DOA: Behind the Chamber of Commerce's 'Job Killers' List

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/doa-behind-chamber-commerces-job-killers-list



The California Chamber of Commerce represents more than 13,000 businesses, from companies such as Microsoft and Walt Disney, to local companies with small numbers of employees. From its K Street headquarters in Sacramento, the “Cal Chamber,” as it’s colloquially known, analyzes some 3,000 pieces of legislation every year. In the past 10 years, 341 of 353—nearly 97 percent—of the bills identified by the California Chamber of Commerce failed to become law. The vast majority of these were never passed by the Legislature and sent to the Governor. Instead, they were killed in committee or voted down by the Legislature or amended to take out provisions opposed by the chamber.

The chamber’s weapon of choice is its highly publicized “ Job Killers List,” a roll call of bills the chamber claims threaten the interests of business, though its press releases tend to stress the bills’ menace to California’s economy and its workers’ jobs.

The chamber’s job killers list has nearly been as effective under the governorship of the Democrat Jerry Brown as under that of the Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, begging the question, How can the chamber stop so many bills in a state Legislature in which Democrats enjoy supermajorities in both houses? Despite repeated requests for interviews, representatives of the Cal Chamber did not to speak to Capital and Main. A spokesperson did, however, provide requested statistics on its job killers project and offered this explanation of the chamber’s success in an email:

The reason the Chamber has been so successful over the years with our Job Killer campaign is that we have done an excellent job of educating legislators and Governors about how these bills will hurt job creators and California’s competitiveness.

Exactly how that is accomplished will be a subject for discussion in a later feature. For now, we offer a survey of bills that were shot down over the last two years, thanks in part to the chamber branding them as job killers. (Read about more targets of the job killers list in Bill Raden’s “Capitol Punishment” sidebar.)

[FreakinDJ]

1. The BIGGEST Job Killer in Calif has been "Free Trade"

Now they just want Californians to work like the Peasant Class of China

[Bigmack]

3. I don't understand...

What does business think is going to happen to their businesses when the workers don't have enough money to but stuff?

If the goal is to pay Bangladesh-level wages in the US, how many expensive toys will those wages buy?

Are these people that shortsighted?

[FreakinDJ]

4. Not really short sighted - the latest rescission proved that

While many Americans where refinancing their homes and attempting to start up the "Mom and Pop" businesses they paid dearly to Wall St. for the franchise rights to - Wall St / Moneyed Elite quietly peddled Mortgage Backed Securities.

Now once the house of cards they built imploded they are out buying up these same properties through foreclosure sales and quietly dumping them into REITs and renting them out

[KoKo]

2. K&R! to read later...