Big Business Is Even More Unpopular Than You Think
The U.S. public holds Big Business in shockingly low regard.
A November 2007 Harris poll found that less than 15 percent of the population believes each of the following industries to be “generally honest and trustworthy:” tobacco companies (3 percent); oil companies (3 percent); managed care companies such as HMOs (5 percent); health insurance companies (7 percent); telephone companies (10 percent); life insurance companies (10 percent); online retailers (10 percent); pharmaceutical and drug companies (11 percent); car manufacturers (11 percent); airlines (11 percent); packaged food companies (12 percent); electric and gas utilities (15 percent). Only 32 percent of adults said they trusted the best-rated industry about which Harris surveyed, supermarkets.[1]
These are remarkable numbers. It is very hard to get this degree of agreement about anything. By way of comparison, 79 percent of adults believe the earth revolves around the sun; 18 percent say it is the other way around.[2]
The Harris results are not an aberration. The results have not varied considerably over the past five years — although overall trust levels have actually declined from the already very low threshold in 2003.
The Harris results are also in line with an array of polling data showing deep concern about concentrated corporate power.
An amazing 84 percent told Harris in a poll earlier in 2007 that big companies have too much power in Washington. By contrast, only 47 percent said that labor unions have too much power in Washington (as against 42 percent who said labor has too little power), and 18 percent who said nonprofit organizations have too much power in Washington.[3]
These results have proven durable. At least 80 percent of the public has ranked big companies as having too much power in Washington since 1994. In 2000, Business Week and Harris asked a broader question: Has business gained too much power over too many aspects of American life? Seventy-four percent agreed.[4]
The November 2007 poll also asked about support for measures to control corporations. These results are eye-opening as well, though perhaps not in the expected way.
Harris asked which industries “should be more regulated by government — for example for health, safety or environmental reasons — than they are now?” Only oil companies (53 percent), pharmaceutical companies (53 percent) and health insurance companies (52 percent) crossed the 50 percent threshold. Even the tobacco industry managed to escape in the survey with only 41 percent favoring greater regulation. These data trend significantly negative — against greater regulation — over the last five years.
Does this show that while people distrust Big Business, they equally distrust the government to constrain corporate power?
No.
The U.S. skepticism to regulation is only skin deep. When polls present specific regulatory proposals for consideration, U.S. public support is typically strong and often overwhelming — even when arguments against government action are presented.
For example:
- After hearing arguments for and against, 76 percent favor granting the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco, with 22 percent opposed.[5]
- After hearing arguments for and against, 75 percent favor legislation that would significantly increase energy efficiency, including auto fuel efficiency standards, and the use of renewable energy.[6]
- Eighty-five percent favor country-of-origin labeling for meat, seafood, produce and grocery products, and three quarters favor a legislative mandate.[7]
- Seventy-one percent say it is important that drugs remain under close review by the FDA and drug companies after they have been placed on the market.[8]
- And, from a Harris finding a week after the poll showing skepticism about industry regulation in general, the polling agency found that those who think there is too little government regulation in the area of environmental protection outpaced those who think there is too much by a more than 2-to-1 margin (53 to 21 percent).[9]
What the Harris findings on attitudes to regulation do show is that the business campaign against regulation as an abstract concept has been very successful.
It highlights the need for consumer, environmental, labor and other corporate accountability advocates to defend the concept of regulation, and to connect the rampant corporate abuses in society with the deregulation and non-regulatory failures of the last three decades. There’s little doubt that the general public attitude toward regulation significantly affects the willingness of politicians — none to eager to offend business patrons in the first place — to take on corporate power.
Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor, and director of Essential Action.
[1] http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=825
[2] http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/New-Poll-Gauges-Americans-General-Knowledge-Levels.aspx
[3] http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=737
[4] http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_37/b3698004.htm
[5] http://tobaccofreekids.org/fdapoll/national.pdf
[6] http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/No_Time_To_Waste.pdf
[7] http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1970
[8] http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=716
[9] http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=828
So, if Big Business is so unpopular among consumers, why do many people still purchase products from these corporations?
So the members of the corporate media must be doing one whale of a job in avoiding any serious or in-depth discussion of the reasons for and against regulation of predatory corporations, in campaign coverage and in regular programming. That’s why they get the big bucks!
Well, I guess what this article proves is that our politicians don’t give a hoot about what we think. What a surprise.
Sorry Mr. Wasserman, THE MONSTERS DON’T CARE WHAT THE FUCK AMERICA THINKS OR BELIEVES. You think the jumped roadhouse thugs and psychotic warlords (aka nobility) of Old Europe cared what the serfs thought except for private amusement? You think “our decider” cares? You think our current crop of Overseer wannabes on Master’s Plantation gives a DAMN what any of us think, except to triangulate themselves into the WH.
Now, they DO CARE if you plan to rise up and cut off their heads. But that’s all. And they have legions of Secret Police to round up the innocent and the guilty. So again, why would they care?
The Bourbons had everything nailed down. So did the Romonoffs. Just like our Masters. It didn’t save Alexander or Louis or their entire class. It won’t save our Richfilth either.
All Empires fall. And when they do, sometimes the general populations eat Master.
I’ll bring the knives and forks. You bring the chips and dips.
Peace.
18 percent think the sun revolves around the earth??? That must be where Bush is getting his positive ratings from…
Hey youbetterwork . . . .
That is probably one of the best things I have read on this site in months . . . .
Thank You
What should we stop buying Claudius…missiles, uranium depleted bullets, tanks…
These are US products…
If we want to make things better we have to make gigantic sacrifices and major changes in our life styles…
Since 70% of our GDP comes from the junk we buy most of which is manufactured elsewhere it will add to the financial problems, but maybe if the wholse system comes crashing down we can start to rebuild.
Personally I am having a no buy year except for food, tickets (public transportation, movie) but nothing else, not even a paper clip. I have five that is enough. I have one pencil, one pen. I will replace stuff like my toilet innards if they go, or my computer (I earn my living writing). But the rest I don’t need. I have enough books, clothes, shoes, dodads, plants…
dlnelson7,
I applaud you for having a no-buy year, and in fact, am doing the same thing myself. I was referring as you point out, to the “junk” consumer products people buy at WalMart, Target, etc. Of course, it would be nice if we could stop spending money on missiles, DU bullets, tanks, but that would be pie in the sky.
Remember, at least before the courts, Coprorations are ‘people’ too.
Wow.
To think that non-corporeal entities have the same rights and freedoms (and oftimes greater freedoms) that living, breathing human beings have.
