The higher income stratification of our social class system consists of wealthy people who own valuable assets. Often the assets they own are part of corporations that they also own or have an equity stake in. People who own equity in corporations can be owners, shareholders, shareholders of parent companies, holders of bearer shares, and numerous other ways that allow them to exercise control and derive profit from companies. Therefore, I will refer to these people as ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs). These people are sometimes public figures but more commonly they are private individuals who demand anonymity to limit liability, scrutiny, and taxation. People often think of corporations as giant faceless entities, yet there are real living breathing people who own and control them.
"...real living breathing people who own and control them" - and benefit from them in terms of palpable class advantage. That's the real truth of Mitt Romney's incensed campaign contention that "corporations are persons, my friend"... he himself being of that beneficiary class.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Mitt Romney is the perfect example. Many people often confuse the fact that the "on paper" legal entity of a corporation is guaranteed many of the same rights a human citizen and therefore often referred to as a "legal person."
DeleteHowever, Mitt Romney intimately understands that there are flesh and blood people (UBOs) who own, control, and derive that palpable class advantage from the profits produced.