I now realize I should have checked here before posting the same info in the Politics section. As we are continuously bombarded with news reports, statistics, and projections about our national debt, our jobless situation, and the apparent reality of how "bad" our economy is doing, major corporations are thriving and still making money. I liken the Tea Party and general Republican solutions of cutting programs while protecting the wealthy and thus curing our current economic woes, to the "wisdom" attributed to King Solomon and his solution for resolving an argument between two women over a baby they both claimed. "Let's just cut it in half"... In today's America, if one of the women staking claim to the "baby" was Walmart or Microsoft versus Jane Public and Solomon being any court or judge, the "cut it in half" solution always favors the rich "mama"... With thousands of "babies", losing or sharing one is no big loss... In one of my first college classes, a political science 101 class, the professor, an heir to the Burlington Industries empire, stated what was then to me, a radically crazy and off the wall statement. He proposed that America was not founded on the principle of democracy "for the people" but instead the protection of business enterprise. That whenever one hears the word "democracy" evoked from a politician, one should substitute "business" or "corporation" for the demon(acracy) word. Militias were formed and funded by businesses to protect businesses. Revolt and the American revolution were born out of colonial businesses objection to paying taxes to a king thousands of miles away. The professor summed up his thesis with one final statement: "America was born out of greed and until its demise, will continue to be greedy". I thought it interesting that the list of CEOs making excessively large bonuses while the companies/corporations payed no taxes, even receiving tax rebates, omitted any of the oil companies, banks, or defense industry. I'm sure those entities did as well, if not better than the displayed top 25 listed while being afforded government subsidies and tax breaks to do business. I am truly naive to believe that one major solution to our current economic crises is a revision of tax laws that eliminate tax rebates for companies raking in millions or billions. But then again, we are not a democracy... "and to the Republic for which it stands..." It's all about the dollar...
