It’s time that these “persons,” when they become egregious & recidivist criminals (particularly when they kill people), be treated the same as human criminals: remove them from society permanently
Thanks, Thom, for pointing out this under-discussed discrepancy in the "personhood" conferred by the Citizens United ruling. If corporations are people, they should not have the right to escape the rule of law regarding assault and homicide that applies to individuals. At the very least, a convicted company's assets should be seized and proceeds from liquidation distributed to aggrieved survivors of corporate criminality.
I am curious: How many are subscribed to "The Hartmann Report," Thom? How might we expand the readership? Your messages are critical, and reasoned and expressed so well! If only a much larger circle of readers could have access to them.
Going back to the 19th century and the growth of the DuPont Corporation, the small state of Delaware has long been in thrall to big businesses. In fact, the state’s website says:
More than one million business entities take advantage of Delaware's complete package of incorporation services, including modern and flexible corporate laws, our highly-respected Judiciary and legal community, a business-friendly government, and the customer-service-oriented staff of the Division of Corporations. You can also stay current on Delaware Corporate Law and explore more reasons why you should incorporate in Delaware.
The Biden family certainly has close connections to these interests and will do nothing to change them. But it wouldn’t matter if one state did that. When I lived in South Dakota in the early ‘80s, Citibank built a credit card center there. I even worked in it as a temp, a thoroughly miserable experience. This was built after the corporation got the state legislature to remove usury caps on credit cards. They could then be sold everywhere and that was the start of the industry’s sky high interest rates.
To some extent it makes sense that corporations grew. The America of 1890 was far larger, economically, demographically and geographically than that of 1790. Businesses and laws had to adapt to larger markets reached by faster transportation systems. But clearly by 1990 governments had lost control of the process—and on a global scale too. With “East India Companies” everywhere, altering the legal landscape in just a few places won’t really help. If every country doesn’t overcome its corruption to join the effort, there will always be a Delaware or South Dakota someplace.
Every time reading the true history of Corporate America methodically and relentlessly consuming its host from the inside out is to be newly disgusted and outraged. Using the institutions of democracy to destroy democracy! And forcing helpless prey to pay for it all with their own blood and treasure! It's time to use the word evil.
Without meaningful regulations absolutely forcing a change in behavior, the wealth of a nation will always flow inexorably to the top, controlled by the greedy and the ruthless. Any form of government will eventually bend the knee with the right incentives and, more likely, disincentives directed at those making the laws. Fear as a tool always works.
The lure of pleasure; the fear of pain -- it's just easier under an authoritarian system where unapproachable rulers dictate the terms of our lives in both the public and private sectors, without the accountability expected under all those pesky, messy democracies.
People! Such a hassle! Quintessential fascism is coming to a town near you soon. Or, it has already been an intimate aspect of American life all along; but now, it's just too obvious to keep on ignoring, try as we might.
In these uncertain times, Americans' unconscious propensity for soft fascism has been radicalized and weaponized by crooks and cons and their gullible suckers, clinging to false gods and toy guns but mainly clinging to power.
The corporate chokehold on life in America--our culture, our economy, our democracy--is THE story of the times, and corporate personhood is the Achilles heel, the target for a lethal injection.
Since its decision on Santa Clara County the Supreme Court is singularly responsible for the hegemonic role of corporations, as Thom was first to point out in UnEqual Protection.
Historically, the Court was dead-right-spot-on about corporate personhood. In 1809, in Hope Insurance Co. v. Boardman, the Court said, "...a body corporate as such cannot be a citizen within the meaning of the Constitution." In 1839, in Bank of Augusta v. Earle, the Court held, "The only rights [a corporation] can claim are the rights which are given to it in that character, and not the rights which belong to its members as citizens of a state." In 1889, in Pembina Silver Mining Co. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Court said the term "citizen" in the Constitution "...applies only to natural persons, members of the body politic owing allegiance to the state, not to artificial persons created by the legislature, and possessing only such attributes as the legislature has prescribed."
Note the Pembina decision was written three years AFTER Santa Clara County, so how can ANY subsequent Court claim Santa Clara County established the precedent for corporate personhood? (Not to mention Thom's exposure of that decision's technical but absolute failure to do so.)
Citizens United is in monstrous jeopardy, and only a monstrously corrupt Court (John Roberts' Court, say) can uphold it. Take to the barricades, friends and neighbors.
