Promoted by Brendan -- I also spent some time yesterday looking up bees and Bt corn and completely agree with skymutt that the diary was unfair to Monsanto. I imagine the Circuit City story should provoke some discussion of "fair" compensation and the proper goals of businesses.

crossposted from DailyKos

Goodness knows that big business is hardly free from sin in 2007 America, but the hyperbole and venom of anti-business attacks on DailyKos and other sites is sometimes more than I can stomach. Since every single one of us is at minimum using a computer connected to the internet, I can say with certainty that we are all dependent to some extent on products and services provided by big business, and therefore I think it is only fair that we report on business with a little balance and a healthy appreciation for both the positive and negative aspects of business, and that includes looking with a critical, probing eye at serious charges of wrongdoing by business. We want to be fair. We don't want to smear without a reason.

With that in mind, I'd like to compare and contrast a what I felt was a fair criticism I saw on DailyKos this week about Circuit City, with an unfair criticism I saw of Monsanto, both in recommended diaries.

Some background: as a Democrat, I have a healthy skepticism of the perfect nature of free markets. I believe that, in a modern society, the government should play a role in monitoring and regulating large public businesses to make sure that businesses operate fairly in the market, afford workers a base standard of rights, offer products which are safe and as advertised, and report financial results to investors honestly.

But I also recognize that business, while not perfect, is responsible for many of the things in life that we all take for granted but which make our lives longer, and quite frankly better than our ancestors.

There's probably not very many of you who likes "the simple life" more than me-- I spend every summer hiking in the mountains away from tall buildings and cell phones... but even there, I sleep in a tent made of synthetic materials, wear extensively engineered lightweight boots, and eat nutritious pre-packaged foods that last for months without any degradation of quality. I use a digital camera that can store hundreds of pictures on a blue stick the size of a cheezit, which plugs into my laptop which can probably store more pictures than I could ever take in a lifetime of summers. When I stand on top of a mountain and take in the awesome scenery, I rarely ponder that without these products that business has invented and produced, I would never even have the opportunity to get to that mountaintop. But the truth is, without business, I wouldn't get to the mountaintop. I'd probably be living a subsistence lifestyle entirely contained within the area near my place of birth, like just about everyone did before the advent of modern business.

That's not to say that business shouldn't be expected to live up to certain standards; for instance, businesses should be expected to fairly employ and compensate people. Diarist vassmer pointed out this week an example of a company that came up short in it's obligation to fairly employ people:

Today [Circuit City] announced it will lay-off about 3,400 employees or 8.5 percent of its workforce. The company called the firings a "separation" and the process a, "wage management initutive." Someone was quite creative (and sinsister) to think up those creative euphemisms!

The company has completed a wage management initiative that will result in the separation of approximately 3,400 store Associates. The separations, which are occurring today, focused on Associates who were paid well above the market-based salary range for their role. New Associates will be hired for these positions and compensated at the current market range for the job.

After the firings, the company will hire new sales staff and at much lower salary or "the current market range" since the original employees were paid too well at the outrageous sums of 10-11 dollars an hour.

In addition, according to Bloomberg News, employees will not have an option of taking a pay cut either.

To me, this represents a legitimate criticism of a business: a company firing its longer-tenured workers to hire in new workers for the same jobs at a lower wage, without even giving their loyal employees an opportunity to take a pay cut. If all businesses disregard their employees like Circuit City, it won't be long until few people can afford the products and services of businesses. Circuit City clearly demonstrated an attitude towards people which represents the worst of business: sacificing the people who enable you to turn a profit in the first place, merely to improve profit.

Businesses also have an obligation to make reasonable efforst to produce safe and beneficial products. A diarist yesterday attempted to make the claim that agriculture giant Monsanto was not living up to that standard:

Bees are dying and they act like it's a mystery

However, in Germany where they still teach science they published an article about the toxic nature of Monsantos Triple Hybrid GM corn and it's effect on bees in '05. Why won't the media here mention that GM corn is the likely cause of the bees disapearing? Could it be that Monsanto is a massive multinational corp with a market capitalization of 30 billion dollars?? Of course insects are seen as pests by most people. Most people who passed Earth Science class in highschool understand that every part of the food chain is important and some, but not most, understand that bees perform a task that vital to our survival.

To me, this is amongst the most biased paragraphs I've ever read on DailyKos. Let's just look at how nearly every sentence in this paragraph ignores the rule of evidence and insults the reader's intelligence:

Bees are dying and they act like it's a mystery

The diarist provides no link to a source that thinks that dying bees is a mystery, and no evidence that such a person would be unreasonable to have such a thought.

in Germany where they still teach science

I'm sure that some universities in the United States might have a strong comment on that statement.

Then, a loaded question that makes an unsupported charge about "the media":

Why won't the media here mention that GM corn is the likely cause of the bees disapearing?

Of course the diarist never even bothers to explain what GM corn is, nor does the diarist provide a source or evidence tha bees are actually disappearing, nor did they provide a source to the claim that GM corn is causing bee disappearance, nor did they provide evidence that the media is ignoring the issue. I skimmed through the comments and some industrious commenters found sources which at best indicated that the corn could not be ruled out as a factor in the disappearing bees, which are indeed disappearing, according to other sources that the diarist also did not provide.

Could it be that Monsanto is a massive multinational corp with a market capitalization of 30 billion dollars??

Could it be? How about a shred of evidence to go with the loaded rhetorical questions... alas, the diarist, once again, provides no evidence.

Of course insects are seen as pests by most people.

Yep, the product engineers at Monsanto probably aren't even aware that bees pollinate crops... (by this time I have long since tuned the diarist's message out by the way, in case you haven't guessed...)

Most people who passed Earth Science class in highschool understand that every part of the food chain is important and some, but not most, understand that bees perform a task that vital to our survival.

Yep, the product engineers at Monsanto probably didn't even take Earth Science in high school...

The diarist didn't provide one shred of evidence to support any claim he/she made. Not one.

On the other hand, within about 5 seconds of Googling, I found a University of Maryland etymologist who states that the evidence suggests that the genetically modified crops produced by Monsanto are not associated with the bee die-off:

Galen P. Dively
Professor and Pest Management Specialist
Department of Entomology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) has caused much concern among beekeepers nationwide and it is not clear to date what is causing the die-off. Genetically modified crops, specifically Bt corn, have been suggested as a potential cause of CCD. While this possibility has not been ruled out, the weight of evidence reported here argues strongly that the current use of Bt crops is not associated with CCD.

link

Now who am I going to believe: this entomology professor who I don't know, or this diarist who I don't don't know, but who has already proven to me that they are incapable of writing two sentences in a row without showing obvious bias? Well let me diplomatically put it this way: I'm glad that the diarist has made me aware of the subject, and I intend to look into the subject more and keep my mind open-- but at this moment, I'm leaning toward the entomology professor (even though the professor is American, not German).

Bottom line: if we as Democrats want to be part of the solution as far as correcting some of the harmful practices of business, we'd better start by making sure we are fair to business, just as we expect business to be fair to people. When we do point out a legitimate abuse of business, we want to make sure that we have built maximum credibility by consistently demonstrating fairness and objectivity. That starts by acknowledging that businesses are beneficial and necessary entities that sometimes cause problems, usually unitentionally-- not inherently evil entities that only become more destructive and malicious as they get bigger. A hostile attitude towards business in general is the wrong attitude for Democrats and a losing attitude at that.