We, the People, call Gordon Lafer to testify about ”How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time.”
Lafwer: “This..is the legislative agenda of the one percent – a concerted, coordinated, full-funded attack by some of the richest individuals and most powerful corporations in the country. Its aims are to concentrate an ever-larger share of income and wealth in the hands of the most privileged, eliminate institutions that give working people leverage in the labor market, defund public services, lower expectations of what workers should be able to demand from..employers and citizens from..government, and shrink the reach of our democracy in order to lock in place unpopular policies and forestall a populist backlash.”
Lafer: Conservative activist William Kristol, in a 1993 memo, outlined the dangers of Clinton’s health care plan. Successful health care reform could fundamentally reshape the way people think about the economy, raising their sense of what the public through its government could demand of the private sector. A successful health care initiative would mark: ”the establishment of the largest federal entitlement program since Social Security. Its success would signal the rebirth of centralized welfare-state policies at the very moment we have begun rolling back that idea in other areas…But the long-term.. effects will be even worse. It will relegitimize middle-class dependence for “security” on government spending and regulation. It will revive the reputation of the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests. And it will strike a punishing blow against Republican claims to defend the middle-class by restraining government.”
Lafer: ”..growing inequality and increased hardship for American workers are..the result on an intentional policy agenda pursued by the largest and most powerful lobbies in this country – those representing the..biggest corporations.”
Lafer: ”Citizens United”. “ushered in a new legislative era, shaped by..unlimited corporate spending on politics.” Eleven states became 100% controlled by Republicans and “an unprecedented wave of legislation aimed at lowering labor standards and slashing public services.” By 2015, 15 states legislated restrictions on public employees’ collective bargaining, 12 states restricted minimum wage, 4 eased child labor limits, 19 imposed new caps on unemployment benefits.
Lafer: ”In addition to..overall increase in spending, the 2010 elections marked the beginning of a fundamental shift in control of electoral politics….the power of party officials has been supplanted..by private, corporate-funded advocacy groups.”…
”..it is not simply that politicians have become more dependent on corporate campaign contributions…the very machinery of elections has increasingly shifted from party to private hands.”
Lafer: ”..both ALEC and the Chamber..support cuts in “entitlements” such as Social Security, unemployment insurance and food stamps; push for more trade agreements on the NAFTA model; seek to shrink public funding for schools; oppose paid sick leave and workplace safety regulations; work to undermine labor unions and restrict their participation in political debates”.. [and favor]..forced privatization, ”right-to-work” laws..abolition of minimum-wage and prevailing-wage laws..”
Lafer: foreign sales account for 48% of S&P 500’s total corporate revenues; 6 major ALEC members get 60% of their revenue outside the United States. ”This marks a new departure in American politics: some of the most influential actors in the legislative process have political interests that are increasingly disconnected from the fate of the country’s citizens.”
Lafer: ”The senate majority leader..who previously had pledged his opposition to RTW, was pulled into a private room with DeVos and a dozen other big money donors and told to “grow a set and move this legislation.” Undecided GOP lawmakers were warned they would face well-funded primary opponents if they did not support the bill and were promised financial backing if they faced a recall election..”
Lafer: ”The campaign to transform public education brings together multiple strands of the agenda..The teacher’s union is the single biggest labor organization in most states – thus for both antiunion ideologues and Republican strategists, undermining teacher’s unions is of central importance. Education is one of the largest components of public budgets, and in many communities the school system is the single largest employer – thus the goals of cutting budgets, enabling new tax cuts for the wealthy, shrinking the government, and lowering wage and benefit standards in the public sector all naturally coalesce around the school system.
”..there is an enormous amount of money to be made from privatization of education – so much so..every major investment bank has established special funds devoted exclusively to this sector.”
Lafer: ”..Citizens United has led to a proliferation of vehicles for untraceable political spending, making it frequently impossible to connect the dots between corporate actors and legislative outcomes..the corporate agenda is carried out through an integrated network that operates on multiple channels at once..”
Lafer: ”Most important, corporate lobbies have sought to create a system of selective democracy in the very process of lawmaking itself. From 2011 to 2015, 22 states established new laws making it more difficult for citizens to vote.. Typically, these laws target lower-income residents..Democrat turnout was significantly hampered..states are explicitly restricting citizens’ ability to vote for policies opposed by corporate interests.”
[Note; all this, and MUCH MORE detail is found in Lafer’s book, “The One Percent Solution.” Thus he illustrates WHY the rich and corporations ARE THE prime threat to democracy – everywhere. The corporate plan to change the 50 states’ laws to favor them is discussed here, as well as in many other books on this web site; by the NUMBERS we have provided; by the criminal news headlines provided; by quotes provided. The EVIDENCE is. OVERWHELMING, begun in the 1970s, accelerated in the 1980s, expanded in the 2000s, the well-documented conspiracy by the rich and corporations to destroy the middle class 1947-73 golden age is STATISTICALLY. beyond dispute.]
With Justice For All 