[geeks] geeks Digest, Vol 157, Issue 2

[Lionel Peterson]

An old email, but I never read it till now... Comment at end

Lionel

> On Dec 5, 2015, at 11:17 AM, Sandwich Maker <adh at an.bradford.ma.us> wrote:
>
> " From: Lionel Peterson <lionel4287 at gmail.com>
> "
> " > On Dec 5, 2015, at 7:19 AM, Sandwich Maker <adh at an.bradford.ma.us>
wrote:
> " >
> " > " To me, that's a problem.  I was reading an article the other day
about
> " > " "corporate death penalty" and while I'm not that far in the spectrum,
> " > " there *must* be a way to make the penalties severe enough where it
> " "hurts"
> " > " vs. just making it the cost of doing business.
> " >
> " > i agree.  however, we've allowed the corporations and .1% wealthiest
> " > people to change our system so that money makes the rules.  'citizens
> " > united vs. fec' is a key example.  they've got the finest
> " > congresscritters money can buy...
> "
> " The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision was supported by the ACLU, as
it
> " struck down a regulation that violated the 1st Amendment rights of Corp.
and
> " unions to voice opinions in elections.
> "
> " https://www.aclu.org/cases/citizens-united-v-federal-election-commission
> "
> " The principle guiding the decision is that when two (or more) people come
> " together to voice an opinion, they have no lesser rights than they would
> " individually. Corporations, like unions, are comprised of individuals, and
as
> " such have the same rights as the individuals that comprise the union or
> " corporation.
>
> ah, but it's used more often to represent the opinions of the board
> and not the wishes of the stockholders, the actual owners of the
> corporation...  boards frequently don't even tell their stockholders
> what they're lobbying for in their behalf.

Which is exactly what unions have done for years - union leaders do not poll
the members about which politicians/policies the union should support, the
union leaders instruct them (in almost every instance I am familiar with,
which is not that many to be fair).

A decision made by board members that are elected by the shareholders is just
as representative as a decision made by union leaders elected by the union
members...