Actually, what the Left wants is a level playing field. Corporations have skewed the rules so they are favored at the expense of those without the means to really access law makers.
Policies have been enacted to make it not only easier, but more profitable to take jobs out of America. CEOs in the executive suite are making exponentially more than those responsible for actually producing the goods. Golden parachute bonuses cover the tracks of those who hit the throttle so hard that the companies over heat and fall apart like a Chinese motorcycle. Executives are lauded for their ability to dismantle American companies and sell off the productive parts. Bankers dream up nefarious schemes to defraud their customers by imposing petty fees and surcharges. Wall Street investors 'create' wealth from junk bonds and derivative while pension funds suffer the consequences.
And that's the way American Capitalism was designed to work via Supply Side policy.
I love Capitalism. But I want rules to apply. The same way society works better when rules of compartment are imposed, Capitalism can easily run awry when nothing but the profit motive is considered.
And those rules are regulations. Regulations with consequences other than "too big to fail".
Social Conservatives are big on rules. A woman cannot control her reproductive fate. A homosexual cannot marry the person they love. Christian ethics and Christian dogma should be applied to American secular governance.
But the same people championing such repression are perfectly willing to let Capitalism run rough shod over the working class so larger profits might be gleaned.
I wonder why folks who advocate smaller, less intrusive government only want it in the personal arena, but not when their very livelihoods are in the balance?
But why is it the leftists look to the corporations to "fix it" and not to government? Because to the leftist, the government is the supreme power and therefore must be revered, respected, and deemed to be without serious sin. Therefore the anger, dissatisfaction, and frustration must be directed to somebody else and the "rich" or the "corporations" are convenient targets.
How about we level the playing field and take away the corporations ability to buy influence by making it illegal for the federal government to dispense ANY form of charity or benevolence or favor on ANYBODY unless they do the same simultaneously for EVERYBODY? That takes away the ability of anybody to buy influence. And it takes away the ability of those in government to use the people's money to increase their own power, prestige, influence, and personal fortunes.
At the same time require those in Congress to fund their own retirement plans and health plans out of their salaries as most of us have to do, and end the liftime salaries and benefits for retiring elected officials. And that gives nobody an incentive to run for public office for personal benefit but rather would again encourage true public servants to serve.
This would seem to be attractive to those who have not been made dependent on entitlements or given an entitlement mentality.
Not so attractive to the Occupy folks, I would think, who should be occupying Washington and demanding their elected leaders clean up THEIR act. They are definitely targeting the wrong people to punish.
Liberals don't expect corporations to fix anything! They won't. they are not motivated to. They are motivated to get as much as they possibly can. As much money, as much power, as much influence as possible. It's government that can and must fix it.
Government establishes the rules we all play by. As Social Conservatives wish government to control personal lives, Liberals want government to be the buffer between the rabid dog Capitalism has become and a true arena of fair play.
Should a corporation be able to open a smelting plant in a residential neighborhood? Should a corporation be able to exploit the workforce by paying them less than what is fair while paying the executive suite exorbitant bonuses even if that corporation fails? Should a corporation avoid paying its fair share of taxes after exploiting the infrastructure and environment and workforce?
The government is answerable to the people. That's where their power comes from. Corporations are answerable to stock holders. But even when corporate heads screw up, their personal culpability is rewarded by lavish bonuses and compensation.
And what is it that needs fixed? The balance, which has served American Capitalism so well until the corporations gained the upper hand in government policy. The balance between executive pay and worker pay. The balance between community needs and corporate needs. The responsiblity corporations used to hold to their workers, their community neighbors and their stock holders.
Wealth, real wealth isn't earned by producing today. It's reaped from owning, selling and getting the most out of workers (even if that means the workers are now outside the United States and paid slave wages), the environment (by ridiculing the safeguards that ensure safe water, air and soil) and bending the rules of the market (by selling worthless junk bonds as premium holdings).
We hear Conservatives ridiculing labor as greedy, selfish and lazy. We hear Conservatives ridicule workplace safety regulations as intrusive, wasteful and costly. We hear Conservatives ridicule environmental regulations as onerous and restrictive. All to what end? So that corporations, those benevolent corporations can 'create' jobs? For whom? Asians, Latin Americans? Who do Conservatives figure the ultimate consumer of the products will be once the workers wages and quality of life and personal property values are consumed by the same corporations who ruined the show?
Hypocrisy is alive and well, yes?
