Evil Corporations, or Slacker Workers?

As of the middle of this year, corporate America was doing quite well. According to Brian Rogers, Chairman of the investment firm T. Rowe Price, America's corporations had earnings double those of a year earlier; they were rolling in cash; and they were buying back their own stock and increasing dividends—all signs that business was very good and these companies were quite profitable.

Yet the little American is not doing well. As everyone knows, we have a high rate of unemployment. People are struggling and are losing their homes. Poverty is at an all-time high rate. Food banks haven't got enough food on their shelves to feed all of the hungry.

So one has to think about the wide discrepancy between the health of corporate America and the financial well-being of millions of everyday American families. Or ask, If these companies have been doing well, why aren't they hiring back all the workers that they laid off during the recession?

Just to use a little logic, those companies evidently are getting along okay with fewer workers, or, as they might put it, with a leaner work force.

We could look at this in two ways. First, maybe the workers who are still there are being worked harder--and I am sure this is the case in some and perhaps many instances. In the terms of what would now be only a metaphor, the plant managers are running the mill (or assembly line) very fast and the workers are scrambling to keep up to where they are pretty much exhausting themselves.

This is doubtless true in some cases. Figures for productivity are up, meaning that there is indeed more output per worker. Workers are working harder.

On the other hand, there have been studies that show that the average American worker (in an office) is actively working only about half the time. Again to use an old metaphor, he or she spends too much time gossiping around the water cooler. In more modern terms, people sit at their desks making personal calls, surfing the Internet, texting, and so forth. We all know this is true, and 99.99% of workers have been guilty of this.

So it's true that more work could be gotten out of workers. I'd say that maybe in a few instances, the bosses have become evil slave drivers, cracking a whip over the poor gangs of workers. And workers in many sorts of jobs seldom or never would have an opportunity to goof off. But in other cases there was indeed some slack that could be squeezed out, and employers are merely getting more of a full day's work from their employees, and it's hard to blame them for that. It would not be realistic to expect that they are going to hire back workers if they have found that they simply don't need them.

Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein

More on Corporate Influence in the US

I have already blogged about the political influence of large corporations on the US government. By lobbying, and by means of money--their monetary contributions to political campaigns and setting up front groups that carry on advertising to advance their interests—corporations influence what laws are passed, what regulations are put into effect by US regulatory agencies, and what regulations already on the books get enforced. This latter can be a function of corporations—indirectly through Congress—denying funding to the regulatory agencies whose regulations these corporations see as not in their interest.

But here is yet another example of corporate influence. Plastics and other chemicals are being pumped into our environment in inconceivable quantities. We all have amounts of these chemicals in our bodies that could disrupt proper functioning of our bodies because some of them mimic the hormones that naturally occur in our bodies. Babies in the womb are exposed to these chemicals and might be born with (for example) small genitalia. Adult men's sperm counts are going down.

Plastics end up in our oceans. They harm wildlife who ingest these plastics. (Plastic objects get broken down by sunlight—not into harmless substances but into small pieces that look like food to sea animals.) Animals like albatrosses, sea turtles, seals, whales, and so forth are being found with plastics in their stomachs and were killed by them.

Major culprits are plastic bags and plastic bottles for bottled water—both of which we produce—and discard—by the billions. Many European countries have banned plastic bags. But many attempts to ban plastic bags—for example in San Francisco—have been thwarted by corporate influence.

Copyright © 2011 by Richard Stein

I Know I've Said This Before: The Republican Party Is for the Rich

We are just now seeing evidence of something I've been saying for a long time. The Republicans in Congress are opposing a tax-cut extension if it does not continue the tax breaks for the rich.

If anyone needed evidence that the Republican Party is all about the rich and privileged, they should take note of this and doubt no longer.

I just cannot comprehend the "common man" who supports the Republicans when (as I know I have said repeatedly) they are the party of the rich, the privileged, and big, powerful corporations (who unabashedly buy legislators' support).

We keep hearing how serious the nation's deficit, and the national debt, are. Raising taxes on those who can afford it the best should be a no-brainer. I can't understand how the Republicans think the American public in general will have enough sympathy for the rich to want to spare them a tax increase.

But wait a minute. There has been this phenomenon in America: Americans would never (just to conjure up an image as an example) stone the Rolls-Royces. It's because every American believes he might some day be rich. For the poorer folks, maybe it's a foolish faith that they're going to win the lottery, or that some other miracle is going to happen for them. But studies have shown, nearly everyone in America thinks he might be rich some day. On the other hand, with the grim economic conditions we've had recently, maybe many Americans have begun to wake up from that chapter of "the American dream."

Copyright © 2010 by Richard Stein

How Corporations Are Controlling America

The trend continues for America to be controlled more and more by big business—who want everything to go according to what is in their interests—meaning their profits.

For a long time this was accomplished by lobbyists. Many industries have their trade associations who maintain offices in Washington because their chief activity is to marshal lobbyists who try to persuade Congressmen and Senators to vote their way. They do this with persuasion, which is completely legal; but also with favors to Congressmen like gifts, trips, and entertainment, which is not legal. Or with promising campaign contributions, which has become legal since the recent Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United.

Here is an article on how industry influence has prevailed over the interests of the public in the case of the Toxic Substances Control Act.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/13/reform-of-toxic-chemicals-law-collapses-as-industry-flexes-its-m/

Here is a bit of the history of efforts to rein in industry influence on federal governmental regulation and law-making. Some progress to reduce the influence of corporate contributions to politicians was made by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, often referred to as the McCain–Feingold Act.

McCain-Feingold was upheld by the courts in a 2003 case known as McConnell v. Federal Elections Commission.

A later ruling (2007), known as Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., created a very big exemption—but the consequences of this supposedly are still up in the air.

Most recently (2010), Citizens United partly overturned McConnell. Now corporate contributions can once again have a great influence on our elections. The party or candidate who has the most money can buy the most TV commercials. That means more persuasion, which is likely to be effective with voters. And those corporate contributions go much more heavily to Republican candidates. (Maybe now some is going to Tea Party candidates, too; I don't have information on that.) Thus corporate money is achieving a more "business-friendly" America and will continue the process of turning our country toward the Right that got such a big boost when the likes of Scalia, Roberts, and Alito gained seats on the Supreme Court.

Copyright © 2010 by Richard Stein