Americans need to see the Corporate Fingerprints Behind our Division

[fncceo]

Not evil, just no allegiance ,all for a $$$ fncceo....~S~

The whole idea of setting up any company is to make a profit. A company should have no allegiance except to its customers and stockholders.

 

[sparky]

Not evil, just no allegiance ,all for a $$$ fncceo....~S~

The whole idea of setting up any company is to make a profit. A company should have no allegiance except to its customers and stockholders.

Agree , but see, it doesn't just end there.....

The monopolies grow , infiltrate , and demand congress vows allegiance to them, which in turn equates to legislation favoring them ....it is as simple as the old addge 'he who has the gold makes the rules'

Everything we read, see, hear, every foriegn conflict or domestic policy, any political stripe ,commentary or conflict ends up with ONE common denominator

~S~

 

[fncceo]

The monopolies grow

You realize it's impossible to have a monopoly without government regulations?

Governments create the environments that allow taxi companies, utilities, railroads, and other companies to have exclusive jurisdiction over a segment of the economy.

Where they can't exclude a company from competing with established companies, they create punitive fees and regulations to prevent new companies from entering a market.

In a free economy, it's always possible for an alternative to enter the market to fill a niche not being addressed by a cartel that isn't delivering services at a competitive rate.

 

[Soupnazi630]

Corporate America is the sole beneficiary when we divide ourselves and dehumize each other.

Having our leadership composed of either radical ideologues or corporate cronies simply seals our fate.

We can beat this by just being honest with each other and reminding ourselves of the presence of good people in both sides of these issues.

The real enemy are the multinational corporations that cant wait to auction off our country one piece at a time.

Name the specific corporations and what specific actions they are taking to do all this bad stuff.

It always amazes me how people who hare corporations want to pass laws against both corporations and people. Which means violent force.

On the other hand corporations only want me to buy their goods and services and they cannot do a damn thing to me if I refuse to do so.

 

[BULLDOG]

The monopolies grow

You realize it's impossible to have a monopoly without government regulations?

Governments create the environments that allow taxi companies, utilities, railroads, and other companies to have exclusive jurisdiction over a segment of the economy.

Where they can't exclude a company from competing with established companies, they create punitive fees and regulations to prevent new companies from entering a market.

In a free economy, it's always possible for an alternative to enter the market to fill a niche not being addressed by a cartel that isn't delivering services at a competitive rate.

That's not how our oil companies started. It's not how our systems of transportation started, It's not how the electrification of our country started. It's not how our communication systems started. Without government give aways to corporations, Our country would not have prospered as it did in the late 19th and 20th century.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Corporate America is the sole beneficiary when we divide ourselves and dehumize each other.
Having our leadership composed of either radical ideologues or corporate cronies simply seals our fate.
The real enemy are the multinational corporations that cant wait to auction off our country one piece at a time.

Name the specific corporations and what specific actions they are taking to do all this bad stuff.

Lol, that reminds me of the old joke about four professors wanting to buy three ancient relics, swords owned and worn by Julius Caesar.. Since there were only three swords, someone was going to have to settle for a share of the money from the sale of the rest of the artifacts, but each of them desperately wanted one of the three swords, the money did not matter so much to these archeologists.

So they settled on a method to decide who got them. The Youngest of the group of archeologists would ask each of them a question, and the first one to get the answer wrong would forfeit his claim to the swords.

So the first one was asked what was the date the Titanic sank, and the reply was swift, 'April 14th 1912.' The young questioner thought that would be a little harder than it turned out so he asked the second claimant, 'How many died in that disaster?' 'Give or take a few dozen due to the variations of expert opinions, at least 1500 people died that day.'

Clearly frustrated at his sinking chance to get one of the precious swords, the questioner made his last question a biut harder, 'OK, so name them all!'.

So no, I am not going to name them all, lol, but I can give you a few examples of the abuse of corporate power.

RCA swindled Philo Farnsworth of his patent rights and profits for inventing the electronic television. They knew his patent was valid and eventually they would lose, but they calculated that the profits they made from selling TVs without paying patent royalties far outwieghed the legal costs of tying it all up in court indefinitely. RCA was able to get away with this grand scale thievery by its crony network in the US Congress. and army of lawyers and lobbyists.

