Posted on 02/09/2011 8:44:57 AM PST by george76
Obama told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today that government and business “can and must work together."
But 68% of Likely U.S. Voters believe that government and big business already work together against the interests of consumers and investors. The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows that only 13% disagree with this assessment
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
Interesting. It portends a possible coming together after all of anti-Government Conservatives and anti-Big Business Lefties.
68% are right. Big business is always on the take. The politicians are the ones who have to be kept in line.
Washington would like us all to believe this. Not all companies work in that fashion. It’s foolish and unproductive. Yeah there are some but I’ve never worked for a company like that and never would. I would bet that the companies they talk about are union.
Maybe it’s just because big business gives money to the politicians to make their businesses more profitable and the government gives big business our tax dollars in exchange for contributions.
GM? GE? Goldman Sachs? Monsanto? ADM? A lot of companies use lobbyists to write legislation and then hand it to the politicians on a silver platter.
Companies that don't play along are taking a risk. Taxes and regulations can cut them down to size at any moment. Companies that help the government achieve its goals stand to win big against their compeititors. Look at ObamaCare and what it does to small insurance companies. The big insurance companies are loving that, because the politicians are eliminating their competition.
It really is economic fascism.
Eisenhower warned about the "Military-Industrial Complex" and everyone assumed that the problem was defense-related. It's really much bigger. It's the corporate world helping politicians gain power, and the politicans helping (some) companies gain wealth.
We are in a bad place, and no one should fool themselves into thinking that this is what Capitalism looks like. We abandoned the free market long ago.
When legislation determines buying and selling, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.
The (only) answer to this is to get government out of business, not business out of government, which is quite impossible.
Can I conclude from this that more than 2/3 of the electorate understands the facist nature of today’s America? And knowing this doesn’t exactly sit well with the majority of these people?
It’s coming...I can feel it.
Answer. Get the Feds out of everybodys business.
If I were in the US Chamber of Commerce I would take heed. This can go very wrong very quickly.
Untrue. I've seen analyses of the average ROI on money invested in lobbying and campaign contributions versus R&D, marketing and other more traditional ways of getting business.
Massive differential in favor of "political" investments.
It is, IMO, unethical, but it is by no means unprofitable.
“Interesting. It portends a possible coming together after all of anti-Government Conservatives and anti-Big Business Lefties.”
Well, after all that TARP money and tax forgiveness, what happened? Wall Street got record bonuses ($135 B in 2010) and then increased our fees on everything.
The Left and the right fight over a few billion in tax cuts vs food stamps for the unemployed, when CITI got a whooping $38 Billion tax break.
http://www.businessinsider.com/citigroup-gets-huge-new-38-billion-bailout-wiping-out-all-of-the-taxpayers-profits-2009-12
Another phenomena that I have found is that most petroleum companies donate heavily to enviro-wacko movements/programs. I guess they think they’re appeasing them or, might they be playing both sides? Probably.
Since neither business nor government can survive without “Us”, wouldn’t it make more sense for them to do their best to keep us happy?
Add my name to that 68%. Big business and government enjoy an unhealthy symbiotic relationship. Today, big business bleeds America by sending jobs overseas to foreign nationals, (some even who are our potential enemies) abandoning American citizens.
Why would a GM bond holder think that?
I find this encouraging.
It sometimes seems to me that the “green” companies doing wind energy and whatnot are not making any real profits at all. They just get by on subsidies and tax breaks. I’m sure that overstates the situation, but quite clearly they would close their doors without the cash that friendly politicians provide.
I’ve made that comment before that the Chamber of Commerce are themselves political apparatchiks raised in big corporate bureaucracies. Washington DC is their entire life, and being unscripted or taking a potentially risky public position opposite to the current philosophy in Washington would be huge sin for such a Mandarin to make. It will never happen.
Please don’t ever expect big business or people like the Chamber of Commerce to stand up for the basic principles of freedom of limited Gov’t simply because its the right thing to do.
A lot of freepers didn’t like it.
the Federal Reserve System is a partnership between the government and a cartel of Wall Street bankers.
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