Capitol Hill Staffers have positive opinion of Corporations, not so much for labor.

“The poll comes amid rising complaints from the private sector that Capitol Hill doesn’t understand or appreciate business.”-Politico

Businesses feelings are being hurt.

The above quotation from the Politico article below reminded me of a recent poll here in Wisconsin by corporate lobbyist Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce.

In fact, I was so appalled by this comment by WMC President/CEO Kurt R. Bauer, that I wanted to give it its own blog post. I can’t really imagine what would make someone think like this, especially after the jobs losses due to the Great Recession:

“Many employers say burgeoning government sponsored benefits like protracted unemployment insurance and other entitlement programs are undermining workers abilities to re-enter the workforce,” Bauer said. “People don’t keep their skills up when they can get unemployment benefits for 24 months along with other entitlements. Employers can compete against each other on wages, but they can’t compete against the government on handouts.”

Again: “The poll comes amid rising complaints from the private sector that Capitol Hill doesn’t understand or appreciate business.”

This should tell you something our corporate takeover.  I know, it sounds clichéd, but…there’s nothing secret or “dog whistle” about it anymore, as corporations decide how they’re going to tweak the few remaining nagging details. Even staffers on Capitol Hill trust business over labor...help:           

Corporations are still seen as trustworthy and necessary by Capitol Hill staffers, according to a new survey … of 328 bipartisan congressional staff:

65 percent of Hill staffers have a positive opinion of corporations — calling them very or somewhat trustworthy. Less than half — 49 percent —say the same about organized labor.

71 percent of Hill staffers found meetings with CEOs and top executives useful to do their jobs, while only 45 percent said the same about meetings with labor leaders.

64 percent of Hill staffers said that meeting with corporate lobbyists was a helpful activity in formulating policy, while only 45 percent reported that meeting with labor lobbyists was useful.

Again: “The poll comes amid rising complaints from the private sector that Capitol Hill doesn’t understand or appreciate business.”

ALEC gets Government Stamp of Approval in Wisconsin and South Dakota!!!

ALEC is not only the single most powerful legislative body in the country, getting more done than congress, but they're now able to influence Republican politicians in broad daylight while voters take a back seat to corporate power.

Deep down inside you know somethings terribly wrong when big corporate money gets this official stamp of approval:

WSJ: A gift is not an illegal gift — if it comes from your good friend ALEC. That’s what Republican lawmakers have been told by the Government Accountability Board.

The ethics police have determined that “scholarships” financing pricey vacations — er, seminars — attended by state lawmakers held by the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council do not fall under the ban on giving gifts to state elected officials. GAB found that the legislators’ reimbursement of lodging, food and travel expenses to ALEC seminars does not constitute a gift, even though the grants are funded by corporations.

“What they said is the fact that corporations give to a slush fund for legislative scholarships is OK, so long as they don’t earmark it for a certain lawmaker,” Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy’s Brendan Fischer said. “It doesn’t strike me as in keeping with the intent or the letter of the state’s ethics law.”

Over at Tax Analysts, David Cay Johnston coincidentally picked up on this jaw dropping expansion of ALEC’s influence:

When it comes to picking taxpayer pockets, few organizations display as much chutzpa

h as the American Legislative Exchange Council. It is a rich person’s anti-tax lobby, hating paying the price of civilization and in love with the idea of weak tax law enforcement. Now taxpayers, at least in South Dakota, will pay for legislators to belong to ALEC. The Legislature’s Executive Board fully embraced the American Legislative Exchange Council for the first time Tuesday.

AberdeenNews: The Republican-dominated board decided the state treasury should pay for the $100, two-year memberships for all 105 South Dakota lawmakers and for unlimited out-of-state trips to ALEC meetings by legislators who are members of ALEC committees.

 Apparently, Iowa already uses state funds for ALEC memberships.

ALEC’s “Ag-Gag” Law coming.

You know big business has won when you see them sweating the small stuff now. Freedom loving Republicans were only talking about corporate freedom, or did they just forget to tell us that?

Since a “free market” works both ways, 70% on consumer and 30% on business, business has decided consumers have way too much control. With the Ag-Gag laws already on the books in Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, Kansas, and Utah, it’ll be just a matter of time before everyone else jumps on board.

