No one in business large or small has any interest in helping the US or any other economy!!!
The only reason to be in business is profit!
That exactly summarizes the basic problem that now exists in the USA. The term "corporate citizenship", when business was in partnership with the USA, is a philosophy from a bygone era. Today the GE's, Goldmans, Wal-Marts, the former Bell System, Apple, etc are all looking out for international shareholders and bonuses for CEOs only and not the economic viability of the USA. We're just another market that they see as declining and have contributed to the decline.
The USA was a powerhouse because the country and business were in partnership as patriots, instead of today where China and other nations are just as important to GE, etc. The Citizens United election funding decision allows these international companies to control our government and work to eliminate our sovereignty. Illegal immigration and amnesty will be one byproduct. Conservatives will rue the day that the Supreme Court made the ruling that international corporations can use unlimited money to fund our elections. If you believe that such a ruling will benefit America and conservative causes, I've got a bridge to sell you.
You’re out to lunch!!
Great points!
So many posters here don’t know that free citizens have a duty to their country. The current crop of corporate citizens are ‘citizens of the world’ in their nomenclature, and have no loyalty, sense of duty or responsibility to the country that has enabled their great wealth.
These corporations are cynical looters by their actions, filled with people who want the rest of us to serve the country, and pay the taxes to supply an unending bank account for their treason.
GE, for example, forced, by corruption of our government, the ban of US made incandescent bulbs for poison fluorescent garbage made in China. This wasn’t the free market but callous manipulation of our government ‘for profit’. They paid NO taxes last year and in fact TOOK tax money from our government as a ‘subsidy’.
Honestly GE and companies like them should have their US incorporation revoked, and their directors have their US citizenship revoked. They also should be tried and imprisoned for their overt corruption of the US government.
Your view of American history is through rose-colored glasses and does not reflect reality. Have you ever heard the term “Robber Barons”? Have you any knowledge of how the railroads, big steel, and other huge corporations controlled state legislatures across the land to get what they wanted?
People became so fed up with that “partnership” that they actually turned to the fedgov to remove it with Anti-Trust laws. Once corporations grow past the bounds of the nation they have other concerns. International corporations exist because they do something better than others and grow in response to the World Economy’s markets. That is a good thing.
Profit is the signal the market gives to companies to increase their production and sales. It is a GOOD thing, the only thing which allows a company to grow and hire more workers. Attacks on profits are attacks on the labor force.