Important discussion going on on DU today...

[newtothegame]

There is this idea on DU (and it existed before the recent Supreme Court decision on corporate personhood) that "corporations" are evil, that "corporations" do this, that "corporations" do that, that "corporations" don't pay any taxes, and corporations etc. etc. etc. I don't know if this is just a convenient meme or what, but I honestly feel it has outlived its usefulness. As Alec Baldwin says when he's run out of arguments in the movie Team America, "The, the, ...global warming and... corporate America and..."

What does this even mean anymore? The world and Americans have stopped paying attention to it because a corporation is just an entity that exists in our head. This is why no matter what people say about Wal-Mart, or Exxon Mobile, or any number of other "evil corporations," very little gets done in the way of progressive policies against these organizations.

The people BEHIND the corporation, the owners, decision-makers, and various stakeholders are what we should rail against. Why are we railing against so-called "corporations" when we can go after the rich people that actually make money off them? For instance, as DU'er Nye Bevan pointed out regarding the corporate income tax, which is a oft-discussed issue here at DU:

"Corporations spend millions going through contortions to avoid it, and when they can't, they simply pass it on to their customers. This tax raises a comparatively small amount of revenue, which could easily be recouped by raising the income tax rate on wealthy individuals (my emphasis). Abolishing corporation tax would also result in reduced unemployment as foreign companies would be more likely to open branches and factories in the US."

DaveinJapan has also started a great discussion on this http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8098230

Personal opinion here, but I think we are wasting our time going after this boogeyman. People just don't care. Go after REAL PEOPLE.

[treestar]

1. They mean "big business" which would fit better

Corporations can be small or medium sized and are not always part of the Big Plan.

[ananda]

2. That would make sense..

.. if the rich and the corporate didn't own the government.

[LiberalLoner]

3. Good idea. n/t

[laughingliberal]

4. The 'rich people behind them' have just as many contortions they go through to avoid the taxes.

Close the loopholes. And raise the tax rate on the wealthy.

[leftstreet]

5. Indict 20 rich people, 20 more will take their places n/t

[Cleita]

6. Actually, it's laissez faire capitalism as practiced by the

mega-corporations because they can, that we are against. There is no proper regulations any more to keep them working for the people and the country and not the other way around, which is what is happening today. I remember the first time I learned that phrase, "laissez faire capitalism" was in history class and it was considered as one of the causes of the French Revolution. I remember my teacher saying that we never had to worry about that in the USA because government regulations kept that from happening after the Robber Baron period of our history. Of course this history class I was taught was during Truman's administration, a Democrat who was much different in ideology than our present day DLC Democrats.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Forbes Mag coming out with an article on how Exxon-Mobil pays no US taxes started it. nt