Posted on 07/19/2019 2:56:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
Within hours of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt began summoning the heads of American industry to Washington. Roosevelt knew the country would need an unprecedented buildup of planes, ships, and other war materiel. Without hesitation, American companies responded. Ford, Packard, Chrysler, 3M, Hormel, General Mills, Pillsbury, Cargill, Boeing, and many other major U.S. companies gave their all to the war effort. At Roosevelt's request, the president of General Motors even left his company to oversee the war production effort as a lieutenant general in the U.S. Army. Roosevelt's initial request for 50,000 new airplanes per year was openly mocked by the Germans as outlandishly high and impossible to achieve. But the mighty U.S. industrial base roared to life and pulled it off. By war's end, the United States was producing 100,000 warplanes a year. U.S. industry literally transformed itself to save our country. It's fair to wonder if our current CEOs would do the same.
Would American companies in a new globalized economy drop everything for their country? Do American companies even consider themselves American anymore? The Daily Caller News Foundation asked 19 of the biggest names in corporate America if they saw themselves as "American" companies. It shouldn't be a very hard question to answer. But 10 of the 19 -- including Amazon, Apple, Chevron and General Electric -- refused to answer altogether. The others mostly gave weasel answers. Only General Motors and the bank JPMorgan Chase were willing to clearly identify as American institutions. And even with them, the actual record is cause for concern.
Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel brought this issue to light recently when he accused Google of "seemingly treasonous" behavior for cozying up to the communist Chinese government. Amazingly, Google has been working on a censored search engine: Project Dragonfly, built for the Chinese government and designed to keep the Chinese people from seeing the free flow of information. At the same time, Google refused to work with the U.S. military. Thiel suggested that the FBI and CIA should investigate Google, which seems like a good place to start. More broadly, though, can we really call Google an American company?
Google and many other U.S.-based companies have operations, sales, and customers all over the world. They think of themselves globally. They value the bottom line above all. A dollar made in China is the same as a dollar made in America.
The question for America is whether this is sustainable. Every big company has a Washington office dedicated to influencing U.S. government policy and regulation. With our increasingly powerful government and regulatory regime, it's smart for companies to do this, and there is nothing wrong with it in theory. But now that corporate America is pushing Washington for its often globalist positions instead of for policies that benefit Americans, we may have a real crisis on our hands.
We're not talking about just a few corporate offices. Washington is completely dominated by corporate America. Big companies fund the influential trade associations all over Washington and hire lobbyists all over Congress and the regulatory agencies. These lobbyists understand our increasingly complex labyrinth of regulations. And they are often writing the laws Congress enacts.
Think tanks are supposed to be independently analyzing and commenting on our policies. But who do you think funds the think tanks in Washington? Corporate America dominates in this sphere as well. When they want a new law or to stop a law or regulation they don't like, these companies go even further, hiring public relations firms and ad agencies to convince us of their positions. All of this is a multibillion-dollar business.
Lately, when senators and representatives leave Congress, they go to work for the corporate influence machine. Over two-thirds of the congresspersons who retired or lost their seats this last election cycle is now corporate lobbyists. That's a record level. A seat in Congress has become an extended tryout for a high-paying corporate influence job.
All of this would be of less concern if corporate interests still aligned with actual American interests, but those days seem to have ended sometime between the great industrial ramp-up for World War II and Google's recent siding with communist China over the U.S. military. Where does this leave the American people?
Already sold—by Corporate America, our pols, and our bureaucrats.
Yes, this is a silly question - the proof stares us in the face daily...
They are erasing the concept of “American”.
No, corporate America is not selling out our country.
The government unions are not selling out our country.
The politicians who creates a system to enrich themselves by taking money from corporations and unions are the ones selling out our country.
Politicians from both parties.
Corporations and unions just want an advantage. Politicians give them a chance to “buy” an advantage.
Root of corruption is our politicians.
And the education industry has made our students unemployable.
Between that and cell phones, so many have no clue how to do even the simplest tasks.
“I hate google....”
I don’t hate google as much as believe they perpetrated - and continue - unforgivable crimes against the US and society as a whole. Twenty-five years ago or so, their search engine was a wonder I still cannot comprehend. That wonder was betrayed when they began playing political s**t-games.
Insofar as companies having allegiance to the US, look to WWII for precedent. Global economy is nothing new and past may well be prologue.
General Motors, Ford and IBM are examples of US companies that worked all sides of war efforts in the US, Great Britain and Europe. They also benefited from the post-war Marshall Plan expenditures.
No knowledge of similar US business investments in Japan during the WWII years.
There's plenty wrong with it in theory. Rockefellerism has always been about tearing at the chains nonstop and treating the law as a tool while pretending to respect it.
This all goes to show why Natural Law, not legal positivism, is the right conceptual framework for American civics. We are back to just-plain right and wrong because in our day, "if you don't like the law, then change it" is beautiful like the old Soviet constitution.
This is to say nothing of selling out American workers by bringing in hordes of cheap labor. I’d say the major corporations have been selling America and Americans out for quite some time.
A nice big fat import tariff would cure all globalist corporate evils. It’s the only thing they fear. The whole lobbying effort in DC is to keep the US consumer market ( the golden ring ) duty free while protecting foreign markets from US made goods. It is a massive ongoing screw job of the American worker of monumental proportions. It’s driving us towards socialism.
Unions are a non factor. 7% of the workforce and declining every year. They have no power. Labor in the USA is a political orphan.
Been saying this for years
Freedoms Forge, by Arthur Herman, the story of Americas industry answering the call to arms at the beginning of WW2 is a fascinating story.
I strongly recommend it, once you start it you will not put it down.
Our war manufacturing effort was led William Knudsen of GM, a Danish Immigrant.
Yes. Next question?
We have a classic fascist system in place here, where the lines between corporate and government interests have become almost completely eliminated.
Also during this time the humanists, atheists, satanists, homo perverts, et al, have become mainstream, all of which have destroyed what America was supposed to be.
This has been evolving for over a half century. It's like an elderly parent who raised spoiled, narcissistic, indolent children and is horrified at what messes they became. But there's nothing he can do to fix it. It's too late.
The question should have been asked about 25 years ago.
It’s a symbiotic relationship. Two parasites feeding on each other. Politicians and corporate entities are playing together for their common good, not for the good of America.
The politicians are selling us out too.
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This all goes to show why Natural Law, not legal positivism, is the right conceptual framework for American civics. We are back to just-plain right and wrong because in our day, “if you don’t like the law, then change it” is beautiful like the old Soviet constitution.
>
Concur re: Natural Law.
For the rest, yes...IF govt actually FOLLOWED, let alone enforced, the Law. There is ZERO Justice in our once Republic just-us system (3 co-equal circle jerk)
YES. Corporate America Is Selling Out Our Country and Smiling While Doing It. To Them We Are the Enemy.
The indoctrinated youts from our pubic schools since decades ago (hippie era) are now in positions of corporate power.
Many privately owned smaller companies have been gobbled up by big corporations, and are now under that guidance.
I lay the demise of America’s morality, virtuousness and Godliness squarely at the feet of our pubic school teachers, going back to the 1960’s.
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