: : What effects do multinationals have on the economy of the country that they are situated in?: Multinationals have an adverse effect on the economy of the country they
: are situated in. They usually invest a liitle i.e bring in a small FDI,
: raise capital through local financial institutions and loans and go on to
: amass huge profits through rigorous advertisements. The company then siphon out the profits from the country they are doing business in by way technology fees(?), royalty, proportionate profits(?) etc. They usually invest in the fast moving consumer sector and destroy local small scale industries
: which are essential in a developing country. MNCs often trade in products that have been banned in the developed countries. These are a few examples of how harmful MNCs can be ! You can get back to me for more facts.
The issue tends not to be what damaging effects these MNC's have in any particular country, although they undoubtedly have many, the issue is their owe'ening power. These companies now have profits greater than many countries and as such must be considered as a major part of the worlds economy wielding greater power than some democratically elected governments. Essentially, they form part of a greater world government. Democratic structures at least claim to be responsible to the greater mass of the people- but these companies, hierarchically organised, exist as private tyrrannies wielding their resources in any manner that the hierarchy demands.
Whilst Human rights abuses abound in these companies, ranging from outright Murder(remember the recent case of sHeLL?) and subversion of nationalistic and democratic regimes (see Guatemala and its history with United Fruit) they hold domestic work-forces to ransom ("take the pay and conditions we give or we'll go somewhere else") and on governments like-wise. They impose Western cultural values upon the lesser developed nations thru attempting to impose a false ideological construct bereft of any, and I mean ANY, supportive evidence what so ever, that is the 'free-market'. They insist on lower working practices in many foreign countries. They have a distorting effect on the reporting news through the judicious use advertising revenue and members who sit on the management of newspapers and other conventional news outlets, such that labour news is rarely reported, invetigative journalism is directed towards the irrelevant, whilst reporting decreases in content presenting self-serving ideological constructs that appear to be 'natural' or reflections of the 'real' world etc.
This is such a tiny list but if you want a dose of intellectual self defence or just to get a feel for the real world let me reccomend 1)"The Great Deception" by Mark Curtis, 2)" The Lugano Report" by Susan George (a novel but very perceptive) 3)Killing Hope by William Blum, 4)just about anything non-linguistic by Noam Chomsky, 5)THe Sccourging of Iraq by Geoff Simons. The list is massive if you really want to begin to know what is going on, how simply structured it all is, it is just a matter of knowing where to start. You are welcome to use my e-mail address if you more specific reccomendations. BE HAPPY, BE ACTIVE.
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