| Become a Supporter |
Like Blue Commonwealth? Want to help keep it running?
Contribute Today, and help keep our blog ad free!
|
|
| Username: |
Elaine in Roanoke |
| PersonId: |
171 |
| Created: |
Sat May 09, 2009 at 08:38:58 AM EDT |
Elaine in Roanoke's RSS Feed
 |
|
Fri Mar 19, 2010 at 10:57:53 AM EDT
|
|
Texas has gone too far. Too far. I really didn't care when their bouffant-haired governor made his veiled threat to secede from the Union, as if the Civil War was just a bad dream. I even thought it was kind of nice how warmly Texans welcomed their most famous - or infamous - son home after he finished the most disastrous presidency since Herbert Hoover.
Now, however, that Texas State School Board has gone too far.
There are two truisms about Virginia that have lasted down the ages. The first is what William Faulkner's realized. All Southerners, and especially Virginians, never forget the past because it isn't even past to us. We revere our history. We treasure it, warts and all. Our history is like our family, worth defending at all costs.
The other truism is that there are three "saints" in Virginia's history, men who are above criticism, flawed as they might have been: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Thomas Jefferson.
How dare those twerpy, right-wing upstarts in Texas say that Thomas Jefferson's role in American history has to be downplayed simply because he understood that common sense demanded a separation between church and state!
|
|
There's More...
:: (7
Comments, 448 words in story)
|
|
Thu Mar 18, 2010 at 11:20:47 AM EDT
|
|
Last week, a majority of the Roanoke City School Board voted to look into pursuing legal action against the Commonwealth of Virginia for an alleged breach of state constitutional rights. The board voted 5-2 on a motion that said the state - by cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in state aid to localities again in this budget - is not fulfilling its constitutional requirement to establish and maintain a high-quality program of education.
Specifically, the state constitution says that "the General Assembly shall provide for a system of free public elementary and secondary schools for all children of school age throughout the Commonwealth, and shall seek to ensure that an educational program of high quality is established and continually maintained."
Roanoke schools are facing another deficit of between $4 million and $16 million, depending on the details of the budget just passed by the state. Last year, the city privatized its transportation, closed two schools, eliminated all teacher aides except those required by federal mandates, and enlarged class size. This year, the worst case scenario would be the elimination more than 150 additional jobs, including 140 teachers.
While I seriously doubt that a lawsuit can accomplish anything other than to shine another spotlight on the drastic cuts in educational funding in the last few years and those in the upcoming biennium, localities are in a double bind because they have regularly supplemented state aid with additional dollars because the state funding has never met what most educators - or parents - believe constitutes a "quality education."
|
|
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 378 words in story)
|
|
Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 19:12:51 PM EDT
|
|
The budget passed by the General Assembly for the next biennium not only screws over the poor, the children and the sick. It also will not pay more than $620 million that should be paid by the state into the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). Legislators did say that they will pay the money back with interest over the next decade. Even so, they compounded the shortfall to the state pension system by giving authority to localities to postpone or eliminate their payments into VRS.
Believe me, this situation won't sit well with the people who determine Virginia's bond rating. We may well be kissing that triple-A bond rating goodbye.
For several decades, there have been those in Richmond who have wanted to water down state employee and teacher retirement benefits. Now, the recession has given them a way to do what they wanted all along. I don't have any complaint with efforts to make sure the pension system is viable for future retirees. My gripe is when a few guys get in a back room in Richmond and basically decide what will be done with the retirement of state and local employees and teachers.
Just think. State support of K-12 education has dropped to the level it was four years ago. Medicaid, already one of the stingiest programs in the nation, has been hit hard again, and now the pension system is being used as a bank by the legislators. And, why?
|
|
There's More...
:: (5
Comments, 501 words in story)
|
|
Mon Mar 15, 2010 at 10:18:11 AM EDT
|
|
I've reconciled the apparent contradiction in a press release from the State Senate Democratic Caucus yesterday stating, "the final budget agreement makes $253 million in K-12 education cuts over the biennium, but prevents over $400 million in additional cuts that were desired by the House of Delegates," with the story in my local paper today, which states, "Direct aid to schools is cut by $645 million, excluding a funding cap on support staff."