Ag-Gag laws are explained in the story below.

Indiana lawmakers are moving legislation that would make it a crime to expose corporate crime. The Indiana AFL-CIO gives us the details: Senate Bill 373, authored by Senator Travis Holdman (R-Markle), would make it illegal for workers, journalists or others to photograph or record video of unsafe, discriminatory or otherwise unethical work place practices.

For the union bashers out there and won’t take the AFL-CIO’s word for it, this is the actual text of the proposed bill:

Agricultural and industrial operations. Makes it unlawful recording of agricultural or industrial operations, a Class A infraction, for a person, with intent to harass, defame, annoy, or harm, to: (1) enter real property that is owned by another person and on which agricultural operations or industrial operations are being conducted; (2) take a photograph of or make a video recording or motion picture of the real property, structures located on the real property, or the agricultural operations or industrial operations being conducted on the real property; and (3) distribute the photograph or recording; without the written consent of the owner of the real property or an authorized representative of the owner. Increases the penalty to a Class B misdemeanor if the offense is committed knowingly or intentionally and the person has a prior unrelated judgment or conviction.

Gee, I wonder what they want to hide?

Milwaukee Company Threatens Employees to vote Romney.

More corporate bullies are joining on to threaten your freedom to vote. The “will of the people” may soon become an anachronistic phrase laugh at by the oligarch’s.

Just after Bain Capital told Sensata employees to stop their protest, or see the plant closed down a month early, this news broke out of Milwaukee:

jsonline: Mike White, the chairman and owner of Rite-Hite, a major Milwaukee manufacturer of industrial equipment, told employees in an email this week that all employees "should understand the personal consequences to them of having our tax rates increase dramatically if President Obama is re-elected, forcing taxpayers to fund President Obama's future deficits and social programs (including Obamacare), which require bigger government."

With so many large corporate bosses sending out these not so veiled threats to their employees, is anyone in Washington paying attention? Those who have not followed this quickly developing story are completely outraged, conservatives and liberals alike:

The email stunned some employees. One employee said he felt threatened by the email. "It's a good company, but for this to come out, it's absurd," the employee said. The employee said even supervisors were surprised by the tone of the email.

White, a Summerfest board member and village trustee in the Village of River Hills, did not return several calls requesting comment. The firm employs an estimated 1,400 people worldwide.

I can’t help wondering if the following language will hold harmless the company’s involved. I doubt it. With big puppy dog eye’s they’re claiming they don’t want to “prejudice any employee for their political views and totally respect your right to vote as you choose. I am simply trying to present the facts as I know them and to protect the business you have helped build! Please think carefully about your vote on Nov. 6.”

In his email, White said the firm's retirement savings program contributions were based on after-tax profits. "The tax rate we pay is not 17%, as Warren Buffett would have you believe; with state taxes it is roughly 45%. President Obama has announced that our planned tax rate would increase to roughly 65%, reducing our after tax income by 36% and dramatically reducing, if not eliminating, your and my RSP contributions … White also wrote that Obama's re-election means there is a "good chance of losing Rite-Hite insurance and being put into Obamacare."

You have to wonder how companies grew and prospered in the 50’s and 60’s when taxes were dramatically higher. This is all a pretext to freeloading off Obamacare:

White explained that employers can continue their existing insurance plans or “pay a penalty and have employees go into the Government Plan. Our plan costs much more per family than the penalty and hence the possible competitive need to drop the Rite-Hite Health Plan. Every opportunity to make up for lost profits to taxes will have to be re-evaluated.”

Here's Ed Schultz with the story:



Not only that, White doesn't pay taxes on anything until he takes all his business right-offs first. But

White is also a hypocrite:

jsonline: John Vitek, a Milwaukee tax lawyer, said it was possible that the company's combined tax rate would be near 45%. "But I don't know where the 65% is coming from," he said.