Robert Kearns who invented the intermitent windshield wiper was similarly treated to blatant theft of his invention by Ford and Chrysler. He saw very little of his profits he should have made for his invention, but the corporate legal mercenaries hired by the automobile industry tied the case up in court for decades, just like Farnsworth.

We could also talk about BPs Deepwater disaster that has cost the economy of the Gulf of Mexico hundreds of billions of USD in lost revenues, the loss of one third of the fishing areas down there due to environmental damage, and the BP management that is responsible has never seen the inside of a jail cell despite all that damage to the US Gulf coast. Despite the FACT that the disaster was entirely due to BP refusing to follow legal safety restrictions in their operation not even one went to prison.

We could talk about Union Carbide who caused the biggest industrial catastrophe known to human history in Bhopal, India, in which 500k people were exposed to toxic chemicals, over 25k murderers resulting from that and over 200k children and 3k pregnant women were made into cripples for the rest of their lives. None of the negligent management spent any more time in jail than however long it took to process their bail, if even that much. The Corporate Crony network in the USA got SCOTUS to reject extradition of significant actors in this disaster, too.

We could talk about the tens of thousands of deaths caused by criminal activity in the US by illegal aliens who make up more than 25% of our prison population. We could talk about the 50k+ deaths due to heroin that crosses that open border, or the narcotics trade, or the human trafficking or the sexual merchandising of children that goes on there, the loss of American jobs and property, all so Walmart and its band of Beltway Pirates can exploit cheap black market labor. They have managed to tie up the construction of adequate security measures passed in 1986, 2006 and the efforts to secure the border today. They have even been able to convince half the US population that there really isnt a crisis at all with our border, despite the magnitude of this open border being ten times that of any typical hurricane or flood. They can do this because they literally have about 45,000 lobbyists that work their 'magic' on Congress EVERY DAMNED DAY. This is far more than the number of average citizens that speak to or visit Congresscritters each day, far more. The lobbyists have professional line place holders stand in line for them at the office of our Congressmen, and the public rarely can see their own congressmen unless they manage to set up an appointment first. Good luck with that, lol.

I could go on and on and on on this topic, but yes, corporations kill people, steal their fortunes and worst of all rob from our children before they even have a chance to vote.

Now you sound like a libertarian, so I doubt I have made a dent in that ideologically bound mind you likely have, but thats OK. Your species is in collapse.

It always amazes me how people who hare corporations want to pass laws against both corporations and people. Which means violent force.

Lol, really? When was the last time you had that force applied to you personally? RCA, Union Carbide, BP and Ford dont seem to be bothered by it.

On the other hand corporations only want me to buy their goods and services and they cannot do a damn thing to me if I refuse to do so.

If you truly think that is accurate, then you are sorely misinformed.

They have shifted about half their tax burden they had in 1950, as a percentage of federal intake, onto private citizens. You have to wear a seat belt in your car courtesy of the auto manufacturers who wanted to delay implementing legal requirements to install air bags. And the entire Far left organizations from la Mecha to Black Lives matter to the ACLU are financed by the Ford Foundation as a way of dividing the working class against itself while they loot the whole globe and constrict your legal and civil rights to speak your mind. They have created the most ubiquitous social networking forums and now are endeavoring to purge it of dissenting voices, all people who have done no violence to anyone, while they still keep Antifa on everything everywhere, lol.

But if you keep playing cheerleader for them, I'm certain that your slot for the Hangmans Noose will be bumped down several months, roflmao.

 

[JimBowie1958]

The whole idea of setting up any company is to make a profit. A company should have no allegiance except to its customers and stockholders.

That is simply not true.

All businesses allowed to participate in our NATIONAL economy, which is in theory controlled by the citizens of the USA, all have an obligation to obey our laws, and to be a beneficial affect on the commonweal. If they do not at least do some charity work or honestly pay their taxes, they should be seized by the government and their property auctioned off.

We dont need any more pirates operating in the USA, no thank you. We have more than our share already.

