Rasmussen: 68% Believe Government and Big Business Work Together Against the Rest of Us

[sailingaway]

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/february_2011/68_believe_government_and_big_business_work_togeth er_against_the_rest_of_us

Ah, but do they know the economic definition of such a situation?

[noxagol]

Only 68. well, it is probably an improvement.

[Anti Federalist]

32 percent of the people directly benefit from such an arrangement.

[american.swan]

32 percent of the people directly benefit from such an arrangement.

lol!!!

[RedStripe]

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/february_2011/68_believe_government_and_big_business_work_togeth er_against_the_rest_of_us

Ah, but do they know the economic definition of such a situation?


Yea, it's called State-Capitalism and it's been around since the Constitution was drafted by the Colonial Bilderburg Meeting of 1787 (if not before then), where the richest and most powerful members of the colonies met in secret to create a new government that would better protect their economic interests as industrialists, merchants, and slaveholders (against the pesky masses who where dumb enough to believe the American Revolution was anything more than a passing of the torch between one system of control to another).

The economic elite and the political elite are one and the same - always have been and always will be. I laugh at people who try to pretend they are different (on the right or the left). You can't kill this dragon by attacking one head or the other, you have to decapitate both.

Anyone who thinks that there was a "Free Market" prior to the 1900s is as ignorant as the progressive morons who believe the same thing.

[qh4dotcom]

Only 68. well, it is probably an improvement.

Problem is that those 68% keep voting for the corrupt politicians responsible for this mess.

[Original_Intent]

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/february_2011/68_believe_government_and_big_business_work_togeth er_against_the_rest_of_us

Ah, but do they know the economic definition of such a situation?

Fascism?

[Incrimsonias]

soft

[HOLLYWOOD]

Well let's see if the poll is accurate? I put a little snapshot together of the current regime's track record with the CEO and President of one of America's largest corporations, General Electric. What do you think of the Fasco-Corporatists control of America today?

1. Obama Names GE CEO Immelt As Economic Adviser (council of economic advisors)
(http://www.npr.org/2011/01/21/133106946/obama-names-ge-ceo-immelt-as-economic-adviser?ft=1&f=1014)

2. GE's CEO & President, Jeffrey Immelt To Head President's Council On Jobs And Competitiveness (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/21/jeffrey-immelt-council-on-jobs-and-competitiveness_n_812005.html)
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/239614/thumbs/s-JEFFREY-IMMELT-COUNCIL-ON-JOBS-AND-COMPETITIVENESS-large.jpg

3. GE wins U.S. approval to exit TARP program after $126 Billion in AID (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.reuters.com%2Ffinancial-regulatory-forum%2F2009%2F07%2F22%2Fge-wins-us-approval-to-exit-tarp-program%2F&rct=j&q=GE%20received%20billion%20in%20financial%20backi ng&ei=A3VTTemyMIj2tgOZ88m3BA&usg=AFQjCNGHJHRyy9yCOtMVvtaPDlP3S9mMrQ&cad=rja)
BOSTON, July 22 (Reuters) – General Electric Co has received approval ... credit limit to GE under the program to $75 billion from $126 billion

4. Since Immelt took over in 2001, GE has shed 34,000 jobs in the U.S. But it's added 25,000 jobs overseas.

5. GE's Immelt to head new Obama jobs panel (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41186668/ns/business/)
GE takes the most aggressive action to shift its production/earnings outside the country to avoid paying federal taxes. Another way to put this is that GE has done very well in minimizing its US payroll. At the end of 2009, GE employed 36,000 more people abroad than it did in the U.S. In 2000, it was the opposite.
The shareholders at GE might look at these results and vote to give Mr. Immelt a pay raise. But the American people should look at this and say, “GE is the poster boy for our problems”.

