How the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Became the Greatest (Bumbling) Enemy of America.

[HughBeaumont]

The Politely Evil Empire: How the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Became the Greatest (Bumbling) Enemy of America

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2014-01-30/news/us-chamber-of-commerce-problems/full/

Think of the U.S. Chamber as your crazy Uncle Ed. He spent too much time listening to talk radio, developed a raging victim complex, and came to believe the country was being destroyed by sloth and moochery. So he formed a lobbying group to defend the one true antidote: free enterprise.

The national organization was founded in 1912 to bring a greater business voice to Washington. It was always conservative. It was against America's rush to stop Hitler in World War II. It called Franklin Roosevelt's remedies for the Great Depression, among them social security, an attempt to "Sovietize" America. After the war, it cheered on Joe McCarthy's hunt for imaginary Commies.

snip

The group's guiding principle: If it might help regular people, the Chamber considers it heresy. Free enterprise should be absolutely free, this logic goes, even if it turns the country into Rwanda with nicer Burger Kings. Anything less is an outrage.

snip

Soon the U.S. Chamber began sounding less like the apostle of free markets and more like the official welfare agency of the golden-parachute set. Donohue called for drastic cuts to social programs. But he also wanted taxpayers to bail out BP after its Gulf spill, defended the oil industry's $12 billion annual welfare package, and was outworked by no one in protecting Wall Street banks from too-big-to-fail laws.

"The Chamber isn't really anti-government," says Damon Silvers, policy director of the AFL-CIO, a federation of some of the nation's largest unions. "They just want the government to be subordinate to big business."

Great article, easy to read. Local CoCs are leaving the extremist RW CoC in droves. It's become a disease, one that affects this nation's progress.

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Jefferson called them the new enemy in 1812 . n/t

[El_Johns]

4. The CofC?

[William769]

9. Bye bye!

Good things come to those who wait.

[SidDithers]

10. Damn right...

Bye bye again, Hannah Bell / HiPointDem.

Sid

[William769]

11. Teamwork!

[Laelth]

2. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[El_Johns]

3. Portraying the CofC as 'bumbling' misrepresents its power and influence. And is there a link

for the claim that local CoCs are breaking with the national org? Not seeing it around here.

[mtasselin]

5. Time

The time has come for some politician to call out the chamber of commerce and alec the anti-American legislative exchange council for what they really are and that is ANTI-AMERICAN. This is not even debatable all you have to do is look at the legislation both of these organizations push and you can see that they own the republican party and their koch brother masters. If we only had a democratic party that had a pair that would come out and show America how much damage that these two organizations are doing.

[HughBeaumont]

13. +1. Of course, that would mean throwing away what everyone in power worships . . . .

Ze Dough Re Mi and Friedmanomics.

[orpupilofnature57]

15. The CofC ???????????

googoo-gaga.

[mountain grammy]

6. greedy bastards..

A couple of years ago, I was happy to see a small energy company we've invested in for years leave the US Chamber of Commerce citing their extreme positions on political issues..

[pragmatic_dem]

7. Why doesn't Democratatic leadership organize protest against TPP and other bad trade policy...?

Like tax refunds and other incentives for corporations who outsource jobs to India and China?

And why would Democratic leadership back the TPP which grants corporations powers over local and federal Government.

Seems simple enough and would have massive support from ordinary people from all walks of life.

With real unemployment at 15% or higher it just makes pragmatic sense to pass policy that benefits job creating and improved quality of life.

Unless, of course, our legislators and their ultra-rich benefactors are the only ones profiting by selling the middle class to Asia for pennies on the dollar.

[Romulox]

8. Occam's Razor: because "Democratic leadership" doesn't oppose the TPP. nt

[pragmatic_dem]

14. But I thought Democratic Leadership supported jobs in the US...? Why hurt middle class...?

Don't we have Republicans for that?

[indepat]

12. A government that does the bidding of big bidness is indeed subordinate to big bidness

and reeks of corporatism/fascism instead of promoting the general welfare. That tens of millions of Americans are without health insurance and earn a below-livable wage are some of the proofs in the ugly pudding.