Obama and Clinton supporters - what will your candidate do to curb corporations? nt

... to force them to offer jobs where they sell their goods, etc. What are they going to do to limit the immense power of corporations? How are they going to use anti-trust laws so that they get really used, merely than just leave them on the books? How are they going to stop welfare to corporations, specifically? And so on.

this is a joke right? Who has donated more money to both???

:popcorn:

I believe the only hope for things, with either one of these two--who are a lot more alike than different--is for the true populists in the Congress, (Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Barbara Boxer, Chris Dodd etc. in the Senate, Marcy Kaptur, Barney Frank, Jim McDermott etc. in the House), to form a true check on them, finally stand up to them to fight where necessary, or work together--possible now, because it will be a "good" Democrat--and keep them in line as a real Congress again. Three real branches of Government. If you stand up to either of our two main candidates, you will at least have someone who will want Government to work, and Democrats to pass bills. The two candidates may not do it, but they will cooperate if Congress does, I think.

I think either one of them would do it.

Edwards would without doubt. But the other two will work with a real (Democratic) Congress that is willing to to its job.

such important issues?

There are three branches of Government, and bills start in Congress. I really don't know what your problem is.

I am not an Obama or Clinton supporter. I supported Chris Dodd, then Kucinich. Perhaps they could start off by cracking down on John Edwards's hedge-fund and its predatory loans.

... I like Kucinich tho Edwards is my candidate. However, it doesn't help to be violently angry does it? You sound like an extremely bright person. Can't you use that to advantage in many ways, rather than just hanging on for dear life to the need for Kucinich to be the Dem nominee? I mean, I LOVE Edwards, and he's the only one to whose campaign I donate my hard-earned money, but if something happens and he isn't the nominee, I swear I will not die. I will vote for whoever the nominee is and move forward, grateful that the Repuke pigs will be out of office. Or do you plan to not vote like the Naderites did, so that we have 8 more years of @-hole Republicans?

"Violently angry?..." Wow, all that just for referring to Edwards's hedge fund. Wow. Why do you claim you want to curb corporations? Aren't hedge funds, and all these other exploitive investment cartels the actual problem? You make a lot of assumptions, which may make for a great game, but which don't really make for an honest discussion. Now I have to answer that I have never voted for Rallph Nader or any other third Party candidate, and actually only want the Democrat, whoever it is, to win. The fact that Edwards is floundering as badly as Kucinich seems to go unnoticed. Relax; don't presume to read so much into things, when you yourself asked the question, and I tried to answer it. Again--I think the only hope will be a Democratic Congress that does its job, and a President who will at least this time, cooperate.

I don't agree with using products manufactured in China, for example, and I protest that, but I wear products made in China because it's F impossible to not do so, since almost everything is manufactured there. But what should I do? Stop protesting the removing of jobs from the U.S. to Commie China because I'm wearing some F Commie Chinese manufactured blouse? NO. I protest and slowly make changes.

Sheesh, you're all or nothing, and if you can't perfection the way you want it, you're pissed! And yeah, I'm making assumptions - based on what you're saying, not on things I'm pulling out of my hat.

over the sound of...

Greatpost!!

It's nowhere near as much as Edwards promises, but that's his main promise on that question.

I'm an Edwards supporter........ and I know there's nobody like Edwards to curb corporations from continuing to choke the U.S., but we need to know what all the candidates believe. It's great to discuss these things.

In case you missed, oh, every speech he ever made where he talks about the need for ethics and lobbying reform in the federal government (I'm not being snarky... those are never the clips that the news replays).

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics/

Some stances:
As president, Obama will create a "contracts and influence" database that will disclose how much federal contractors spend on lobbying, and what contracts they are getting and how well they complete them.

Obama will create a centralized Internet database of lobbying reports, ethics records, and campaign finance filings in a searchable, sortable and downloadable format.

Obama will use the power of the presidency to fight for an independent watchdog agency to oversee the investigation of congressional ethics violations so that the public can be assured that ethics complaints will be investigated.

Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.

