This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.
American deregulated corporatism: Short-term profits for a very few at the expense of the rest of us. The Gulf oil spill is driving home the "expense of the rest of us" part of this equation. And the corporatist/conservative reaction to government's efforts to reign in an industry that provides so much of their funding highlights for us the battle lines of the equation.
Conservatives say that getting a company to set up a fund to compensate its victims is "Chicago-style thuggery" and a "shakedown" and apologize to the company! Instead we demand they apologize to democracy for this.
But this is not really about "corporatism" it is about raw bigness translating into raw power. This is big industries and companies and a few extremely wealthy people that "have" vs not-as-big industries, companies and the rest of us that "have not." Big, centralized oil is a "have." Fishing, tourism, alternative "green" energy - these are industries and corporations too -- and democratic decision-making are "have nots." This is not corporations vs democracy, this is big corporations (really, the wealthy few people who control their resources) against smaller corporations and the rest of us.
Yesterday a Reagan-appointed, oil-stock-owning judge set aside the Obama administration's moratorium on exploratory offshore oil drilling, citing "potential economic harm to businesses and workers" in the oil industry while ignoring the not-potential threat of harm to the fishing, tourism and other industries now being destroyed by that industry. Big oil's wishes, a judge appointed by the guy who took Carter's solar panels down from the White House roof and dismantled mass-transit and alternative energy programs, and an anti-government conservative movement out to dismantle democracy combine to push back against the "thuggery" of a public daring to attempt to assert that safety is assured. The battle is over who is in charge.
The administration placed the moratorium while they develop new safety standards and procedures. This followed the revelations of near-complete regulatory capture of the Minerals Management Service by the oil industry, resulting in the chain of safety-ignoring, cost-saving diversions from standard procedure. They filed a xeroxed spill plan citing dead phone numbers and dead consultants, and the dead regulatory agency never bothered to read it before approving it. The blowout preventer wasn't working and they knew it but didn't want to take the time or expense to fix it. Etc, and etc.
Since so much was wrong on this rig the government wants to take a look at the other rigs drilling offshore and make sure they are operating safely, and get procedures that work in place. The industry is infuriated that government is "interfering' in their profit-making enterprise. Their oil is under our water and they want it now.
The industry threatens to just move oil rigs out of the Gulf to other areas, taking the jobs with them. Democratic oversight of corporate behavior is again held hostage to the threat of moving jobs across a border. The judge lets them get away with it.
This is the fight. The big and wealthy industries, corporations and people against the smaller industries, corporations and the rest of us. This is the same fight as that unleashed by the recent Citizens United case. It is not corporations vs democracy, it is the the wealthy few people who control the resources of the biggest corporations against everyone else.
And it is in no way clear who will come out on top.
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There is a class war going on this country, but it was the wealthy elites who run the mega-corporations who declared it. And anyone who shouts "free markets" needs to wake up. The markest in this country are anything but free. It's a rigged game and the people who loaded the dice always win. What we need more than anything else is a leveling of the playing field so that average Americans have a chance to have their voices heard once again. It's the only way to save our democracy from the oligarchy it is rapidly turning into.
(I realize this is a tangent, but for some reason I cannot post a comment, only reply)
And the Citizens United decision actually leveled the playing field for small corporations who don't have enough resources to form PACs. Corporations still cannot directly donate to campaigns.
BTW, did George HW Bush exceed his authority when he issued a ten-year ban on new drilling projects for almost the entire coastline? Or does it only exceed a democratic president's authority?
Wal-Mart, for example, has been wiping out local and regional retailers for decades.
Now that the judge has removed the moratorium, if there is another spill has the United States assumed any liability for it? We've already had ample testimony that the oil companies are not prepared to respond to a spill if one should happen after we know this fact will the Judge who did it get a bill?
The judge threw out the moratorium because of the lies (would you have hated to be the attorneys for Obama going into that court, or what?), and stated so, clearly. The problem with this president hanging back and golfing for over 2 months, hoping that BP would do everything and not - absolutely not - in charge of an effort to protect the Gulf, is that when he does respond (finally), it is short and shrill and silly.
When HIS OWN PANEL is compelled to call out his lie, and to state that (besides the economic devastation to thousands of familes) a moratorium is a bad idea, not their idea, not their recommendation and in fact, could do far more harm than good in terms of safety, one has to wonder why.
We know that Obama gave the Brazilian, State controlled, oil company $2B of our money to invest in - get this - DEEP WATER DRILLING. So, Obama IS in favor of deep water drilling and gives billions of our money to it, in Brazil. Hmmmm...
The key quote:
Members of a panel of experts brought in to advise the Obama administration on how to address offshore drilling safety after the Deepwater Horizon disaster now say Interior Secretary Ken Salazar falsely implied they supported a six-month drilling moratorium they actually oppose.
We Coloradans apologize for dumping the idiot Salazar on the country.
The Wall Street crash, increasing income inequality, our enrichment of our "enemies" in exchange for oil and the disaster in the gulf should give even conservatives reason to question the "heroism" of their fabled leader ...
Obama hosed down Wall Street with a billion dollars - and no strings attached. He cut secret deals with big insurance and big pharma to drag a health bill, so unpopular that it was toxic to all who signed it, over the line - now forcing us to buy insurance and drugs from American companies. Obama took over GM, inexplicably and unlawfully fired the CEO, took over the stock and gave majority shares to a union.
This has been a bald and shameful money and power grab.
- 3 points