Big business is making the Trump threat far more threatening. Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, Thiel, Altman, Tim Apple™️ all have given Trump cash transactions in the millions and/or 24-karat-gold bribes, and almost all have changed their companies' policies to censor speech and to encourage overt hate speech toward LGBT people, immigrants, nonwhite people and women to make Trump and his hateful cabal happy. Zuckerberg just hired a former Trump crony to serve as Meta's corporate president. With all due respect, without the empowerment of big business, Trump would not be able to wage his war on democracy, and so it is absurd to expect businessleaders to do the right thing even in the interests of saving their own nation from collapse. These are sociopaths whose only values are greed and ego fulfillment.
It doesn't seem to matter to any of these businessleaders that at least some of their customers, like me, are now former customers. I am a DC resident and native who will never pay another dollar to the Washington Post, to Amazon, to Prime, or to any subsidiary of any company related to Bezos, and nor will I ever give a dollar to Meta, and I have had only iPhones since 2009 but will change to Android and take all my related business—music, app downloads, payments, from Apple because of Tim Cook's self-humiliating groveling. These corrupt and spinless leaders have guaranteed at least some customer loss for the long term. I realize that none of Bezos's payments to Trump have driven Amazon's customers away, and that to me is tragic and it also shows that people really are not willing to put their money where their mouths are and sacrifice convenience of Amazon ordering for their purported principles, and these businessleaders depend on that kind of laziness and blind brand allegiance. If consumers were thoughtful about who they choose to impower with their money, businesses would respond to consumer demands. The only reason we are in checkmate ultimately is that the public doesn't care enough to boycott.
None of those guys are sole proprietors. They are accountable to their corporate boards and to their shareholders. IMHO, the tariff policy, standing alone has them by their respective gonads.
I'd love to see their respective corporate audit reports, especially the cateory CONTINGENT LIABILITIES.
A good example how to proceed is the shareholder derivitive suit against Fox.
Google: A shareholder derivative lawsuit is ongoing against certain directors and officers of Fox Corporation, including Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duties by allowing Fox News to broadcast defamatory claims about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The suit seeks to recover the significant financial losses incurred by the company, notably the $787.5 million settlement paid to Dominion Voting Systems, from the responsible individuals.
Throughout my entire public education I was taught about "great men" who sacrificed everything for democracy, saying "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country" and "give me liberty or give me death." I learned those lessons and I remember them and I integrated them into my values. Considering how many people actually sacrificed their lives to make this country, I have no sympathy for multibillionaires who choose to participate in this fascist regime's evil and corrupt war against its own citizens because they are extorted with threats of fewer billions of dollars.
The worst part is they have gone so "all in" that boycotts no longer have an effect. When the entire corp world is owned by about 7 major players and about as many own the tech world, it becomes difficult to punish them with our feet.
They mistakenly believe they are sheltering themselves when, in fact, they are assuring their own destruction. You can't sit back and watch the world in flames while you count your gold coins.
They are not extorted. They are greedy cowards trying to make sure they aren't in steerage when the ship goes down. They actually think their money will save them from the physical and financial destruction taking place worldwide thanks to one psycho.
The downside risk that Wall Street faces in letting Trump directly bottom out the Fed's Prime, is runaway inflation. When Erdogan did this in Turkey, the result was 85% inflation; that may not happen here. But even a 20% or 30% spike in inflation, if it happens quickly enough, will totally hang many, many traders and financial institutions out to dry. Not to mention utterly devastate the bottom 95% of the public.
The message to Wall Street leaders: Would a sudden inflationary spike hurt more or help more? If it's the former, then push Trump to TACO already.
The businessleaders are self-dealing. They are personally profiting at insane levels, and likely receiving illicit kickbacks and other compensation and distributing it into various assets to protect them regardless of whether the market collapses or not. This is how oligarchs in Russia and similar economies operate and Trump is expert in this because Russian oligarchs have been primary investors in his overvalued real estate all his career. I am certain these people also have studied the golden age and the great depression and have some confidence that they know how to time their market investments to exponentially inflate their wealth if the market does crash by investing their protected assets at the right time for a rebound. This is how 'iconic' American family names like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie et al., who are pretty universally revered as philanthropists and American royalty today, gamed the system and became untouchably wealthy for endless generations.
You and Trump have the same problem. You see them as individuals.
