Corporations Global Masters the Road to 21st Century Serfdom.

The majority of the richest bodies in the world are transnationals, not government’s, poverty campaigners recently stated.

The top 10 corporations brought in a combined wealth of more than £2.3 trillion in the past year, it found.

The most recent figures show a continued trend where corporations are rapidly outstripping nations financially. Walmart, Apple, and Shell all accrued more wealth than developed countries such as Russia, Belgium, and Sweden last year.

The figures have been released to put pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May to stand up to corporations at the upcoming United Nations summit at Geneva.

The aim is to secure a binding UN treaty to force transnationals to abide by human rights and other ethical responsibilities. The treaty would be enforced at a national and global level in order to balance out the vast inequalities in the global economy.

Such a treaty is supported by Ecuador, South Africa, and many other developing countries, but Britain is considered to be hostile to it.

Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden said:

“The vast wealth and power of corporations are at the heart of so many of the world’s problems like inequality and climate change.

“The drive for short-term profits today seems to trump basic human rights for millions of people on the planet.

“Yet there are very few ways that citizens can hold these corporations to account for their behavior.

“The UK government has facilitated this rise in corporate power, through tax structures, trade deals and even aid programmes that help big business.

“That’s why today we’re joining campaigns from across the world to tell the British government not to block this international demand for justice.”

>>> Check out the full list comparing the revenues of countries and corporations

>>> Read our campaign briefing 

Here at Labour Heartlands, we won’t hold our breath in anticipation that the Tory Prime minister Theresa May will do anything to curb the power of the corporations.

It’s a family business.

Knowing that Theresa May is also the wife to a leading corporate investment fund manager Philip May who works as a senior executive is one of the world’s largest and most powerful financial institutions, controlling $1.4 trillion in assets.

Its portfolio also includes $20 billion of shares in Amazon and Starbucks, both of which were cited by the Prime Minister-designate in her pledge to crack down on tax avoidance.

US authorities show that Los Angeles based Capital Group owns huge stakes in a variety of companies, including investment bank JP Morgan Chase, defence giant Lockheed Martin, tobacco company Philip Morris International, the pharmaceutical sector’s Merck & Co, and also Ryanair.

It is very doubtful Theresa May would ever do anything other than be a facilitator in the corporate takeover of society, after all, it is the family business.

This is where the real dangers lay in all our freedoms Globalisation with unrestricted corporate power.

“The vast wealth and power of corporations is at the heart of so many of the world’s problems – like inequality and climate change. The drive for short-term profits today seems to trump basic human rights for millions of people on the planet. These figures show the problem is getting worse.

The UK government has facilitated this rise in corporate power – through tax structures, trade deals and even aid programmes that help big business.

 Disgracefully it also routinely opposes the call of developing countries to hold corporations to account for their human rights impacts at the UN. That’s why today we’re joining campaigns from across the world to tell the British government to stop blocking this international demand for justice.”

John Pilger – The New Rulers of the World

The Tories like to remind us that the top 1% of earners in this country are paying 28% of the tax burden.

This helps create a mindset that the rich and in particular the Giant Corporations are the benefactors of our society that we must be humble before the might of the big corporation.
That their benevolence allows the capital needed to keep the glue of society together.

However, the truth is quite different we are the people that create the wealth for these companies. It is the toil of the people that allow them to pay their taxes in the first place.
This is a battle for control one that asks fundamental questions about power and money.

Without paying their taxes that go to education, health, defense and infrastructure they would not have the healthy educated workforce needed or the consumers they rely on to keep the wheels of commerce turning. Taxes paid into a country by the corporations should be seen as an investment not a burden or gifted to the needy.

Last November during Parliamentary questions Jeremy Corbyn stated:

Link: House of Commons Hansard

Jeremy Corbyn
“Since Conservative Members get so excited, I must say it again: our schools’ budgets are being cut, more people are waiting longer for treatment on the NHS, and more elderly and disabled people are not getting the social care they need. When it comes to paying taxes, does the Prime Minister think it is acceptable that there is one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest of us?

The Prime Minister
“The top 1% of earners in this country are paying 28% of the tax burden. That is the highest percentage ever, under any Government. Once again, the right hon. Gentleman is wrong. Over the next two years, £2.5 billion extra is being put into our schools as a result of decisions taken by this Conservative Government.”

The question must be who serves who? Do we become the serfs to the corporations or do corporations serve the people?

Without a strong Government that has a core ethos to work in the best interest of the people with a progressive agenda, we will all be subscribers to the corporations while thanking them for their benevolence in paying tax however little.