Dean says "workers are getting screwed" - proposes re-regulation

[unfrigginreal]

Dean calls for new business controls

Democrat seeks to reverse years of government deregulation

By Jim VandeHei
THE WASHINGTON POST

HOUSTON, Nov. 18 — After years of government deregulation of energy markets, telecommunications, the airlines and other major industries, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean is proposing a significant reversal: a comprehensive “re-regulation” of U.S. businesses.

THE FORMER Vermont governor said he would reverse the trend toward deregulation pursued by recent presidents — including, in some respects, Bill Clinton — to help restore faith in scandal-plagued U.S. corporations and better protect U.S. workers.

In an interview around midnight Monday on his campaign plane with a small group of reporters, Dean listed likely targets for what he dubbed as his “re-regulation” campaign: utilities, large media companies and any business that offers stock options. Dean did not rule out “re-regulating” the telecommunications industry, too.

He also said a Dean administration would mandate new workers’ standards, a much broader right to unionize and new “transparency” requirements for corporations that go beyond the recently enacted Oxley-Sarbanes law. “In order to make capitalism work for ordinary human beings, you have to have regulation,” Dean said. “Right now, workers are getting screwed.”

http://www.msnbc.com/news/995462.asp?0cv=CB10&cp1=1