Hmm. An interesting philosophical question there. If the Corporations, which exist only as a legal fiction, are counted as a ‘person’, whle not actually being ‘alive’ in any biological definition, would that make them undead? As non-corporeal entities which are often of malicious or malevolent, if not outright harmful or evil intent, would that not make them the ‘demons’ of Judaeo-Christian myth? And what of those CEOs and politicians whose lives and careers the Corporations control and influence, would they not be considered ‘possessed’? By that comparasin, would George W. Bush then not be considered the Anti-christ, the one who was fortold by the exiled madman John of Patmos, the author of the Book of Revelations, that fortold that a man would arise, speaking greatly of his devotion to God, but who led the world to a final war? Would Bushs’ followers and supporters not then be the ‘Armies of the Beast’ so beloved by the American Radical Christian Right, which by odd co-incidence are the most fervent Bush supporters?
I know I am using the Armageddonist Christian allegory heavily here folks, but I want to make a point. And yes, I know that as a practicing neo-pagan that may seem odd. But I want people to see just how out of control the present Coprorate State is, and how we, as a society have willingly handed over control of our lives to entities that DO NOT EXIST! Handed our safety over to a gang of religiously motivated whack jobs who do not see that ending all life on earth, whether it be by nuclear war or the effects of global warming, as desirable, especially if they can make a ‘divinely’ ordained amount of profit while doing so.
LuckyLefty, I will bring the cheese.
Hang Jane
Doesn’t matter when they have all the markets cornered via the “get big gubbermint off our backs” battle cry that resulting in a deregulating climate that produced wholesale looting of everything.
How many of those most distrusted industries will be around in the near (4-6 years) future? As disposable income decreases and costs of essentials continue their increase, we can expect Big Tobacco to continue its slide into oblivion. As I’ve reported, Big Oil now controls only 7-10% of proven global oil reserves, and that % declines every year at a rate of 5-8%; I expect them to face major blowback as the effects of Peak Oil increase their destabiling the overall economy. HMOs will die a well deserved death upon the advent of single-payer. Airlines will be destroyed by Peak Oil. GM’s CEO just acknowledged Peak Oil will drastically alter the products the auto industry will offer. Packaged foods will also change as input costs will likely price them out of the market as people economize by returning to in-home meal preparation and greater CSA and Farmer’s Market purchasing for health reasons. Privitized utilities will be returned to public ownership as rates rise and demand goes unsatisfied.
These are all based on the onset of very intractable economic problems created over the years by the US Empire’s unsutainable consumption and debt-based financial system. Some of these problems are now active so now visible. One simple way to describe the situation is to say that the whole of the USE’s economy is essentially a Ponzi pyramid supported by abundant sources of cheap energy; pull away the prop of cheap energy, and the whole house of cards will collapse, either slowly or rapidly. This is the stark basis of the USE’s future direction.
No oil = no plastic = no packaged food. The end of McCulture.
I can hardly wait.
Going to be buying a new, and soon to be very nessesary book soon. ‘Gardening When It Matters’. A book about growing a food garden when the crunch hits.
Have fun trying to eat your SUVs.
There’s got to be a political opportunity here. Attack and attack hard the politicians that are bought and paid for by these corporations, and that turn our governments (local, state and federal) into service agencies for these corporations.
Don’t expect instant success. This is more like a boxer steadily throwing body punches. It won’t be flashy, it won’t be the blow to the head that makes the crowd go “Oh!”. Instead, it will just be the sort of thing where we punch and we punch and we punch until we start to wonder if we are having any effect …. then suddenly your opponent crumbles in front of you.
Consistently, steadily and constantly tie the corrupt politicians to these unpopular corporations. Tie them to the effects we see, like when all of DC voted to make all of us pay higher prices for meds to protect the profits of big pharma (which are trusted by 11 percent of the citizens).
Don’t let up. Keep punching.
COMarc: I don’t know. Maybe a few well placed headshots would do the world a world of good…
Big business doesn’t give a rat’s ass about their popularity in America. The masses can talk all they want, as long as they keep buying. Vote with your dollars and your feet. To get some idea as to where we are headed as a country read “IRON HEEL” by Jack London. Big business in America is now tied to the empire. Let the masses talk all they want. It won’t stop the empire rolling along under the name of Globalization.
Hoa binh
Corporations have economies of scale and we are fairly bound to buy their products and even shares of their stock, or live in caves while they destroy the earth. They have us over a barrel.
One candidate or 500 federal pols cannot overcome the corporate power to bribe and coerce. Only We the People can do that direct democratically like the Swiss have done as Mike Gravel shows us in his website.
It bears repetition that ironically, the fastest, easiest way to achieve direct democracy here is to incorporate We the People into a for profit corporation with equal shares of non-transferable stock, dividends and voting power for each citizen.
We can take our dividends from the lease of our trillions of dollars worth of public treasure in the form of money, free healthcare and education, a healthy environment, etc. And we can hire and fire our corporate administration in yearly stockholders meetings, according to their performance. We would vote to do business only with corporations that are honest, socially and environmentally responsible.
We only need a Ralph Nader to incorporate We the People, to become the largest, richest corporation for whose business all others would have to compete. We the People would be in control with one simple, popular act that would lift all American citizens out of poverty.
reclaimdemocracy.org good site.
“Big Business Unpopular” — that’s an understatement.
Good article and good data, and thanks to Robert Weissman and his great organization.
However, I am now quite optimistic, for the several reasons below, that large swaths of the population will quickly go far beyond their feelings of ” Big Business Unpopularity” to a new level of informed contempt for the corporatist Empire which has stolen our democracy and hides behind the facade of this “Vichy American” government that they currently control.
1. The intellectual and academic research and writings on ‘corporatist empire’ behind the American government have grown dramatically in the last few years and are quickly migrating serious information on this corporatist empire’s foreign and domestic tyranny out to a much broader popular level.
It was only a few years ago that the concept and supporting documentation that the public image of an American democratic government being substantially captured and controlled by corporatist power was the sphere of a very few advanced thinkers like Chomsky, Chalmers Johnson, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, David Harvey, Neil Smith, Gordon Kolko, and David Korten —- many of whom, if they were known at all by the popular media, were often discounted and disparaged as conspiracy theorists or ‘commies’ by the MSM.
Lately, however, the awareness of corporatist abuses, crimes and collusion as a group has broadened considerably —- substantially due to the reality of their own corporatist behavior and also to a dramatic increase in publicly known and respected figures addressing the topic of corporatist abuses and broaching the idea that this constitutes a form of Empire within or behind our superficial government.
