A Halliburton spokesman says the company has behaved ethically and responsibly, notwithstanding the false evidence it provided in connection with the BP oil spill, the worst oil spill in American history -- and the imposition of a fine thats no more than a rounding error in its profit and loss statement. But corporate social responsibility is little more than public relations masquerading as ethical behavior. Corporations are not people; they are not capable of moral reasoning. Corporate ethics are to ethics what military music is to music. Corporations cannot be expected to obey the law unless the probability of being caught acting illegally, multiplied by the size of the penalty (including any bad PR) is larger than the profits to be made by acting illegally. Halliburton has every incentive to continue to flout the law.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 16:34:10 +0000