Corporations should be so small that they can be drowned in a bathtub

[greekspeak]

--Greekspeak, September 3, 2005.

We saw this week what happens when sick, sociopathic fiends deliberately drown the federal government. Clearly this strategy does not work. Ask the residents of NOLA.

Time now to see if we can shrink the influence of corporations on our government, and if we can shrink the corporate welfare program. I for one am tired of people dying for the almighty dollar.

[Skidmore]

1. Yes!!

[CottonBear]

2. We should set up a WPA and CCC and employ all of those people in NOLA

and give contracts for rebuilding to all of the local NOLA, LA, MA and AL companies who built the cities and communities and infrastructure.

My (now deceased) brother-in law built the Superdome and apparently did a damn good job. He was a union man and a master welder and would help anyone and could fix, repair and build anything. There are 100s of 1,000s of people like him there who can rebuild their communities.

[ima_sinnic]

3. yes!!

and ABOLISH the evil notion of "coporate personhood"

[Cats Against Frist]

4. I guess this is the thread in which to address this

I've been disheartened to see all the rah-rahs and cheers dedicated to "the federal government," and the quite misguided idea that if you continue to throw money at a level of government, far away from the people, that all problems will be solved.

What failed here is not the fact that the federal government is not big enough, powerful enough, or had enough money. What failed was our slimefuck of a president, and the priorities of the federal government are messed up. The money that should be going to other things -- like disaster relief and preparation -- is being handed out of the back of a truck, in Iraq, to mercenaries and the Mossad. Our national guard, who should have been here, are being blown up in Iraq. Who the fuck do you think directed this? BIG GOVERNMENT, that's who.

Contrary to this Norquist bullshit, the GOP isn't about smaller government, or the free market, or any of that noise. The idea is to vest authority in BOTH the power of government AND corporations, and to put that power in the hands of a relatively small group of people. The sooner people realize this, the better. This is about money, and resources, and who controls it, and who gets wealthy off of it. A huge, tightly controlled, top-down government is necessary to both engender and protect this state of corpo-fascism. And most of us know, despite rationalization, excuses, and denial, that the Democrats are just about as responsible for this, as the Republicans.

I've seen people on here discourage charity giving, because it's supposed to be the "government's job," to save the people of New Orleans. While I, personally, do believe that amongst a very few other powers, the fed SHOULD have money and resources set aside for something like this, that charity is important, and that state government is important, and it is a VERY DANGEROUS mindset to endow the federal government with all the powers to "save," -- whether it be the welfare state, rescue missions, whatever.

On the other hand, I completely agree with you that MOST corporations should be small enough to drown in a bathtub. But that doesn't take the government -- that takes YOU and ME. It takes you and me to be responsible consumers, and it takes you and me to not patronize chains or national stores, or give our labor to huge interests. Of course, one MUST realize, that, unfortunately, technology relies on concentration of wealth. It's a nasty, nasty fact, but it's true. Life-saving surgeries, drugs, aerospace, computer technology, etc. -- unless you're willing to completely abandon these things, one must realize there either needs to be some big corporations, OR be willing to hand all of those powers over to the federal government. The track record for this attitude is NOT SO GOOD, and would have to be controled as tightly by the fed, as by the corporation.

At any rate, as much as I hate corporations, I hate the federal government more. I think this is a great attitude. The problem with the freepers and religious nutbags is that they ONLY hate the left-wing authoritarian, secular government, and are willing to vest authority a right-wing militaristic government, the corporation and religious organizations -- all which are corrupt as fuck. I think that you have to hate all three instiutions, equally. This is not to say that I'm against government, altogether, as I'm a minarchist. And this is not to say that I'm against the social safety net, or small-scale communalism, because I am both a libertarian socialist and a communalist.

I guess that I'm just trying to say that a giant, top-down bureaucratic government is not the answer to fucking everything, and can cause as many problems, as it can help. We should drown boththe corporation and the government, in the bathtub, and start from scratch.