Sounds like a movie script. Giant parasites stalk the American landscape disguised as benign upstanding participants in the "free market."
The dictionary defines parasite as:
"An organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment."
In fact, there are a number of major corporations in America who do very little productive work -- never making products or delivering services that benefit their consumers. Instead, the profits they earn and the big CEO salaries they pay are derived by sucking or skimming a portion of the dollars they have convinced the Government to send through their corporate accounts -- generally to perform a function that is or ought to be an inherently governmental function.
Ironically, many of these corporate parasites are the loudest defenders of "free markets" and the most vociferous opponents of "government takeovers," when in fact they exist by feeding off the taxpayers.
Three examples have been in the news of late:
1). Banks that provide government guaranteed student loans. The house voted yesterday to end its four-decade practice of subsidizing private lenders to make student loans. Since the 1960s, the government has subsidized banks to lend students money and guaranteed lenders against loss if students defaulted.
But since the early 1990s the government itself has done direct lending for many student loans and avoided paying the subsidy to the banks. Why, after all, should banks take a percentage of every dollar to generate loans if the taxpayers guarantee the loan in full? In fact, it turns out that the government - which, after all, has a responsibility to provide higher education to its citizenry -- can provide loans directly at a much cheaper price than it can through the banks.
In fact it's estimated that eliminating the subsidy to the banks will save $40 billion that can be transferred into the Pell Grant program that provides college grants to moderate and low income students.
2). Private military contractors that provide security services. One of the things that defines civilized society is that the government has a monopoly on the use of lethal force. Yet over the last decade private military security firms have exploded. They have been hired with increasing frequency to do essentially governmental security functions. We've seen the results in the murders of civilians by Blackwater operatives in Iraq. And the growth of free-standing, mercenary armies that are available for hire by governments around the world is a danger to international security.
But these contractors are also economic parasites, since they charge a great deal more to do functions that could otherwise be performed by the government. In fact, most of their personnel are trained by the American military. After they leave the service and go to work making much more than they would if they re-enlisted for another turn with the Army or Marines. Then, the Blackwaters of the world turn around and bill their people out at huge markups so that the taxpayers -- who paid for their training in the first place -- have to pay a corporation for the privilege of hiring them back at much higher rates.
3). Private health insurance companies. These are the granddaddy of all parasitic operations. Remember that every other industrial society has long since decided that financing the health care of its citizens is an inherently governmental function -- that it is cheaper and much more consistent with our values -- to provide health care to all as a right.
With that approach, every other industrial society pays 50% less than we do per person for health care and, according to the World Health Organization, 36 countries have better health care outcomes than we do in the U.S.
Remember that health insurance companies don't provide an iota of health care services. They do hire an army of claims agents to deny claims for coverage, and another army of salesmen and admen to sell you policies that you would automatically have in most other countries. They simply take your money, skim off profits and CEO salaries and then -- once they get their end -- pay for your health care.
We know that the one thing government does very well is managing insurance pools. Medicare and Social Security are two of the most successful programs in history. And the health care financing authorities in countries like France and Spain are pretty good at it too.
The so-called "Medicare Advantage" program is a great example of a side-by-side comparison of how the private insurance companies compare with government run insurance programs. Medicare Advantage was set up by the Bush administration and Republican Congress to allow private insurance companies to skim off a share of Federal Medicare dollars. Originally, the private insurance companies claimed they would provide these services more efficiently than the "government." But it turned out they required a 14% to 19% subsidy above the normal costs of Medicare.
As the Economic Policy Institute has pointed out, "In a nut shell, Medicare Advantage plans are private plans funded through Medicare to provide similar benefits, but at a 14% higher cost on average, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an independent Congressional agency. Eliminating these overpayments would free up $157 billion over 10 years, a substantial down payment on health care reform."
Now the private insurance industry is battling tooth and nail to prevent a public health insurance program from competing for its non-Medicare business. They want to continue to skim their share off of every health care dollar they can.
In fact, they hope that the final insurance reform bill will require people to buy their products without any competition from a public plan or rate regulation to limit the amount they can skim into the hands of Wall Street investors and CEO's.
That's why President Obama has proposed that the final health insurance reform bill include a robust public health insurance option that doesn't leave us with a mandate to buy insurance from a monopoly of private insurers (that are, by the way, also exempt from the anti-trust laws). That would just guarantee a government-mandated stream of revenue on which the private insurance companies can feed.
