BernadetteM:Turner tossed out the idea that we need to acknowledge that large (more than 500 employees) corporations behave like governments and we need new structures to shape them. For example, make the bill of rights apply to them so that they will be accountable for preserving individual freedoms just as the US government is. Turner also mentioned that if you ask people to sign a list of the rights in the Bill of Rights using the title, most will; however, if you give people the list with out labeling it, it seems too radical for them and they won't sign. Seems like applying the Bill of Rights to corporations might be an uphill battle, 'eh?
I thought this was a very valid and impressive point. It reminded me of something from the book The Walmart Effect in which they are describing Walmart's sheer power and control over industries. At first it spins a pretty negative effect if you look at past and current happenings with suppliers overseas (i.e., the salmon industry in South America-- in regards to pollution and worker situations) and how the pressure to produce makes the industries stress over means to produce quantity. But, then it goes into talking about how Wal-mart has increased efforts to ensure suppliers improve quality of the workplace. The author Charles Fishman then suggests that they at the expense of some money (but with moral obligations) go even further to ensure full pollution control and even better work conditions, using that power and turning their power into a positive attribute environmentally and socially. Mandating something like this would be beneficial to all parties. I think with corporations so large they have this obligation to the world, because they are affecting so much economically and socially that they need to use their power to entice better situations.