6. GE Calls For More Exports To Aid Economy : NPR (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CC0QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2Ftemplates%2Fstory%2 Fstory.php%3FstoryId%3D105934438&rct=j&q=GE%20received%20billion%20in%20AID%202009&ei=rHRTTZqzGJS4sQPludS9BA&usg=AFQjCNHCd8x4A3tH_334EpEgYwn7dF9h-g&cad=rja)

GE Calls For More Exports To Aid Economy. Washington to assist... June 26, 2009

7. Gasparino Confirms Jeff Immelt Scolded CNBC Staff For Being Anti-Obama

8. Obama Budget Seeks $53 Billion for High-Speed Rail – Bloomberg (http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-08/obama-seeks-53-billion-over-six-years-to-build-high-speed-rail-networks.html&ct=ga&cad=CBQQARgAIBAoCDAAOABAyuXG6gRIAlgBYgVlbi1VU2iBgI DQ8aOpPg&cd=XtcNpMBwgsg&usg=AFQjCNEr7M99pj9ySzpPIehHWOOx8TStDA)
Biden and Obama adminstration calls for $53B for highspeed trains …, w/GE likely getting paid. That fucking Jefferey Immelt works fast, conflict of what?

9. The Boston Globe - 2010-11-18
GE seeks tax aid to limit layoffs (http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/11/18/ge_says_tax_credit_would_limit_lynn_layoffs/) - State says request may be a first


10. How GE Paid A Total Of $5 Billion In Domestic Taxes Between 2002 And 2009 On $639 Billion In Domestic Revenues


11. GE: 7,000 tax returns, $0 U.S. tax bill
By Annalyn Censky, staff reporterApril 16, 2010: 11:52 AM ET.
GE had plenty of earnings last year -- just not in the United States. For tax purposes, the company's U.S. operations lost $408 million, while its international businesses netted a $10.8 billion profit.

FINALE: How GE Paid A Total Of $5 Billion In Domestic Taxes Between 2002 And 2009 On $639 Billion In Domestic Revenues

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/how-ge-paid-total-5-billion-domestic-taxes-betwen-2002-and-2009-639-billion-domestic-revenue

GE @ 3.17% tax rate (2002-2010)

[Sentient Void]

Yea, it's called State-Capitalism and it's been around since the Constitution was drafted by the Colonial Bilderburg Meeting of 1787 (if not before then), where the richest and most powerful members of the colonies met in secret to create a new government that would better protect their economic interests as industrialists, merchants, and slaveholders (against the pesky masses who where dumb enough to believe the American Revolution was anything more than a passing of the torch between one system of control to another).

The economic elite and the political elite are one and the same - always have been and always will be. I laugh at people who try to pretend they are different (on the right or the left). You can't kill this dragon by attacking one head or the other, you have to decapitate both.

Anyone who thinks that there was a "Free Market" prior to the 1900s is as ignorant as the progressive morons who believe the same thing.

libertarian thickism FAIL.

[tangent4ronpaul]

This sounds like the Bilderburgs and the CFR are having a shared "I'm in urgent need of a diaper change" moment....

-t

[Sola_Fide]

Yea, it's called State-Capitalism and it's been around since the Constitution was drafted by the Colonial Bilderburg Meeting of 1787 (if not before then), where the richest and most powerful members of the colonies met in secret to create a new government that would better protect their economic interests as industrialists, merchants, and slaveholders (against the pesky masses who where dumb enough to believe the American Revolution was anything more than a passing of the torch between one system of control to another).

The economic elite and the political elite are one and the same - always have been and always will be. I laugh at people who try to pretend they are different (on the right or the left). You can't kill this dragon by attacking one head or the other, you have to decapitate both.

Anyone who thinks that there was a "Free Market" prior to the 1900s is as ignorant as the progressive morons who believe the same thing.

As sophisticated as you think you sound, you still are misrepresenting some basic concepts.

First, I don't know of anyone who says there has ever been a completely free market. In an imperfect world, there has always been varying degrees of freedom, but not perfection.

Secondly, you say we have to "chop both heads of the dragon off". That is not accurate. The state head of the dragon is the one that gives the power of force to the corporate head. If it were not for the state, then the individual could vote with his dollars purely based on democratic capitalism. Government is the problem.

