I pledge allegiance to the United States of Shareholders...

Every 2016 presidential candidate has a fix for the economy and a plan to create more jobs. They range from changing trade laws to reducing corporate tax and making it easy for corporations to do business in USA. That's all great, but none of this ensures job creation in the USA.

Businesses do not have an obligation to create jobs. They have an obligation to ensure that their shareholders are happy. So if it's more profitable to hire folks from Nagpur, India instead of Pittsburgh, USA, businesses will continue to do so. There is no law binding them to act socially responsible.


The simple fact is that businesses are merely obeying a law put in place. This law forces a corporation to have allegiance to it's shareholders and no one else, not even its customers, employees or the country this corporation resides in. Section 716 of the business corporation act, which reads:

"...the directors and officers of a corporation shall exercise their powers and discharge their duties with a view to the interests of the corporation and of the shareholders...."

So it should not come as a surprise, when Company ABC lays off 10000 to report a profitable quarter. They are merely fulfilling their legal obligations to their shareholders. Any upside obtained from tax breaks and forgiving trade environments, will only go towards boosting the bottom line for a corporation.

Any discussion on job creation/retention by businesses is useless, until the law is tweaked to put in a clause for social responsibility. Barring that things will continue to be the same in these United States of Shareholders...