From The Onion: Report: 2012 Election Likely To Be Decided By 4 Or 5 Key Swing Corporations

WASHINGTON—With polls this week showing the race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney tightening even further, a growing number of political experts have declared this year's election will almost certainly be decided by a small handful of swing corporations.

"While most publicly traded companies are solidly red or blue, there are four or five major corporations that are complete tossups right now, and any one of them could prove decisive come November," said Nate Silver of The New York Times, noting in particular that Procter & Gamble, a traditional bellwether for the country as a whole, remained a "total wildcard." "Both candidates will have to focus almost exclusively on these swing businesses in order to gain the upper hand."

"And given how close this race is, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing comes down to undecided executives at Dow Chemical or Disney," Silver continued. "Let's not forget 2000, when Philip Morris International single-handedly put George W. Bush into office."

According to polling data, the president's favorability has fallen steadily among independent-leaning multinationals, a demographic that effectively carried him to victory in 2008. Additionally, the latest figures suggest that even some reliably Democratic strongholds, such as Google, may now be in play, buoying hopes within the Romney camp that the GOP challenger could take the White House with an unexpected victory in a key tech boardroom.

Recognizing the importance of these closely contested conglomerates, both Obama and Romney have made frequent campaign stops at swing corporations in recent weeks and delivered speeches aimed squarely at these pivotal companies’ interests, with both candidates blasting each other as out of touch with the issues that truly matter to real American CEOs.

"As president, I promise to stand up for you in Washington and always put you first," Romney said earlier this week, addressing an audience in the battleground boardroom of Time Warner during a barnstorming tour through the communications sector. "All of you good, hardworking people gathered here represent the best of America, and mark my words, I will do everything in my power to fight for your freedoms and prosperity."

Political observers have noted the stakes of this year's election are unusually high, with many experts claiming the Affordable Care Act's fate, the tax burden on American families, and a possible U.S. invasion of Iran are questions that now reside entirely in the hands of those few Fortune 500 corporations that remain up for grabs.

"I went with Obama in 2008, but now I'm having my doubts," said Kenneth Frazier, an undecided CEO at the Merck corporation. "Frankly, I've been disappointed with his failure to follow through on the promises he made to us four years ago. This time around, I want to make sure I'm voting for someone who truly has the best interests of me and my company at heart."

"It's kind of exciting, though," Frazier added. "Who knows? Maybe in November it will be our $15 million backing funneled anonymously into a political action committee that decides this whole thing."

Story originally posted here: http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-2012-election-likely-to-be-decided-by-4-or,28900/

"16 Corporations or We the People?" (updated)

Verizon is #VeriGreedy

Bill Moyers has some real must see television on the television stations and its connection with politics

Papantonio: The Billionaire GOP Puppeteers

The lists of corporations buying America's democracy through Alec

http://laborspains.blogspot.com/2012/04/intersted-in-people-who-write-our-laws.html

Intersted in the people who Write Our Laws before bribing iour representatives here they are

Meet the ALEC Staffers Who Help Corporations Write Our Laws

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the most powerful corporate front group you’ve never heard of. The group, sponsored by some of America’s largest corporations, writes legislation that tends to benefit its donors and ships these template bills to state legislatures for compliant lawmakers to pass. ALEC has pushed for legislation doing everything from attacking workers’ collective bargaining rights, to making it harder for low-income Americans to vote, to the Stand Your Ground law that could prevent justice in the Trayvon Martin case.


One of the reasons ALEC is able to do this is because it’s extremely secretive. ALEC does not openly brand the legislation it passes off to legislators, and its staff is mostly hidden from the public eye. Until now. We dug into ALEC’s personnel to make a short profile of just some of the key Washington, D.C.-based ALEC staffers who help write the laws that pollute our communities, deny Americans access to health care, suppress our right to vote, and generally harm Americans. Their corporate-written bills may be secretly passed on to legislators, but these staffers can’t hide behind ALEC’s veil and avoid taking responsibility for the laws they produce and advance.

Don't Worry Dana Loesch whoever you are. You and CNN might one day live in a world where corporations are people too

Shoot-em-up Charlie Discovers ALEC

Moyers is still the best at this relationship and he'd been at this for years

Moyers & Company Show 102: On Crony Capitalism from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

America Isn’t a Corporation - NYTimes.com

America Isn’t a Corporation - NYTimes.com

Why isn’t a national economy like a corporation? For one thing, there’s no simple bottom line. For another, the economy is vastly more complex than even the largest private company...