In reality they are representatives of corporate competitors in a cut throat battle to the death.
NYT Dealbook today:
"In a surprise move, Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina and chair of the Senate Banking Committee, postponed a vote scheduled for today on a draft bill that would establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.
"Among the opponents of the bill: Coinbase, the big and politically influential crypto exchange. “After reviewing the Senate Banking draft text over the last 48hrs, Coinbase unfortunately can’t support the bill as written,” Brian Armstrong, the company’s C.E.O., wrote on X, drawing both support and criticism.
"A recap: The legislation, known as the Clarity Act, would determine regulatory authority over crypto between the S.E.C. to the less-aggressive Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Crypto executives, who have become major political donors, have pushed for significantly lighter oversight.
"The measure once had bipartisan support. But Senate Democrats have pushed for ethics rules limiting U.S. officials from “issuing, endorsing or profiting” from crypto — an attempt to restrict the Trump family’s growing financial ties to the industry.
"Then Armstrong raised his objections. The Coinbase C.E.O. argues that the current version would:
erode the C.F.T.C.’s authority, “making it subservient to the SEC”
give the government “unlimited access” to investors’ financial records
“draft amendments that would kill rewards on stablecoins”
The future of stablecoins, a fast-growing segment of digital finance, has become a major sticking point. Issuers of those tokens, including Circle, want a legal framework that will let them pay interest on those assets, as banks do with many deposit accounts, to attract more customers.
That would also be a big deal for Coinbase, which offers some customers who hold Circle’s USDC token the chance to earn 3.5 percent in “rewards.”
+++++++
Not to mention that Trump has his own competing cybergelt.
IMHO there is a threat that cybercrap like $trump could displace the dollar. Didn't Trump and Musk [Dogecoin] assess the contents of the gold reserve?
Yes, I believe there's a strong chance that US currency will suffer under Trump's regime irreparably and I don't believe it will be because of recklessness. Trump's actions always benefit Putin. Putin has always wanted to destroy or at lease disempower the US but his country is too poor and too messy to do it. Clinton told us in 2016 that Trump is Putin's puppet and everything I see him do is at the service of Putin. Even when Trump loses face and fails, Putin gains something every time. I believe Trump is intentionally serving Putin's interests and that he is effectively carrying out a war on the United States from within and just about everyone is unwitting. Collapsing the dollar would be Putin's dream come true because aside from our military positioning, the dollar is our country's unshakeable stable base. Other currencies are based on the dollar and oil is traded globally with the dollar as its currency. If it fails, Russia and China have the opportunity to take its place.
Hell, our feckless Congress never took any real steps to rein in social media much less crypto. Data security attys here use European law to advice clients because they are the only ones who have taken steps to protect their citizens with actual laws, and most businesses want to be global so that is their rulebook. GOP will always bend to big business stuffing checks in their back pockets.
Meanwhile I'm convinced we will wake before long to an emptied Treasury while repugs are looking the other way. Bankruptcy is donald's one talent.
I stopped listening to my financial advisor after trump's first term. They always have the rosiest view and reasoning for why you should keep investing ("Oh but wall st is doing so well"). I sold all my funds but one little conservative int'l account that has done well and trump's insanity has likely helped even more, while everything else is in 1 year CDs now, especially with Powell's term up this Spring. I'm retired. Can't survive another 2008 and it could be much worse. If the banks start collapsing I could still be screwed short term.
I will never forget a quote I read in a Finance magazine decades ago. It said "Financial managers want belts AND suspenders. Marketing managers think their pants will magically stay up on their own." And the latter is exactly the mentality of the wealthy investors and CEOs these days. Most of them started in sales and moved up. They never had an accountant's mentality.
I've listened to Jamie Dimon squawk about "the sky is falling" just about every day of Biden's administration while the economy flourished. We were headed for a recession or a depression or stagflation or whatever his term du jour was. Now he looks at the debacle around him, including the assault on Powell, and says nothing. He SAYS he did not contribute to the ballroom from fear of future lawsuits but I bet he still found a way to write a fat check.
Funny how quickly repugs woke up over the threat to Powell, aka their money, while they turn their heads to Americans being stalked and attacked on their own streets. And watch them all cave like the spineless cowards they are when Powell's term is up this Spring and trump picks someone like ignorant, smilin' Haslett to replace. I have done everything I can to protect my savings before we get there assuming banks don't also collapse. I will be very surprised if we don't end up with another 2008 _at best_ but this time without grownups in the room to bail us out. I won't shed tears when a lot of the 'Lehman Bros' types crash & burn again.