My thoughts go to how long we would be tied up getting the bastard. Is what we want to ingest that swill which would dominate the news every day? I'd like some conversation about thinking outside the box. Maybe this is it, if in fact wiping his empire out at some meta level precludes all the subdivisions of his business crimes. And there's the suggestion I've made, where I'd see Trump being off the hook for all prosecutions if he did a convincing mea culpa about his crimes. Why would he do that? To stay out of jail and to keep his money, and I'd even see him taking pride in having released his followers to unite the country, which is a much more important thing to do than to bury our thug President. Really, to get our pounds of flesh we'll have years of his dominating the news that wouldn't even touch his followers. Can we talk about doing what could be speedier? Thom, can you steer us that way?
The Trumps are a crime family and a wrecking crew. If only we could round them up and put them in an arena with all the people they have ruined and ripped-off.
I guess we will just have to wait and see what the judicial system can finally do. RICO: "Passed in 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is a federal law designed to combat organized crime in the United States. It allows prosecution and civil penalties for racketeering activity performed as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise".-Google
For now, the fact that they have been exposed as the weak, greedy, creepy people they are will have to do. Their reputations died long ago and the only people being duped now are the cultists that want to be. Arc of the Moral Universe...it's time for some justice!
I worked at the company which converted the GLOMAR Explorer into an oil drilling rig - first time I visited Portland was to pick up the ship, around 1997 more or less.
Long story short, critical safety devices were eliminated by an incompetent Engineer and two people were almost killed. One is barely alive. We paid out MILLIONS in compensation, but no compensation is worth the injury. The safety system eliminated saved 0.005% on a $300 million project.
At the next management meeting, several folks LAUGHED at the injured man who could now barely talk, but quickly added that he was "taken care of". I told the entire room about how removing the safety system was VERY well known, and in fact I'd been denied money to restore it by every manager I report to, including several in the room.
I pointed out that US law allows a judge to sentence anyone who knew about the safety issue to prison for negligence. The safety device wasn't just good to have, it was required.
We added safety devices outselves, and never trusted the project folks again.
As usual this RANT hits it way out of the park. I save The Hartman Report every day. I spend time writing, and use much of my own RANTS sharing Professor Hartman's information. I also share your report and tell people to subscribe to The Hartman Report. I also advise them to listen to your show. People- especially now- need the truth. Love you Thom. PS I think I may have discovered an error in this Report. You mistakenly referred to Madison as the third President.
#Thom ... #4 `James Madison`; Unless you're counting the presidents we've had under the original `Articles of Confederation`. But, even then ... Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison!
Thanks, Thom, for pointing out this under-discussed discrepancy in the "personhood" conferred by the Citizens United ruling. If corporations are people, they should not have the right to escape the rule of law regarding assault and homicide that applies to individuals. At the very least, a convicted company's assets should be seized and proceeds from liquidation distributed to aggrieved survivors of corporate criminality.
Corporations have railroaded us all ever since Southern Pacific vs County of Santa Clara.
I am curious: How many are subscribed to "The Hartmann Report," Thom? How might we expand the readership? Your messages are critical, and reasoned and expressed so well! If only a much larger circle of readers could have access to them.
Going back to the 19th century and the growth of the DuPont Corporation, the small state of Delaware has long been in thrall to big businesses. In fact, the state’s website says:
More than one million business entities take advantage of Delaware's complete package of incorporation services, including modern and flexible corporate laws, our highly-respected Judiciary and legal community, a business-friendly government, and the customer-service-oriented staff of the Division of Corporations. You can also stay current on Delaware Corporate Law and explore more reasons why you should incorporate in Delaware.
The Biden family certainly has close connections to these interests and will do nothing to change them. But it wouldn’t matter if one state did that. When I lived in South Dakota in the early ‘80s, Citibank built a credit card center there. I even worked in it as a temp, a thoroughly miserable experience. This was built after the corporation got the state legislature to remove usury caps on credit cards. They could then be sold everywhere and that was the start of the industry’s sky high interest rates.
To some extent it makes sense that corporations grew. The America of 1890 was far larger, economically, demographically and geographically than that of 1790. Businesses and laws had to adapt to larger markets reached by faster transportation systems. But clearly by 1990 governments had lost control of the process—and on a global scale too. With “East India Companies” everywhere, altering the legal landscape in just a few places won’t really help. If every country doesn’t overcome its corruption to join the effort, there will always be a Delaware or South Dakota someplace.
Every time reading the true history of Corporate America methodically and relentlessly consuming its host from the inside out is to be newly disgusted and outraged. Using the institutions of democracy to destroy democracy! And forcing helpless prey to pay for it all with their own blood and treasure! It's time to use the word evil.
Without meaningful regulations absolutely forcing a change in behavior, the wealth of a nation will always flow inexorably to the top, controlled by the greedy and the ruthless. Any form of government will eventually bend the knee with the right incentives and, more likely, disincentives directed at those making the laws. Fear as a tool always works.
