March 7, 2001

2:40 PM

Nader editorial in the WSJ(with another guy). They were prolly watered down a lot and given that "two cheers for the president" sub-title, but Nader still seems remarkably sanguine about Bush's plans to rein in corporate welfare.
posted by kliuless (4 comments total)

Gosh, Ralph, I thought that when corporations give big bucks to politicians, they expected there would be something in return...at least that is what you told us was bad about corporations. Does this mean that the corporations will continue to give huge amounts of money but learn to tighten their belts and live without corporate welfare so that they are merely giving money cause they like to help out when they can?
posted by Postroad at 2:48 PM on March 7, 2001

Post, Nader is basically calling for Bush to turn around and pull the rug out from under his corporate benefactors. I have no doubt that the original draft of this collaborative article pointed out that it was highly unlikely Bush would bite the hands that fed him so well throughout his campaign, and that campaign finance reform would be necessary to end the quid pro quo of "You donate to my election campaign, I'll make sure you get plenty of pork and tax loopholes" that both parties engage in. (I wonder if the guy listed as his co-writer was simply the person who made Nader's message toned down and acceptable enough for the WSJ crowd?)
posted by wiremommy at 3:48 PM on March 7, 2001

Besides, corporations' political donations often have more to do with international trade and law than corporate welfare. Of course tax breaks are huge, but a favorable law (or set of specific laws and policies) probably make them more money in the long run.
posted by chaz at 7:41 PM on March 7, 2001

chaz, the always informative wsj has a nice breakdown of contributions by industry and the legislation they hope to affect. i guess it's pretty typical, nothing very eye-opening (like tobacco wants the gov to drop it's lawsuit against them), but it's just so out of hand it's nice to see mainstream business publications take issue with the gross excesses of corporate america.
posted by kliuless at 9:07 PM on March 7, 2001