The danger is not so much that a few fat cats will get skinned, but that we get another Great Recession--or worse, another Great Depression. With 25% unemployment, Main Street permanently shuttered, etc.
Every economy needs ambitious capitalists to spur economic growth. But they need to know their place. And be properly taxed when they succeed wildly. VP Harris I thought struck the perfect tone towards small businesses and startups--which are the tender young shoots of Capitalism, needing a bit of economic TLC to really thrive. Big Business, on the other hand, needs to pay its fair share.
Yes! You nailed it is describing the customers of the Vampire Capitalists. Most people will not give up cheap comfort and convenience and the illusion of safety.
bingo Bingo BINGO!!! Imagine the power We The People would have if we ALL boycotted these suck-ups who are ONLY interested in $$$$$$$, period, (and are only interested in plotting ways to obtain even more and MORE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ (to the detriment of the American tax payer, I might add..) It IS important to note that those Congressional Democrats counting on large corporate donations will undoubtedly avoid challenging their donors so perhaps we all need to find out who may fall into this category and challenge them as well in terms of our own donations and votes.
Corporate Taxes as a Percentage of Federal Revenue:
1955 . . . 27.3%
2025 . . . 8.3%
Individual Income/Payroll Taxes as a Percentage of Federal Revenue:
1955 . . . 58.0%
2025 . . . 84.0%
The new standard: Profits over People; Corporate Lobbyists over Party Loyalists.
Idiots that we are, we keep voting the same way. And end up with Wall Street's friend, Chuck Schumer, as the Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate.
Or, if you are unfortunate enough to be a Republican, with Trump’s pet puppet, Squeaker Johnson, as leader of the House.
People like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, AOC and Mamdani keep pointing to the Emperor and our continued response is, "Yes, Yes, we want clothes just like his"
Corporations *are* people thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. Corporations are legally defined as persons with civil and human rights, and because they represent a collective of people, their rights are weighed more heavily than any individual's human rights.
Or business leaders should consider that although there may be short term gains, the leader they are supporting could bring it all crashing down on them the way it did for the CEO’s of Krupp, Porsche and Thyssen a little over 75 years ago.
That's the problem with big business. It never looks beyond the next quarter's P&L statement. To that, add stock buybacks to manipulate share prices so CEOs can get their eight-figure bonuses, and it becomes pretty obvious that our Titans of Industry don't care a fig about the independence of the Fed.
HAWLEY - not a voice I expect to hear in defense of an independent Fed. He likes to sound brave and independent from time to time, not unlike Susan Collins. But, time and again, he folds like a cheap suit to MAGA pressure. Again, like Susan Collins.
as he did yesterday on the full Senate vote to restrict Trump's ability to make war on Venezuela without Senate consent - turned out it was not such a firm principle after all... Is it to his credit that Trump had to push him really hard to change his vote from the preliminary resolution? Not much...
It was simply a performance. Hawley was never going to vote against Trump. Like Collins he can pretend to have principles without actually having to have any.
It’ll never happen. They will only defend what makes them more money. I was a bond trader at a Wall Street firm for 11 years. I saw the rise of CMOs, IO and PO. They knew these instruments would eventually crash and people like Steve Menuhin, trumps previous treasury secretary made his fortune on the back of financial institution crashes.
What they can't seem to understand is there is a point of collapse, destruction, and chaos that they won't be about to buy themselves out of or profit from. It will never happen to them or so they think. They are probably rich enough to survive but just that.
Just like all those religious evangelicals who think we have some god-given right to democracy and wealth in this country. The wealthy think it is some given that they are too smart to lose.
We want to know which side Corporate America is on. Plenty of those Silicon Valley barons have made it clear they are on Trump's side. Along with other Billionaires like Koch, Bezos and Ackman. Are the rest of them going to side with turning us into a Nazi police state?
What will they do when the rest of the world says no more and dumps the dollar as the reserve currency?
What will they do when the rest of the world dumps Treasury securities and refuses to finance the Borrow And Spend Republican Agenda?
What will they do when the rest of the world refuses to participate in the World Cup and Olympics?
