Ralph Nader: The Boiling, Surging, Churning and Corporatizing Economy of the United States

[marmar]

from CommonDreams:


Published on Saturday, January 13, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
The Boiling, Surging, Churning and Corporatizing Economy of the United States
by Ralph Nader

The boiling, surging, churning and corporatizing economy of the United States is racing far ahead of its being understood by political economists, economists, politicians and the polis itself. Tidbits from the past week add up to this view, to wit:

--The giant, shut-down Bethlehem steel plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania will soon become a $600 million casino and hotel complex. With tens of millions of Americans lacking the adequate necessities of food, fuel, shelter, health care and a sustaining job, this project is part of a 25 year trend by the economy, moving away from necessities and over to wants and whims. Among the fastest growing businesses for three decades in America are theme parks, gambling casinos and prisons.

--Our Constitution launched "we the people" to "establish justice, .promote the general welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves." We're losing ground year after year on all three accounts. Yet to what does Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. devote his /entire/ annual report on the federal judiciary this January 1, 2007? He called for a pay raise for judges, calling the current pay ranging from $165,200 to $212,000 (with a great retirement plan) a "constitutional crisis."

--General Motor has introduced yet another prototype electric car-called the Chevrolet Volt-to distract attention from its ongoing engine stagnation and provide a little cover for its gas guzzling muscle cars displayed at the Detroit Auto Show. This procrastinatory tactic by GM has been going on since the 1939 New York World's Fair to keep people looking far into the amorphous future so as to not focus on the dismal today year after year while gasoline prices sky rocket and oil imports swell. We're still waiting for some of GM's engineering prototypes from 1939 to hit the road in the 21^st century.

--Just as there are stirrings behind more shareholder rights over the companies they own and more disclosure by management of large corporations relating to executive pay and accounting information, the rapid rise of huge pools of capital controlled by private equity firms and Hedge Funds are buying larger and larger public companies and taking them out of the regulatory arenas into secrecy.

Corporate morphing to escape public accountability has been going on for a long time. Note the coal corporations digging deep under residential streets in Pennsylvania and other neighboring states decades ago. As the homes began to cave in (this is called 'subsidence'), the coal companies disappeared by collapsing themselves only to be succeeded by their next of (corporate) kin. ...........(more)

The rest of the article is at: http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0113-20.htm

[BlueManDude]

1. ...and the egomaniac who helped bring it about.

[Caution]

3. Bingo.

Amazing that anyone would have any interest in this guy any more. His own warped view of his own importance has brought us to the brink of Constitutional crisis.

[Robson]

2. Benevolent Dictator

I'd vote for Ralph Nader as a benevolent dictator with a 4 year term to get the USA back on track to the benefit of USA workers, the environment, world respect...... instead of the interests of the corporatists and others only interested in greed. Frankly, I'd trust Ralph to do this for 4 years. He's not a money grabber and would truly be interested in a legacy.

Obviously I'd neuter all the big self serving egos in Congress too (on both sides), in the interim.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Right on, Ralph. Now get back under your rock. It's raining.

[Mojorabbit]

5. Well no matter how you feel about him

what he says in the article is true

[depakid]

7. Unfortunately. many DU'rs are unable to see that

even though some of them see that the corporate enablers in their party share PLENTY of the responsibility for the sorry shape this country's in.

Indeed, when you look at their records it's hard to conclude that there's a dimes worth of difference between Lieberman, Biden, Carper, etc. on the issues that he was discussing- which wil be a major impediment to any political realignment.

[nosmokes]

6. whatever else, Ralphie is spot on re: the US corporatocracy

you can choose to blame him for a stolen election if you want, but then that simply puts you on the side of limiting choices for the electorate. and me? i'm not ready to tell anyone they don't have the *right* to vote for whoever they wish. and if you think you do, then perhaps you've not learned the lesson of our flirtation with a single party government for the the last six years?

[Joe Bacon]

8. Ralph makes a ton of money from his corporate investments!

Nader is a god-damned phony!

http://www.realchange.org/nader.htm#money

For example, the Nader is the president and treasurer of the Public Safety Research Institute. In 1970 alone, PSRI traded on the stock market 67 times, buying and selling $750,000 worth of stock, though the organization only had $150,000 worth of assets. These trades included a number of short sales, high risk and tricky transactions. Some worked, some lost money. In later years, PSRI traded less, for a good reason -- the IRS audited them after 1970 and charged the organization with "churning", excessive stock trades whose risk threatens the charitable purposes of the organization. It paid a fine and did not contest the charge. Thereafter, PSRI continued to play the market with fewer, generally long positions. Likewise, the Safety Systems Foundation (SSF) -- run by Nader's sister, and entirely funded by him personally -- engaged in a number of stock and bond transactions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was also fined by the IRS and paid without contest.

Several of these trades were poised to take advantage of Nader's activities, by selling short the stock of companies Nader's groups attacked, or buying stock of their competitors. In 1973, PSRI bought stock in Allied Chemical, the primary manufacturer of airbags, on the very day before GM announced they would offer optional airbags on 1974 models. PSRI made a 12.5% profit in 3 and a half months. In 1976, PSRI and the SSF bought stock in Goodyear just as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration -- then run by former top Nader aide Joan Claybrook -- announced an investigation of the Firestone 500 series of steel-belted radials. The 2 organizations held onto the stock for 2 years until there was a recall, and Firestone -- Goodyear's major competitor -- suffered.

In 1970, IT&T attempted to merge with the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. Nader filed a 50 page brief attacking the merger, then SSF sold IT&T stock short. It made almost 10% on its money in 6 DAYS, then closed its position two days before the merger was approved. When pressed by a reporter, Nader said the timing was "mere coincidence" and said he had no control over the investment. However, his sister Laura Nader Millerson was the sole trustee of SSF throughout its existence, and Nader was the sole contributor.

[shrike]

10. 'Fraid you're right

If only Ralpie practiced what he preached.

[depakid]

11. Ever heard of the Aesop fable "the Eagle and the Arrow."

That's what's going on here:

An Eagle was soaring through the air when suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt itself wounded to death. Slowly it fluttered down to the earth, with its life-blood pouring out of it. Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had been pierced, it found that the shaft of the Arrow had been feathered with one of its own plumes. "Alas!" it cried, as it died,

"We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction."

[Vidar]

9. Nader is dead right about US corporations.