Corporate Influence
The Revolving Door Spins Into The Obama White House
Obama’s chief of staff earned millions as an investment banker by exploiting his knowledge of government. Now that he is set to become the right hand man of the most powerful man in the world, will anyone be able to exploit him–or his new boss?
November 19, 2008 | Read More
Reason #92: A Planned Disaster - Downsizing the Army to Pump Up Corporate Profits
Rumsfeld and Cheney had planned for a long time to start a “revolution in military affairs.” To them, this meant massively reducing the size of America’s standing army and developing small, high-tech battalions which could be air-lifted to trouble spots to take care of business, either secretly or in the open. But as Colin Powell pointed out before he became Secretary of State, this special-forces approach was exactly the wrong way to invade a country like Iraq. Saddam Hussein, too, predicted that Iraq would absorb the invaders and they’d get picked off one by one.
But Rumsfeld went ahead and downsized…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
Reason #88: Iraq - Where’s the Outrage, America?
Last year, a segment on 60 Minutes absolutely devastated me. A Marine sergeant had just been charged with eighteen counts of murder in a massacre of twenty-four Iraqi civilians in Haditha. These were unarmed, innocent people-mostly women and children down to age two. They were slaughtered without first identification. For our servicemen, it’s always a matter of kill or be killed. But how anyone could be driven to committing such a horrific massacre is beyond my wildest nightmare.
As I watched, I didn’t just contemplate the suffering of those Iraqi families, but of soldiers like the sergeant, trapped in a hell hole…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
World Boss History Reason #1: Strange Fruit
Our military is not supposed to protect private companies and their profits. But for well over a century, that seems to be what many leaders have thought was its prime role. The case of the United Fruit Company is a choice example. In the early 1950s, United Fruit, a U.S. company, owned vast tracks of land in Central America. At one time they controlled more than 400,000 acres in Honduras alone. And on the east coast of Guatemala the company controlled 550,000 acres. They seemed to be everywhere you looked.
But in 1951, the Guatemalan people elected as president a man…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
Reason #82: The Military-Industrial Complex - Ike Warned Us!
When I was a young 2nd Lieutenant stationed at Camp Gordon in Georgia, a friend and I snuck onto Augusta National Golf Course and I introduced myself to President Eisenhower. I still remember the thrill of meeting Ike, the sense, lingering to this day, that I was the luckiest man alive. The former general was congenial. He greeted us warmly, saluted us (we were in uniform), then gently sent us on our way.
In my opinion, Eisenhower was our last truly independent president, as he was not beholden to particular factions or special interests. What was best for America was best for…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
A Truly Free Energy Market
In Brazil, they make fuel out of naturally occurring grasses and sugarcane instead of corn. It’s much cheaper and way more effective. Yet we’ve essentially blocked it from coming into the country by levying giant tariffs on it. Once again, we’re doing the bidding of a few small, powerful interests instead of acting for the greater good.
We need to end those tariffs on Brazil’s bio-fuel pronto and let as much Brazilian-made ethanol into the country as we can. Maybe then, our farmers will go back to growing corn for food instead of a wasteful, taxpayer subsidized fuel and our grocery…
August 27, 2008 | Read More
Reason #74: Unleaded CAFE
Under President Jimmy Carter, the government set up fuel-efficiency standards that automakers had to follow when designing new cars. These were called CAFE standards, which stands for corporate average fuel economy. CAFE standards had a powerful positive impact. Between 1975 and 1985, the fuel efficiency of American vehicles improved by more than 50 percent.
Things were looking pretty good. If we could keep increasing fuel-efficiency, maybe we’d eventually even free ourselves from the oil-based entanglements in the Middle East. But then things stagnated again, and since 1985 there’s been no significant change in the fuel efficiency of our cars. We got through…
August 27, 2008 | Read More
Reason #50: The Uncrackable Tax Code
Have you ever asked yourself why our national tax laws are called the tax “code”? Maybe it’s because you’ve got to be cryptologist, or code-breaker, just to understand it. Back in 1913, when the individual income tax was set up, the “code” consisted of a fourteen-page law and a three-page form. Now, it weighs in at a staggering 55,000 pages.
George W. Bush talked about being a tax reformer and lowering taxes. But between 2001 and 2002, the tax code grew almost 15 percent on his watch, from 45,562 to 52,310 pages. The only other time the code grew that much…
August 27, 2008 | Read More
Reason #46: The Widening Trade Deficit
In 2006, we bought $838 billion more in goods from other nations than we sold them in American-made stuff. That’s a world record, but it’s nothing new. From 2002 to 2006, we set a world-record trade deficit every year. The trade deficit with China alone was $233 billion in 2006, a new world record between two countries.
Back in 1996, our trade deficit was “only” $191 billion. People thought we were in trouble then. Who knew the debt balloon could stretch so much? And why does it keep expanding? Simply put, our political and corporate leaders have never looked beyond their…
August 27, 2008 | Read More
Reason #41: The Declaration of Corporate Independence
The Declaration of Independence states every American has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our economy is supposed to help us achieve these goals. Ideally, it creates good paying, rewarding careers for us; it allows us to trade with each other and our neighbors; and gives us opportunities to invest in real estate and businesses. All of these should improve our lives, ensure our liberty, and allow us to pursue happiness.
The problem is, our political leaders have forgotten the Declaration of Independence and the rights it grants to every American. Instead, they seem to follow a different…
August 27, 2008 | Read More