And while White was critical of President Barack Obama's tax policies, government records indicate his firm was awarded a grant of $26,471 in economic stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

From WTDY: 

But according to Wisconsin law, it's illegal for an employer to threaten workers in order to influence their political opinions: Statute 12.07 (3)

No employer or agent of an employer may distribute to any employee printed matter containing any threat, notice or information that if a particular ticket of a political party or organization or candidate is elected or any referendum question is adopted or rejected, work in the employer's place or establishment will cease, in whole or in part, or the place or establishment will be closed, or the salaries or wages of the employees will be reduced, or other threats intended to influence the political opinions or actions of the employees.The email went on to tell employees that Obama's policies would threaten their pensions and healthcare.

Professor Gordon Lafer, with the Labor Education and Research Center at the University of Oregon, says laws like Wisconsin's were enacted to protect employees from feeling threatened.

"It seems to me that what this manufacturer has done is quite likely a violation of that law, maybe unknowingly, but there'e a good reason for the law," Lafer said. "What we want is that everybody who votes is maximally free to think whatever they want , to say whatever they want, to shout whatever they want, and to speak up in public. That's how democracy is supposed to work."

Lafer insists there is an implied threat in these kinds of emails.

"My boss is essentially telling me 'I'd better not see you wearing an Obama button or all those little perks that you need from me or your job security is going to be on the line,'" Lafer said. "Because that's what every normal person reads between the lines of that kind of language."

Scott Walker Ignores Federal Warnings about Breaking Law, Playing Santa Claus with Taxpayer Money.

Republicans are so bad at running government, that to cover up their incompetence, they blame it for everything they can't get right. We've got proof:

WSJ: Gov. Scott Walker's Department of Administration secretary, Mike Huebsch, took responsibility Thursday for failing to give board members of the state's economic development arm needed information regarding a critical federal review. "I should have brought this to the board earlier" he told the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. board meeting. "This was a decision I made, and it was a mistake."

No kidding?

A WEDC board member threatened to resign over concerns about being kept in the dark by the agency's leadership. Paul Radspinner, president of FluGen Inc., sent a letter to Gov. Scott Walker saying "It is unconscionable that the WEDC staff would consider this issue not important enough to share with the board at the June meeting, let alone last week's meeting. If the WEDC leadership is not held accountable to proactively keep the board informed in a timely manner on issues affecting its reputation, then I cannot fulfill my fiduciary responsibilities nor can I continue to serve as a member of the board."

You know who chairs the board? Scott Walker.

In a strongly worded Aug. 12 letter, federal officials said the state failed to follow federal law and their own policies in issuing economic development grants.

According to the jsonline:

A May 2012 letter from HUD shows that Walker's administration was warned in August 2011 that HUD did not recognize the economic development corporation's ability to administer federal money.

This is the irresponsible Republican style of government. It’s cronyism on one hand, and Santa Claus to corporate persons on the other. Does anybody think the following is just a coincidence?

Paul Jadin, the WEDC chief executive officer, said Wednesday his departure is not related to the issues HUD is reviewing.

Apparently Americans like empty, nonsensical, wealthy corporate candidates.

We're just one Republican president away from a total corporate takeover of our country. 

If this recent poll is a even a hint at trending public opinion, we're all in big trouble:

The Hill: Two-thirds of likely voters say President Obama has kept his 2008 campaign promise to change America — but it’s changed for the worse, according to a sizable majority. 

A new poll for The Hill found 56 percent of likely voters believe Obama’s first term has transformed the nation in a negative way, compared to 35 percent who believe the country has changed for the better under his leadership.

Strikingly, 1-in-5 Democrats say they feel Obama has changed the United States for the worse.
Compared to the sentiment about Obama’s impact, fewer people see presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney as a candidate who will change the country dramatically if elected.

Still, 50 percent of people think Romney will bring a “significant” level of change — a finding that may reflect the desire among anti-Obama voters for a reversal of the president’s policies. 

Business is so close to taking it all, they can taste it with a $2 million ad buy.

The Face of Corporate Greed

Nothing says fascism, plutocracy, oligarchy than this recent effort to cinch the electoral prize of a Republican ruling class.

The Republic: Wisconsin's leading business lobbying group says it has purchased $2 million worth of television air time to run a spot in support of Republican Gov. Scott Walker starting Monday. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce vice president James Buchen says the spot running statewide is designed to make the case that Walker's policies are improving the state.

We're getting used to Corporate Blackmail. Hey, they're the job creators.