...Consider what happens when a business engages in ruthless cost-cutting. From the point of view of the firm’s owners (though not its workers), the more costs that are cut, the better. Any dollars taken off the cost side of the balance sheet are added to the bottom line.

But the story is very different when a government slashes spending in the face of a depressed economy. Look at Greece, Spain, and Ireland, all of which have adopted harsh austerity policies. In each case, unemployment soared, because cuts in government spending mainly hit domestic producers. And, in each case, the reduction in budget deficits was much less than expected, because tax receipts fell as output and employment collapsed.

The Big Picture Rumble - 1% still sold on Corporate Personhood

In honor of Mitt and his friends....GE, Apple, Microsoft, McDonalds, Krafts Product, Quaker Oats, Pepsi Product,s Phillip Morris ect. ect.

Money still trumps people

The Wisconsin primary is in the rear view mirror and we move on to our next crisis. It proved to be just another case of corporate interest trumping economic policy that might possibly have worked for the greater whole. There are clearly many business interests that believe they can continue to pursue policies that are against the greater good relying on flooding the airwaves with money at the last minute to convince people to buy into things that are not in their interst. Last night, I believe that this maxim held up though possibly not as well as it previously had when Alberta Darling defeated Sandy Pasch in the eighth district, to help the Republicans maintain control of the state senate.

The corporate interest rely on people who don't earn $100,000 dollars to be jealouse that someone might have a better deal that you do, so we'll pull one another down into the mud pit as corporate interest abscound with the funds. On,  the other side, is the believe that it may be possible to do something for the greater collective good.

According to Todays7mj4.com,  "Non-partisan watchdog group, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign says outside interest groups have spent between $10 and 12 million dollars statewide in recall elections. Executive Director Mike McCabe says it's likely closer to $12 million."

life is still a caberet

Todays7mj4.com went on to add, "Stephan Thompson, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said the money shows the importance of the recalls.

"On the republican side, Wisconsin Club for Growth -- a group that's not registered and doesn't have to report how it spends its money -- has poured in more than $800,000 into television ads alone. It's also distributing fliers and buying radio time."

In turn the journal would note that "out of state zip codes" had contributed $41,000 to the Pasch while noting that the Darling campaign received 27 thousand dollars from out of state donors.

This was largely seen as the first election in the new "Citizens United" world or, as we at LP like to refer to as, the Supreme Court's bribery made legal ruling. Where opponents like to portray union members as all living in Washington penthouses or being shadowy Mafioso type figures a lot of this money comes from rank and file members. Is there abuses in unions, no doubt, but comparing large special corporate interests to the dues that come from teachers, policemen, and firemen is like comparing apples and oranges. Yet the media offers up this false equivelncy daily until enough people even seem to think they have more to fear from their own neighbors, who make roughly about what they do, than they do from a CEO who would fire them tomorrow if it would increase his numbers. On the Darliing side of the ledger is a group who refuses to tell anyone who they are or where there money came from because, I assume, they feel if the general public knew they would not approve of them or to insulate their company from the wrath of their customers.

If I was a predictor Mr. Walker's policies will make the school poorer so that the sons and daughters of those making under $100,000 will be less competitive in the future. The state workers will take a pay cut and have fewer rights with regards to their corporate overlords, which  will bring less money into the economy. The police and fire will be punished for not rolling over and allowing their fellow union members to be jacked up, thus further impoverishing the middle class and giving them less spending money, which will ripple into stores, which ripple into the hiring. More people will lose their job or be forced to take a pay cut, at a time when the Republicans in Washington and at the state level are cutting unemployment. And this will help those making under $100,000, how? I suppose it will give them a little more pocket chaige to buy more crap from China, which will give them the incentive to go deeper in debt.

Last night, enough Americans who make less than $100,000 came together to buy a television ad made by an outside company, that cares very little about them. Elections come and go and soon another election will around. If you are dispairing about the future do yourself a favor turn off the television, shut the radio, and throw out the fliers. You might actually find you get more of what you want out that way. Besides the telivision was probably be made oversees anyhow as since your parents time Americans can't be expected to work any how. There job is to buy things in the new economy and if they don't have the money there is always credit.

If this was the 30s and we had our current business leaders in charge is there any doubt that we would be would be dealing with the third reich?

Think of the American jobs it would create at home by selling goods to the regime and how else would we be able convince the German regime to do the right thing by their people than by cashing in off of them.