Megacorporations and Democracy

Robert Reich’s concern about the political threat posed by mega- corporations to our democratic form of government is very well taken (Commentary, May 13). An ominous extension of corporate influence occurs when, say, XYZ corporation, in effect, bribes enough legislators to privatize some function of government that would be fulfilled by XYZ. Once XYZ gets this juicy plum and profits immensely, it gets even more power over legislators. So, in time, we have the real possibility that so much of government is privatized by different XYZs controlling our legislators, our democracy exists only on paper.

Should these XYZs merge, we’ll have the equivalent of a corporate monarchy which, conceivably, may be relatively benign. Will the people then care as their most precious gift slips away? Waste and inefficiency in government operations need to be corrected. But we had better be very careful about what and how much of government is privatized before we lose control of it--completely. Too many of our legislators are already privatized.

PHILLIP CUTLER

Costa Mesa

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Reich’s perspective on business presents two very valid premises: Giant corporations have a much more difficult time generating the power to dominate markets in the increasingly global environment, and they increasingly have incentives to use their wealth to impact the political process. Look at what is happening to Microsoft. Even though Microsoft has benefited millions of consumers and avoided politics until recently, minute details of its business are being contested by the Justice Department. A clearly rational response to this pressure is to give money to politicians to alleviate the attack.

The solution is not to restrict the size of corporations, which will need to be huge to compete globally. Rather, the solution is to restrict the ability of the federal government to interfere (restrict or give favors) in legitimate large business activities--an explicit goal of our forefathers who crafted the Constitution. This would eliminate their incentives to manipulate the political process and reduce the inefficiencies inflicted by Washington power brokers.

JIM MLADENIK

Irvine