Corporations are rapidly becoming the “welfare queens” of 21^st century. While Republicans denounce social programs that pick the pockets of taxpayers, their picking the pockets of taxpayers in corporate giveaways and incentives. Pretty soon, corporations will essentially be paying nothing, using the countries commons, at the expense of taxpayers.

This “job creator” nonsense, repeated so often people believe it, has made corporate welfare a simple fact of life. We wouldn’t have jobs without them, right?

Check out the following corporate blackmail, in Illinois, that is supposedly an acceptable price of doing business;

Newsmax email text: States considering an increase in corporate or income taxes would do well to study the recent move by Illinois to boost state revenue … In May, Motorola Mobility was offered $100 million in financial incentives to keep its corporate headquarters, and 3,000 jobs, in Illinois. Navistar, a truck and engine company, has received $65 million in incentives. 

Now Sears, one of the state’s largest employers, says it will move 6,000 jobs out of Illinois unless the state extends tax incentives set to expire in 2012. Two Chicago-based financial exchanges are also threatening to depart … the state could be compelled to spend the additional tax revenue in order to convince companies to remain in the state. Ohio has offered Sears $400 million to move there, and Indiana has an ad campaign tempting Illinois businesses by asking if they are “Illinoyed” by the higher taxes.

Corporate welfare appears to be completely unstoppable, unless something is done nationally to stop this monetary competition between states. 

Republican Rep. Robin Vos Bashes Union Spending in Recalls!! But Corporate Spending...?

In what can only be described as bizarre, Rep. Robin Vos basically thinks the unions should have play dead during the recall election, while anti-labor forces spent wildly swaying and influencing voter opinions. According to Vos, it’s a way for unions to prove their public support, without unfairly tipping the scales with a positive union message.     

Republican Wisconsin state Rep. Robin Vos said the big money spent by pro-labor forces in the recall elections shows "that they're not about protecting workers rights, they're about protecting political power."

Union money is free speech, the last time I looked at the Citizens United decision. But the new normal according to Vos, leaves only corporate free speech rights in place, because they are the all-powerful and omnipotent “job creators.” With so few jobs available, who needs those union “job protectors” anymore?

But no one ever takes the time to ask Vos, or any other union busting Republican, why “corporate bosses” are so much better than “union bosses.”  

“This is the last grasp of those political bosses to be able to showcase why they need to have the political power, and they lost," he said.

The unions didn’t lose. But the real point Vos admits to should be much scarier; the only political power now is corporate. Vos appears to relish the shift in power.   

One warning for Wisconsinites who don’t mind seeing wages, benefits and their quality of life lowered:

“As the changes have had time to sink in, people appear to be accepting it, and it appears to be part of the new status quo," said James Sherk, a policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation.

They would like that.

"Corporate-Person American" Will Rice; to the tune of Pink Houses.

I couldn't stop playing the video below by Will Rice. Great sense of humor, and even greater message. Here's a picture of his open letter to Stephen Colbert:

It really is worth the view.



Will's celebratory song for Citizens United anniversary:

Corporate Tax Cuts the New Civil Rights Movement? Perry thinks so...

You'll also notice everything Gov. Rick Perry lists in this new civil rights movement has nothing to do with us, real flesh and blood people, but corporate "people." Sadly, this is the commonly accepted idea in our country now, and not something most people would find really really scary.

Tobacco Companies Sue U.S. for violating their "free speech rights."

Corporate personhood continues to build.....

AP: Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies sued the federal government Tuesday over new graphic cigarette labels that include the sewn-up corpse of a smoker and a picture of diseased lungs, saying the warnings violate their free speech rights and will cost millions of dollars to print. 

Romney promotes "businesses are people," a variation of "corporations are people."

Mitt Romney is actually saying it wrong. "Corporation are people," are really, "people" in the singular form. The same for "businesses are people." Not the group of people, Romney is suggesting in the ad below. A corporation is a legal entity on paper, that supposedly has constitutional rights, and is equal to one person, according to the Roberts Supreme Court. 

It's all part of their god complex I guess, where they have the power to create a "person." 

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney took a lot of flak from Democrats last week after he said that “corporations are people.” In a new web ad, the former Massachusetts governor sticks to his guns, Politico reports.

"Astonishing to think businesses aren't people. What do they think they are, little men from Mars?" 

“Businesses are comprised of people,” he said in the video. “I'm talking about repair shops, and gas stations, and beauty salons, and restaurants. I'm talking about Apple computer, Facebook, and Microsoft. I'm talking about businesses that employ people.”

War on the Wealthy, Pt. 2...killing off demand side economics.

The Social Security tax holiday on the employee side, an extra $1,000 to $2100 in the pocket of workers, is expiring in January. Republicans want to end the tax cut because it doesn’t put money in the pockets of the “job creators,” employers, the corporate class. They're pushing trickledown economics, while actually reducing the more stimulative, demand side of the equation. Here’s the bizarre story:

AP: News flash: Congressional Republicans want to raise your taxes. Many of the same Republicans who fought hammer-and-tong to keep the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts from expiring on schedule are now saying a different "temporary" tax cut should end as planned. By their own definition, that amounts to a tax increase.

In one of those revealing Humpty Dumpty moments, where a word or a phrase means what you say it means:

Rep. Jeb Hensarling: "It's always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn, but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again."

Onion News couldn’t have said it better. In a nutshell, here’s the deal:

Congress approved Obama's request to reduce the workers' share to 4.2 percent for one year; employers' rate did not change. Obama wants Congress to extend the reduction for an additional year. Millions of workers pay more in payroll taxes than in federal income taxes. The 12-month tax reduction (and extension) will cost the government (Soc. Sec. trust fund, not the general fund) about $240 billion.

In one of the most hypocritical moments yet, Rep. David Camp, R-Mich offered up the exact argument Republicans just sneered at for ending the Bush tax cuts:

Tax reductions, "no matter how well-intended," will push the deficit higher, Camp's office said.

An OMG moment to be sure. Only tax cuts for the employees cause deficits. But Republicans didn’t stop digging the hole deeper…

But Republican lawmakers haven't always worried about tax cuts increasing the deficit. They led the fight to extend the life of a much bigger tax break … To stimulate job growth, these lawmakers say, it's better to reduce income tax rates for people and for companies than to extend the payroll tax break. Mitt Romney "would prefer to see the payroll tax cut on the employer side" to spur job growth, his campaign said.

And isn’t it all about corporate wealthfare? 

War on the Wealthy? That's what our corporate overlords our telling us now.

The corporations won the battle. They own America. They now have to convince Americans that they have to settle for less, allow for a few broken promises concerning safety nets, and turn the remaining government resources over to a more efficient corporate entity.

The video below is a short but shocking example of the corporate narrative.

What happens when Corporations become People?

The meaning of these documents change...

We're all Corporations now? Selling Corporate Personhood Begins, Casually.

The way it looks right now, the conservative truth that corporations are people, and vice versa, goes without saying. Did you have to ask?

Here's Rand Paul coming at the idea from a slightly different angle, claiming you and me are corporations. In fact, "all of us are corporations." How come? Because we might own stock in a corporation, and the more money we give big business, the more money we make. They believe this stuff. Oh, and how have those stocks and investments worked out for you so far?

Here's the now famous "people are corporations" comment from Mitt Romney in front of a not too receptive Iowa State Fair crowd. 

Man: "What are you going to do to strengthen Social Security and Medicare without cutting benefits?"

Romney: "You want my answer, I'm not going to raise taxes. That's my answer."

Since when is paying a lot more out of pocket for these programs not the same as a tax increase? They're not. They're the same.

The Growing Equality Gap

This amazing look at the income inequity in America, from the view point of this Aljazeera production, is riveting and honest. It's long but worth it.

This week they released an episode called "The Top 1%" which explores the growing equality gap in the United States that has expanded by leaps and bounds over the last 30 years. It asks "How did the gap grow so wide, and so quickly? And how are the convictions, campaign contributions and charitable donations of the top 1% impacting the other 99% of Americans?"

Kimberly-Clark CEO not shy about using Disaster Capitalism for more Corporate Welfare.