[Flash]

I actually agree with Redstripe. The newly formed government wasn't that big of an improvement and eventually lead to what we have now. What difference does it make if a monarch is ruling over you or if a republican government is ruling over you? You're still being ruled over, and your vote doesn't even statistically count. Meanwhile you have to literally beg people to vote for your guy so you can be a little more free (Ron Paul movement). Meanwhile Corporations are funding PACs, Lobbyists, and the media (which is dependent upon the State & Corporations) slanders liberty-oriented politicians.

[RedStripe]

Well let's see if the poll is accurate? I put a little snapshot together of the current regime's track record with the CEO and President of one of America's largest corporations, General Electric. What do you think of the Fasco-Corporatists control of America today?

1. Obama Names GE CEO Immelt As Economic Adviser (council of economic advisors)
(http://www.npr.org/2011/01/21/133106946/obama-names-ge-ceo-immelt-as-economic-adviser?ft=1&f=1014)

2. GE's CEO & President, Jeffrey Immelt To Head President's Council On Jobs And Competitiveness (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/21/jeffrey-immelt-council-on-jobs-and-competitiveness_n_812005.html)
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/239614/thumbs/s-JEFFREY-IMMELT-COUNCIL-ON-JOBS-AND-COMPETITIVENESS-large.jpg

3. GE wins U.S. approval to exit TARP program after $126 Billion in AID (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.reuters.com%2Ffinancial-regulatory-forum%2F2009%2F07%2F22%2Fge-wins-us-approval-to-exit-tarp-program%2F&rct=j&q=GE%20received%20billion%20in%20financial%20backi ng&ei=A3VTTemyMIj2tgOZ88m3BA&usg=AFQjCNGHJHRyy9yCOtMVvtaPDlP3S9mMrQ&cad=rja)
BOSTON, July 22 (Reuters) – General Electric Co has received approval ... credit limit to GE under the program to $75 billion from $126 billion

4. Since Immelt took over in 2001, GE has shed 34,000 jobs in the U.S. But it's added 25,000 jobs overseas.

5. GE's Immelt to head new Obama jobs panel (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41186668/ns/business/)
GE takes the most aggressive action to shift its production/earnings outside the country to avoid paying federal taxes. Another way to put this is that GE has done very well in minimizing its US payroll. At the end of 2009, GE employed 36,000 more people abroad than it did in the U.S. In 2000, it was the opposite.
The shareholders at GE might look at these results and vote to give Mr. Immelt a pay raise. But the American people should look at this and say, “GE is the poster boy for our problems”.

6. GE Calls For More Exports To Aid Economy : NPR (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CC0QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2Ftemplates%2Fstory%2 Fstory.php%3FstoryId%3D105934438&rct=j&q=GE%20received%20billion%20in%20AID%202009&ei=rHRTTZqzGJS4sQPludS9BA&usg=AFQjCNHCd8x4A3tH_334EpEgYwn7dF9h-g&cad=rja)

GE Calls For More Exports To Aid Economy. Washington to assist... June 26, 2009

7. Gasparino Confirms Jeff Immelt Scolded CNBC Staff For Being Anti-Obama

8. Obama Budget Seeks $53 Billion for High-Speed Rail – Bloomberg (http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-08/obama-seeks-53-billion-over-six-years-to-build-high-speed-rail-networks.html&ct=ga&cad=CBQQARgAIBAoCDAAOABAyuXG6gRIAlgBYgVlbi1VU2iBgI DQ8aOpPg&cd=XtcNpMBwgsg&usg=AFQjCNEr7M99pj9ySzpPIehHWOOx8TStDA)
Biden and Obama adminstration calls for $53B for highspeed trains …, w/GE likely getting paid. That fucking Jefferey Immelt works fast, conflict of what?