What will they do when the rest of the world refuses to buy American goods?
What will they do when the rest of the world dumps American stocks?
So I put this question to Corporate America--Which Side Are You On?
In fact, Susan Collins' statement that Don the Con's first impeachment will "teach him a lesson" was the very inspiration for that poem! The only "lesson" that Don the Con learned was that he could do whatever he wanted and there would be no tangible consequences
Of course the voice of corporate America is muted. We let corporations out of the box we created them in. We gave them personhood. We allowed corporate responsibility only to the investor class (which buy-backs shrink), and we've allowed them to be run by a small group of not necessarily smart people having an exaggerated sense of their own self-worth. Put corporations back in the box they were created in and demand social responsibility.
We have also allowed their lobbyists into the "temple" and allowed our legislators to let them write their own favorable legislation. Money votes; the will of the people comes second or not at all.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's time someone called this out and I appreciate this column Jennifer Rubin. A great place to start would be at next week's World Economic Forum where many "leaders" will gather. Joining will be Trump, who demanded that WEF downplay "woke agenda" topics in exchange for his participation.
Sounds like an opportunity for a demonstration against all these titans. They are "leading" us into feudalism. Many thanks to Ronald Reagan and the Heritage Foundation.
I’m at a loss for words for why corporate America is not rattling their metaphorical sabres at this thuggery. But then, I am also angry and frustrated with a Congress that seems content to get their paycheck and healthcare while doing nothing but regulating shower heads…
I am so sad. This is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany. Corporations,the church and elites got into bed and enabled the Nazis for short sighted,short term gain. If Americans don't start standing up for what is right, not just for what is easy we are on a path to destruction.
Business is one of the "pillars" that can either support democracy, or support autocracy. I think we can see where this is going. The cowards are ok with the feel of democracy under their boots.
I think the point was that THEY can see where this is going, too. And backing the winning horse isn't likely to look like the continued groveling, extortion, laziness, faith in TACO folding we've seen in the past.
Like everyone else here, I've no idea. But going after the Federal Reserve because housing interest rates (let's face it, Trump has no interest in anything but real estate and no knowledge of how anything else even works) aren't "low enough" -- is truly a market disaster waiting to hatch. My guess it they'll listen more to the Wall Street Journal than they will to Scott Bessent.
I personally think the Fed Reserve Board is filled with assholes, top to bottom. Still caught up with trickle down bullshit, which has been completely discredited.
Scott "the toady" Bessent fits in well with this cadre of fools who have no moral compass, no strength of character. It is disturbing that this clown car is enabled by the billionaires who ultimately have much to lose if democracy dies.
Assuming we keep the Republic and make it through this, the capitulation by American businesses to MAGA fascism should be used as leverage to force the Democratic Party to jettison the “corporate Democrat” policies and reinvigorate anti trust and consumer protection regulations.
If there isn't a palatable political party working for us as opposed to the oligarchy, nothing will change. It would behoove the Democrats to become that party. If not, someone will arise, and it will not be pretty. Remember the old saw, "Evolution, or else Revolution."
Pressuring corporate America. Hmmm...... The only pressure they seem to understand is pressure that hits their pockets. Moral pressure? The common-good enticement? Not so much.
I'm afraid that big business already made their decision. Alea iacta est, the die is cast. Authoritarianism has crossed the metaphorical Rubicon and it was funded by big business, given pro-bono propaganda by big business, and is now being provided the tools for mass surveillance and oppression by big business. Of course, they apparently aren't aware that the destruction of the peaceful world order will be bad for business, but I'm not sure they are willing to look more than one quarter into the future.
Big business is making the Trump threat far more threatening. Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, Thiel, Altman, Tim Apple™️ all have given Trump cash transactions in the millions and/or 24-karat-gold bribes, and almost all have changed their companies' policies to censor speech and to encourage overt hate speech toward LGBT people, immigrants, nonwhite people and women to make Trump and his hateful cabal happy. Zuckerberg just hired a former Trump crony to serve as Meta's corporate president. With all due respect, without the empowerment of big business, Trump would not be able to wage his war on democracy, and so it is absurd to expect businessleaders to do the right thing even in the interests of saving their own nation from collapse. These are sociopaths whose only values are greed and ego fulfillment.
