Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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Over 100 top corporate leaders convened in a "first-of-its-kind" virtual meeting to plan a concerted response to the Republican-backed voting rights restrictions that have swept the nation.

The move comes amid a fissure between the GOP and Corporate America following the latter's denunciation of HB 202, a sweeping anti-voting bill passed by the Georgia state legislature late last month. When the MLB pulled its All-Star game from Atlanta in protest of the newly-minted law, many GOP Senators accused corporate America of falling into the hands of the "radical leftists."

Last month, when 100 major corporations signaled their opposition to HB 202, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., whose PAC received some $475 million from corporate donors last year alone, told Corporate America to "stay out of politics."

"Our private sector must stop taking cues from the Outrage-Industrial Complex," McConnell said. "Americans do not need or want big business to amplify disinformation or react to every manufactured controversy with frantic left-wing signaling. Corporations will invite serious consequences if they become a vehicle for far-left mobs to hijack our country from outside the constitutional order."

During the call, executives from "major airlines, retailers and manufacturers — plus at least one NFL owner" reportedly floated the idea of halting all political contributions to lawmakers that backed any bills designed to suppress the vote, according to Axios. Even more, corporate leaders reportedly discussed discontinuing any investments in states which passed such bills. Among those who attended the meeting were "Arthur Blank, owner of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons; Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres; Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments; Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart; Reid Hoffman, CEO of LinkedIn; Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines; Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines; and Chip Bergh, chairman of Levi Strauss Company, according to CBS.

"The gathering was an enthusiastic voluntary statement of defiance against threats of reprisals for exercising their patriotic voices," Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale University management professor who helped organize the meeting, told CBS. "They're showing a disdain for these political attacks. Not only are they fortifying each other, but they see that this spreading of disease of voter restrictions from Georgia to up to possibly 46 other states is based on a false premise and its' anti-democratic."

The meeting, which did not amount to any significant action plan, drew sharp rebukes from various Republicans.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tweeted on Sunday, "Oligarchy defined: The most powerful corporations in America get together to plan how to control legislation in dozens of states."

"It's kind of scary how major corporations are trying to force policy changes," echoed Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe.

The event comes following reports that corporate America systematically supported many anti-voting bills' state-level sponsors. According to a report by Public Citizen, a government watchdog group, state legislators pushing for voting restrictions have taken in over $50 million in corporate donations over the past several years. AT&T, for instance, gave over $800,000 since 2015 to sponsors of anti-voting measures throughout the country.

"A contribution of $5,000 to a U.S. senator who is raising $30 million is a drop in a bucket. But in some of these state races, a few thousand dollars can buy a lot of ad time," said Mike Tanglis, one of the authors of the report. "If corporate America is going to say that (Trump's) lie is unacceptable on the federal level, what about on the state level?"
https://www.alternet.org/2021/04/gop-voting/

The Corporations may be suing they will withhold funds, but don't hold your breath until it happens.

Robert Reich points out it may be just talk and business as usual.
The basic deal between corporate America and the GOP is alive and well

For four decades, the basic deal between big American corporations and politicians has been simple. Corporations provide campaign funds. Politicians reciprocate by lowering corporate taxes and doing whatever else corporations need to boost profits.

The deal has proven beneficial to both sides, although not to the American public. Campaign spending has soared while corporate taxes have shriveled.

In the 1950s, corporations accounted for about 40 percent of federal revenue. Today, they contribute a meager 7 percent. Last year, more than 50 of the largest U.S. companies paid no federal income taxes at all. Many haven't paid taxes for years.

Both parties have been in on this deal although the GOP has been the bigger player. Yet since Donald Trump issued his big lie about the fraudulence of the 2020 election, corporate America has had a few qualms about its deal with the GOP.

After the storming of the Capitol, dozens of giant corporations said they would no longer donate to the 147 Republican members of Congress who objected to the certification of Biden electors on the basis of the big lie.

Then came the GOP's recent wave of restrictive state voting laws, premised on the same big lie. Georgia's are among the most egregious. The chief executive of Coca Cola, headquartered in the peach tree state, calls those laws "wrong" and "a step backward." The CEO of Delta Airlines, Georgia's largest employer, says they're "unacceptable." Major League Baseball decided to relocate its annual All-Star Game away from the home of the Atlanta Braves.

These criticisms have unleashed a rare firestorm of anti-corporate Republican indignation. The senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, warns corporations of unspecified "serious consequences" for speaking out. Republicans are moving to revoke Major League Baseball's antitrust status. Georgia Republicans threaten to punish Delta Airlines by repealing a state tax credit for jet fuel.

"Why are we still listening to these woke corporate hypocrites on taxes, regulations & antitrust?" asks Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

Why? For the same reason Willy Sutton gave when asked why he robbed banks: That's where the money is.