Al Gore, in his fabulous new book, “The Assault on Reason” poignantly pleads for more communications via enhanced internet (specifically real-time full telepresence for political discussions, debate and education between multipoint social groups of people to empower and save our democracy).
Gore warns that an extreme right-wing corporatist ‘faction’ has now coalesced into an alignment of interests that specifically attacks the very concept of any ‘public interest’. He carefully reasons and documents several times that within the radical right-wing corporatist faction which has captured our government, [quote Gore] “(to them), there is no such thing as ‘the public interest’; that phrase represents a dangerous fiction created as an excuse to impose unfair burdens on the wealthy and the powerful.” In other references Gore re-emphasizes that this ‘faction’ behind our government has utter “contempt” for the very concept of any “public interest” even existing.
Such a corporatist model of their desired political/economic goal does not merely suggest their current and obvious attempt to roll-back the ‘New Deal’ and all progressive actions by ‘our’ government in the 20th century, but truly describes a goal to achieve feudal or other imperial levels of total control that historically pre-date any notions of democracy and even the enlightenment.
[My only criticism of Gore’s accurate assessment that a combined “faction” of radical –right corporate interests has captured control of our government, via the power of money, is that Gore does not go the one extra, and in my opinion necessary step, and call this colluding ‘faction’ by its obviously more accurate historical name —- EMPIRE].
Thus, the exposure of empire, or at least corporate collusion, infecting, distorting, or substantially taking over full control of our democracy and surface image of government is growing quickly in popular information flow (particularly on the ‘dangerously anti-corporate’ Internet), and even in the broader public square of political debate by economic populist and anti-war candidates (when they are not thrown off the air by corporate power).
2. Secondly, and related to the broadening of public knowledge, reading, and discussion of corporate abuses, is the obvious and highly visible overreaction and striking back of corporatist powers — essentially showing ‘their teeth, bare knuckles, and iron hands’ in beating back this growing and dangerous (to them) level of public awareness.
Here are two highly visible examples of corporatist power and anger against their ‘customers’ when those customers want to discuss and act as ‘voters’ in a supposed democracy are:
The ugly reaction of the brown-shirted Tom Donohue and his Chamber of Commerce when he publicly threatened that the corporatist lobby would spend ‘whatever it takes’ to “bit the asses” of any populist presidential candidates who talked any anti-corporate talk.
The corporate tyranny of GE/NBC (in concert with the Nevada Supreme Court) in squashing democratic debate by using corporatist power to prevent the populist, anti-corporate Dennis Kucinich from having any voice in the Democratic (sic) debate (sic) last night. GE/NBC certainly demonstrated precisely the ‘iron hand and claws’ that the proto-fascist Donohue and the Chamber would strongly endorse in dealing with any public discussion of what Gore talks about as their outlawed ‘public interest’.
No wonder William Gibson, father of the ‘cyberpunk’ genre of science fiction is a junkie.
He forsaw all of this, from the Corporations ruling countries, to the rise of corporate mercenaries, to a cyber-literate population cut off from the basic humanity of each other, struggling against an oppresive, dangerous cartel controled government, in a burned out, resource depleted, polluted cess-pit of a world.
So here to ya, Bill. Drinks are on me. Just meet me at the local watering hole. Watch your back.
Twenty to thirty year ago, manufacturing jobs constituted 34% of our work force. Now it is 12% and that % is falling fast. A goodly amount of the 12% left is manufacturing weapons of war.
The day is fast approaching, when the number of people who still have jobs that pay enough for them to purchase anything other than the bare necssities, food, fuel and shelter, will be so low, that all of that Chinese junk in the stores will either rot there, or be transferred to the dollar stores. The five and dime store will return.
KEM: I have some wonderful reprints from Algrove Publishing, as sold by Lee Valley Tools. ‘Farm Blacksmithing’,'Handy Farm Devices, and how to make them’,'You Can Make It’ and ‘You Can Make It for Profit’. All originally published before 1935.
All very handy books. Guess which ones I am taking with me?
We now have four and a half Supreme Court Justices who really like corporations. They are like large guns (sometimes called “equalizers”, you know) who will help keep corporations from being bullied around by all these poll-answering citizens.
I wonder if there is some strategy we could employ to be sure the corporations get another friendly Justice or two (or three) in the next few years.
Excellent post by amacd
John Edwards is the only viable candidate for President who has a proven record of WINNING law suits in court for “We the People” against corporate America. Big business, the corporations, and all of the rest of THEM are scared to death of him and the headaches he can inflict upon them. They don’t want to even acknowledge his existence. Remember the ostrich who buries his head in the sand? If the media can bury him deeply enough, discredit him enough, (you know all of their little tricks), the rest of us won’t know or think seriously enough about him. Remember he has pledged not to accept ANY corporate funding for running his campaign. He refuses to be beholding to any of them when he becomes President. Thus, Big Media keeps ridiculing him saying he can’t win because he does not have enough money. That is just another one of their numerous ploys to wipe him off the slate. Check him out at:
http://www.johnedwards.com/splash/ or johnedwards.com
Remember both Clinton and Obama have accepted extremely large donations from Washington insiders, Big Media, Big Pharma, lobbyiest, and all of the rest of them. Do you really think they will truly stand up for all of the rest of us?
“What the Harris findings on attitudes to regulation do show is that the business campaign against regulation as an abstract concept has been very successful.”
A different reading of the poll results is this: Americans want the government to “take care of them” by way of more regulation instead of us taking care of ourselves.
We all know, for example, that fast food is total crap and is the main cause of our obesity and children’s diabetes pandemics. Yet, have sales dropped? No. We know Exxon is little more than a criminal enterprise, yet their profits continue to rise. Why? Because “we” are too lazy and/or immature to simply stop buying Exxon gas. We know Wal Mart does not have our best interests in mind. Yet, are people turning away? No. We all know the Earth is melting, but have we seen a huge rise in the sale of hybrids, scooters, bikes? No.
As Ben Franklin said: “God helps those who help themselves.” He said nothing about acting like helpless children and then demanding the Government “protect” us.
Polls are UTTERLY useless especially since the Supreme Court just delivered another MAJOR BLOW to working, lower, middle class people. Besides, it’s not as if most people in Congress are going to do any serious Big Business reform unless its in their “favor” at our expense.