It doesn't seem to matter to any of these businessleaders that at least some of their customers, like me, are now former customers. I am a DC resident and native who will never pay another dollar to the Washington Post, to Amazon, to Prime, or to any subsidiary of any company related to Bezos, and nor will I ever give a dollar to Meta, and I have had only iPhones since 2009 but will change to Android and take all my related business—music, app downloads, payments, from Apple because of Tim Cook's self-humiliating groveling. These corrupt and spinless leaders have guaranteed at least some customer loss for the long term. I realize that none of Bezos's payments to Trump have driven Amazon's customers away, and that to me is tragic and it also shows that people really are not willing to put their money where their mouths are and sacrifice convenience of Amazon ordering for their purported principles, and these businessleaders depend on that kind of laziness and blind brand allegiance. If consumers were thoughtful about who they choose to impower with their money, businesses would respond to consumer demands. The only reason we are in checkmate ultimately is that the public doesn't care enough to boycott.
More likely, they are extorted.
None of those guys are sole proprietors. They are accountable to their corporate boards and to their shareholders. IMHO, the tariff policy, standing alone has them by their respective gonads.
I'd love to see their respective corporate audit reports, especially the cateory CONTINGENT LIABILITIES.
A good example how to proceed is the shareholder derivitive suit against Fox.
Google: A shareholder derivative lawsuit is ongoing against certain directors and officers of Fox Corporation, including Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duties by allowing Fox News to broadcast defamatory claims about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The suit seeks to recover the significant financial losses incurred by the company, notably the $787.5 million settlement paid to Dominion Voting Systems, from the responsible individuals.
Throughout my entire public education I was taught about "great men" who sacrificed everything for democracy, saying "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country" and "give me liberty or give me death." I learned those lessons and I remember them and I integrated them into my values. Considering how many people actually sacrificed their lives to make this country, I have no sympathy for multibillionaires who choose to participate in this fascist regime's evil and corrupt war against its own citizens because they are extorted with threats of fewer billions of dollars.
Who's sorry for them?
Sue the bastards.
The worst part is they have gone so "all in" that boycotts no longer have an effect. When the entire corp world is owned by about 7 major players and about as many own the tech world, it becomes difficult to punish them with our feet.
They mistakenly believe they are sheltering themselves when, in fact, they are assuring their own destruction. You can't sit back and watch the world in flames while you count your gold coins.
They are not extorted. They are greedy cowards trying to make sure they aren't in steerage when the ship goes down. They actually think their money will save them from the physical and financial destruction taking place worldwide thanks to one psycho.
That meets the definition of extortion.
Daniel, thank you for keeping us informed on these economic issues. I try to follow them, but after a while my eyes glaze over.
The downside risk that Wall Street faces in letting Trump directly bottom out the Fed's Prime, is runaway inflation. When Erdogan did this in Turkey, the result was 85% inflation; that may not happen here. But even a 20% or 30% spike in inflation, if it happens quickly enough, will totally hang many, many traders and financial institutions out to dry. Not to mention utterly devastate the bottom 95% of the public.
The message to Wall Street leaders: Would a sudden inflationary spike hurt more or help more? If it's the former, then push Trump to TACO already.
The businessleaders are self-dealing. They are personally profiting at insane levels, and likely receiving illicit kickbacks and other compensation and distributing it into various assets to protect them regardless of whether the market collapses or not. This is how oligarchs in Russia and similar economies operate and Trump is expert in this because Russian oligarchs have been primary investors in his overvalued real estate all his career. I am certain these people also have studied the golden age and the great depression and have some confidence that they know how to time their market investments to exponentially inflate their wealth if the market does crash by investing their protected assets at the right time for a rebound. This is how 'iconic' American family names like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie et al., who are pretty universally revered as philanthropists and American royalty today, gamed the system and became untouchably wealthy for endless generations.
You and Trump have the same problem. You see them as individuals.
In reality they are representatives of corporate competitors in a cut throat battle to the death.
NYT Dealbook today:
"In a surprise move, Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina and chair of the Senate Banking Committee, postponed a vote scheduled for today on a draft bill that would establish a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.
"Among the opponents of the bill: Coinbase, the big and politically influential crypto exchange. “After reviewing the Senate Banking draft text over the last 48hrs, Coinbase unfortunately can’t support the bill as written,” Brian Armstrong, the company’s C.E.O., wrote on X, drawing both support and criticism.
