The New Corporate World Order

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Wall Street Lobbyists Roll Back Finance Reform, Again

Reagan's Chickens Home to Roost?

FOCUS | My Big Fat Greek Minister

Genetically Modified Democracy

Robert Scheer writes: "Big government, the devil that Republicans love to inveigh against, is big precisely because it is so active in so many costly ways in serving the interests of our biggest corporations. Corporate lobbyists attest with their every breath that big government and big business are bedmates in a bountiful venture that impoverishes the rest of us."

President Barack Obama listens to General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt speak during a meeting of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness at the White House, 02/24/11. (photo: Reuters)

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+18 # Kayjay 2011-04-20 18:01

AHAAAAAA! So the GOP really does love BIG government after all. It looks our debt has really piled up as we all provide for the "Corporate defense" of America. Hypocrisy and complicity of these GOP goons is more than breathtaking. When will the American voter exercise some genuine self-interest?. ..soon, or we will all be living in cardboard boxes.

+21 # Kayjay 2011-04-20 20:04

Sorry...yes I'm back. But I gotta add that I just don't get it. I mean the GOP puppets are not trying to hide what they are doing for the rich. They are not running a massive covert operation to cut taxes etc. It's like we are at a crossroads, and the GOP are waving the flag and egging us on to take the potted road where the towns are decayed and boarded up, everything is privatized, and the hills sport gated communities housing the few rich. Too often we follow these GOP, the flag, the waning American dream and vote contrary to our own economic interest. I just don't get it. You don't follow politics much? Well grab a friend and visit a local Walmart or Target. Then have your friend scour the store for products made in the USA. I'll bet your friend emerges the store nearly empty handed. Worried now? I would be since that Walmart is probably next to a food bank with long lines. I just don't get, why WE don't get it. The solution? Cleaning the House and Senate and maybe protests that will dwarf the ones over Vietnam. Sorry... I'm off my soapbox now. I hope we get it.

+14 # Dan Avery 2011-04-20 22:05

It's not just the republicans who are serving the corporations. It's both parties. That is how 1% controls 40% of the wealth and 25% of the income. In fact every senator and virtually every one in the house falls into that 1%. So what usually happens in countries where wealth and income are held by just a few?

+11 # Ken Hall 2011-04-21 03:06

Totally with you, Kayjay. I've watched in dismay for the past three decades as conservatives, with their very obvious pro-business/an ti-citzen agenda, were voted into office time an time again. The GOP spearheaded the movement and created an alliance with Evangelicals and the NRA that has brought our country low. I like your image of the GOP directing us down a potholed road towards shantytown, but it wasn't only the GOP. Corporatists like the Clintons did their share, too, of stripping the middle class of sustainable employment and consumer protections. The results of the conservative agenda are now on full display, we are there. In an effort that well-fits Einstein's definition of insanity, some voters want to keep throwing our resources and political destiny off the same cliff. Sheer stupidity, if you ask me. As you and many others do, I hope it's time for a sea change.

+7 # jon 2011-04-21 06:16

They have divided and conquered us. And how was that done(?), when Reagan did away with the fairness in broadcasting act - we lost our voice. That was the beginning of the end.

As long as Murdoch owns the media, they will control the minds of enough sheep to make sure nothing is done to change their ever tightening control.

+7 # DPM 2011-04-21 07:19

Noise! That may be our best, but not only weapon, in the upcoming struggle. Rallies, marches, protests, sit ins. Lots and lots of noise. USuncut is off to a good start targeting BofA. I marched with several hundred teachers this week. There are stirrings of a resistance against the corporate state.
And, yes, I know that one person(you?)can 't make a difference, but when one person joins another and then, they join more(you, me and the rest)things can be changed. If you are afraid for you and your family, just think about what other oppressed, freedom loving peoples have said, "We do it for our children and their children."
Selfishness is part of the reason we are where we are. Fear keeps people in line. Participate. Be heard and be seen. Even if it is just spreading the facts of our plight to friends and family. We all have a part to play. Even the small parts are important.

+4 # Adoregon 2011-04-21 11:24

Next election, whether state or federal, vote for 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, party candidates. Don't vote for anyone who accepts "donations" from corporations or large amounts of money from private individuals.

Make voting for candidates who are backed by small donations from many individuals the status quo. That way you'll know the person you are voting for is highly likely to represent "the people" rather than the corporations or the oligarchs.

+3 # Gary Epstein 2011-04-21 11:53

The Washington Spectator (April 15, 2011) reports that Montana state representative Michael More authored a nullification bill that is a declaration of sovereignty that lists conditions under which the State of Montana will secede from the Union and form an independent nation. It passed the Montana House by a 54-45 vote. Fortunately, it was tabled by the Montana Senate. I would like to know whether when Michael More pledges allegiance to the flag is he pledging his allegiance to the United States of America and its constitution or to a pattern on a piece of cloth?

+2 # Glen 2011-04-22 08:12

This is not the first time a state or states threatened to leave the union. Trouble is, they soon realize what that actually means and how most don't have an economic base to sustain their population and needs. It also creates a vulnerability to crime, etc.

Last time Texas threatened to secede they decided against it because of a need for assistance with the Mexican border. Little did they know there would not be much coming.

We can all sympathize with the emotion to stimulate seceding, but it is rather much like running away from home to the streets of Rio De Janiero, or even throwing yourself on the floor as a toddler would, to indulge in a temper tandrum that the parents will ignore.

Seceding is a tough call.

+6 # Kayjay 2011-04-21 15:24

In reference to my ramblings above, I do get some of it. Namely why do people refuse to see the duplicity of the GOP and blue-dog Dems, and routinely vote against their own self-interest? We all know people don't like CHANGE. Familiar feels safe, so the GOP's ever-repeating phony message of austerity strikes a chord for many. Thus the big challenge will be breaking through their long held belief system. Or maybe we should just resurrect Reagan's three decades old adage of.... "are you better off today, than four years ago?" Or how about thirty years ago?

+7 # Madmax 2011-04-21 17:53

Why didn't you inform people in this article that the government owns the majority of stock in G.E. They have investments that Americans are unaware of. The government is far from bankrupt, only in regards to what they feel they have to spend on us.

0 # MalikTous 2011-04-24 09:16

I vote 3rd party because neither the Big Government Dummycrats nor the Big Religion Repulsivans represent me anymore. Tom Edison is dead, and his General Electric has outsourced so much they're no longer a USA corporation. Rescind TARP and other bailouts and cancel Porkulus packages.

0 # Lee Black 2011-04-24 14:08

"...Today we go to China, we go to India, because that’s where the customers are."

I have a hard time believing this - people who are paid $10 a day cannot buy $25,000 cars or even $1,000 refrigerators. It's one more excuse.

0 # Protius 2011-08-14 19:36

we are all complicit in these whoas that we experience, we always want some "leader" to do for us...as citizens we should be acting out the behaviors we expect from them, if we don't then our non-doing will be our collective un-doing. We all seem to enjoy or work towards the glut of capitalism and the American "dream" in essence co-signing the means to which this "dream" is produced. If we don't like "it", we should not consume "it". Then we can focus on what we are "for" and not so much fighting "against" something so often.

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