Corporate Fraud Lawsuits Restricted
The Supreme Court yesterday strictly limited the ability of investors who lost money through corporate fraud to sue other businesses that may have helped facilitate the crime, a decision that could doom stockholder efforts to recover billions of dollars lost in Enron and other high-profile cases.
- By Robert Barnes and Carrie Johnson
and here’s the outrage following up:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/15/AR2008011501329_Comments.html
There is no one to stand up for us.
I didn’t spend any money last week and I’m not spending any this week either. Corporations can’t make you spend.
Quality Time: “There is no one to stand up for us -?” That’s EXACTLY what the predatory capitalists want us to think, because then we’ll feel completely helpless and do nothing to rein them in!
No one is standing up for us? How about John Perkins, author of “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” — an astonishing best-seller revealing the depredations of the IMF, World Bank etc. How about radio talk show host Thom Hartmann? There are many, many high profile people who understand what needs to be done — and that includes John Edwards, whose life’s work has been standing up for the “little guy.” He had a terrific night in the Las Vegas debate on MSNBC — even the talking heads had to admit it! If you’ve got a few dimes to spare, Quality Time, pop them in an envelope and give this guy a fighting chance to be President. (Anyone notice, last night, how he’s moved both Hillary and Obama more to the left?)
I don’t need anyone to stand up for me.
I stand up for myself. Look around. See which asshole is carrying a gun and looking in my direction. Go back to ground and get the hell away from there.
The only way we can reclaim our lives and our humanity is to ABANDON the Corporate Society we have been herded into.
Go off the grid folks.
frank 1569, you are right. People don’t approve of big business, as the polls show. But still let them control their lives.
Some of you don’t seem to be attached to reality. Capitalism is actually a good thing. It’s greed that is bad and not doing unto your neighbor as you would have him do unto you. So applaud yourselves for not buying anyhing is not the answer at all. You sound like self-righteous economic vegans!
Dudley: Adam Smith should be dug up, shot and pissed on.
Capitalism has proven to be just as much of a societal dead end as the other great experiment, communism. Capitalism is the purest expression of greed there is, getting rich at the expence of other’s labour while you do none of your own. Capitalism fueled the slave trade in America that led to the Civil (HA!) War. Christainity LOVES capitalism, as it espouses it as ‘Well you’re rich because God loves you. Being poor means God hates you.’ Capitalism FUNDS Fascism, and that’s a FACT!
Economics is a fallacy. A false ’science’ that dresses up pipe dreams with math. A fiction, a fantasy that should be sold in book stores next to Tolkien.
So if Big Business is so unpopular, why is anyone supporting Clinton who is supported by Big Business, etc.
Didn’t corporations arise from colonialism? Hasn’t the standard of living of the have nations always been at the expense of the poor ones? When we worry about the collapse of our wealth are we forgetting that it is likely based on past genocide.slavery, and government and corporate malfice? When the invisible hand is a tangled corporate web of deceit with a stranglehold on big media that preaches there is no other alternative, what can we do but rant.
A rant:
The empire has no clothes
The empire has no clothes no attire
It’s only destination is to acquire
hyping freedom called ‘war on terror’
a genocide washed awe and shocker
like a boxcar bound for Auschwitz/ AbuGraib
the pursuit of power knows no bounds
The world is ours… our extermination camp
The empire has an invisible hand and brain
like a runaway plunder powered corporate train
destination Aufwiedersehen.
The empire has an invisible hand and brain
like wordless prophets pimping gain
a new world order built on pain
star spangled in a barren dying plain
Anyone find it odd that right after they change the bankruptcy laws, we have a foreclosure crisis? Shades of the “Savings and Loan” scam of the 80’s with the same players. The chimp family. Neil Bush and what about the Keating 5? So, Mclain is competent to be the president of what country? We can only pray that Edwards gets in, un funds the Supreme Court of Assholes and investigates the ENTIRE chimp family.
Nationalize big business!
I have not read all the comments here, so if I address something someone else already has covered, I apologize. The problem is, even though most of America may disapprove of “Big Business”, we are still obligated to spend our paychecks there just to maintain everyday life. Gotta get to work? Fill up your car gas tank at Big Oil Gas Station. Yeah, it would be a heck of a lot better if there were some other alternative, but what is there? When you live in the sticks with no bus service, you REALLY don’t want to ride your scooter to work in twenty degree temps. Even if it would save a few cents on gas. Grocery stores raise their prices so as to cover their rising bills from Big Oil. You have to buy food. Unfortunately, I live in a climate where I can’t grow vegetables in the winter, as much as I wish it were otherwise. We also have to pay our utility bills to Big Electric, Big Phone (Who also seem to cater to Republicans). Otherwise we can’t stay in touch, which may be crucial during the day. I am just saying once a society gets used to certain things, it is really hard to adjust to suddenly NOT having them.
So what do we do? We complain to the politicians but they only listen to who pays them. And that certainly isn’t regular people. It’s the big corporations. And the lobbyists. They know they have regular people over a barrel.
Baby Watson: Not to worry. What we are “used to” is going to go away in the not so distant future. There ain’t going to be any gas for you to buy (peak oil and the military is going to have first crack at what there is), the grocery shelves will empty out in short order, and Chinese junk will be too expensive for you to buy. Ever heard of the “race to the bottom”? Well, we’re just about there.
As far as I can figure out there is probably nothing wrong with the concept of capitalism. But greed is built into the system. When government doesn’t regulate the greed we get fascism not capitalism. And when labor has no seat at the table through strong unions, capitalism just becomes a mechanism for wage slaves and is death to democracy.
What we have today is just a Robber Barron redux. And it’s going to go down the same way it did in the 1930’s. Only this time it is going to be worse because our economy is globalized and the corporations have no home base because they are international. And the financial markets are also global and in far worse shape than in the 30’s.
Everything that the government and financial system is doing, and will do in the short term, is try to keep you from going into a panic. All they want to do is keep you buying stuff and going more in debt to do it. They are all putting lipstick on a pig thinking we the people won’t recognize the pig for what it is.
It’s too late to fix this mess. You should save your anger for the politicians that made this economic collapse possible. Business was just doing what they were set up to do - profit any way they could.
All you can do is prepare NOW. I like Galen’s reading list. Very cool. We all need to start thinking how we can operate and survive locally. And no matter where you live, you can in fact grow food in the winter. We are all going to need each other for many years to come. This mess is going to last for a very long time.
Oh, and seed catalogs for spring are available now. Get your order in. And stick to open pollinated stuff. No GMO’s or hybrids. You’re gonna have to learn how to collect seeds for next year’s crop.
