work force can't produce the talent for them to compete in high tech markets and that is the reason why they've given that they are a big user of the indentured servitude H1B visa program. They hire people not with money, but with a promise of US citizenship. Then the employee to get that citizenship must work for Motorola for 5 years. If they employee switches jobs, then the 5 year timetable starts over, so Motorola has a captive labor market of indentured servants just like big companies of 350 years ago. And Nokia has beaten them, yet Nokia has a very small labor market (Finland) to get its' talent from.

It is ridiculous to claim that Motorola is a well run organization. Just a year ago there was a big article in the Wall Street Journal telling how they have chased their own top talent managers away by the practice of nepotism. They've lost so much market share, they've laid off what 50,000 Americans in the last 3 years, they're switching their production from America and to China and Republicans are still saying that because they're a big corporation that they need special provisions in the law and special tax breaks and special indentured servitude labor programs. Ridiculous.

[sinkspur]

But I just wanted to make the point that big corporations do not have any kind of a track record of creating jobs for Americans.

Red, "big" corporations and "little" corporations don't exist to create "jobs for Americans."

They're in business to make money for their stockholders. Jobs are a byproduct of profitability.

[Red Jones]

The big Fortune 500 corps should be left alone and allowed to pursue their purpose whatever it is as decided upon by the stockholders. They should not receive special breaks on the idea that they create jobs for Americans because they simply do not do so. They are supervising a downsizing of their American operations, they've been doing that for decades. They do not deserve special breaks for this.

[Itzlzha]

Bayer appears on the list for its overcharge of the government and public for the anti-anthrax drug Cipro...

And just which Naderite gets to determine what the APPROPRIATE charge for the drug is, when they are partly to blame for the COSTS of new drugs!

A Pahrmaceutical Company spends ~$800 MILLION over 8 to 10 YEARS to market/develop a new drug, most of which is mandated by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! Just how is the company, which is in business to MAKE A PROFIT, supposed to foot such an outlay, and recoup costs?

Socialist morons...if you don't like the cost...don't buy the drug! Oh, you need it...TOUGH! Pay up! No freebies for you, after you screwed up the entire Pharm industry!

[Calvin Locke]

Why isn't the State o' Califonia on the list?

They've abused consumers, ripped off shareholders of companies. I'm sure the employees of those companies feel secure.

While MM is at it, why don't they take a look at Zimbawe(sp?)? CNN comes to mind. Polluting the airwaves, taking up valuable bandwidth on cable and canning people.

[Poohbah]

Actually, corporations should NOT be taxed at all--because they don't actually pay those taxes, their customers do. All taxation should be on a pay-as-you-go basis, requiring a monthly check written to Uncle. Once people see how much government costs, shrinking government will actually happen.

[Red Jones]

of course it's true that the government forces the big drug companies to spend fantastic and unreasonable amounts of money developing drugs to get them approved. The FDA has had ridiculous standards for decades. The result is that drugs are way over-priced and not only that some drugs have been witheld from the American market for a significant period of time after the other leading nations have approved it resulting in the pre-mature deaths of thousands of Americans.

Republicans are now more powerful in Washington than the Democrats are. Yet Republicans don't do anything about this situation, nor about many other injustices brought down upon us. The high costs of health care are a huge burden to many Americans. If the Republicans really do have compassion for these people, then they'll want to do something about it, yet they do not. They merely pose and posture and claim compassion, always the type of Compassion that big-government liberals and Country Club Republicans espouse. But they don't behave in a compassionate way by wiping this crap away. The Republicans are nothing but a big con job.

[Xenalyte]

Abbott and Enron deserve to be on this list for defrauding taxpayers and stockholders.

Flame-retardant leathers on!

Can't speak for Abbott, but Enron didn't force its workers to invest utterly, totally, solely and completely in Enron stock. They had the option to sell any or all of their holdings earlier in 2001, when the price was much closer to $80 than to $1, and most of 'em chose not to.

Lesson learned? Diversify. You gotta learn to think about your investments, but it's worth it.

[wideawake]

I said stockholders, not employees.

The employees were stupider than dirt for putting all their eggs in one basket.

However, stockholders were given eighteen consecutive quarters of incorrect financial results by this lying corporation. Doctored financial disclosure is the issue here, not ESOPs.

[boris]

"Bayer appears on the list for its overcharge of the government and public for the anti-anthrax drug Cipro"

Imagine! these evil people spent a lot of time and money inventing a wonder drug and now they expect a return on their investment!

The world would be a lot better off if nobody developed new drugs for profit...right?

< /sarcasm >

--Boris

[jrp]

"These behemoths have ripped off the public, polluted
the environment, abused their workers and debased our
culture,"

Sounds like a good description of government.
However, unlike private corporations, the government
extracts money from my wallet at gunpoint. Walmart
doesn't get any of my money unless I want them to.

[Arkinsaw]

You don't go to Wal-Mart for staples. You go to a business supply store. Perhaps one will come to mind.

Thats funny, back when Sam Walton was alive I got staples at Wal-Mart. If they have decided to stop carrying them then they should get rid of the 8 empty peg hangers marked "STAPLES" and they should also get rid of the big cardboard bin full of staplers they go in.

I suppose I could go to a donut shop for bakery items, a grocery store for grocery items, and electronics store for electronics, a book store for books, a clothes store for clothes, etc. I wonder what Wal-Mart would then sell?