 

[fncceo]

That's not how our oil companies started. It's not how our systems of transportation started, It's not how the electrification of our country started. It's not how our communication systems started. Without government give aways to corporations, Our country would not have prospered as it did in the late 19th and 20th century.

Railroads began in America as capitalist ventures operating without government support, or regulation. The transcontinental railway project changed that paradigm by using the power of federal government to provide, at taxpayer expense, a guaranteed profit to the investors. There is no doubt that transcontinental railways would have come into being as the country developed westward. The transcontinental railway sped up that process but it also granted complete government control over what companies could operate in which states and territories, how many services it each company would be expected to provide (profitable or not), and what companies could charge for those services.

Utilities (power, gas, telephone)in this country began in much the same way. Large companies lobbied Congress to create efficiencies by granting a single company exclusive rights to provide service in any area and what they could charge for those services.

These efficiencies are great for companies that get the government granted monopolies, great for their investors, and great for the politicians that rely on the taxes they can pull out of those government controlled monopolies.

However, they aren't good for innovation, for new technologies, or for consumers who are expected to pay for the cost of providing services to unprofitable markets.

The best example we have of what happens when we remove those government controlled monopolies was the 1982 breakup of AT&T. Almost immediately after the breakup, we saw a quantum leap in technology innovation. We saw prices for services such as long-distance telephony plummet. We saw consumer choice introduced into a market that previously had none. And we saw it happen in a single decade.

 

[fncceo]

All businesses allowed to participate in our NATIONAL economy, which is in theory controlled by the citizens of the USA, all have an obligation to obey our laws, and to be a beneficial affect on the commonweal.

Business are the national economy. No economy exists without them. Who decides which businesses are beneficial or not to the commonweal?

This lady?

The market is the best way to decide which businesses are beneficial as they make no moral judgments, only economic ones.

 

[JimBowie1958]

All businesses allowed to participate in our NATIONAL economy, which is in theory controlled by the citizens of the USA, all have an obligation to obey our laws, and to be a beneficial affect on the commonweal.

Business are the national economy. No economy exists without them.

No, businesses are PART of the national economy.

Other particpants are the market makers, the consumers, and the public that has to live with/among/endure the conduct of those businesses.

The little old retired lady who does nothing but read all the time and who is annoyed with the noise coming from the bar that opened up across the street is actually part of the national economy too.

Who decides which businesses are beneficial or not to the commonweal?

The people as expressed through the democratic process of elected officials, various plebicites and polling.

The market is the best way to decide which businesses are beneficial as they make no moral judgments, only economic ones.

Oh no, that dog dont hunt any more after 2008.

The Market makers and regulators of that market have to do their due diligence to protect the markets credibility, public trust and honest conduct.

And dont tell me that Uncle Joe and Auntie May can just go to another competing market if their life savings get stolen or swindled from them by fraud. By then it is too late ffor the market to remedy.

Maybe you should read up more on the dark side of capitalism first? It is not all 100% beneficial to the public, but must be contained and watched vigilantly like a fire..

 

[JimBowie1958]

No misunderstanding. I think profit is good and is the sole purpose of a corporation as it should be.

So the reputation and perceived character of a corporation means nothing to it?

roflmao

 

[fncceo]

No, businesses are PART of the national economy.

Perhaps you can tell me how a national economy functions without businesses? I can show many examples of where economies have existed without government interference.

 

[JimBowie1958]

We already have a system for dealing with disputes of 'fairness' between businesses and their customers in tort legislation. Where the decision is made by a judge who has nothing to profit from choosing one side over the other. Where evidence of unfairness must be presented. Where the decisions and the reasoning behind the are part of the public record and not back door handshake deals.

And that system, still in place, does not work very well as demonstrated by 2008 which would ahve destroyed our financial system if the Fed didnt run years of QE for about $4 trillion in free recapitalization.

The trusted ratings firms like Moody's demonstrated that they could not be and are unworthy of the publics trust, but they are still there performing their supposed function of rating equities. 2008 demonstrated though that really they are just a business like any other and when threatened by banks to take their bidness elsewhere, they all caved.

No, the system is not nearly as robust as many would like to think it is. CDS on equity not owned should be illegal and they are not which proves the system still does not work well.