AMACD: Great posting. The numbers in the polls are fascinating because they show a visceral reaction on the part of the greater segment of the public who get their “NEWS” from the MSM.
With the recent pet food recall, with reports of bloated CEO pay packages, with products like “Vioxx” taken off the market (like so many diet drugs, and a host of menopausal drugs), little by little these for-profit scams that take lives along with them are being exposed. Taken in sum, the average person realizes corporations are about naked profit. They may still entertain ideals for their “unitary executive” (that stubborn 30$), but people in America are very cost-conscious and when they see dangers around products they buy, they respond.
I will believe it when people actually buy fair trade and local goods instead of destroying their own jobs by buying Chinese crap at Walmart and their ilk.
Ticonderoga, I agree with what you wrote, and I would guess almost everyone also agrees with you. The truth of this was clearly demonstrated by the 2006 elections, where the Democratic Party did virtually nothing about what they were elected to do – especially with the issue of impeachment.
As to the question, “why do so many people continue to support these corporations by continuing to buy the products made by these corporations”, my guess is that there is a lack of awareness by the average person of the connection between buying products produced by these huge multi-national corporations and therefore continuing to keep these corporations in business. Another thing is that I feel many people don’t have a choice. There may not be a Citgo in the area in which they live, or that it is too inconvenient to fill up the car by driving to where one is located.
And I am guilty of the fact that I like many of the items produced by most corporations, and so I purchase something made by these corporations. Also, it’s hard not to buy from these huge corporations because they permeate nearly every part of life in the USA. Living now in Vietnam, it is easier to not support these monster corporations because they don’t have the access, yet, to the market here. However, now that Vietnam has recently entered the WTO, I wonder how long it will take them to do the same over here. The day I see a McDonalds here will answer that question.
I think that change will never occur until the government ceases to grant corporations the same rights as an individual. Corporations are not people and it’s ridiculous that they are recognized as such. It’s way past time that the States return to the original ground rules created the keep corporations in check by making them stick to their charters in order to be allowed to do business. If I’m not mistaken, corporations can be given the “death penalty” by failing to adhere to their charters.
Another thing that would help is if we the people took a look at ourselves, and the way we live. We are almost all consuming so much more than we need to. We have all been conditioned from birth to buy the latest gadget, or “look” the “right” way by all the television commercials and magazines that are constantly trying to influence us. Speaking for myself, I’m guilty of this to a large degree. Habits are hard to change, but with awareness and the will to make even the smallest change would be a step in the right direction. I fear the Earth can’t handle us folks much longer and something is going to give, and I don’t think were going to be very happy when that day arrives.
Finally, just as there is a separation between church and state, there should be a separation between corporation and state. Get their money and power out of government.
I don’t know how any of this comes as a surprise considering that “profit” means “advantage”—a system for creating the disadvantaged, based on nothing for something….
Big Bidnis would be George Bush and Mitt Romney, right? Will somebody please tell me how Mitt Romney could beat John McCain in Michigan?
From watching Michael Moore movies and playing tennis with retired Hungarian auto workers in Budapest, I had thought that people in Michigan were really cool.
Now I see, however, that morally speaking, they are missing their battery, cables and
alternator. Weren’t they listening when McCain floored Romney on the subject of torture?
I’m a one issue citizen, and that issue is torture. I figure that any American’s attitude toward torture is the most revealing character evidence available.
Of course McCain is as stupid about war as he
is brilliant about torture, and politically
speaking the two things cancel each other out, making him a cypher– no hope there, either.
The Republican side is a wasteland.
We either need to revamp Capitalism through ??? maybe getting rid of corprate personhood,which would make them liable for being evil instead of profitable. I’m sure there are many great ideas out there on how reform Capitalism–but none are being implimented. And if Capitalism can’t be fixed, we have to abandon it regardless of the short term implications. So as I see it–it is of the upmost importance to change or end Capitalism. Lets not be like the USSR and finaly reveal we were wrong about our “superior economic system” through a complete economic collapse.
Hi BOTTLE, you’re right, the Republlican candidates are a sorry lot. The BIG problem is, any of the front runners will definently beat Hillary or Obama. John Edwards will beat any of them. I cringe when I read a blog here from sensible people I respect, who won’t vote for John Edwards for one reason or another. If Edwards doesn’t win the primary, we are screwed.
bottle January 16th, 2008 7:37 pm
“Big Bidnis would be George Bush and Mitt Romney, right? Will somebody please tell me how Mitt Romney could beat John McCain in Michigan?”
Romney was born and raised in Michigan and his father was CEO of American Motors Corporation. And of course, Mitt told the jobless Michiganites he would bring auto manufacturing jobs back to Michigan. That promise, realistic or not, brought back the feelings of joy, hope and love…..and a vote for Romney.
Desperation is rampant in this country and people are gullible. Some actually believe that Americans can earn living wages and still compete with the cheap labor in China and India, nations which are producing autos that will be landing on our shores in just two or three years; just in time for the surfs of America to afford transportation that will get them to their minimum wage jobs, if they even have one.
RE: Quality Time: “There is no one to stand up for us -?” That’s EXACTLY what the predatory capitalists want us to think, because then we’ll feel completely helpless and do nothing to rein them in!
The only ones left to stand up for us is…US!
Ultimately, is is WE who decide how complicit in all this we want to be. Don’t want war?…don’t join up. Don’t want to enable the corporatists in their rape of third world countries populations…don’t buy the crap in Wal-Mart. You say you don’t want us dependent upon oil..then get rid of your goddammed SUV’s, and get in a smaller, more fuel efficient car. Or motorcyle. Or bike. Or walk.
These are things ALL of us can do. We don’t have to be a party to their party. People have more power than the “leaders” want us to know about. We have been propagandized to death to believe that we are helpless, and only “THEY” can save us, make things right. This is CRAP. We have believed and bought into a lie…many lies.
Vote with your purse, your feet, your conscience. Like many here have recommended, quit buying STUFF you don’t really need. Go on freecyle.org and trade ith your neighbors. You’ll get what you need and so will they. The key here is to opt out of the lies. When enough of us get fed up with it all, it will happen.
And above all, don’t be afraid. Because that’s exactly what THEY want…to keep us all in line.
I’ve come to believe that possibly the only way to save ourselves is with a constitutional amendment. We can’t rely on the Supreme Court, let alone the legislators. An amendment that is ironclad in stating that corporations are NOT persons and have no constitutional rights would allow us to take back our country. I would also like to see something about public campaign finance, but the disenfranchizing of business is the most important, I believe.
