Chamber of Commerce Lies, Crappy Jobs and The American Dream

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workinglife.org/blogs/view_post.php?content_id=15143

by Jonathan Tasini
Friday 01 of April, 2011

I know there is an obvious answer to this question: does the Chamber of Commerce ever stop lying? Since you've answered that yourself, let's consider for a moment the most immediate lie--and the truth about the economic reality facing most working people.

There is, as we know, a concerted effort by Republicans and business leaders (and a scattered handful of dumb-ass Democrats) to undermine the powers of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and make sure Elizabeth Warren never sets foot inside the Bureau as its confirmed chief. So, you may have seen yesterday some reports about Warren's visit to a Chamber conference during which the head of the Chamber, Thomas Donohue spoke:

Ms. Warren was followed by Thomas J. Donohue, president and chief executive of the chamber, who warned that the consumer agency could choke off economic growth in the United States.

“If not used carefully, the C.F.P.B.’s tremendous power to go after bad actors could cause serious collateral damage to America’s job creators,” he said.

Really? Let's examine that assumption. Donohue is reasserting a lie: that it is government regulation that is causing trouble for economic "growth" and if only America's "job creators" were unleashed, we would all be fat and happy, luxuriating in a great, amazing economic nirvana.

This is a lie at so many levels. First, there is no serious economic evidence--zero, zilch, none, nada--that government regulations, planned or in the past, on the financial sector or any other sector, has hurt economic "growth". This is just one of those lies that gets repeated time and again, and incorporated into repetitive news reports and the foolish bi-partisan pronouncements flowing from sea to shining sea--whether you go back to the, respectfully, dumb rhetoric of Al Gore's "reinventing government" or, if you dare to chance serious nausea, all the way to the off-the-wall Gingrichian theories of the dangers of government regulation (that the media often repeats without looking at the shallowness and emptiness--check out his healthcare "reform" website...it's really daft).



Second, economic "growth" has been "choked off" for a whole lot of reasons. For instance, that we have a grossly inefficient health care system that wastes and misallocates trillions of dollars (the "trillions" is not an exaggeration over a 30-year time horizon)--and hurts economic "growth" because businesses are being crushed by those costs...imposed on us by immoral insurance and drug profiteers, who are proud members of the Chamber of Commerce.


FULL story at link.

[OHdem10]

1. COC spent millions in the last election trying to defeat Democrats

and elect Republicans. Had 2 goals--Repeal Health
Care Reform and Repeal the Wall St Reforms (Dodd- Frank)
This was widely reported at the time.

Creating jobs overseas and shipping American jobs
overseas with no regulation has run this ship
ashore.

Deregulation in Financial Industry finished us off.

Sensible Regulation contributes to growth.