Lots of "new" information is coming into focus regarding ALEC. Not so new for those following it here at Kos......
ALEC EXPOSED
ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.) Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a “unique,” “unparalleled” and “unmatched” organization. We agree. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door.
Like the proverbial elephant in the room that no one everyone pretends not to notice notices, the political system in the US is being gamed for profit for a select few.
This is simply fact.
Summary: The think tanks who are funded by corporations, the corporations, the politicians who receive money from those corporations, and the media are engineering the legislation they want. For the worst possible outcomes for the rest.
And they have many convinced that the actions of the rich and the powerful, are somehow not to blame.
(great post here from a couple days ago, with a bonus Carlin clip!)
A member of the editorial board of the WSJ, one of Rupert Murdoch's rags is a "scholar". I imagine there are more media involved.
More members are from the Heritage foundation. That notoriously anti worker, anti human think tank in the US. Their latest proclamation is a "study" which proves (only to idjits) that there is really no poverty in the US. Nope.
A post by Dem Beans, at Dkos about this "report" states:
The Heritage Foundation then gives data on poor households who have such luxuries as a refrigerator, a stove, a ceiling fan, a coffee pot and so on. I have news for the silver-spoon trust funders who work at the HF: even the most wretched slum apartment generally has a refrigerator and a stove. Some might even offer a ceiling fan. The Heritage Foundation apparently won't be happy until we're all living under bridges, although then they'll say we don't have it bad as long as we have a blanket.
Insidious isn't it? A large think tank with massive corporate funds publishes a report stating that no one is truly living in poverty, the media will then dutifully report on it as though it is legitimate. And viola. You have a whole new "welfare queen" type of mythology. And a whole new way to deride and condemn the poor.
The Fraser Institute in Canada(They insist they are "non partisan", they also have registered charity status. How Astroturfed was my Valley is a post I wrote earlier this year about them) came up with a similar report in the 1990's.
The poor still have a coffeepot and a fridge. That isn't poor! Having nothing to put in those (running water and coffee for the coffee pot, or food in the fridge) is not mentioned. Apparently those items just materialize out of nowhere.
As always, we have our alternate version of ALEC here in Canada.
Most Canadians are unaware of the degree to which private economic power marginalizes the influence of working people and their elected representatives.Before turning to recent examples of the CCCE’s role in crafting legislation and policy for passage by a neutered parliament, I will offer these comments on lobbying from the aforementioned Ross Laver:
[Laver] said the council rarely does much “lobbying” in its meetings with political leaders, “I think it would be naïve to think that there’s anything to be gained by getting into a room with the prime minister and twisting his arm, regardless of who that prime minister is. (Ottawa Citizen, Oct. 25, 2011. A2.)
I can’t imagine why lobbyists would bother to meet politicians, if not to influence them and I object more to the behaviour of our elected officials than the profit-driven actions of corporate lobbyists whose job it is to seek their own advantage. In fact, the CCCE is the Canadian grand champion of lobbying,
Overall, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives reported the most meetings with cabinet ministers in 2009. Spokesman Ross Laver said the council was diligent about reporting contacts with public office holders, even when the meeting was a government official attending a larger event hosted by the council. (Ibid. Oct.10, 2010. A2)
CCCE is now headed by John Manley.He is a former Liberal party MP. But like many of them, he is a LINO. Liberal in name only. Very pro corporate.
The CCCE is the Banks, think tanks and corporate Canada's way to get what they want, also at our expense. Look at the list of members. Looks a heck of a lot like the ALEC corporate list.
There are media companies represented, (this oneapparently is controlled by the Shaw's, who own one of the biggest corporate broadcasters in Canada, and telecommunications)
Big banks, car companies, Oil companies etc.
The CCCE and their publicity and PR dept, not only lobby Government. They also convince many to vote against their own best interests, and also scam many into taking a hit economically, telling them that is the best for the country. Divide and conquer.
Secret agreements that are foisted upon us, and then the PR is engineered to convince a witless public that it is for the best.
MORE! Corporate tax cuts! When we already have one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the G8?
And like in the US, companies are not reinvesting all those tax savings. Not by a long shot.
Statistics Canada figures indicatethat private non-financial corporations held $471 billion of cash in the first quarter of 2011 ($322 billion of Canadian currency plus $149 billion worth of foreign currency). Including short-term paper would bring this total to half a trillion dollars, enough to pay off the national debt (i.e. accumulated deficit).
Cash hoarding is a critical point in the debate about corporate taxes. If incremental after-tax profits are being deposited (rather than reinvested or paid out), lower corporate tax rates likely just produce higher piles of cash.
H/T Dwayne.
As an example of the power of the CCCE, look at one of their past "accomplishments"
The 1986 Competition Act: Privatizing the Legislative Process
In 1985 the BCNI approached Andre Ouellette, Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, with an offer he didn’t refuse. BCNI CEO Thomas D’Aquino had, “…previously decided that Canada needed a new competition act.” (Newman, Peter. C. 2008, pg. 68) D’Aquino spent $1 million to hire a team of 25 lawyers who by 1985, “…had produced a 236-page master plan. Incredibly, it became Canada’s new Competition Act, virtually word for word.” The legislation was soon passed into law with little debate or publicity and Canada’s business environment was irrevocably transformed. According to Newman, the 1986 Competition Act contained,
… no provisions for class-action laws suits; corporate monopolistic conspiracies were so vaguely defined that they were just about impossible to prove; and prosecutions were moved from criminal to civil courts. It was the only time in the history of capitalism that any country allowed its anti-monopoly legislation to be written by the very people it was meant to restrain.
I see much of this as being intertwined with media concentration, and the continued manipulation of the public. The destruction of the middle class, the them against us (the middle class vs the poor) mentality being propagated, racism and fear, and the further deterioration of our society. Add some massive attacks on women's reproductive liberties and pay equality to further subjugate half the population.
The continued discussion by hardcore wingnuts about taking the rights of homosexuals away is also part of the class war.
This is what they want. Common sense is not that tax breaks and low wages, absent safety nets and a dumbed down populace make for a productive society. The exact opposite is the truth.
And when it all comes crashing down, when the bubbles burst....The line between the haves and the have-nots will be a little more distinctive.
Some will have food and life's necessities and all the luxuries, and some (the many), will not have food on the table, or even a table.
And then, just because I wanna post it....