"A recap: The legislation, known as the Clarity Act, would determine regulatory authority over crypto between the S.E.C. to the less-aggressive Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Crypto executives, who have become major political donors, have pushed for significantly lighter oversight.
"The measure once had bipartisan support. But Senate Democrats have pushed for ethics rules limiting U.S. officials from “issuing, endorsing or profiting” from crypto — an attempt to restrict the Trump family’s growing financial ties to the industry.
"Then Armstrong raised his objections. The Coinbase C.E.O. argues that the current version would:
erode the C.F.T.C.’s authority, “making it subservient to the SEC”
give the government “unlimited access” to investors’ financial records
“draft amendments that would kill rewards on stablecoins”
The future of stablecoins, a fast-growing segment of digital finance, has become a major sticking point. Issuers of those tokens, including Circle, want a legal framework that will let them pay interest on those assets, as banks do with many deposit accounts, to attract more customers.
That would also be a big deal for Coinbase, which offers some customers who hold Circle’s USDC token the chance to earn 3.5 percent in “rewards.”
+++++++
Not to mention that Trump has his own competing cybergelt.
IMHO there is a threat that cybercrap like $trump could displace the dollar. Didn't Trump and Musk [Dogecoin] assess the contents of the gold reserve?
Yes, I believe there's a strong chance that US currency will suffer under Trump's regime irreparably and I don't believe it will be because of recklessness. Trump's actions always benefit Putin. Putin has always wanted to destroy or at lease disempower the US but his country is too poor and too messy to do it. Clinton told us in 2016 that Trump is Putin's puppet and everything I see him do is at the service of Putin. Even when Trump loses face and fails, Putin gains something every time. I believe Trump is intentionally serving Putin's interests and that he is effectively carrying out a war on the United States from within and just about everyone is unwitting. Collapsing the dollar would be Putin's dream come true because aside from our military positioning, the dollar is our country's unshakeable stable base. Other currencies are based on the dollar and oil is traded globally with the dollar as its currency. If it fails, Russia and China have the opportunity to take its place.
Artistlike and Daniel S. - Great discussion, thanks to you both.
Hell, our feckless Congress never took any real steps to rein in social media much less crypto. Data security attys here use European law to advice clients because they are the only ones who have taken steps to protect their citizens with actual laws, and most businesses want to be global so that is their rulebook. GOP will always bend to big business stuffing checks in their back pockets.
Meanwhile I'm convinced we will wake before long to an emptied Treasury while repugs are looking the other way. Bankruptcy is donald's one talent.
Put in a sell call of some amount today!
Move to credit union banking if possible.
We the people have the power to sanction institutions we support.
I stopped listening to my financial advisor after trump's first term. They always have the rosiest view and reasoning for why you should keep investing ("Oh but wall st is doing so well"). I sold all my funds but one little conservative int'l account that has done well and trump's insanity has likely helped even more, while everything else is in 1 year CDs now, especially with Powell's term up this Spring. I'm retired. Can't survive another 2008 and it could be much worse. If the banks start collapsing I could still be screwed short term.
Yes, Turkey is the best and most current example - do not CEOs read!!
I will never forget a quote I read in a Finance magazine decades ago. It said "Financial managers want belts AND suspenders. Marketing managers think their pants will magically stay up on their own." And the latter is exactly the mentality of the wealthy investors and CEOs these days. Most of them started in sales and moved up. They never had an accountant's mentality.
I've listened to Jamie Dimon squawk about "the sky is falling" just about every day of Biden's administration while the economy flourished. We were headed for a recession or a depression or stagflation or whatever his term du jour was. Now he looks at the debacle around him, including the assault on Powell, and says nothing. He SAYS he did not contribute to the ballroom from fear of future lawsuits but I bet he still found a way to write a fat check.
Funny how quickly repugs woke up over the threat to Powell, aka their money, while they turn their heads to Americans being stalked and attacked on their own streets. And watch them all cave like the spineless cowards they are when Powell's term is up this Spring and trump picks someone like ignorant, smilin' Haslett to replace. I have done everything I can to protect my savings before we get there assuming banks don't also collapse. I will be very surprised if we don't end up with another 2008 _at best_ but this time without grownups in the room to bail us out. I won't shed tears when a lot of the 'Lehman Bros' types crash & burn again.
