Civic Empowerment in an Age of Corporate Greed

In this case study of industrial pollution and community activism, Edward C. Lorenz places destructive corporate environmental practices in the context of what he views as a deeply flawed political-economic system that privileges blind faith in the free-market system and expert knowledge over the needs and interests of local communities. Civic Empowerment in an Age of Corporate Greed recounts the histories of a group of firms that were linked to the Fruit of the Loom conglomerate, concentrating on the history of Velsicol Chemical Corporation and its plant in St. Louis, Michigan. The St. Louis plant began life as Michigan Chemical in the 1930s, before being acquired by Velsicol in the 1960s. Velsicol was purchased a few years later by a conglomerate that became known as Northwest Industries. When disposing waste products, the operators of the plant, which produced ddt and other pesticides, paid little attention to the risks posed by these chemicals, and the relatively small plant attracted little attention from regulatory agencies for most of its history. After exploring Velsicol's environmental record in St. Louis and other communities where the firm had operations, Lorenz expands the scope of the book to examine the machinations of William F. Farley, the ambitious businessman who acquired Northwest Industries and built the larger Fruit of the Loom conglomerate. Farley, the primary villain of the book, was a smooth-talking entrepreneur whom Lorenz sees as exemplifying many of the worst qualities of contemporary American business leaders. The large debt that Farley accumulated during the course of his many takeovers led him to plunder his acquisitions to pay off loans. Plant investment and technical innovation were neglected, and once-healthy companies ended up failing or sending production overseas, devastating communities and leaving few funds to address the serious environmental problems often left behind. The entire Fruit of the Loom conglomerate ended up in bankruptcy in 1999

Context (archaeology · Corporation · Debt · Economic history · Economics · Faith · Management · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · American Environmental and Regional History · Finance · History · Law