It appears that the Democrats in the Senate were masking what is actually taking place with state financing of public education by pretending that the cuts proposed by former Gov. Kaine in December had actually been enacted, and then claiming that the budget agreement cut only $253 million from state aid.
The correct figure for the hit being taken by K-12 in this upcoming budget is $645 million. I will grant that the Democratic-controlled Senate kept the number from being Gov. Bob McDonnell's desired $731 million cut.
The GOP and the "Jobs Governor" are directly responsible for what they are doing to public education. McDonnell can start out his tally of "jobs" he is bringing to the Commonwealth by putting down a negative 15,000 to 25,000. That is the number of Virginians who will be thrown out of work so that schools can balance budgets with revenue that will be the same as what they received from the state in 2007.
Here's just one example:
Locally, the Roanoke City School Board met early this morning and approved a preliminary budget to send to city council, one cutting 146 full-time position, including 130 instructional positions.
Now, we always hear from the conservative Republicans that the schools should cut out the "fat" and keep teaching positions and schools open in all neighborhoods. That's impossible.
|
|
There's More...
:: (5
Comments, 639 words in story)
|
|
Fri Mar 12, 2010 at 10:11:29 AM EST
|
|
I certainly hope that many people who thought they were voting for the guy best able to lead Virginia in this difficult time are rethinking their choice after a few months of seeing Bob McDonnell in action.
Robert McCartney of the Washington Post recently took stock of just how Gov. Bob McDonnell is or is not fulfilling the promises he made to voters, promises that were mainly responsible for his resounding victory over Creigh Deeds. The two promises McCartney looked at were McDonnell's promise to shrink the size of government and cut the budget without having to cut basic services to citizens and to lead from day one in solving our transportation mess, an issue that is so important to much of northern Virginia.
So, let's see where the little guy stands on those issues - and a few more:
McDonnell's leadership on the massive budget shortfalls Virginia has consisted of recommending nothing to the legislature. Instead, he let them take all the heat for the cuts in basic services that the Republican "we-hate-government-no-new-taxes" philosophy dictates. Plus, his plan for tackling transportation morphed into a "plan" to delay any plan until next year because the legislature was "too busy."
During the campaign McDonnell told voters that Creigh Deeds' idea for a bipartisan commission to redistrict the state was a fine idea that he also embraced. It turns out his embrace meant smothering the idea and letting it die in the GOP-controlled House of Delegates.
Even his response to AG Ken Cuccinelli's terrible leap into gay-bashing at Virginia's colleges and universities was a halfhearted "executive directive" against discrimination that has no standing in the law. If he had followed both Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and issued an executive order against discrimination based on sexual orientation, then people would have had recourse in court. His "executive directive" is worth absolutely nothing legally. It simply says that the governor doesn't want you to do that.
If this is leadership, then I have a fine, historic bridge in Brooklyn to sell you - cheap.
Let's continue looking at McDonnell's record so far.
|
|
There's More...
:: (2
Comments, 834 words in story)
|
|
Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 10:31:36 AM EST
|
|
As if I needed further proof of just how bad the influence of money on governance in Virginia has become, my local paper recently ran two stories that gave me two additional reasons to be disgusted by the ease with which special interest money can buy our democracy.
One involved a revenue bill which appeared to have no opponents in the General Assembly until it found itself the target of a successful big-money lobbying effort that ultimately doomed it.
The second instance of political prostitution concerned bills that passed this week. Those bills, introduced by Sen. Steve Newman (R-Falwell) at the behest of Gov. Bob McDonnell, give the state a role in the creation - and funding - of charter, online and virtual schools despite objections from some that doing so would raid public school funding in a time of unprecedented budget cuts.
My disgust was caused by the fact that K12, a Herndon company that would benefit greatly from the online education part of the bill, was invited by the governor's office to sit in on working group sessions that essentially wrote the legislation.
I guess K12 got a good return on the $40,000 it donated to Bob McDonnell's campaign and inauguration and the $17,500 it gave to various legislators who sit on the education committees. I knew that the world's oldest profession in a political sense was rampant in Richmond. I just never knew how cheaply those people could be purchased.
Here's more detail of what went on in Richmond.
|
|
There's More...
:: (6
Comments, 1042 words in story)
|
|
Sun Mar 07, 2010 at 12:15:10 PM EST
|
|
We all know that Bob McDonnell and his fellow Republicans have painted themselves into a "no new taxes" corner in order to satisfy their base. Now, others will have to suffer for that.
