The Australian’s front page yesterday told us that ‘corporate leaders are stepping up’ to make sure the federal government isn’t overly influenced by ‘vested interests’. They want to protect our economy from ill-considered decisions.
BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers’ call for a carbon tax may have set the cat among the pigeons. It is too obvious to be refuted, since a) something has to be done and b) incentives are the one thing economists agree on to shift economic practice. Those two assumptions are widely accepted, at least in my universe.
Big biz, including those who own the Australian, are apparently upset about the dangerous liaison between the Greens and the ALP. Action must be taken! Perhaps that is why green groups have warned their members not to feed interviewers from the OZ with schism calalysts. Driving wedges is a tried and true strategy to weaken such an alliance.
Amazingly, people are frequently suckered in by claims to protect them, even when the real intent is to consolidate control. An outstanding example is the support of the Koch brothers for the Tea Party movement in the US.
Not being a stock investor, I’d never heard of them, but apparently they are the third richest people in the US, after Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
They support people who want smaller government (but ignore the military as a place to start cutting costs), while their agenda includes greater control by corporations over environmental and social planning.
Of all the reforms desirable to improve the way our country runs, greater influence for corporate views would not seem to be one of them. Kloppers welcome comments notwithstanding: these too should be subject to widespread democratic and accountable discussion.
From the Institute for Public Accuracy:
See from the New Yorker, Jane Mayer's recent piece "Covert Operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama." http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer