(Not so ) New Patriotism: In 2002, a majority of the top 100 economies were

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corporations, not countries or states. Wouldn't be surprised if it's a larger percentage now in 2010.

So...just as there's a day in May that people acknowledge as the point in the year in which we stop working to pay for taxes, what is the day in the year when we stop working to pay stockholders of corporations? More to my point about patriotism: HOW MUCH OF OUR WORK TO PAY FOR TAXES ENDS UP GOING TO CORPORATIONS ANYWAY?

How much of government work has been privatized?

How much time do our representatives and government employees spend on making sure corporations like BP make record profits?

Who are the real constituents of elected and appointed officials....the electorate or stockholders?

How much of our commons (environmental resources, mineral rights, air rights, patents on life, timber rights, education, etc) do we give away so that corporations can profit? BP got the gulf recently, that's pretty significant.

Which representatives believe that America's strength lies in making a few of us really, really wealthy and powerful?

How much effort do our reps give to diverting our tax dollars to subsidize industry to hide the real cost of goods? We know that the real cost of gasoline would be more like 10 bucks a gallon if we add in externalized costs of the military, clean ups, subsidized drilling and exploration, etc.. Same for factory farms, mining, etc.

I'm not sure yet I'm advocating for nationalization of industry. But I'm just reading about how we've continued to "enclose the commons" in every way possible (including allowing patents on living things and allowing entire ecosystems to be given away) giving private interests more and more every year worldwide which leads to greater economic and sustenance gaps and larger and larger profits for fewer and fewer people. Seems like costs ought to be more appropriately assigned and seems like our elected and appointed officials ought to be cut off (lobbying, revolving doors, campaign finance) from the revenues that are generated by giving away the commons. These are much more easily accepted and logical solutions than nationalizing industry.

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1. So...maybe not nationalization of industry, but re-nationalization of our government and

our reps is what we need.