A friend and cabinetmaker (former competitor) of mine closed his shop a few years ago to fulfill a dream of his to raise a dairy heard on the family farm that had been idle.
He and his wife know every cow by name. The herd is grass feed and extremely healthy . The milk tests at the highest levels.
A year ago I suggested that he ditch the dairy association and sale the milk raw.Why mix your high grade with the corporations vile mix.He wouldn’t hear any of it at the time.
I stopped by to see them last evening .There going to start selling raw milk direct to the locals.
We must always sow the seeds.The ones we plant in good soil will grow.
po grandma -
This is rather peculier that human beings (in utero) are not considered persons (and to Oboma that also includes outside the womb the infanticidal maniac) and yet a faceless non-human corporation is considered a person.
And I cringe, Kem Patrick, when you keep on thinking that Edwards will save us, when we know he conspired with Hillary Clinton to keep Kucinich and Gravel and other “lesser” candidates from the debating platform.
Sure, politicians tend to lie, but isn’t it a bit much when they band together to pull an NBC on members of their own party?
I don’t know if either Hillary or Barack have the nerve to pick up John Edwards as VP running mate again or not (after 2004), but perhaps they should because Edwards is a force—just unlikely to get the nomination.
The guys that run Big Business do not give a hoot about their share holders, let alone the citizens of America, they care about their bonuses which are large if they deliver big profits, and even if they don’t. Remember, even though our courts have ruled businesses have the same rights as citizens, the busnesses for the most part are multinational. Thye are not loyal to America, because they consider themselves global citizens.
Our politicians have allowed businesses to export our production and jobs,
not pay taxes on global profits, engage in cartel pricing practices, especially in insurance, banking, energy and food and deliver unsafe product due to inadequate regulation, in return for campaign contributions and the promise of a high paying job in whatever industry/company they kiss up to once they leave office.
Hi TONDEROGA. We heard a very brief portion of a conversation of Hillary speaking to Edwards and his five word reply. I don’t believe that constitutes PROOF that Edwards had anything to do with what the networks eventually did to ban Kucinich from the debates. If Edwards did have anything to do with it, ___ shame on him.
However, politics is not bean bags, it’s a hard and at times very nasty business, that goes with the territory. Kucinich is not exactly clean himself, __ none are. In any case, people can ban Edwards when they vote for that belief, and or, because he paid his barber a bundle for a haircut, or that he’s a trial lawyer and we all “know” they are all “crooks”. Right? Yeah, Abraham Linclon was a “crooked” trial lawyer.
I will ask, which one of the other “perfect” candidates do we wish to vote for? We have a choice, we either elect John Edwards, or we have a Republican president again. And yes, I’d prefer to cringe, thinking we were so one minded about John Edwards, that we end up in the same boat we’ve been in for the past seven years.
Take your pick gang. I also realize, arguing politics and the candidates gets some people riled up, and sometimes causes hard feelings and I hesitate to do that. __ It don’t stop me from offering my opinion of whom I believe is the very best choice and why I beleive it.
I don’t argue politics for my personal benefit, neither does anyone else here do so. We argue for our country, for our Constitution and for our once had rights as citizens of America.
So blast Edwards if you will, but offer a better choice, and state why you believe that. Do I like Kucinich? Yes, indeed I do. Can he honestly possibly win, even if he is allowed to attend the debates that he should be allowed to attend? I’ll leave that question open for any who may wish to give an honest answer.
And I don’t believe any need to cringe because I’ve made my pick for John Edwards. I don’t cringe when someone likes Obama, or any of the others. I cringe when someone is one or two issued and ignores the big picture.
If people really feel this way about corporations, then John Edwards is a cinch for president and this is why no one can come close to beating him, right? What is wrong with this picture? Is it the media or plain stupidity?
MALTHUS. The media is owned by the BIG corporations, GE owns NBC for example. I watched an hour long CNN news progam this evening and they showed some footage of Obama, Hillary and three Republicns. Political Pundents talked at length about those five candidates. John Edwards was neither seen nor mentioned once.
Give the people stupid soundbites and they flounder. Give the people hard data to sink their teeth into and they rise to the challenge of progressive self-governance. Who’s surprised? The elites are not. They incorproated this into their psych-ops strategies decades ago.
The 3 corporate candidates–(primarily Clinton and Obama–Edwards, with his populist language increasingly less so)would be much more credible if they spoke to the marginalization of all the candidates. It is unlikely to happen though–because the threat of talking real truth to power is a liability to the candidates corporate media and class know they can play ball with. What happens then–as with the trumped case to invade and occupy Iraq, is we participate in the complicit acceptance of unstated state of reality. It becomes acceptible to only accept reality in retrospect–and the pattern of complicity continues because we have become conditioned to only face reality after the fact–and then it doesn’t make any difference.
I have seen the enemy, and you can too, just look in the mirror.
We like easy credit, we love our Ipods, our blackberries, our dvd, cd, and all the crap that distracts us from our stolen government. If Marie Antoinette was alive today she would say,”let them buy an Iphone”!
The reason that politicos listen to corporations and not citizens is because corporations care about, and are involved in, government processes while citizens care only about their cheap plastic crap. It is beyond time to take back our government and it starts with each one of us getting involved in the selection of our leaders. It is past time to vote democratic simply because you have always done so. It is time to elect leaders pledged to real campaign finance reform, to the restoration of controls on safety and legality in business practices, it is time to throw the bums out, all the bums!
The impending economic collapse will bring some interesting reforms.
You will not be able to awaken the large mass of sleeping, brainwashed-into-apathy Americans until the economic crisis becomes more serious. It looks as though we won’t have to wait very long for that to happen. Meanwhile information flow for the masses is still mediated by the corporate fascists. We need to figure out ways to throw monkey wrenches into the works of the corporate media in order to get real information through to the majority who don’t go to alternative media and who are not yet “primed” to deal with the new information. There are radical technicians out there who know how to interfere with information flow and substitute truth for the corporate lies. They should get to work now.
“Adam Smith should be dug up, shot and pissed on.”–Galen.
Adam Smith deserves no more blame for Chicago School economics than Marx deserves for Stalinism, or Christ for Evangelicals.
Actually our ruling class cares very much about knowing what we think, and molding our opinions and ultimitley actions to suit their interests. Do they value the common man’s thoughts? Of course not.
