Jake Johnson at Common Dreams writes—To Curb Capitalism's Toxic Impacts, Warren Unveils Plan to Give Workers More Control Over Corporate Decisions:
Taking aim at the heart of America's toxic economic status quo—which has over the past several decades produced soaring corporate profits and CEO pay while keeping workers' wages stagnant—Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation on Wednesday that would "give workers a stronger voice" in the decision-making of major businesses and put an end to corporations' single-minded commitment to maximizing shareholder value at the expense of employees.
"Because the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. households own 84 percent of American-held shares, the obsession with maximizing shareholder returns effectively means America's biggest companies have dedicated themselves to making the rich even richer," Warren noted in a Wall Street Journal op-ed outlining her new measure. "For the past 30 years we have put the American stamp of approval on giant corporations, even as they have ignored the interests of all but a tiny slice of Americans. We should insist on a new deal." [...]
To address this fundamental inequity and establish a system in which prosperity is broadly shared rather than hoarded at the very top, Warren's bill—officially titled the Accountable Capitalism Act—would:
- Require American corporations that bring in over a billion dollars in annual revenue to obtain a federal charter, which would force companies to "consider the interests of all corporate stakeholders," including workers, customers, and communities;
- Give workers the power to elect at least 40 percent of corporate board members;
- Ban corporations from making political expenditures "without the approval of 75 percent of its directors and shareholders"; and
- Allow the federal government to revoke a corporation's charter if it engages in illegal behavior. [...]
The folks at CNBC hosted economist Jeffrey Miron Wednesday to take a whack at Warren’s proposal, which he says will destroy capitalism. Miron is director of Economic Policy Studies at the D.C.-based Cato Institute, the Koch-founded and -funded libertarian propaganda operation. Miron offers the same bogus argument that the NRA gives for opposing requiring all gun-buyers to get a background check:
Only "honest" and "law-abiding" companies will comply, meaning it is those companies that also will bear the brunt of the regulatory burden, and, ultimately, those companies that will leave the U.S. for countries with friendlier regulations.
Crooked companies will stick around, in Miron’s view, just as wannabe gun-owners who can’t pass a background check will buy their firearms from the trunk of someone’s car. The good companies will go where regulations are weak and weakly enforced. The message: We shouldn’t have any laws that protect us from bad corporate decision-making because they’ll take their bad decision-making away if we do?
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On this date at Daily Kos in 2011—No, Michele Bachman didn’t attend that ‘family reunion’:
There was a story yesterday about Bachmann apparently lying about attending her own family reunion, which was ... well, just odd, and not just because it was her own mom who sold her out:
On her victory lap of Iowa yesterday, Straw Poll winner Rep. Michele Bachmann paid repeated tribute to her local roots, and repeatedly mentioned her family reunion that day, citing it as an excuse for her late arrival at a local party event in Waterloo.
But Bachmann's mother and two cousins told POLITICO's Emily Schultheis that Bachmann didn't attend the reunion, though her husband and children did. Her spokeswoman, Alice Stewart, didn't respond to two emails asking for an explanation of the disparity.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin rounds up primaries, polls & headlines. Will these stupid tapes matter? Or does nothing matter? (lol yolo, etc.) The Hatch Act certainly doesn't seem to. Trump spreads the emoluments love to White House staff, with club pro shop discounts.