 

[fncceo]

No misunderstanding. I think profit is good and is the sole purpose of a corporation as it should be.

So the reputation and perceived character of a corporation means nothing to it?

roflmao

Reputation and perception of a business can greatly impact the profitability of a company.

But all the reputation in the Universe won't keep a company going if it can't turn a profit.

 

[JimBowie1958]

No, businesses are PART of the national economy.

Perhaps you can tell me how a national economy functions without businesses? I can show many examples of where economies have existed without government interference.

I did not say that businesses are immaterial, but that they are only part of the system. Until the modern age, people had economies without businesses.

People barter and trade all the time without businesses having a thing to do with it at all.

 

[fncceo]

We already have a system for dealing with disputes of 'fairness' between businesses and their customers in tort legislation. Where the decision is made by a judge who has nothing to profit from choosing one side over the other. Where evidence of unfairness must be presented. Where the decisions and the reasoning behind the are part of the public record and not back door handshake deals.

And that system, still in place, does not work very well as demonstrated by 2008 which would ahve destroyed our financial system if the Fed didnt run years of QE for about $4 trillion in free recapitalization.

The trusted ratings firms like Moody's demonstrated that they could not be and are unworthy of the publics trust, but they are still there performing their supposed function of rating equities. 2008 demonstrated though that really they are just a business like any other and when threatened by banks to take their bidness elsewhere, they all caved.

No, the system is not nearly as robust as many would like to think it is. CDS on equity not owned should be illegal and they are not which proves the system still does not work well.

The 2008 collapse of the mortgage market can be traced right back to government interference in the mortgage market in the form of taxpayer funded mortgage subsidies and federal guarantees for sub-prime mortgages.

Many people who took the trouble to look under the hood of Moody's and S&Ps ratings were able to forsee the coming collapse and many were able to profit from it.

 

[JimBowie1958]

No misunderstanding. I think profit is good and is the sole purpose of a corporation as it should be.

So the reputation and perceived character of a corporation means nothing to it?

roflmao

Reputation and perception of a business can greatly impact the profitability of a company.

But all the reputation in the Universe won't keep a company going if it can't turn a profit.

I completely agree, but fiduciary responsibility, properly understood, has to include the reputation and perceived character of the business as well.

I am arguing for all three, not just one element of them. Obviously profits fuel their whole thing, but when profits are attained through risky or illegal means that is not in the best interests of its stock holders or fiduciary responsibility of its management.

 

[fncceo]

No, businesses are PART of the national economy.

Perhaps you can tell me how a national economy functions without businesses? I can show many examples of where economies have existed without government interference.

I did not say that businesses are immaterial, but that they are only part of the system. Until the modern age, people had economies without businesses.

People barter and trade all the time without businesses having a thing to do with it at all.

There hasn't been an economy without a commercial sector on this planet since the days of Feudalism. Are you suggesting we start castle building?

Because you might be able to talk me into that...

I claim Jus primae noctis

 

[JimBowie1958]

The 2008 collapse of the mortgage market can be traced right back to government interference in the mortgage market in the form of taxpayer funded mortgage subsidies and federal guarantees for sub-prime mortgages.

The real problem is not with the bubble that was created by government regulation of real estate, which is still notorious, in this particular case. It is the fact that the ill effects were magnified so horrifically through MBS, SIVs and other derivative contracts and then the CDS's sold to people who did not own the equity in question made it a hundred times worse. That nearly destroyed our banking system were it not for Obama.

Many people who took the trouble to look under the hood of Moody's and S&Ps ratings were able to forsee the coming collapse and many were able to profit from it.

That is true, but that doesnt really help Uncle Joe and Aunty May who are not experts and have no idea what a tranche is. And they are the ones who ultimately pay for everything, good or bad. The markets have to have a healthy consumer side too that trusts that market.

 

[fncceo]

That is true, but that doesnt really help Uncle Joe and Aunty May who are not experts and have no idea what a tranche is.

Anyone who invests into something they don't understand is a fool. Anyone who bets the farm on it is beyond foolish.

The primary precept of investment today remains as it has always been "Caveat emptor"

I would add to it .. "Follow your head, not the herd".