There is one week to go before the end of the General Assembly session, but no budget agreement appears on the horizon. Even so, one thing is sure about this budget. It will put pressure on local government officials to either raise revenue - increase property taxes - or be the face of the cuts in services that will be deeply felt in Virginia's cities, towns, and counties.
We can look at public education as an example of how the state passes the fiscal buck for their own demands on localities. The state, even in these bad times, requires schools to maintain 21-to-1 student-teacher ratios, provide free textbooks and transportation and offer programs for at-risk students and free and reduced-price breakfasts in any school where at least one-fourth of students qualify for them.
The federal No Child Left Behind law mandates frequent testing, which carries a high price tag while delivering dubious data. It also mandates a certain level of improvement per year in educational outcomes and remedial instruction for those who fail to meet the minimum standards.
I haven't even scratched the surface of the mandates for education.
So, what does Bob McDonnell have to say about the state passing mandates on to the localities without sufficient state revenue to fund them? "They'll be innovative, they'll be creative, and they'll find a way to manage better," he said.
No, they won't. Virginia's localities can't be "innovative;" they can't "manage" better. McDonnell and the rest of the "don't tax me" crowd have identified the problem facing us right now the wrong way.
|
|
There's More...
:: (14
Comments, 492 words in story)
|
|
Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 10:00:00 AM EST
|
|
Progressives in this country are at a disadvantage in winning over public opinion for many reasons, but one important one is we don't have the equivalent of the right-wing echo chamber that repeats its propaganda until it becomes accepted as fact, even when it is a blatant lie.
Let me quote just a couple of things from the man who took political lying to a new low - Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister for Adolf Hitler:
"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over...If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it...The truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
So, to us it may be obvious that Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and others are repeating obvious lies and following the advice of Goebbels. To many Americans, all they know is that they heard different people say the same thing over and over, so it must be true.
Dr. Anthony P. Young, a psychologist, says that if a person believes that a lie is real, it will become real in its consequences.
"Individuals construct reality in their own mind. If you believe something is true, it becomes true regardless of what the facts are," maintains Young, a specialist in forensic psychology. This is what we are fighting against.
|
|
There's More...
:: (15
Comments, 605 words in story)
|
|
Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 13:07:30 PM EST
|
|
The decision by the majority of those who bothered to go to the polls last November to put a fundamentalist in the governor's mansion and a far-right, homophobic guy in the attorney general's office will surely cause problems for Virginia. I'll get to one relating to attracting employment to Virginia later. But, first, the side show that has become Virginia governance.
We all know by now that incoming Republican Bob McDonnell did not see fit to continue the eight-year pattern by Democratic governors of issuing a non-discrimination policy that rejected bias in hiring and promotion of state employees based on their sexual orientation.
He contended that only the legislature had the ability to protect those citizens from the actions of bigots. That is his "opinion," despite the fact that the Code of Virginia gives the governor the right to set policy for state agencies, unless prohibited from doing so by the Code of Virginia.
Meanwhile, certifiable nutjob Del. Bob Marshall (R-Far Right Field) has made another ridiculous, homophobic comment about a bill introduced by Democratic Sen. Don McEachin to do what the governor said was necessary - make discrimination in state hiring on the basis of sexual orientation illegal by legislative action.
"I think there first should be some finding that homosexuals, as a class, are being discriminated against," Marshall said. "In all of my experience and reading, gay individuals seem to have more income, to attend more cultural events, to take more vacations than the rest of us."
Words escape me in commenting on the stupidity of that remark. So, I'll just move on to the harm these homophobes may cause the state.
|
|
There's More...
:: (3
Comments, 547 words in story)
|
|
Mon Mar 01, 2010 at 08:58:38 AM EST
|
|
Dan Radmacher, editorial page editor of the Roanoke Times, had a column Sunday on the same subject I recently covered in a Blue Commonwealth entry called "Smack Dab in the Middle of the Second Guilded Age."
Radmacher's column, "An Obituary for America's Job-Creation Machine," addresses - as I did - publications by Barry Lynn and Philip Longman of the New America Foundation which attempt to understand why the American economy had no net job creation in the decade from the 2000 recession until 2009, the first time in our modern history that situation has occurred.
