Beneficient Power Outside Of Government?

A shocker from Frank Bruni of the NY Times:

The Sunny Side of Greed

In the dire prophecies of science-fiction writers and the fevered warnings of left-wing activists, big corporations will soon rule the earth — or already do.

Fine with me.

They’ve been great on the issue of the Confederate flag. Almost immediately after the fatal shooting of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., several prominent corporate leaders, including the heads of Walmart and Sears, took steps to retire the banner as a public symbol of the South; others made impassioned calls for that.

And when Nikki Haley, the South Carolina governor, said that the Confederate flag at the State House should come down, she did so knowing that Boeing and BMW, two of the state’s major employers, had her back. In fact the state’s chamber of commerce had urged her and other politicians to see the light.

Eli Lilly, American Airlines, Intel and other corporations were crucial to the defeat or amendment of proposed “religious freedom” laws in Indiana, Arkansas and Arizona over the last year and a half. Their leaders weighed in against the measures, which licensed anti-gay discrimination, and put a special kind of pressure on politicians, who had to worry about losing investment and jobs if companies with operations in their states didn’t like what the government was doing.

And if it were up to corporations, we’d have the immigration reform we sorely need. Early last year, the United States Chamber of Commerce publicized a letter that urged Congress to act on “modernizing our immigration system.” It was signed by 246 enterprises large and small, including Apple, AT&T, Caterpillar, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Google, McDonald’s, Marriott and Microsoft.

Are these companies acting in their own interests? Absolutely. They’re trying to make sure that laws and local customs don’t prevent them from attracting and retaining the best work force. They’re burnishing their brands in a manner that they hope will endear them to customers.

Not all good things come from government? This is breakthrough stuff. Someday he may discover that, just for example, the drugs discovered by Big Pharma save lives, including gay ones.

OK, then maybe one day he will discover the 'regulatory capture hypothesis' and learn that Big Business often co-opts Big Government. It is a matter of suspense as to whether he will conclude that the solution is Bigger Government.

Comments

[DublinDaveForever]

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thousand

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new

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jobs

[Cecil Turner]

Record 93,626,000 Americans Not in Labor Force; Participation Rate Declines to 62.6%

[jimmyk on iPhone]

From MM's 8:30 link,

The U.S. has also infuriated its allies, particularly Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf states, by what they perceive to be a lack of clear purpose and vacillation in how they conduct the bombing campaign. Other members of the coalition say they have identified clear Isil targets but then been blocked by US veto from firing at them.

I hope the R candidates make a big deal of this, and of the unwillingness to directly support the Kurds. It's typical State Dept toadies, no doubt, who can't grasp that Barry has made such a hash of Iraq. I'd like to see a Kirdish state in W Iraq and Syria come out of this.

[jimmyk on iPhone]

"JiB, sports have gone insane with their ties to pols."

Sports are a microcosm of corporate America more generally. It's all about cozying up to big government.

[sbw]

Jane: attack on the 4th?

Nope. The attack is the threat of an attack on the 4th. Keeping vigilant is tiring and debilitating.

Any attack would come well after there was no attack on the 4th, after people had relaxed their guard. It would be pointed at people soft, warm, and dear to us. it would be aimed at destroying our will to fight.

Oh, and to those of us who understand what and why liberty is worthwhile, the attack may wound us but it will only steel our resolve.

Courage comes from understanding what is important and why.

[narciso]

Its larfing all the way down,

[maryrose]

Jimmyk
You are so right
Why is this story being downplayed
I hope the Arab nations wise up take charge and let the whole world know what a two faced lying wuss Hussen Obama is

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Is there any area in the Bureau of Labor Statistics that produces accurate data or is it all disinformation?

[Old Lurker]

All lies, Cap'n.

Nothing is real.

[maryrose]

I like Canada and will be traveling to Montreal and Quebec at the end of the month
I will ask about Canada Day

[Cecil Turner]

The problem is, the real issue: we have no strategy to defeat ISIS. And the bottom line is that you can't do that without sending a military force.

And if a GOP candidate were to announce that, the state propaganda organs (and DNC, which runs them) would immediately use it as a domestic political issue, sacrificing a war they don't care about for a presidential election they most certainly do.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

The EPA and Sierra Club crow about putting companies out of business and shutting down power plants via regs the SCROTUS just found illegal.

Seems to me the only questions that remain about America are, will it be slowly boiled to death or will the part of it that appreciates liberty realize its opposition is totalitarian and rise up to make war on the fascists?

Not enough Dem voters? Dissolve the border and legalize the illegal aliens who come across.

Tired of losing arguments? Get the media, universities or even the courts to declare your viewpoint the "correct" one and others illegitimate.

