Four years after the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United, surveys and polls continue to show the American people believe the decision was wrong. Those polls also reflect a deep concern that big money contributions by corporations and wealthy donors have endangered fair access to the political process and law-making. In addition, there is a strong sense among those polled that Citizens United is harmful to equal representation and political participation.
Citizens DisUnited
The kind folks at Free Speech for People interviewed me for a short video about my book, Citizens DisUnited which came just a year ago. Much of our work overlaps and I’m frequently in contact with FSFP – in particular, they are working on a constitutional amendment to address the Citizens United decision. We’re now 1/3 of the way toward this goal and there’s more interest in the issue than ever. Check out the FSFP website because there’s lots of information and some really good resources. And, in the meantime, watch the video out Citizens DisUnited.
A Happy Monopoly – Ratings Agencies
Happy monopoly describes the ongoing status of the SEC approved rating companies (Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations – NRSRO). Notwithstanding that the Financial Crisis Investigation Commission and Senator Carl Levin’s Subcommittee on Oversight confronted the CEOs of the big ratings firms whose crisis-related pay went up by a multiple…
Confronting Power
The only way I know to combat corporate power as it now stands is for government to exercise its powers as owners of a preponderance of publicly traded stock. Self-regulation didn’t work and any attempts at government regulation are thwarted or circumnavigated. You can’t control a corporation from outside…