Hey Kem, your words that Kucinich might be UNCLEAN raises my curiosity.And don’t spew that crap about Iowa and endorsing Obama, thats been de-buncked. Can you provide details or are you just rammbling. I know where Edwards is unclean and dishonest…..FOTRESS GROUP INVESTMENTS. But I am looking for real truth and if you will provide that proof I’ll look at it. We’re (the posters on common dreams, and probably all democrats and independents) so divided that we’re totaly screwed. I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. You sound bitter when you speak of Kucinich. BTW Kem, I agree with about 90% of what you say.Oh yeah, why do think Hilary, and EDWARDS didn’t speak up about The exclusion of Dennis at the Nevada debate? Obama, I think at least mention it. I heard it straight from Dennis Kucinich here http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/16/breaking_the_sound_barrier
Listen if your as objective as I think you are. Once agian Thanks Texrey
People buy corporate products because they are cheaper (not noticing the long term costs) or more available and are advertised more. By the time people come to distrust corporations, the corporations have consolidated the markets and their power and much richer than the individual. by the time the individual realizes that they have to act collectivley to fight powerfull organizations, the corporations have consolidated power in the institutions in which the collective bargaining takes place.
We need to instill these class discussions into the family unit, into schools and churches and media, and have people grow up with knowing the importance of collective barganing/action to fight corporations. And we need to ask ourselves why we don’t talk about these things more, and how to develop the habit in ourselves and others.
Even if products and industry drastically change, the corporation will still be there, just at the financiers have been here for 500 years. It’s about who controls the money. Of course, money is actually a commodity representative of a person’s work, the people are the money. If the collective stopped working in the factories and offices and shops, stopped buying things and stopped banking- that money would be worthless. Not that I’m saying it would happen, just trying to start a discussion on what money is and who finaciers are.
I like the idea of incorporating ‘we the people’, I’ve often thought of incorporating my family through a family trust and collective ownership of our homes. But is that really incorporation? Any lawyers in the room?
capitalism is good and greed is bad. yes, I can agree in the very broad sense. But when people say stop buying at walmart they don’t stop buying altogether. They buy local- still capitalism. Local anything is more balanced then corporate business.
I’ve never met Kucinich personally nor seen him speak, but the most objective ways we have to judge anyone’s sincerity is their voting record and sources of funding. Last I looked, he fared pretty well in both regards.
http://www.newleftreview.org/?page=article&view=2652
If you want to change this you have to reform a platform and take back the democratic party. No one from the extreme right is going to stop steamrolling thier agenda until everyone is competely poverty stricken (think globally) or it is demanded that social and political policy reflect a redistribution of economic well being.
I am the last person eager to defend “economic thinkers” from the 18th / 19th century but the very nasty remark about ADAM SMITH (seen as the father of deregulation which lead to corporatism)he should be shot and pissed on…)is really not justified.
Smith was NOT just an economist like Ricardo but originally professor of moral philosophy (!)The problem is that those who have elevated “market rule” / “market freedom” to religious status use cherrypicked quotations from “The Wealth of Nations” to support their ideology while the many critical passages, let alone other writings (e.g. The Theory of Moral Sentiments)are totally ignored.Smith advocated the “moralisation” of capitalism to prevent excesses (of greed and corruption)which he denounced.
Smith lived in the age of mercantilism so it is little wonder that he wished for more “free trade”. But he also realized that if there are no social / ethical constraints (enforced by law)capitalism leads to great injustice and wealth disparity.
Smith (of all people)pointed out that in the absence of state regulation the balance of power would always be in favour of the employer (owner of capital)as the workers (in his days) had no rights to assemble or to go on a strike.
The misery of workers, resulting from their extreme exploitation during the first trial of “laissez-faire” capitalism (in Britain 1830>)led to the rise of socialism and the foundations of unions.This backlash counterbalanced the power of capital and allowed the rise of a middle class and a fairer distribution of income and political power. Two World Wars later, in the 1950ies and 1960ies the socialist parties hat considerable political power (except in the US)but the disciples of Hayek and Friedman and their billionaire supporters (through think- tanks with only one thought…)orchestrated in the 1970ies a remarkable renaissance of neo-liberal policies with the likes of Reagan and Thatcher, not to forget real nasty guys like Pinochet. (More on this see “THE SHOCK DOCTRINE” by Naomi Klein).
Today, even here in “old Europe” neoliberal religion is treated as TINA and we have now reached a stage, where unions in Germany must defend themselves for demanding a wage rise (which is a threat to “growth”)for their members who have less spending power (inflation adjusted) than in the 1980ies s, while the CEOs give themselves rises of 30%. Recently NOKIA - the market leader in mobile phones here, announced it would close a factory in Germany and move to Rumania where the workers earn about $ 100 per month. No big deal in these days of outsourcing jobs to low-wage countries but the irony is, that NOKIA has been collecting “corporate welfare” from the state for years because this was seen as necessary to “attract foreign investment” but it could not stop the race to the bottom in the EU because the former communist countries offer their own subtler version of slave labour which global players like Nokia cannot resist… (in order to ensure increasing profits to shareholders)
Before capitalism reached its current, insane form, a greater number of workers could lose their jobs if the company had financial trouble or went bankrupt. Very sad, but understandable. NOW 3,000 or 10,000 people are fired because their living-wage does not allow for two-digit (profit)growth-rates…..and the worst thing is, that although people here distrust and often despise the TNCs for this, they are made to believe that it is legitimate for a company to act like this because the market (competition) demands it. The beauty of this system lies in the fact that every time a few thousand people lose their jobs, the lucky ones, who are still employed, but more afraid, are rather willing to accept agreements which undermine labour rights and lead to financial losses…..
To prove my point (about Smith) here is a quote: “The principal architects of global policy, our merchants and manufacturers have sought to ensure that their own interests have been most peculiarly attended to, however grievous their impact on others, particularly the victims of their savage injustice”
P.S. The 3% who considered the tobacco industry or the oil industry “honest and trustworthy” should not be allowed to vote….. (intelligence test perhaps?…)
Po Grandma’s post sounded simple, but was really important — she said in part: “possibly the only way to save ourselves is with a constitutional amendment … ironclad in stating that corporations are NOT persons and have no constitutional rights, [to] allow us to take back our country.”
The more one looks into this, the more one realizes that such an amendment would have profound implications for American life. Almost every domestic problem we’re facing can be traced back to corporate wrongdoing that harms the majority of us — and is too often perfectly LEGAL because of the absurd fiction that corporations have “rights” like people do. How do we pass such an amendment? Well, first we need a Democratic president and a lopsided Dem majority in both houses of Congress — and then we need to “re-educate” a lot of those Dems as to just WHO they are representing!
