In the modern American economy, large corporations dominate nearly every industry and field. Corporate entities like McDonald’s, Apple, Verizon and Microsoft dominate their respective industries. Corporations allow popular and successful companies to spread their goods and services across the world.

   The concept of corporations is not inherently flawed. Corporations allow popular brands to spread their goods and services to more consumers. However, corporations are designed specifically to grow and make maximum profit, so when this goal conflicts with the interests of consumers, corporations often take advantage of the consumer. Fast food companies sell and aggressively market food that is the direct cause for the country’s obesity epidemic. Pharmaceutical companies spend enormous amounts of money lobbying the government to fight regulations and government controlled health care in order to maintain their profits. Oil companies do the same to fight environmental regulations that would protect the Earth at the cost of their profits. The solution to these problems involves taking money out of politics and regulating these industries, but it also involves a change in the way corporate America functions.

   It is easy to buy into the idea of a class of evil, elite CEOs who are recklessly greedy, and this idea has some truth to it, but often no single individual in a corporation is responsible for unethical business practices. CEOs are usually accountable to a Board of Directors, and have to do whatever they can to meet quotas of growth and profit every quarter. The problem is not necessarily greedy people, but a system of organizations which function like psychopaths, devoid of empathy, and willing to hurt anyone to turn a maximum profit.

   We as a society need to put pressure on corporate America to commit to ethical business practices. We need companies that are willing to sacrifice profits to ensure public well-being. We need corporations to be structured in a way that growth and profit are not the only motives.

   Government regulation is another essential piece in fixing America’s economic and social problems. For instance, we need a crackdown on corruption beginning with the overturning of Citizens United, a Supreme Court ruling which allowed corporations to contribute large sums of members of congress and other government workers. However, a shift in corporate culture is essential in ensuring that we live in a country that does not have large corporations praying on the consumer.