
Hollywood’s Favorite Villains Once upon a time , Cold War enemies , white supremacists , and evil geniuses reigned supreme as Hollywood’s favorite bad guys . No more . Today , it is multinational corporations that are increasingly being cast as the über-villains of our globalized world . For all their subliminal paid promotions and subtle product placements , corporations are getting drubbed in the main story lines of our popular culture . This treatment goes far beyond documentaries like Michael Moore’s polemical Fahrenheit 9/11 or The Corporation , an earnest if somewhat paranoid portrayal of multinational companies ’ role in globalization . It extends to mainstream hits like The Constant Gardener , in which the idealistic protagonists do battle with a malicious global pharmaceutical company that is bent on exploiting Africa’s misery to test experimental drugs . To be sure , sociopathic corporations have populated books and films for more than a century . But corporate villains , typically multinational companies , have never been so ubiquitous as today . Is it unfair ? Most corporations , after all , are merely convenient mechanisms for ensuring that scarce global capital is used at maximum efficiency , to the benefit of all . Are famously liberal Hollywood film directors spending too much time going to anti-globalization rallies ? Perhaps . But I would submit that Hollywood’s misgivings , however untutored , represent only the tip of a growing iceberg of resentment against the perceived injustices of globalization . The simple truth is that corporations represent capital , and capital – in the form of factories , equipment , machines , money , and even houses – has been the single biggest winner in the modern era of globalization . Corporate profits are bursting at the seams of investors ’ expectations in virtually every corner of the world . Even in moribund economies like Germany and Italy , where employment security is vanishing , corporations are swimming in cash . This phenomenon comes as no surprise to economists . Add two billion Indian and Chinese workers to the global labor force , and the value of other means of production – particularly capital and commodities ( for example , gold and oil ) – is bound to go up . And so it has , with capitalists everywhere gaining an ever larger share of the economic pie . ( In theory , capitalists in labor-abundant China and India could end up as losers , but in practice they , too , have benefited thanks to their governments ’ success in simultaneously liberalizing and globalizing . ) Many policymakers seem to be under the impression that surging profits are a purely cyclical phenomenon , as economies continue to grow out from the depths of the 2001 recession . Wait a bit , they predict , and wages will fully catch up later in the cycle . Not likely . Capital’s piece of the pie has been getting bigger for more than 20 years , and the trend looks set to continue . Indeed , corporations ’ growing share of income has been a major driver behind the long , if uneven , bull market in stocks that began in the early 1990’s . At the same time , inflation-adjusted wages for rich-country unskilled workers have barely budged over the last two decades . Some of these trends also have to do with the nature of modern technological change , which seems to favor capital and skilled workers disproportionately . But , regardless of their cause , rapidly growing inequalities are a powerful force for instability everywhere , from wealthy America to rapidly growing China to reform-challenged Europe . “ A rising tide lifts all boats , ” conservatives like to say . Fine , but what happens to people , like the poor of hurricane-struck New Orleans , who don’t own boats ? Growing inequality would not be such a problem if governments could simply raise taxes on the rich and strengthen subsidies to the poor . Unfortunately , any country that taxes capital too aggressively will only succeed in chasing it to regions where the tax burden is lighter . In a globalized world , national governments ’ ability to tax potentially mobile factors of production is sharply circumscribed . The same mechanism that pours profits into the pockets of global corporations also prevents governments from claiming a larger share of the spoils . Unfortunately , the long-term trend towards ever-lower income shares for unskilled workers is likely to continue over the coming decades , as modern technology permeates the globe , and as emerging markets like China , India , Brazil , and Eastern Europe continue to integrate into global production . This is not to say that unskilled workers are actually being made worse off by globalization in absolute terms ; the vast majority are actually breaking even or better . But unskilled workers ’ incomes are not keeping pace with overall economic growth , and the resulting social strains are a ticking bomb . If so , then Hollywood’s cartoon-like caricatures of evil multinational corporations may some day seize mainstream consciousness , leading to political upheavals that shatter today’s social contract . That won’t be good for profits , or for the poor . Governments – and corporations – must find better ways to provide equal opportunity through improved education , broader financial markets , and other channels . Otherwise , globalization’s storyline may not proceed according to the script .