Obama will amend executive orders to ensure that communications about regulatory policymaking between persons outside government and all White House staff are disclosed to the public.

No political appointees in an Obama administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. And no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration.


Again, nowhere near as much as Edwards talks about, but his main thrust seems to be that he wants to end the secrecy with which corporations are influencing the government. It's a start.

His proposed policies are available on his campaign website, and he presses all of his main points in every speech I've ever seen, but the media just passes over it and keeps asking "what does he really stand for?" when he's spent the past 45 minutes saying it pretty clearly.

And, yes, I know an Obama supporter talking about the media treating him unfairly is bound to get a laugh from the Clinton and Edwards camps, but I think it is fair to say the media completely ignore his policy stands and then talk about how he has no policies.

http://obama.senate.gov/press/070928-obama_iraq_secu/

Or putting all corporate contracts online
usaspending.gov

Or putting all budget contracting online
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1107/112007j1.htm

He needs to go further on trade, but he is not going to let corporations run the govt the way Bush has.

So, I can't say for sure, but I DO know that he constantly promises an OPEN and transparent Presidency - I haven't heard that from the others, but it's one of the things most important to me. To have the three branches working again would be so much like.....well, democracy. No one can say what ANY candidate will do, they can only make an educated guess, and that includes JE, because what they try to do, and what they CAN do are two different things.

I don't think Obama is as beholden to corporations as some here make him out to be, and I believe he will put the good of the people first.

I understand that this is an Obama and Clinton bashing post, and I just posted in an Edwards thread that I was going to join in the donations on Friday, because what is happening to him isn't fair, and he's my 2nd choice.

It would be nice if we could all be on the same team, or at least try.

<2> Empower our workers and ensure that all Americans contribute their fair share. Hillary will ensure that unions, which have played an important role in forming and sustaining the middle class, are strong. She will also ensure that trade policies work for average Americans. Trade policy must raise our standard of living, and they must have strong protections for workers and the environment. Hillary will:


Pass the Employee Free Choice Act so that unions can organize for fair wages and safe working conditions.


Appoint a trade enforcement officer within the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and double the size of USTR’s enforcement unit. The Bush administration has been extremely lax about enforcing our trade agreements, and workers are suffering as a consequence. Hillary will appoint a trade enforcement officer within USTR who will be responsible for ensuring that our trade agreements are vigorously enforced. She will also double the size of the enforcement unit. The current staff is too small to monitor and enforce the increasingly complex agreements.


Overhaul the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program to ensure that workers who have lost jobs because of global competition get the support they need. TAA provides job training, income support, a health care tax credit, and job placement assistance. Hillary will modernize the program to ensure that it is truly helping workers hurt by global trade. First, she will extend TAA benefits to service workers. Today, workers who produce a service rather than a product are ineligible for TAA, leaving everyone from call-center operators to radiologists, without assistance. Second, Hillary will broaden TAA to cover all workers whose plants have moved abroad. Workers are currently ineligible for TAA if their plants relocated to countries with which we have not signed free trade or trade preferences agreements. This outdated rule means that when plants shift from America to low-wage countries like India and China, laid-off workers are ineligible for TAA. Third, Hillary will double funding for TAA’s job training program to $440 million. And fourth, she will overhaul the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) to ensure that it is actually making health care affordable for laid-off workers. She will increase tax credit to 90% of premiums from the current 65%. And for laid-off workers without access to COBRA or a qualified state plan, she will make other options, she will allow them to use the HCTC to buy into the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan (FEHBP).


Restore fairness to the tax system. Hillary will return to the income tax rates for upper-income Americans that we had in the 1990s – rates that were consistent with a balanced budget and economic growth. She will level the playing field when it comes to taxing the income earned in investment partnerships. Right now, some Wall Street investment managers making $50 million a year could pay just 15% on their earned income – while someone making $50,000 a year pays 25%. That is simply wrong, and Hillary will change it. In addition, Hillary will extend middle class tax relief, the child tax credit and marriage penalty relief, and reform the AMT to ensure people don’t face stealth tax increases.