The first Whack of the Week goes to Mitt Romney. He is getting a Whack for his comment in August in Iowa. Here is the excerpt from Washington Post:
"'Corporations!' a protester shouted, apparently urging Romney to raise taxes on corporations that have benefited from loopholes in the tax code. 'Corporations!'
'Corporations are people, my friend,' Romney said.
Some people in the front of the audience shouted, 'No, they’re not!'
,Of course they are,' Romney said. 'Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. Where do you think it goes?' http://wapo.st/qJgMlt
"Corporations are people..." There is so much wrong with this idea, that I believe it deserves a whack. How can corporations be people? Corporations are not animate, first of all. I can't talk to a corporation. I cant have a beer with a corporation. I cannot date a corporation. But wait, corporations pay taxes and people pay taxes, so therefore corporations are people.... Hmmmmm
But this is not just Mitt's opinion--this is the opinion of the US Supreme Court!!! By approving the unrestricted donations by corporations, US Supreme Court basically said that corporations are people and therefore can donate as people. This, of course, if why our political system is being bought wholesale by corporations and Super Packs.
And take a step back and consider this. You are a CEO of a corporation, you are responsible to shareholders, or just to yourself. You INVEST in products and new technologies to increase your bottom line. WHY would you spend a penny on an individual politician if there was not a strong Return on Investment for it? They would not. And if you invested in a venture, you would only invest again and more IF your investment gathered you dividends ABOVE what you have spent. That means that corporations and billionaires who plow millions into politics are getting their money's worth. Where does it leave voters? How much more powerful is a corporation than an individual citizen? What happens when corporate greed goes unchecked? Can you see the correlation?
So Mitt is right-in US corporations are considered people, but I argue that this is AT THE EXPENSE of the real people. The only way to solve this problem is to take the money out of politics.
I agree with your conclusion, but not the importance of the difference between a corporation and a person. Whether a corporation or an individual it is a person pulling the strings. A bigger problem is we have created a class of politians who are an elite class who have lost touch with common people. Their vision is blurred by their status.
ReplyDeleteCorporations aren't people, but it serves his purposes to think so inasmuch as the abuse of the 14th Amendment, corporate personhood, insulates executives like himself and his friends from any kind of personal responsibility for the harm they do under the auspices of 'doing business.'
ReplyDeleteI think a better topic that deserves a whack is Rick Santorum comparing Obama to Hitler. That has a lot more weight.