McConnell told reporters that corporations should "stay out of politics" but then qualified his remark: "I'm not talking about political contributions." Of course not. Republicans have long championed "corporate speech" when it comes in the form of campaign cash – just not as criticism.

Talk about hypocrisy. McConnell was the top recipient of corporate money in the 2020 election cycle and has a long history of battling attempts to limit it. In 2010, he hailed the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" ruling, which struck down limits on corporate political donations, on the dubious grounds that corporations are "people" under the First Amendment to the Constitution.

"For too long, some in this country have been deprived of full participation in the political process," McConnell said at the time. Hint: He wasn't referring to poor Black people.

It's hypocrisy squared. The growing tsunami of corporate campaign money suppresses votes indirectly by drowning out all other voices. Republicans are in the grotesque position of calling on corporations to continue bribing politicians as long as they don't criticize Republicans for suppressing votes directly.

The hypocrisy flows in the other direction as well. The Delta's CEO criticized GOP voter suppression but the company continues to bankroll Republicans. Its PAC contributed $1,725,956 in the 2020 election, more than $1 million of which went to federal candidates, mostly to Republicans. Oh, and Delta hasn't paid federal taxes for years.

Don't let the spat fool you. The basic deal between the GOP and corporate America is still very much alive.

Which is why, despite record-low corporate taxes, congressional Republicans are feigning outrage at Joe Biden's plan to have corporations pay for his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal. Biden isn't even seeking to raise the corporate tax rate as high as it was before the Trump tax cut, yet not a single Republicans will support it.

A few Democrats, such as West Virginia's Joe Manchin, don't want to raise corporate taxes as high as Biden does, either. Yet almost two-thirds of Americans support the idea.

The basic deal between American corporations and American politicians has been a terrible deal for America. Which is why a piece of legislation entitled the "For the People Act," passed by the House and co-sponsored in the Senate by every Democratic senator except Manchin, is so important. It would both stop states from suppressing votes and also move the country toward public financing of elections, thereby reducing politicians' dependence on corporate cash.

Corporations can and should bankroll much of what America needs. But they won't as long as corporations keep bankrolling American politicians.
https://www.alternet.org/2021/04/republ ... porations/

There won't be any significant change until the repeal of Citizens United, which should be known as the Corporations Charity Gift Fund for Politicians.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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Those corporations will run back too the Republicans the first minute they think it will help them make more money. Let's not forget, Republicans would be absolutely NOWHERE without corporate money...and they never seem to have any problems getting all they need.
“I think there’s a right-wing conspiracy to promote the idea of a left-wing conspiracy”

Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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Historically there has been a common reaction when industry tries to exert too much muscle and that reaction has been Federalization or Nationalization.

Both are still possible and simply require a stroke of a pen. They are less likely if the Liberals can maintain control of the Senate but should the Conservatives control Congress in 2022 that tactic could well become relevant.
To be vintage it must be older than me!
The next gun I buy will be the next to last gun I ever buy. PROMISE!
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Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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FrontSight wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:39 am Those corporations will run back too the Republicans the first minute they think it will help them make more money. Let's not forget, Republicans would be absolutely NOWHERE without corporate money...and they never seem to have any problems getting all they need.
Oh I agree. It just seems corporatists figured there is a danger in this voter suppression that they do not want to be linked with. I suspect if they had a hundred percent lock on the system they wouldn’t care. Something about this is a threat to their goals, at least at this time.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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A number of corporations stopped contributing to Republicans when TFG was trying to overturn election results, don't know if they started again. I agree, when they need Republican tax cuts or something else they'll run back.
US Sen. Josh Hawley, a staunch critic of Big Tech, unveiled an antitrust bill on Monday that would prohibit all mergers and acquisitions by companies with a market value greater than $100 billion, which includes Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft.

Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, referenced an alleged anti-conservative bias by large tech companies as he introduced his Trust-Busting for the Twenty-First Century Act. Hawley is one of several Republican lawmakers who have alleged that Twitter, Facebook and other social networks harbor anti-conservative bias. The social networks have denied those charges.

"A small group of woke mega-corporations control the products Americans can buy, the information Americans can receive and the speech Americans can engage in," Hawley said in a statement Monday. "These monopoly powers control our speech, our economy, our country and their control has only grown because Washington has aided and abetted their quest for endless power."
https://www.cnet.com/news/us-senator-pr ... -big-tech/

Another wedge issue for Hawley to pursue. He collected $3 million in donations with his post election shenanigans.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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Stiff wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:52 pm Most people who run corporations are not stupid. They support the GOP and TFG as far as getting less regulations and less taxes, but not to the point of destroying the democracy that sustains this economic prosperity to begin with.
I would love to believe that...But he was elected, spent 4 years making a fucking train wreck of America, had a re-election, and defended two impeachments. He didn't do all that on his dime. I don't think he did any of it on his dime.
“I think there’s a right-wing conspiracy to promote the idea of a left-wing conspiracy”

Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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Stiff wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:52 pm Most people who run corporations are not stupid. They support the GOP and TFG as far as getting less regulations and less taxes, but not to the point of destroying the democracy that sustains this economic prosperity to begin with.
"Curses are like young chickens: They always come home to roost!"