AdeleTheCzech, thanks for noticing! As for the need for a dem President and Congress, I’m afraid that isn’t enough. As Molly Ivins always said, “you’ve got to dance with them that brung ya”; nobody can get elected without insane amounts of money, which means corporation dollars. A Constitutional Amendment can be started at the grass roots level, look at one of our loonier amendments [when will people learn that you cannot legislate morality?] - do you really think the powers that be were hot to jump on the Temperance bandwagon? But the ladies got it done.
We’re in deep trouble and if we don’t address some core issues we are sunk. First and foremost on my list is this Corporate Hydra. It rears its fascist heads every generation and must be killed or controlled. If we don’t … well I try not to think too much about the cliff we’re about to go over because my sweet young granddaughters will go over, too.
Hi TEXREY, good question. My comment about Kucinich was not to imply he is a crook, by my comment he’s not totally clean either is in regard to all of our Congress, they accept favors of one type or another from lobbyists, and or donations for running for office from those who actually rule us.
I also was not aware that the issue of Kucinich and the Iowa deal had been debunked. I don’t know who debunked it, but the day he endorsed Obama, I watched one of the campaign committee personnel on a CNN news program say Dennis had made a deal with Obama. What kind of a deal?
Then a few days later when Kucinich was on the Bill Moyers news hour, he refused to answer why he had made a deal and had endorsed Obama. If he had such a good reason when he did that, there was no good reason to rigth then answer Moyer’s question, instead of mumbling. He looked bad, and it appears that he or his his staff worked up a fair answer, which came out a day later. That just don’t add up, it’s politics of course and they all play the game.
Anyway, thank you for your response to my comments and for your question. I like Kucinich and believe he could be a good president, he don’t have a prayer however and even if he did, I’d still personally vote for John Edwards, because he is the only one who can beat any or all of the Republican candidates. I also believe Edwards is as honest a politican can be and believe he will keep his campaign promises. That’s about the best we can expect from anyone.
Big business aside, 18% actually still believe the sun revolves around the earth????? I see that someone else (youbetterwork) commented on this already. Um. To me, in my somewhat simplistic state, this is a more frightening statistic than just about anything else I’ve read!
I would thank minitru for the correction about Adam Smith, which I was about to post myself. Pity that those engaged in politics do not take the time and energy to understand their subjects. This is, in a nutshell, why we are in the mess we find ourselves, an uneducated and arrogant electorate who think they know everything but actually know nothing…with apologies for a stolen and mangled quote.
The link I posted explains there is more than one issue here, there is a political shift to the right because the left was not doing well. We have to admit there was a point that things needed to be evolved and at that point the right have work endlessly to further thier agenda which has very bad consequences. Read the link then you will know how big a problem it actually is and why it is not going to be fixed anytime soon. The longer this goes on the harder it will be to change or find anyone to change it. No one is perfect.
The sun don’t revolve around the Earth??? Oh-oh. Guess I’m gonna be banned. here.
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kiddin. He-he
Galen COMarc: I don’t know. Maybe a few well placed headshots would do the world a world of good…
What a disgusting comment.
Now more than ever, it well time for a constitutional amendment revoking 14th Amendment protection for corporations. Starting with Santa Clara vs. Union Pacific and carrying on with more decisions, the Supreme Court has given corporations all the protections of citizenship combined with the protections from liability that a corporate structure provides. In effect, corporations are first class citizens, while ordinary persons are second-class citizens. This violates the concept of equal protection under the laws.
http://www.trafford.com/07-2440
Dear Sirs and Mesdames,
This subject, in my mind, is the most immediate most urgent and serious matter confronting the Human Race. Despite the fact that many great minds, philosophers, politicians, academics and economists, have all created eminent careers based on their knowledge and understanding of how free enterprise, national economies and the human race interact, they have all failed to admit the obvious. It is glaringly obvious that we have large swathes of the human race that do not have access to money; it is that simple.
Therefore we need a system of economy that literally accommodates the needs and aspirations of every human being. A system that will not rely on taxing others’ in order to provide all the multifarious forms of infrastructures, as well as our human and social obligations. A system of taxation in which the haves are continually being pressured to claw back those taxes from the have-nots. We must face the fact, once and for all; this system can never provide all human needs and infrastructures.
We have allowed right-wing ideology to dictate the terms and even if or when large swathes of populations may be fed and housed or have health needs addressed. We tolerate the fact that we have millions of working poor who will never earn enough to meet all of life’s basic costs. Many of these are struggling to raise families the bedrock of our future. Those who work lead the most precarious of lives.
Precarious, because their work and income has become the plaything of corporate power, which moves production to lower waged economies. This makes the executives and the shareholders richer but at the cost of the misery they leave behind. Wages go down, but not prices, or costs of living, and the formerly free “social wage entitlements” are removed.
This is the “rationalized” world directed by Corporate Power and implemented by our Governments, the world of “user pays”.
Take it or suffer the consequences. The Government calls this “work choices”. Hear the Corporate applause? The consequences are total destitution for some; they could buy none of life’s essential services.
Complete and total destitution for many unless they work, no shelter, no food, no health care, and no education, none of life’s necessities.
So we need a system, which provides equal opportunity and care for all, overlaid with free enterprise. At the same time we can put in place a fair and equitable industrial relations system that eliminates employer employee antagonisms.
Our democracy is in serious trouble. Rich people and corporations channel funds into political parties in order to achieve their own commercial or ideological ends cleverly bypassing democratic inputs. It is happening in all democracies but that does not make it “worlds best practice” or “right”. We can correct that quite easily. We make so-called free trade agreements under which corporations are exempted from government regulation that control workers rights, pay and working conditions. Is this democracy, is this really necessary, should corporations have such unbridled power, where will it end?
Introduction of The Universal Economy will immediately and substantially impact and improve such questions as Poverty, provision of universal education, health care, pensions, unemployment, housing and all public infrastructure (roads bridges schools hospitals etc). None of this will require the imposition of taxation.
The concept of The Universal Economy will be easy to introduce, because it benefits everyone, everyone will want it to work. It will be hardest to implement in third world nations, not impossible, just slower to implement. It will kick start economies wherever it is introduced.
This is a concept for the twenty-first century. Put to one side traditional thought processes and embedded conventions see only the greater-good and benefit of mankind then you will support this enterprise with the open heart and mind it deserves. Adopt this concept for the good of humanity.
Give your support, not money.
Yours Faithfully, THOMAS W ADAMS.