Outsourcing of jobs, technology, international competition, and reduced investment in research and development are some factors, but Lynn and Longman attribute much of this disturbing situation to the monopolization of whole sectors of our economy by one or two multinational corporations.
We can study the causes for the lack of jobs ad nauseum. Let's, instead, turn our attention to possible ways to mitigate the damage to society and look at ways to create jobs in spite of the intransigence of the corporatocracy.
One possible solution is being tried right now in Cleveland, a city that has seen massive job losses and a population decline from 900,000 in 1950 to less than 450,000 today.
|
|
There's More...
:: (4
Comments, 472 words in story)
|
|
Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 17:58:30 PM EST
|
|
Most people would assume that the federal government's possible addition of $360 million to Virginia's Medicaid support might help mitigate some of the horrendous cuts planned for it in the next two years? Nope. Not if the House of Delegates budget becomes law.
Instead of using the money that would flow from President Obama's proposed six-month Medicaid extension - the very Medicaid money Bob McDonnell talked about when he went to meet with the state's congressional delegation earlier this week - for health care, the House has other ideas.
The House budget allocates $100 million of the potential $350 million for the Virginia Tobacco Commission, $82 million for a three percent bonus for state employees, $75 million for higher education, and $37 million for K-12 education. Only $38 million of the possible $360 million Federal Medical Assistance Percentages Medicaid fundind would go to health care.
At least, the Democratic-controlled State Senate has taken a different approach to possible new Medicaid money. Its budget allocates any additional funds for the program itself, as Congress would expect.
|
|
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 240 words in story)
|
|
Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 12:10:00 PM EST
|
|
For those of us who detest Fox News and the way it attempts to brand right-wing propaganda as news, this latest piece of information should come as no surprise.
Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a funder of families of suicide bombers and terrorist groups like Hamas, has become a huge investor in News Corporation, the parent company of FOX News. Of late, he has raised his stake in the corporation such that he is now the fourth-largest shareholder.
According to Joseph Trento, a sometimes Fox commentator, Prince Al-Waleed , nephew to the Saudi king, met with Rupert Murdoch in Hong Kong on Jan. 14. The prince issued a press release after the meeting stating that the prince's Kingdom Holding Company had discussions that "touched upon future potential alliances with News Corp."
Such an alliance gives the prince an outlet for his films and other media ventures, not to mention a say in how news from the Middle East is presented on Murdoch's network.. In return, Murdoch gains a way to fight off a possible takeover of his mega-corporation by an outfit called Liberty Media, which is the second-largest shareholder after the Murdoch family.
Al-Waleed has told the press that he is "a vocal and open ally of Mr. Murdoch." The prince said he hasn't given Murdoch official control of his shares but that Murdoch "has my verbal proxy." His payback is that he influences how Fox reports news on Saudi Arabia and terrorism.
Has the prince used his 7% ownership of Rupert Murdoch's empire - worth about $4.3 billion - to affect how Fox News reports? You bet.
|
|
There's More...
:: (0
Comments, 266 words in story)
|
|
Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 13:01:29 PM EST
|
|
Oh, my Lord! Who would have thought...
Bob McDonnell has caught the rampant "hypocrite flu" that is raging in the GOP community this year.
The Washington Post is reporting that Gov. McDonnell met with Virginia's congressional delegation in Washington and asked them to help him secure stimulus funds to help build a Rolls Royce manufacturing plant in Prince George County near Petersburg.
I will give McDonnell this much. His hypocrisy is tempered by the way he has danced around his party's criticism of the president and the Recovery Act. During the campaign for governor, McDonnell trashed the Recovery Act as a waste of money on a regular basis. At the same time, though, he said Virginia should accept the money.
McDonnell met with the entire congressional delegation, minus Sen. Jim Webb, who had another obligation. Besides begging for stimulus act money for the state, McDonnell discussed his desire to see off-shore oil drilling, ways to prevent a Norfolk-based aircraft carrier from being relocated to Florida, and various measures to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
Gov. Wimpy also told the legislators he supports Congress extending the federal stimulus bill to help states cover rising Medicaid health care costs, a infusion of funds that he hopes will help close that $4.2 billion budget shortfall Virginia is facing. President Obama's proposed six-month Medicaid extension could pump $350 million into the state's coffers for health care.
