Surviving Capitalism (Not) : While Washington pursues CEOs, they snub U.S.

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

While Washington pursues CEOs, they snub U.S.

by Robert Reich from SF Chronicle.

The former Secretary of Labor under the Clinton administration reveals how both US political parties pursue the favors of corporate heads:

So the White House caved in on the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and is telling CEOs it will be on their side from now on. As the president recently told a group of CEOs, the choice "is not between Democrats and Republicans. [See this] It's between America and our competitors around the world. We can win the competition."

But even better, he writes about how the US corporations, several that have taken taxpayer bailouts, are offshoring most of their production and creating jobs for non-US citizens.

There's only one problem. America's big businesses are less and less American. They're going abroad for sales and employees. That's one reason they've showed record-breaking profits in 2010 while creating almost no American jobs.

So, as you can see, even the President makes it clear that US elections don't have any relevance. (As if you didn't already know.) The US government representatives, who are sponsored by corporations and their owners, support their sponsoring corporations against other competitors. But, doesn't it get rather confusing for Obama when corporations and their owners are globalized? Maybe it is fairly easy--just add up the contributions and their sources and you will find the US military-industrial complex at the head of the line. See this, and this.