Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky

by Noam Chomsky

here I must say I would like to complain about a recent cover of Z Magazine. I had an article in there, and on the cover there was the title: “Corporate Greed.” But that’s just an absurd phrase.92 I mean, to talk about “corporate greed” is like talking about “military weapons” or something like that—there just is no other possibility. A corporation is something that is trying to maximize power and profit: that’s what it is. There is no “phenomenon” of corporate greed, and we shouldn’t mislead people into thinking there is. It’s like talking about “robber’s greed” or something like that—it’s not a meaningful thing, it’s misleading. A corporation’s purpose is to maximize profit and market share and return to investors, and all that kind of stuff, and if its officers don’t pursue that goal, for one thing they are legally liable for not pursuing it.