So, let me get the governor's "logic" sorted out here.
|
|
There's More...
:: (7
Comments, 406 words in story)
|
|
Mon Feb 22, 2010 at 09:27:57 AM EST
|
|
There is nothing that will bring out right-wing hypocrisy quicker than some sort of crisis or an attempt to win passage of progressive change that could make our nation a better place to live.
My favorites this week are Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and all those Republicans who "hate" the Recovery Act but love the money it brings to their state or district.
I was a bit surprised to find that Palin's own family partakes of dreaded "government-run" health care, especially after the headlines she got last year on the subject. Even more surprising was Limbaugh's praise for a government-mandated, universal health care system.
I also particularly enjoyed hearing one of their own, Arnold Schwartzenegger put the "H" name to what we have witnessed across this land as GOP lawmakers - who voted against the federal Recovery Act and swore up and down it was useless - have rushed for photo ops featuring Recovery Act projects in their communities.
|
|
There's More...
:: (4
Comments, 825 words in story)
|
|
Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 09:49:06 AM EST
|
|
You can take it to the bank that there is a serious problem when the Richmond Times-Dispatch challenges a decision made by a Republican governor. Well, that has happened regarding Bob McDonnell's proposal to gut the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) such that the fund will drop its amount on hand to cover future obligations from 84% to 62% by the time his term ends.
The Times-Dispatch ran a lengthy article on the subject February 19.
According to McDonnell's "crystal ball," the VRS will provide a way for state and local governments to escape some of the pain that would come from balancing their budgets. How? By not putting in the government's share of money to cover future obligations for a few years.
That may help McDonnell's - and localities' - budget woes this year, but it could well create terrible problems in the future. Problems that will put in jeopardy the retirements of teachers, police officers, firefighters, all those who work for state or local government.
McDonnell is proposing cuts in contributions to the VRS by more than $600 million. At the same time, he has rejected former Gov. Kaine's proposal to ask present employees to pay into the fund themselves. Instead, he is advocating reduced retirement benefits for future employees, plus making them the only ones to pay into the system.
If the guys around Gov. Wimpy believe that creating a future group of "second-class citizen" public employees in VRS is going to solve the problem created by cutting government contributions, they better think again. Officials at the VRS warn that reduced payments now would have to be made up in future budgets, either that or jeopardize the solvency of the fund. Any savings the state might realize from reducing benefits for new hires would take decades to realize.
|
|
There's More...
:: (5
Comments, 891 words in story)
|
|
Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 11:40:28 AM EST
|
|
"You can judge a society by how they treat their weakest members." - Mahatma Ghandi
The Roanoke Times had an eye-opening article today on the impact on education in our area of Virginia of Gov. Bob McDonnell's plan to slash three quarters of a billion dollars from public education state funding over the next two years.
School boards statewide know that they have to look at shuttering schools, letting teachers go, postponing necessary maintenance, and slashing the instructional program to make up for the loss of revenue from the state.
Meanwhile, McDonnell's first response to his cuts in educational funding is a meeting in Richmond with students from "virtual schools" - kids who "go to the school" over the Internet - touting that as a great "advance" in education.
You know, you would think that the parts of the state that voted overwhelmingly for this guy will now see the cost to be paid for four years, but I doubt that. Any time anyone mentions any sort of tax increase, no matter how small, these people act as if they are being asked to live on the street and beg for food.
Education in my area of Virginia is going to be especially hard hit, at a time when southwest Virginia also has some of the highest unemployment in the Commonwealth.
|
|
There's More...
:: (9
Comments, 820 words in story)
|
|
Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 10:24:48 AM EST
|
|
Remember how Bob McDonnell said he wanted to be Virginia's "jobs governor"? The only problem is that he failed to mention that he was going to destroy jobs, not create them.
Remember when "Mr. Moderate" McDonnell was going around Virginia promising all sorts of goodies if the electorate would just send him to the governor's mansion? Well, I've been keeping score on how his "efforts" are working out so far. I will paraphrase Gov. Wimpy's promises and then take a look at reality.
"I have a transportation plan. My opponent just wants to study the problem. We can't wait another year to tackle the most important problem facing the Commonwealth."
Oh, yes we can wait another year. McDonnell has decided that the poor, overworked General Assembly just can't do anything on transportation this year. Besides, the oil rigs aren't up and pumping yet, the federal government hasn't been asked to put tolls on Interstate highways yet, and the state can't afford to lose the $100 million it gets from ABC store revenues.