Tired of autonomous individuals and a free market? Have the bureaucracies make their own laws to force compliance.

Realize the policies you use to trap minority voters re harmful to those voters? Have the courts and the media declare any opposition to those policies racist and your captive voters protected classes with special privileges above other citizens.

Tired of any interference in vote fraud? Stop any attempts to ensure electoral integrity as racist and get your hapless, idiot enemies to sign a consent decree acknowledging their racism. (I don't believe it is as directly harmful as TK does, but as a symbol of the left's ferocity and the GOP's fecklessness it is about perfect)

[maryrose]

OL
So true
They lied in April and May so jobs created could exceed 200,000
Both months have been revised
5.3 reflects a record number of Americans not working
Greatest number since 1977

[jimmyk on iPhone]

CH@9:52, it's all about the media spin.

[danoso]

Met a friends step-dad a few years back. He was in his late 50's at the time. Conversion went something like this --

"So, what do you do"?
"I'm unemployed."
"What are you looking to do?"
"Nothing, just collect until the benefits until they run out."
"Then what?"
"I'll retire."

God that pissed me off. I could at least get a thank you or something.

The guy's not on the rolls as someone looking for work, and we were f'ing paying him not to look.

[Miss Marple]

A side issue article which I found interesting. I had never heard of this woman, and I bet most of you haven't, either:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/420637/patti-stanger-millionaire-matchmaker-dating-rules-conservative

[DublinDaveForever]

"They lied in April and May so jobs created could exceed 200,000
Both months have been revised"

May's job numbers revised from 280,000 to 254,000.

[jimmyk]

And April's from 221,000 to 187,000.

[Miss Marple]

daddy, I thought you would find this article interesting:

http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/in-israel/local/2000-year-old-ritual-bath-discovered-under-jerusalem-home-14332

[Beester aka Beth]

Popping in to wish all the JOMers a joyful and thoughtful 4th of July and a happy Dominion Day (Canada Day) to our friends to the north (in my case, the south). Dominion Day recognizes Canada's status as a government and people separate from that of the British empire. There are joint celebrations in Detroit and Windsor. In light of the current Middle East conflict it's good to remember the role Canada played in providing refuge and then diplomatic passports to American citizens during the Iranian hostage crisis. Here's to our neighbors eh. And here's to our Republic.

[Appalled]

OK all. Your questions answered on holidays celebrated by our neighbor to the North

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Day

[Extraneus]

It's all about cozying up to big government.

It was the 2009 stimulus that did it.

Almost $1 trillion.

In 1993, Bill Clinton tried to pass a $19.4 billion stimulus. It failed, filibustered by Republicans in the Senate.

Think about the lust for that slush fund, and the power of those who could dispense it.

Complete and total corruption.

[Cecil Turner]

All lies, Cap'n.

It's not lies (exactly), it's statistics:

• Change in Unemployment Level:
  -375,000 in Jun 2015
• Change in Employment Level:
  -56,000 in Jun 2015
• Change in Civilian Labor Force Level:
  -432,000 in Jun 2015

Labor force participation rate dropped from 62.9 to 62.3, 432K fewer people in the labor force, only lost 56K jobs, 375K "more" jobs, unemployment (U3) drops to 5.3%. Yaaayyyyy!

[Cecil Turner]

dammit, I know to cut-and-paste, I hand-typed only one line of figures and d!cked that up. Labor force participation above should be 62.9 to 62.6 (as at the link).

[jimmyk on iPhone]

Still some kinks in the software:

http://www.jammiewf.com/2015/new-google-app-labeled-black-people-as-gorillas/

[James D]

Ext, THAT is why the R's should have shut the government down back in 2013. What has the R Senate and House really gotten us?

They approved Zero's new Attorney General. They have him fast track authority. They've surrendered time adter time.

Maybe an extended shutdown would have cost us the 2014 elections, but I really don't see what we've won that's worth anything.

We're worse off now than we were in November, and the R's respond to blatant illegality and naked power grabs by the Dems with a shrug and a promise that if only we wait until 2017, or maybe 2019, or maybe 2025, they'll finally be in a position to fight back.

[rse]

james-they are also bring up the K-12 behemoth next week because 10 civil rights groups and the nea and aft demanded that.

I am not exaggerating to say that ECAA mandates using the schools and mind to enslave the child. It is a horrendous piece of legislation that fully intends to use data collection to remold the mind to ensure compliance.

Lamar and Mitch McConnell should live in infamy for even considering it.

[Cecil Turner]

Maybe an extended shutdown would have cost us the 2014 elections, but I really don't see what we've won that's worth anything.

