Does anyone else feel that there are a number of similarities between the

[Veggie Meathead]

way Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld govern in this country and the way the old Soviet communist bosses governed?The most obvious similarity is their secretiveness about all public policy issues.The second is their contempt for their citizens.The third is their sense of entitlement that they are the ones most suited to govern.Fourth is their belief that their wealth and power were derived from merit when they were anything but.

I want especially to note how they believe that tax cuts for the wealthy would benefit the economy in general and the benefits would trickle down to the masses.This is disproved in the case of Cheney's Halliburton Corp. which is notorious for sucking at the public's tits for a long time.Far from being a risk taker, which Cheney glorifies at every forum, Halliburton is a totally risk averse corporation constantly seeking a sure deal from the government.The same can also be said for the record of Rumsfeld and,of course, Bush.

[Solon]

1. You know, I read a book once that...

state that the Soviet Union was the largest corporation in the world. Simply put the Country was run as one large corporation, where the Party bosses controlled production, from the CEO (Party Head) and the common citizen as the employees.

[TexasProgresive]

2. My Dad always said that the US

was "corporate communism." That corporations are basically communist, totalitarian entities. */cheaty have brought that corporate thinking to the Federal government.

[Solon]

3. That much is true...

half or more of the major corporations of today would not be half as large without favortism from the government. Most are still tax payer subsidized, and totalitarian to boot, with little to no oversight by any citizen elected group. Corporate Communism indeed, it is a deplorable situation.

[Veggie Meathead]

5. More than anything else our big corporations fear true

competition.If they did not have sure deals flowing from the tits of public funds many of them would be out of business.This is why I find it so amazing that they keep talking about Free Enterprise when it is just such free enterprise that they fear the most.Halliburton was a sinking company until Cheney came in and found juicy Defense contracts for the corporation using his prior connections and putting in place cost-plus projecst which allowed them to have sure guaranteed profits whether they screwed up or not.This is exactly the way the old Soviet system worked.

[SEpatriot]

4. Their true beliefs aren't espoused publicly

I don't believe that they sincerely believe that the tax cuts will benefit anyone but their cronies and the corporations that they are beholden to. So this is, essentially, like the old Communist regime which espoused being a "People's movement" in public, then stuck it to the people in favor of the party apparatchiks. Cheney's recent outburst just shows how smug and contemptuous they really are.