The danger is not so much that a few fat cats will get skinned, but that we get another Great Recession--or worse, another Great Depression. With 25% unemployment, Main Street permanently shuttered, etc.
Every economy needs ambitious capitalists to spur economic growth. But they need to know their place. And be properly taxed when they succeed wildly. VP Harris I thought struck the perfect tone towards small businesses and startups--which are the tender young shoots of Capitalism, needing a bit of economic TLC to really thrive. Big Business, on the other hand, needs to pay its fair share.
Yes! You nailed it is describing the customers of the Vampire Capitalists. Most people will not give up cheap comfort and convenience and the illusion of safety.
bingo Bingo BINGO!!! Imagine the power We The People would have if we ALL boycotted these suck-ups who are ONLY interested in $$$$$$$, period, (and are only interested in plotting ways to obtain even more and MORE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ (to the detriment of the American tax payer, I might add..) It IS important to note that those Congressional Democrats counting on large corporate donations will undoubtedly avoid challenging their donors so perhaps we all need to find out who may fall into this category and challenge them as well in terms of our own donations and votes.
Corporate Taxes as a Percentage of Federal Revenue:
1955 . . . 27.3%
2025 . . . 8.3%
Individual Income/Payroll Taxes as a Percentage of Federal Revenue:
1955 . . . 58.0%
2025 . . . 84.0%
The new standard: Profits over People; Corporate Lobbyists over Party Loyalists.
Idiots that we are, we keep voting the same way. And end up with Wall Street's friend, Chuck Schumer, as the Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate.
Or, if you are unfortunate enough to be a Republican, with Trump’s pet puppet, Squeaker Johnson, as leader of the House.
People like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, AOC and Mamdani keep pointing to the Emperor and our continued response is, "Yes, Yes, we want clothes just like his"
Corporations *are* people thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. Corporations are legally defined as persons with civil and human rights, and because they represent a collective of people, their rights are weighed more heavily than any individual's human rights.
Well said, you're not alone.
Or business leaders should consider that although there may be short term gains, the leader they are supporting could bring it all crashing down on them the way it did for the CEO’s of Krupp, Porsche and Thyssen a little over 75 years ago.
That's the problem with big business. It never looks beyond the next quarter's P&L statement. To that, add stock buybacks to manipulate share prices so CEOs can get their eight-figure bonuses, and it becomes pretty obvious that our Titans of Industry don't care a fig about the independence of the Fed.
Exactly. Historically, cooperation with fascism is a bad long term investment.
HAWLEY - not a voice I expect to hear in defense of an independent Fed. He likes to sound brave and independent from time to time, not unlike Susan Collins. But, time and again, he folds like a cheap suit to MAGA pressure. Again, like Susan Collins.
as he did yesterday on the full Senate vote to restrict Trump's ability to make war on Venezuela without Senate consent - turned out it was not such a firm principle after all... Is it to his credit that Trump had to push him really hard to change his vote from the preliminary resolution? Not much...
It was simply a performance. Hawley was never going to vote against Trump. Like Collins he can pretend to have principles without actually having to have any.
It’ll never happen. They will only defend what makes them more money. I was a bond trader at a Wall Street firm for 11 years. I saw the rise of CMOs, IO and PO. They knew these instruments would eventually crash and people like Steve Menuhin, trumps previous treasury secretary made his fortune on the back of financial institution crashes.
Whether it actually makes many of them them anything is problematical.... Only about 4% of all companies drive the markets.
Some of these people are exposed to future litigation and are putting their heads in a noose.
What they can't seem to understand is there is a point of collapse, destruction, and chaos that they won't be about to buy themselves out of or profit from. It will never happen to them or so they think. They are probably rich enough to survive but just that.
Just like all those religious evangelicals who think we have some god-given right to democracy and wealth in this country. The wealthy think it is some given that they are too smart to lose.
We want to know which side Corporate America is on. Plenty of those Silicon Valley barons have made it clear they are on Trump's side. Along with other Billionaires like Koch, Bezos and Ackman. Are the rest of them going to side with turning us into a Nazi police state?
What will they do when the rest of the world says no more and dumps the dollar as the reserve currency?
What will they do when the rest of the world dumps Treasury securities and refuses to finance the Borrow And Spend Republican Agenda?
What will they do when the rest of the world refuses to participate in the World Cup and Olympics?