9. The Boston Globe - 2010-11-18
GE seeks tax aid to limit layoffs (http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/11/18/ge_says_tax_credit_would_limit_lynn_layoffs/) - State says request may be a first


10. How GE Paid A Total Of $5 Billion In Domestic Taxes Between 2002 And 2009 On $639 Billion In Domestic Revenues


11. GE: 7,000 tax returns, $0 U.S. tax bill
By Annalyn Censky, staff reporterApril 16, 2010: 11:52 AM ET.
GE had plenty of earnings last year -- just not in the United States. For tax purposes, the company's U.S. operations lost $408 million, while its international businesses netted a $10.8 billion profit.

FINALE: How GE Paid A Total Of $5 Billion In Domestic Taxes Between 2002 And 2009 On $639 Billion In Domestic Revenues

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/how-ge-paid-total-5-billion-domestic-taxes-betwen-2002-and-2009-639-billion-domestic-revenue

GE @ 3.17% tax rate (2002-2010)


Great post.

[Travlyr]

Yea, it's called State-Capitalism and it's been around since the Constitution was drafted by the Colonial Bilderburg Meeting of 1787 (if not before then), where the richest and most powerful members of the colonies met in secret to create a new government that would better protect their economic interests as industrialists, merchants, and slaveholders (against the pesky masses who where dumb enough to believe the American Revolution was anything more than a passing of the torch between one system of control to another).

The economic elite and the political elite are one and the same - always have been and always will be. I laugh at people who try to pretend they are different (on the right or the left). You can't kill this dragon by attacking one head or the other, you have to decapitate both.

Actually it is called:
Mercantilism (http://www.thedailybell.com/1746/20-Trillion-War-Costs-Bankrupting-US.html)

Mercantilism is the use of the state to fulfill ones personal objectives and self interest. The use of the state, conflating private with public, allows the individual or small group to obtain clout that would otherwise not be feasible.

MERCANTILISM, the realizing of private goals for individuals or small groups through public means, has a long and ancient history, doubtless as long as humankind itself. From the beginning of the Neolithic when humankind invented cities, humans sought mercantilist advantage.

Wherever there have been seats of power, there has been mercantilism which eventually the corrodes the process of the state and infuriates its citizens. The American exception was set up to counteract mercantilism by diffusing power in such a way that would be no one place that a mercantilist entity could find a forceful enough lever of power to pull.

But over time the American system's power has been concentrated nonetheless. Individuals running for federal and even state office are now willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to gain access to concentrations of power.

Of course America is not alone in its concentrations of power in the modern age. The European Union has concentrated power extensively at the top and so has China. Each of these modern states is in its own way an invitation to mercantilism. In fact, one could say that an energetic power elite, behind much of the organization of great Western states, has created these systems in this matter so as to enhance mercantilist convenience.

The most prominent modern mercantilist movement, of course, is the long-term effort by the power elite to utilize Western governments for any one of a number global promotions. Perhaps the strongest of these is the central banking promotion itself, which combines every aspect of public power with private banking.

The power elite, the larger monetary elite and the public bureaucracy have all combined to create the central banking dominant social theme. The most powerful example of this theme or meme is the US Federal Reserve, which is in every way a mercantilist endeavor – conflating the public good with private interests.

Run by the elite, developed secretly by the elite, the Fed poses as a public benefit when in fact its decisions are made by a handful of private men and the money it prints out of thin air must necessarily benefit the "powers that be" that created the Fed in the first place. It may be that historians look back and declare that the 20th century and parts of the 21st are to be known as the "Mercantilist Era."

Capitalism is simply an economic system of using capital to produce goods to trade.
State-Capitalism is using state owned capital in the production of goods.


Anyone who thinks that there was a "Free Market" prior to the 1900s is as ignorant as the progressive morons who believe the same thing.

The "Free Market" was alive and well in most of America from before the time of Columbus until ~ 1860. That is easy to prove. There is nothing ignorant about knowing history.

[TomtheTinker]

Fascism...simple as that.

[teacherone]

and yet they keep voting for big government...