Okay, so first of all lets address your beef with big business:

I would like to fence sit on this issue and say that I agree that business is completely money-driven AND with the notion that many business concern themselves with other issues at the same time, including humanitarian issues... All business is essentially driven by the desire to produce revenue in some way, shape or form. This is true of any commercial enterprise in the traditional sense of the word. Since the advent of the corporation (and before) and since the industrialist-capitalist 'revolution' of the late 1800's and early 1900's, control of the world's finance has been placed into the hands of for-profit money-grubbers who's sole mission in life seems to be to create an even more enormous pile of money on which to sit. Are most large corporations soulless, evil, bloodthirsty, backstabbing, lying, cheating, going-straight-to-hell bastards? Most likely yes. Many experts in the field of motivation/incentives would tell you that a person's morals extend only to the point at which they believe they will a> not endanger the continuation of the species (though this seems to have been thrown out by corporate entities) and b> not get caught and/or punished for their misdeeds. Moreover, the larger the pool of people around you, the more probability there is that one will cheat and steal. (i.e. China, Wall Street etc). The world is full of corruption and amorality and will most likely implode sometime in the near future. Of course, when a species allows themselves to be as totally brainwashed (in the classic Orwellian sense) as ours has, it seems to all make perfect sense. Bernays was modern instigator, Ashe and Milgram showed how the masses were programmed (socially or biologically) to obey the system. The current target is the "outer party" of the 20% or so of us who have brains and know how to use them, and the other 79% (NWO excluded) play so completely into the system its almost genetically encoded at this point. That being said, the 20% seem to spend more time arguing, whining and complaining about the system than actually cooperating in order to do something about it (myself included). Emotionally charged, flaming rants on an ESL teachers forum over whether or not business is totally profit-driven seems inane and pointless. It is. It must be. Without profit, business and commerce as we know it would cease to exist and we would all be living Marx's dream.

At the same time! - are ALL businesses concerned ONLY with profit to the exclusion of ALL else? Of course not. Even the most hardened, soul-eating businessman retains some shred of human nature (and to that point, even animal nature since nearly every species realizes that cooperation equals survival, if only in limited quantities) and concerns himself with more than a world of money. Did not the "Iceman" break down and cry when he spoke of his own family, despite his indifference to the families of the dozens he killed? Given this, it is logically responsible to assume that many (although certainly not all) business leaders, contractors and even FT employers have other interests and concerns besides profit. This is not to say that the actions taken as a result are altruistic. One could plausibly argue that there is no such thing as real altruism at all. If Starbucks chooses to do business with third-world countries in more humanitarian ways than others, is that purely unselfish? Hell no! Great advertising. Is it PURELY profit-driven? Perhaps not. Maybe it was a pot-induced Seattle man's dream of a better way of doing business that, once realized, filled him with self-satisfaction. Then again, perhaps not. The point being that MANY business around the world do at the VERY least ATTEMPT to incorporate humanitarian, social and philosophical ideals into their business models. Business owners are not monsters. The system that allows, encourages and even requires them to cheat others is the monster, and the businessmen and businesswomen of the world are its victims (albeit in a much less directly offensive way than are the consumers and employees). I firmly believe that inside each and every person exists the desire and capacity to do good. Not for unselfish reasons mind you, but with the common-sense knowledge that society engenders cooperation to some extent, and that some form of Karma does exist by which enemies of society are punished. (How the Bush family has escaped this for 3 generations is beyond me, but thier day is coming).

Millions of employees, domestic and imported, in every corner of the globe, in all conceivable businesses are screVVed every day. I do agree that if one does not like the way Chinese business operates in general, one should not go to China. I further believe that all those who are intelligent and free-thinking enough, and who have been victimized by the corporate infrastructure, should take progressive and constructive steps towards correcting the system. The system responded to the 60's movement toward individual expression (too bad the revolution was halted by greed) and will respond to future instances of prolonged and dedicated non-cooperation.

The sad thing about forums like this and posters like you and me is that we play right into the system, programmed to rebut, debase and compete with one another perpetually. We've been given our camps of 'individualism' and 'personal' political ideology, but these are mainly constructs of the elitist infrastructure meant to keep us bickering while we should be comparing notes.

Perhaps your anger stems from frustration at the systems surrounding you, perhaps from feelings of impotence at being unable to change them, perhaps from personal psychological triggers touched upon by a previous post, perhaps you have long suffered without the company of a woman, or perhaps mommy didn't cuddle you enough as a baby... who knows... It IS obvious that you are emotionally aggitated by the corporate world and its tendancy to rape the little guy. That's fine... now lets direct that anger in a constructive direction. We 20% out-number and out-brain the controlling elite who perpetuate our suffering.

Of course, this is being said to someone who writes things like "C'mon BOY!"... It may be a wasted notion. Seriously though, "C'mon BOY"? That sounds a lot like what a member of groups you profess to oppose would say.

Deep reflection... find that inner peace so you can be a useful component in the solution instead of just another angst-ridden flamer.