Corporations have been in the news for the wrong reasons for some time, but more often recently, it seems, between Boeing, Tesla, United Healthcare, PG&E, and more than a few others.

In almost all cases, the “troubles” they face/faced resulted from the excessive pursuit of profit, “excessive” being defined as profits gained at the expenses and/or deaths foisted off on others.

In the case of United Healthcare, profits were boosted by denying coverage/claims at roughly twice the rate of any other health insurer – and other health insurance executives were outraged at the assassination of Brian Thompson, with apparently no real understanding of public perception of the health insurance industry.

Boeing tried to shortcut development procedures and effectively lied to the FAA about the changes in the flight control systems for the 737 Max.

And for too many corporations, pursuit of profit with no regard for life appears to be an endemic way of life, as exemplified by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E).

In the past, I’ve mentioned the sins of PG&E, which are considerable. From what I can discover and extract from various accounts, by 2018, PG&E was legally responsible for over $30 billion in damages caused by fires created by various equipment failures, which pushed PG&E into filing for bankruptcy. But more PG&E-caused fires followed, including the Kinkaid Fire and the Camp Fire, which was the largest fire in California history, burning 18,000 structures and 153,336 acres, killing at least 85 people, displacing 50,000, and resulting in over $16 billion in damages, bringing the total damages owed by PG&E to nearly $50 billion. PG&E also faced over 500 counts of criminal involuntary manslaughter.

Needless to say, PG&E filed for bankruptcy, and the CEO resigned in 2019. But in March 2020, PG&E asked a federal court to approve $454 million in executive bonuses just days after asking another federal judge, who was overseeing PG&E’s criminal probation related to the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion) not to force the utility to hire more tree trimmers. And in January 2020, PG&E transferred $100 million from its safety budget to partly fund the executive bonuses.

PG&E only paid $13.5 billion out of roughly $50 billion in damages and raised some of those funds by increasing the permanent monthly rate base of each of its 5.6 million customers by $5, and as part of the settlement, all charges of involuntary manslaughter were dropped.

A last footnote: In December 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy offered PG&E a $15 billion loan, to “expand hydropower generation and battery storage, upgrade transmission capacity through reconductoring and grid enhancing technologies, and enable virtual power plants throughout PG&E’s service area.”

In the past 10 years, typical CEO pay at S&P 500 companies increased by more than $4 million, to an average of $17.7 million in 2023. Meanwhile, the average U.S. worker saw a wage increase of 3% a year, $18,240 over the past decade, earning on average just $65,470 in 2023.

And what I’ve pointed out here is just the tip of the iceberg.