Of course, corporate parasites like these have always existed. But they have burgeoned over the last several decades as some of the best and brightest graduates of our universities have been convinced that they would be "chumps" to go out and create products and services that provide value to the economy. Much better to work for a corporate parasite that can make huge sums of money simply by convincing government to keep directing huge streams of revenue through its corporate coffers and then slicing off its share as the money comes by.
It's time for the age of the corporate parasite to come to an end -- otherwise, we're the "chumps".
Robert Creamer is a longtime political organizer and strategist, and author of the recent book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com.
Go into any suburban town and they all look the same, with their Home Depot, Costco, Walmart, Best Buy, Starbucks, Mall Stores.
What a country. We have lost more in the last 25 years than just money...we are losing the culture that each nook and cranny of the country provided.
In the name of profit. Squeeze each penny out. There's a social cost to that though. Each town loses it's identity.
It's all one big big box country.
Me sad.
As a European living in the USA I note with concern the sameness of the USA.
In any European country travel 100 miles and you will have come across many villages, towns and cities all with their own very unique character.
Travel 1,000 miles in the USA and with each city you come to it is so much the same as to make you wonder if you ever left!
There are some great exceptions of course, starting of with San Francisco. Also my own little University town in Ohio is deliberately kept to have its own unique character - which is why i live here.
It is no coincidence that when Europeans visit they find San Francisco the most European-like of the major USA citiies.
Only six months into this new Administration and we are already deep in big _____. And please spare me the lecture is all because of Bush. Bush might have gotten us here, but how Obama gets us out is all on him. I hold him responsible for the wasted money in the stimulus package, the fact that he is not holding mortgage companies and banks accountable for how they are not using the money to help the people, the fact that he allowed General Motors double dip into the stimulus package money because of labor favoritism. I hold him responsible for not doing enough for the middle class and saying with actions the hell with them.
Whey people are so upset with him? It is not because of race, it is because on his watch they are loosing their jobs, their homes, and all we get in return are lectures and teachable moments. If I wanted lectures, I would have gone back to school. WE want action, not lectures. Enough already.
I say no to forestry - - I use recycled paper and wood.
I say no to oil - no car.
I say no to car manufacturers - no car.
I say no to clothing manufacturers - buy good stuff and wear it for years.
I say no to credit cards - don't use them.
I say no to food giants - buy local and freeze and no - zero - packaged food. ( I lie - once a year ice cream but it is locally made and you would die for it.)
I say no to canned anything and bottled water. I hate being ripped off.
My furniture is antique - getting more valuable by the day.
I am not a good consumer. The only big corporation that would like me at all is the one delivering the internet, t.v. and telephone. And it makes me pretty mad so I may switch when I find one that hasn't off shored.
I say no to big pharma - even prescribed drugs can be obtained by getting no name.
I say no to energy consumption - low energy appliances, never use a drier, good windows and insulation. And a tankless water heater. When I have to turn on a light it is a low energy florescent. I even have LED's
I don't buy the latest gadget - no flat screen, no iphone etc.
Corporations don't get much from me. Except when the government uses my tax
Not every lobby is bad but if we saw everyone that gives campaign money to politicians and what they are asking for Dems - Reps - ind - would all be mad and find a simple way to stop those at the door that do not represent us.
Many in big business and employ many people that need work so instead of wishing they were out of business that can look at a better way to serve us. If not the backlash would cause them to replace there often demented ceos and others or change.
These problems are not made for just pone party but all of us and the abuses that are in our face shows how truly stupid or criminal minded our politicians are.
This is a time to rise for WE THE PEOPLE , it starts with petitions asking congressman , senators and others to dump there support of wasteful corp. programs and drain Americans and are viewed as there personal bank roll.
Sotomayor Issues Challenge to a Century of Corporate Law
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125314088285517643.html
The flesh and blood “person” label, with all attendant rights and responsibilities for the "corporation" is an absolutely ludicrous notion, and characteristic of loopy, greedy Republican think..
Illuminating discussion of all the absurdities that would result from such a thing is here:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2009/09/balancing_big_money_and_free_s.html
Example:
“It is ironic that this issue will be decided by the Supreme Court. The same institution that is singularly most responsible for the modern corporation. By twisting both the word and spirit of the 14th amendment, passed to end slavery and guarantee the rights of individuals, the supreme court created the limited liability corporate individual while never helping a single former slave.
Corporations are immortal individuals instilled with more privileges and less responsibilities than any natural individual who is "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". When was the last time a corporation sat on death row? When was the last time a corporation was responsible for someone's death?
The question here is; do we continue on with this masquerade?
Do we give back the first amendment rights we took from corporations in the past hundred years?
Should we go even further and finally extend to them their long overdue right to suffrage?”
Scary stuff.