What will they do when the rest of the world refuses to buy American goods?
What will they do when the rest of the world dumps American stocks?
So I put this question to Corporate America--Which Side Are You On?
Here's my description of GQP Senators who are making statements against investigating Powell, and the business leaders cowed into silence:
They'll say "tut, tut, tut"
And bark a few "harrumphs"
But when push comes to shove
They still support Drumpf.
Yes. Like the always-concerned, never-going-to-have-a-spine Susan Collins.
In fact, Susan Collins' statement that Don the Con's first impeachment will "teach him a lesson" was the very inspiration for that poem! The only "lesson" that Don the Con learned was that he could do whatever he wanted and there would be no tangible consequences
@Still Blaming Mitch - Love the screen name, you are correct.
Of course the voice of corporate America is muted. We let corporations out of the box we created them in. We gave them personhood. We allowed corporate responsibility only to the investor class (which buy-backs shrink), and we've allowed them to be run by a small group of not necessarily smart people having an exaggerated sense of their own self-worth. Put corporations back in the box they were created in and demand social responsibility.
We have also allowed their lobbyists into the "temple" and allowed our legislators to let them write their own favorable legislation. Money votes; the will of the people comes second or not at all.
The first thing Democrats should do is make stock buy-backs illegal, as they were in the past.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's time someone called this out and I appreciate this column Jennifer Rubin. A great place to start would be at next week's World Economic Forum where many "leaders" will gather. Joining will be Trump, who demanded that WEF downplay "woke agenda" topics in exchange for his participation.
Sounds like an opportunity for a demonstration against all these titans. They are "leading" us into feudalism. Many thanks to Ronald Reagan and the Heritage Foundation.
"painting a target on their backs for irate Democrats"...
That will be the day.
Irate public. Yes.
Irate elected Democrats. No evidence of that. Same Democrats caving on ICE are going to take on corporate power.
I’m at a loss for words for why corporate America is not rattling their metaphorical sabres at this thuggery. But then, I am also angry and frustrated with a Congress that seems content to get their paycheck and healthcare while doing nothing but regulating shower heads…
I am so sad. This is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany. Corporations,the church and elites got into bed and enabled the Nazis for short sighted,short term gain. If Americans don't start standing up for what is right, not just for what is easy we are on a path to destruction.
It's Project 2025.
Business is one of the "pillars" that can either support democracy, or support autocracy. I think we can see where this is going. The cowards are ok with the feel of democracy under their boots.
I think the point was that THEY can see where this is going, too. And backing the winning horse isn't likely to look like the continued groveling, extortion, laziness, faith in TACO folding we've seen in the past.
Like everyone else here, I've no idea. But going after the Federal Reserve because housing interest rates (let's face it, Trump has no interest in anything but real estate and no knowledge of how anything else even works) aren't "low enough" -- is truly a market disaster waiting to hatch. My guess it they'll listen more to the Wall Street Journal than they will to Scott Bessent.
I personally think the Fed Reserve Board is filled with assholes, top to bottom. Still caught up with trickle down bullshit, which has been completely discredited.
However, take advantage of the situation.
Scott "the toady" Bessent fits in well with this cadre of fools who have no moral compass, no strength of character. It is disturbing that this clown car is enabled by the billionaires who ultimately have much to lose if democracy dies.
If you are an investor, hit 'em where it hurts.
Assuming we keep the Republic and make it through this, the capitulation by American businesses to MAGA fascism should be used as leverage to force the Democratic Party to jettison the “corporate Democrat” policies and reinvigorate anti trust and consumer protection regulations.
If there isn't a palatable political party working for us as opposed to the oligarchy, nothing will change. It would behoove the Democrats to become that party. If not, someone will arise, and it will not be pretty. Remember the old saw, "Evolution, or else Revolution."
Pressuring corporate America. Hmmm...... The only pressure they seem to understand is pressure that hits their pockets. Moral pressure? The common-good enticement? Not so much.
I'm afraid that big business already made their decision. Alea iacta est, the die is cast. Authoritarianism has crossed the metaphorical Rubicon and it was funded by big business, given pro-bono propaganda by big business, and is now being provided the tools for mass surveillance and oppression by big business. Of course, they apparently aren't aware that the destruction of the peaceful world order will be bad for business, but I'm not sure they are willing to look more than one quarter into the future.