We the people have already lost the battle against the corporate takeover of our country. I wrote about it here. The battle now, is how much farther down the ladder do we want to be in society, and in the workplace. With the help of the GOP and Tea Party movement, pushing for the freedom to fight the battles against our business hierarchy alone, wages, unions, health care, safety nets and tort law are all on the endangered species list. We've already been told, and many believe, that Medicare and Social Security won't be there for us. A total fabrication.

Disaster capitalism is a simple concept explained by Naomi Klein in the book "The Shock Doctrine." Klein's description precedes the Great Recession, but that event could easily be included:

“Countries are shocked — by wars, terror attacks, coups d’état and natural disasters.” Then “they are shocked again — by corporations and politicians who exploit the fear and disorientation of this first shock to push through economic shock therapy.” People who “dare to resist” are shocked for a third time, “by police, soldiers and prison interrogators.”

So imagine my surprise when a corporate fat cat like Kimberly-Clark's CEO and Chairman Thomas Falk, unaware of Klein's book, offers up disaster capitalism at a Senate finance hearing, as a solution to tax reform. Not one eye brow was raised:

Oh, sweet Karma!!! Big Business doing End Run to Congress, to avoid paying state taxes that add to local revenues!!

Uncertainty...over taxed...discouraging the job creators...blah, blah, blah. Those same bizarre arguments are now being made to Congressional Republicans against state taxes paid by corporations.

After corporations conquered the states with their ideologically pliant Republican governors and legislatures, those same interests are pushing tax cuts on a federal level, undercutting state revenues and their bottom lines.

   

Sweet justice! This is an amazing story. Need proof the corporate takeover of America is aided by the Great Recession and “disaster capitalism.” Take a look at the line forming in front of the door of at your nearest corporate welfare office.

Governing: Bills that would restrict the way state and local governments tax businesses now have more momentum than they've enjoyed in the past … State and local leaders say that could compound their fiscal straits … Washington policies that tie their hands could jeopardize that balance.

Cellular providers are pushing for a law that could prevent state and local governments from increasing taxes on their service for five years … Another bill would force localities to stop taxing rental cars at a rate higher than any other type of rental product … Satellite television providers argue that they’re being unfairly taxed at the same rate as cable providers, backing bipartisan legislation to reduce their state and local tax burden. 

Small businesses, take note of this slimy secret fact:

State leaders tell Governing that since they’ve already made deep cuts … Most likely to take the hit would be small, in-state businesses that lack the resources to fight for special tax status.

Wow, Republicans sure love those small businesses.

The strategy represents a departure from another industry tactic: pushing business-friendly legislation through state legislatures. Now, with states trying desperately to protect their revenue streams, industry associations are making an end-run to Congress, which wouldn’t have to deal with the fallout of the tax restrictions and is happy to enjoy the political benefit of lowering taxes.

State leaders say that Republican legislators -- who typically portray themselves as the protectors of state sovereignty -- are ironically undermining the states by intruding into their authority.

The Republican talking points are now being used against…Republicans!!!

An aid with the House Judiciary Committee says the bills … are designed to prevent a state from “discriminatorily taxing employees and businesses that have little connection to the state.” 

Again, I’m am really enjoying this in an unhealthy way. Here are more familiar conservative talking points, now being used against state Republicans.

Backers of the bills also argue that businesses are reluctant to expand and invest because of the uncertainly of their future tax burdens. Simplifying those tax systems, they argue, would help those businesses gain the confidence to expand and create jobs. 

The biggest threat to states and localities is the Business Activity Tax Simplification Act … The bill prevents a state from imposing various taxes on a business that lacks a physical presence within its borders. But states vehemently oppose the proposal. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that a 2006 version of the bill would cost states and localities $3 billion annually, since businesses would intentionally restructure their operations to avoid taxation (state collected about $642 billion in general fund revenue in FY 2011).

Finally, here’s an example:

Under BATSA, many activities corporations already conduct would no longer be taxable, according to the influential Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. For example, an out-of-state restaurant franchisor like Pizza Hut wouldn't be taxable in a state, regardless of how many franchisees it had, nor would an out-of-state bank, even if it hired independent contractors to process loans. Opponents argue that the bill provides a roadmap to companies seeking to avoid paying state business activity taxes altogether and would be a net-loss to the states. 

Amazing!