Quote of the Day - CSR: Picking 91 Million Pockets

It does not take an economics guru to conclude that diverting corporate assets away from activities that improve earnings endangers the financial well being of millions of Americans. About half of American households own stock. So, the pocket books of more than 91 million of our fellow citizens are tied to the fortunes of publicly traded corporations. Every dollar that is shanghaied from corporate coffers represents a hidden levy on shareholders, undermining their financial prosperity.

A quick Google search suggests that thousands of companies are joining the march toward corporate socialism. One critic claims that Nike spends about $10 million a year just staffing its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. After all, it costs cash to spend other people’s money. Reports must be written. Meetings attended. News releases issued. Croissants consumed.

While no one knows how many shareholder dollars are being spent each year on CSR, I suspect the bottom line would impress even the Congressional Budget Office. Think of CSR as the redistribution of prosperity away from those who have invested their savings in the stock market and toward those people or things that the unelected non-government organizations of the world consider worthy.

~Nick Nichols, Corporate Social Responsibility: Picking 91 Million Pockets