April 17, 2012
In my opinion, the single greatest danger to humanity and the health of our planet is the growing power of unallied corporations. With no particular allegiance to any country, they interfere with the decision making processes for their own self-interested gains, while simultaneously avoiding any taxes possible. Their communications are usually half truths, and with their massive funds, they influence excessively the dialogue and flow of information to citizenry. Per the tenets of classic Economics10, they maximize profit by a) paying their labor as little as possible, b) obtaining any raw materials as cheaply as possible, and c) maximizing the usage of their current infrastructure. Acccording to Economics 10, they are doing a great job , the right things ! The results are, a) exploited workers in whatever country they can pay them the least and provide the least safety at their expense by law...b) they despoil any country's natural resources that will allow then to get away with it by buying off whomever is required, whether administators or members of the legislature, and c) they inhibit the development of new and improved technologies until their old machinery is no longer worth maintaining, and then will slowly allow the new technologies to eke out from the patents they have bought up and sequestered.
CONSEQUENTLY.....
I am deeply concerned about the influence of corporate money on our electoral process.
In particular, I am appalled that, because of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, publicly traded corporations can spend investor’s money on political activity in secret.
I am writing to urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue a rule requiring publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their political spending.
Both shareholders and the public must be fully informed as to how much the corporation spends on politics and which candidates are being promoted or attacked. Disclosures should be posted promptly on the SEC’s web site.
Thank you for considering my comment.
g. scott clemson
las vegas, NV