What is your general opinion of big business?

[kentuck]

1) Should they have the right to make as much money as possible without any government interference?

2) Do you agree with the Republicans that, "It is their money, not the government's"?

3) Do they have a right to work people for the lowest wage possible and under whatever conditions they consider fair or safe?

4) How does society police these powerful people that run these businesses?

5) If they make outrageous profits, should they be asked to contribute to society? Is it their money?

6) Or do people and workers in a society get to determine how businesses treat their employees and how they operate their businesses?

7) For thirty years, businesses have kept their wages stagnant and government has given them low tax rates as a bonus, and they have moved massive operations to other parts of the world, deserting the very workers that build them up from nothing. Is that fair?

[KittyWampus]

1. they are like toddlers. They need regulation since they haven't the moral framework and

awareness of others that adults have.

Left on their own, corporate CEO's act as sociopaths with no regard to the well being of others.

Too many corporate managers use corporations as vehicles for truly reprehensible behavior.

[Cleita]

2. No. No. No. Tax 'em. Yes. No. Yes. My answers to all the above. n/t

[hifiguy]

3. My take, FWIW

IN the order that you asked...

No.

No.

Absolutely HELL NO, NEVER, EVER!

Watch them like hawks and regulate them tightly. Toss them into the hoosegow when the law is broken. The CEOs, not the drones.

Yes and NO.

Damn tootin' right they do!

No, NO, HELL NO!!

[BlueJazz]

4. My little 2 cents is "Treat them exactly how they treat us"

[msongs]

5. it has a place if it serves the needs of the society instead of itself nt

[OHdem10]

6. Believe it or not I have an appreciation for Big Business, They

are part of our Democracy. However, over the
last decades Big Business has been given so much
power by our Presidents and Congresses that it
is the Business Power is reaching a close to dangerous
level.

I am not a knee jerk anti-business person. We need
Business. The Relationship between Government and
Business needs to be re-examined.

[emilyg]

8. Good post.

[Cleita]

13. Yes and I think they should be treated like religion

with a separation between business and state. Although I know separation of church and state, while in theory, is not practiced in reality, I really think we need something that keeps both sectors honest. Any business caught bribing an elected official or government employee would lose their license or tax deductions or something like that. By bribing, I mean money from lobbyists and campaign contributions should not be allowed. They should be forbidden and any other ways business gets into bed with government. Also, we need to start enforcing the separation of church and state, by not funding church charities and making them lose their tax free status if they meddle in government, like with the abortion BS.

[patrice]

7. They have no real interest in entrepreneurship.

Their size/inertia, individually and in aggregate, over time, causes entropy and functional responses create silos which protect themselves "for the enterprise(s)" but which also, by their nature, continue to generate entropy. Solutions/entreprenuership are antithetical to these traits. This is what we saw at Sprint before the mass layoffs began in 2000.

This is why I like the Tax Reform proposed by the Progressive Congressional Caucus, because they want to raise the bottom of the top tax brackets, something that would appeal to those making from $373K a year up to some as yet TBD'd max. It seems reasonable that folks in this part of the income spectrum would be more interested in authentic entrepreneurship, justifying a reduction in their tax status that could lead to NEW jobs, than those above them.

[The2ndWheel]

9. Should humans allow themselves to be regulated by the planet?

Or should we try to write the rules which govern us? Should we increasingly socialize the costs of our behavior to the rest of life on this planet as we privatize the profits of human progress?

If we should attempt to write our own rules as a species in relation to the planet, then I see no reason to complain about big business doing the same thing in relation to the public/government.

[Cairycat]

10. I was trying to find examples today of being helped by a corporation

I couldn't think of any. However, I could come up with many examples of feeling cheated.

In answer to your questions:
1 - they have a right to as much money as possible, but not without regulation. Much more regulation than they currently get.

2 - they benefit from governmental services such as roads, educated workers, etc. so they owe the government

3 - the government properly has a role in regulating wages and safety

4 - regulations are necessary

5 - any profits should be taxed - they didn't earn it without benefiting from gov't services

6 - workers should have a say. Actually the worker/management, carrot & stick motivation models are probably obsolete

7 - not fair and corporations should have to pay the price

[HopeHoops]

11. Just slightly worse than the stinking piles of dog shit in the yard.

At least I can shovel up the dog shit.

[KoKo]

12. Many of us Dems...LOVE ...Big Business! That's the problem...

Isn't It? :shrug:

[Bake]

14. I can boil it down to one simple statement:

Left to its own devices, Big Business CANNOT be trusted to do the right thing.

That says it all, as far as I'm concerned.

Bake

[tammywammy]

15. I work at a 'big business' and I like it here

I got a good raise two years in a row. I have excellent health & 401k benefits.

I've worked at little family owned businesses. I was treated like crap, there was no ethics or HR dept to complain to. My pay was shit. My health benefits were shit. No 401k match.

So yeah, right now I'm pleased as punch where I work, and it's a very large multinational corporation that the vast majority of DU detests.

[Kip Humphrey]

16. In my experience, BIG business often make COLOSSAL mistakes. /nt