The lure of pleasure; the fear of pain -- it's just easier under an authoritarian system where unapproachable rulers dictate the terms of our lives in both the public and private sectors, without the accountability expected under all those pesky, messy democracies.
People! Such a hassle! Quintessential fascism is coming to a town near you soon. Or, it has already been an intimate aspect of American life all along; but now, it's just too obvious to keep on ignoring, try as we might.
In these uncertain times, Americans' unconscious propensity for soft fascism has been radicalized and weaponized by crooks and cons and their gullible suckers, clinging to false gods and toy guns but mainly clinging to power.
The corporate chokehold on life in America--our culture, our economy, our democracy--is THE story of the times, and corporate personhood is the Achilles heel, the target for a lethal injection.
Since its decision on Santa Clara County the Supreme Court is singularly responsible for the hegemonic role of corporations, as Thom was first to point out in UnEqual Protection.
Historically, the Court was dead-right-spot-on about corporate personhood. In 1809, in Hope Insurance Co. v. Boardman, the Court said, "...a body corporate as such cannot be a citizen within the meaning of the Constitution." In 1839, in Bank of Augusta v. Earle, the Court held, "The only rights [a corporation] can claim are the rights which are given to it in that character, and not the rights which belong to its members as citizens of a state." In 1889, in Pembina Silver Mining Co. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Court said the term "citizen" in the Constitution "...applies only to natural persons, members of the body politic owing allegiance to the state, not to artificial persons created by the legislature, and possessing only such attributes as the legislature has prescribed."
Note the Pembina decision was written three years AFTER Santa Clara County, so how can ANY subsequent Court claim Santa Clara County established the precedent for corporate personhood? (Not to mention Thom's exposure of that decision's technical but absolute failure to do so.)
Citizens United is in monstrous jeopardy, and only a monstrously corrupt Court (John Roberts' Court, say) can uphold it. Take to the barricades, friends and neighbors.
My thoughts go to how long we would be tied up getting the bastard. Is what we want to ingest that swill which would dominate the news every day? I'd like some conversation about thinking outside the box. Maybe this is it, if in fact wiping his empire out at some meta level precludes all the subdivisions of his business crimes. And there's the suggestion I've made, where I'd see Trump being off the hook for all prosecutions if he did a convincing mea culpa about his crimes. Why would he do that? To stay out of jail and to keep his money, and I'd even see him taking pride in having released his followers to unite the country, which is a much more important thing to do than to bury our thug President. Really, to get our pounds of flesh we'll have years of his dominating the news that wouldn't even touch his followers. Can we talk about doing what could be speedier? Thom, can you steer us that way?
👎
The Trumps are a crime family and a wrecking crew. If only we could round them up and put them in an arena with all the people they have ruined and ripped-off.
I guess we will just have to wait and see what the judicial system can finally do. RICO: "Passed in 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is a federal law designed to combat organized crime in the United States. It allows prosecution and civil penalties for racketeering activity performed as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise".-Google
For now, the fact that they have been exposed as the weak, greedy, creepy people they are will have to do. Their reputations died long ago and the only people being duped now are the cultists that want to be. Arc of the Moral Universe...it's time for some justice!
I worked at the company which converted the GLOMAR Explorer into an oil drilling rig - first time I visited Portland was to pick up the ship, around 1997 more or less.
Long story short, critical safety devices were eliminated by an incompetent Engineer and two people were almost killed. One is barely alive. We paid out MILLIONS in compensation, but no compensation is worth the injury. The safety system eliminated saved 0.005% on a $300 million project.
At the next management meeting, several folks LAUGHED at the injured man who could now barely talk, but quickly added that he was "taken care of". I told the entire room about how removing the safety system was VERY well known, and in fact I'd been denied money to restore it by every manager I report to, including several in the room.
I pointed out that US law allows a judge to sentence anyone who knew about the safety issue to prison for negligence. The safety device wasn't just good to have, it was required.
We added safety devices outselves, and never trusted the project folks again.
As usual this RANT hits it way out of the park. I save The Hartman Report every day. I spend time writing, and use much of my own RANTS sharing Professor Hartman's information. I also share your report and tell people to subscribe to The Hartman Report. I also advise them to listen to your show. People- especially now- need the truth. Love you Thom. PS I think I may have discovered an error in this Report. You mistakenly referred to Madison as the third President.
#Thom ... #4 `James Madison`; Unless you're counting the presidents we've had under the original `Articles of Confederation`. But, even then ... Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison!