Taking Back the Corporation

Ralph Estes and Ralph Nader
November 2005     ISBN: 1560257873

Not so long ago, corporate America was widely respected. Our products set the standards for the world; corporations bore a fair share of the tax burden; customers, workers, and communities were loyal to companies like GM, GE, Ford, and Procter & Gamble, and to a fair degree that loyalty was reciprocated. Not anymore. Recent headlines tell the story: Bank of America Penalized $464,000,000 for Defrauding Mutual Fund Investors; Citibank to pay $1,600,000 to Twenty-Six States for Engaging in Consumer Deception; General Electric Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Pentagon, Pays $69,000,000 in Fines. And on, and on.

Taking Back the Corporation tells us what to do about it. Among many useful resources and references for activists, it includes a special toolkit for reforming corporations and provides a primer on corporations, organizing, contacting the media, and drafting local ordinances.

Ralph Estes is an authority on corporate (mis)behavior and Emeritus Professor of Business at the American University in Washington, DC. His previous books include Tyranny of the Bottom Line and Corporate Social Accounting.

Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author.