"I will be the 'jobs governor.' My opponent has no plans to bring jobs to Virginia. I do."
No, he doesn't. In fact, the budget cuts he's recommended - now that he finally got up the courage to let the citizens in on them - will destroy thousands of jobs in Virginia. Here are just a few examples:
|
|
There's More...
:: (14
Comments, 746 words in story)
|
|
Wed Feb 17, 2010 at 11:45:58 AM EST
|
|
I know I've already written quite a lot about the state budget, but information is so hard to come by that I'll update things one more time.
I'm angry today. I'm angry that we in Virginia are poised to make the most vulnerable citizens in the Commonwealth pay the highest price for the budget crisis that Wall Street greed caused in Virginia and the rest of America. I'm also angry that we have a guy sitting in the governor's mansion who is too cowardly to share with the rest of us what he wants done.
The way this whole thing is unfolding is wrong. Normally, we would be having a spirited discussion about the cuts that have to be made to balance the state budget. However, as I have written before, this mess is unfolding in secret.
According to today's Washington Post, Gov. Bob McDonnell is very specific in secret meetings in describing the kind of budget cuts he wants to see made in the state budget, in order to meet his demand for no new taxes.
He apparently doesn't want any advocates for the poor, the sick, the elderly, or the children to be able to make a case for sparing those groups some of the sacrifices they are going to be asked to make. Plus, he actually must think he can keep his own hands clean in this mess and have the legislature get all the negative fallout.
I am thankful for the Washington Post and its reporter Anita Kumer, who has been writing about the secret budget discussions by using leaks from Richmond. Those efforts are the only way we citizens have to keep an eye on McDonnell and his plans for the state.
The cut list Gov. Wimpy has given Republicans in the General Assembly is pretty horrendous:
|
|
There's More...
:: (22
Comments, 720 words in story)
|
|
Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 11:08:37 AM EST
|
|
When Bob McDonnell was running around Virginia last fall acting like "Mr. Moderate," he had this to say about legislative redistricting:
"I have followed the robust debate over redistricting for a long while...I do believe that we need to institute bipartisan redistricting to ensure greater citizen involvement, and the vigorous exercise of democracy that is the prerequisite for successful government."
He even had a specific proposal on the subject:
"[A] bipartisan commission, comprised of Virginia citizens who have not held any elected office for at least 10 years, will select its own non-partisan chair and will provide the citizens with access to the process through public meetings, proposed maps online, and a website that will allow public comment and interaction in this important process."
Now, the Washington Post is reporting that last week McDonnell had a golden opportunity to advance the cause of redistricting reform that he embraced as a candidate. He didn't.
Did he mean anything that he said about fair redistricting? Evidently not.
I won't dignify this latest news from Gov. Bob McDonnell by calling it a flip-flop. That's giving it too much credit. Let's just call his campaign promise what it was - a lie.
|
|
There's More...
:: (4
Comments, 323 words in story)
|
|
Sun Feb 14, 2010 at 12:05:45 PM EST
|
|
I recently read a book by Barry C. Lynn of the New America Foundation, Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction. The book details what Lynn believes are the dangers of the monopolization of whole sectors of our economy by global corporations.
Most of the ongoing debates about globalization, competitiveness, and risky finance, Lynn says, aren't pointing out the widespread consolidation of power in nearly every sector of the American economy.
Monopolies are gaining ever greater power, largely surreptitiously through takeovers that preserve existing brand names. The creation of these monopolies has been aided by decades-long encouragement by the federal government.
A bipartisan government prostitution to its corporate masters led companies to buy one another up, outsource their production, and make their profits by leveraging market share - creating a corporatist oligarchy.
Savings achieved by these consolidations - eliminating duplicate and unprofitable products, closing facilities, cutting jobs - are often used simply to fund ever more consolidation and concentration of market power.
Vulnerability to high prices and to supply problems increases as the number of suppliers is decreased. Consumer power in the marketplace and competition are mainly myths.
So, where are we right now? Well, we are smack dab in the middle of the "Second Gilded Age."
|
|
There's More...
:: (4
Comments, 791 words in story)
|
|
|
|
|
| Recent Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Recent Diaries |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