Corporations don't give a damn about Democracy--they care about image, sales, and boycotts. I just called FedEx about a badly delayed delivery, and, like too many companies these days I got someone across the world--India, maybe. Almost every help center these days is in either India, whose democracy is rapidly being destroyed under Modi, or the Philippines where Duterte has TOTALLY destroyed it. The people are generally minimally trained but clearly are cheaper than North Americans, who, when in the US or Canada are generally far better trained.

But they are CHEAP so the corps don't care that they are run by brutal dictators. But, in the US, the biggest consumer market still, the consumers rule and a boycott can SERIOUSLY damage big corps, cripple mid-size (Goodbye, Goya) and flat out KILL small (Any sales, My Pillow guy?) And they know which way the wind is blowing.

ReThugs and TFG can lie to their supporters, gerrymander, rig elections, but consumers, even if their voices and votes are illegally and immorally silenced, still can speak with their money...and the corporations are FAR more aware of it and sensitive to it than even politicians.

So THEY know that if THEY support voter suppression, people will stop buying their products. I still don't by Gallo products after how bitterly they opposed the United Farm Workers. I'd LIKE to avoid Amazon but they are so dominant that not many online sellers can provide comparable service--Home Depot, Lowes, and Overstock can't (Besides, HD and OS are run by far-right reactionary dicks). But I don't have to drink Coke, when there's Pepsi and Diet-RIte. I don't have to fly Delta.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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I also stay away from Amazon. Same goes for Exxon/Mobil, since they never did right by Prince William Sound after the Valdez disaster. Doesn't seem to be hurting Exxon/Mobil all that much. Or Amazon. But, fortunately, there are alternatives, so I choose not to patronize those particular two businesses.

Boycotts work when a lot of people do it. That's why the Washington Bullets changed their name to the Washington Wizards--because a lot of Black people didn't like the imagery of "Bullets" with the high-crime reputation of Washington DC. However, the Washington Football Team didn't change its name 'cause there was no real threat of revenue reduction, i. e. those same Black people (and White people, of course) kept going to "Redskins" games. Only very recently did that change. Apparently enough Black people in the Washington DC area finally figured out that "Redskin" is in fact just another form of the word "nigger", and at last, Dan Snyder got rid of that horrible name. But he really didn't want to.

That's why the Montgomery Bus Boycott worked. Enough people caused enough loss of revenue, for long enough, and the key was that the people doing the boycott were actually resolute enough to continue doing so, even when it wasn't convenient to do it. They showed through sustained action that they were serious and they meant it. That's why it worked. Are people resolute enough these days to do and sustain that, as long as, by and large, we as a people are still relatively fat 'n' happy with our faces in our smartphones getting entertained?

As for Goya, I see plenty of product continuing to fly off of grocery store shelves, and I mean in shopping baskets.
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Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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YankeeTarheel wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:30 pm
Stiff wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:52 pm Most people who run corporations are not stupid. They support the GOP and TFG as far as getting less regulations and less taxes, but not to the point of destroying the democracy that sustains this economic prosperity to begin with.
"Curses are like young chickens: They always come home to roost!"

Corporations don't give a damn about Democracy--they care about image, sales, and boycotts. I just called FedEx about a badly delayed delivery, and, like too many companies these days I got someone across the world--India, maybe. Almost every help center these days is in either India, whose democracy is rapidly being destroyed under Modi, or the Philippines where Duterte has TOTALLY destroyed it. The people are generally minimally trained but clearly are cheaper than North Americans, who, when in the US or Canada are generally far better trained.

But they are CHEAP so the corps don't care that they are run by brutal dictators. But, in the US, the biggest consumer market still, the consumers rule and a boycott can SERIOUSLY damage big corps, cripple mid-size (Goodbye, Goya) and flat out KILL small (Any sales, My Pillow guy?) And they know which way the wind is blowing.

ReThugs and TFG can lie to their supporters, gerrymander, rig elections, but consumers, even if their voices and votes are illegally and immorally silenced, still can speak with their money...and the corporations are FAR more aware of it and sensitive to it than even politicians.

So THEY know that if THEY support voter suppression, people will stop buying their products. I still don't by Gallo products after how bitterly they opposed the United Farm Workers. I'd LIKE to avoid Amazon but they are so dominant that not many online sellers can provide comparable service--Home Depot, Lowes, and Overstock can't (Besides, HD and OS are run by far-right reactionary dicks). But I don't have to drink Coke, when there's Pepsi and Diet-RIte. I don't have to fly Delta.
Democracy in USA keeps people content and buying their stuff, democracy in third world countries serves nothing but to increase cost.
Glad that federal government is boring again.

Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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Stiff wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:15 pm
YankeeTarheel wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:30 pm
Stiff wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:52 pm Most people who run corporations are not stupid. They support the GOP and TFG as far as getting less regulations and less taxes, but not to the point of destroying the democracy that sustains this economic prosperity to begin with.
"Curses are like young chickens: They always come home to roost!"

Corporations don't give a damn about Democracy--they care about image, sales, and boycotts. I just called FedEx about a badly delayed delivery, and, like too many companies these days I got someone across the world--India, maybe. Almost every help center these days is in either India, whose democracy is rapidly being destroyed under Modi, or the Philippines where Duterte has TOTALLY destroyed it. The people are generally minimally trained but clearly are cheaper than North Americans, who, when in the US or Canada are generally far better trained.

But they are CHEAP so the corps don't care that they are run by brutal dictators. But, in the US, the biggest consumer market still, the consumers rule and a boycott can SERIOUSLY damage big corps, cripple mid-size (Goodbye, Goya) and flat out KILL small (Any sales, My Pillow guy?) And they know which way the wind is blowing.

ReThugs and TFG can lie to their supporters, gerrymander, rig elections, but consumers, even if their voices and votes are illegally and immorally silenced, still can speak with their money...and the corporations are FAR more aware of it and sensitive to it than even politicians.

So THEY know that if THEY support voter suppression, people will stop buying their products. I still don't by Gallo products after how bitterly they opposed the United Farm Workers. I'd LIKE to avoid Amazon but they are so dominant that not many online sellers can provide comparable service--Home Depot, Lowes, and Overstock can't (Besides, HD and OS are run by far-right reactionary dicks). But I don't have to drink Coke, when there's Pepsi and Diet-RIte. I don't have to fly Delta.
Democracy in USA keeps people content and buying their stuff, democracy in third world countries serves nothing but to increase cost.
Thought I said that.... :hmmm:
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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YankeeTarheel wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:19 pm
Stiff wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:15 pm
YankeeTarheel wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:30 pm
Stiff wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 2:52 pm Most people who run corporations are not stupid. They support the GOP and TFG as far as getting less regulations and less taxes, but not to the point of destroying the democracy that sustains this economic prosperity to begin with.
"Curses are like young chickens: They always come home to roost!"

Corporations don't give a damn about Democracy--they care about image, sales, and boycotts. I just called FedEx about a badly delayed delivery, and, like too many companies these days I got someone across the world--India, maybe. Almost every help center these days is in either India, whose democracy is rapidly being destroyed under Modi, or the Philippines where Duterte has TOTALLY destroyed it. The people are generally minimally trained but clearly are cheaper than North Americans, who, when in the US or Canada are generally far better trained.

But they are CHEAP so the corps don't care that they are run by brutal dictators. But, in the US, the biggest consumer market still, the consumers rule and a boycott can SERIOUSLY damage big corps, cripple mid-size (Goodbye, Goya) and flat out KILL small (Any sales, My Pillow guy?) And they know which way the wind is blowing.

ReThugs and TFG can lie to their supporters, gerrymander, rig elections, but consumers, even if their voices and votes are illegally and immorally silenced, still can speak with their money...and the corporations are FAR more aware of it and sensitive to it than even politicians.

So THEY know that if THEY support voter suppression, people will stop buying their products. I still don't by Gallo products after how bitterly they opposed the United Farm Workers. I'd LIKE to avoid Amazon but they are so dominant that not many online sellers can provide comparable service--Home Depot, Lowes, and Overstock can't (Besides, HD and OS are run by far-right reactionary dicks). But I don't have to drink Coke, when there's Pepsi and Diet-RIte. I don't have to fly Delta.
Democracy in USA keeps people content and buying their stuff, democracy in third world countries serves nothing but to increase cost.
Thought I said that.... :hmmm:
That’s what I said initially as well, I think. The democracy I mentioned is the one in USA, the system that gives them money. Elsewhere in the world they behave differently. Promote democracy in USA, but keep your mouth shut in China.

In this sense Google and Facebook are surprisingly good. They’re shut out from China because they refuse to play by the CCP’s rules.
Glad that federal government is boring again.

Re: Republicans angered after over 100 top corporate leaders meet to push back against GOP war on voting

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F4FEver wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 8:29 am It NEEDS to be mentioned that this wuldn't be happeneing w/o trump the traitor's BIG LIE and the spineless trumpistas who sign on to dumbass don's conspiracy.
Unanticipated consequences. That's what is the difference between good leaders and bad--good leaders plan for the unexpected, bad leaders don't.
Imbeciles don't plan for anything but what they wish to be true--TFG being the perfect example.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

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