Last time the Dems had WH/House/Senate we got obamacare. Next time it could be cap-and-trade, national VAT, or voting rights for illegals. Sometimes not losing is winning.

[Old Lurker]

Cecil is dead on. Those are the top three.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

--Sometimes not losing is winning.--

If our side doesn't repeal what their side enacts and they continue to occasionally obtain power there is no "not losing".
There is only a slightly slower death than otherwise and the unpleasant knowledge that we have a hand in our own deaths by electing the wimps who play to not lose.

[rse]

http://citiscope.org/habitatIII/commentary/2015/06/sdgs-will-not-be-achieved-without-local-financing?utm_source=Citiscope&utm_campaign=454c0839df-Mailchimp_2015_7_2&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ce992dbfef-454c0839df-118040245

is yet more proof that much of the cronyism and urban planning is really about the lucre of bond sales.

The Ga CoC was beside itself this week that the state supreme court deferred to elected officials right to be duplicitous over stadium dealings and bond indebtedness. The right of elected officials not to have their dealings second-guessed.

The potentates want their power.

[Cecil Turner]

You need all three (WH/House/Senate) to repeal. I was for the shutdown, and I think it could've been made to work (maybe . . . still not sure). But if it had cost the election, it'd have been a disaster.

Power of the purse is nice, the WH is better.

[henry]

Message from the lurking zone:

You can tell Cecil that the IRS' VAT reporting requirement was written into Dodd/Frank and remains unenforced.

Why?

No rate was set. Yet.

The rules, however, are ready to go, for all transactions over $600.

[Miss Marple]

Very interesting discussion on radio about Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore prosecutor, being on the cover of Vogue.

Gist of it is that although we see her as at best incompetent and possibly malicious, the world SHE responds to (Anna Wintour, Obama bundler and Vogue editor) rewards her with a Vogue cover and a fawning article, portraying her as a heroine.

There is no incentive for her to behave any differently. Furthermore, Vogue is in every beauty shop in the country, as well as every home where there is a personal or professional interest in the fashion industry. (My sister who works in fashion retail has had a subscription for year.)

while everyone is reading and arguing about this on web sites, Mosby is portrayed as a glamourous heroine complete with Annie Libowitz photos. Pictures speak louder than words.

Mosby is well on her way to being an icon of the Left adn all democrats, as a glamourous black woman who defends the rights of the poor or something.

I want to point out that this is one of the values of having Trump in the race. He is a celebrity in his own right, not because of his political position, and that star power helps him overcome the usual attacks he is now receiving.

Andrew Breitbart said it is the culture we have to win. And it's not just gay marriage and stuff like that; we have to restore admiration for competence, honesty, and hard work. We need to figure out how to make our people cultural icons who can compete.

[Old Lurker]

The Power of the Purse is of little value if not used and/or not enforced. Today we do not use it and we do not enforce it. If the stated debt can be (said to be) held constant to the dollar for weeks and weeks then you know the games available to them have many zeros attached.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

--You need all three (WH/House/Senate) to repeal.--

What did W and the Reps repeal? They expanded and accelerated all spending.

The Dems say "boo" and they fold up like an empty wallet; which is what the country now has.

[Threadkiller Mobynatious]

don't believe it is as directly harmful as TK does, 

I didn't either until the Republicans made that exact claim in their legal brief to the court.

[Cecil Turner]

What did W and the Reps repeal? They expanded and accelerated all spending.

Well, they could hardly have repealed obamacare, now could they? Or did you have something else in mind?

[Jane]

Same to you Beester!

"Courage comes from understanding what is important and why."

I like it!

[Cecil Turner]

You can tell Cecil that the IRS' VAT reporting requirement was written into Dodd/Frank and remains unenforced.

Give the Dems the White House (by nominating Bush, Trump or Paul, for example), and see how long it takes to get it implemented.

[Porchlight]

Thank you, Beester! A joyful and thoughtful Fourth to you as well.

[Beester aka Beth]

Thanks Jane!
RSE would like to see more of your writing on American Thinker--your research NEEDS to reach a larger audience.

The progs don't produce, they just loot. So in addition to enjoying the holiday I will be plotting ways to locally increase the OPM famine. Given the financial straits of most municipalities and states, it's a cheerful possibility.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

--Well, they could hardly have repealed obamacare, now could they? Or did you have something else in mind?--

There is nothing of any consequence to have in mind, because they have not only never repealed any consequential piece of the left's project they almost invariably promise to protect it and make it more efficient once it's in place.

[daddy]

To Beester aka Beth,

54° 40' or Fight:)

Miss Marple,

Thanks for the Jerusalem Archeology discovery story. I absolutely love that stuff.