The US Chamber of Horrors
One of the most powerful political organizations in the United States is the Chamber of Commerce. In 1912 with the backing of President Taft 700 representatives from various commercial organizations formed this body, and in 1925 at 1615 H Street North West, Washington DC a large Corinthian style building became its headquarters. The organizations power and wealth has rarely been challenged,..until now.
The Chamber of Commerce represents over 3 million businesses and has offices in almost 100 countries. The organization has recently has come under increasing scrutiny, with accusations being made that it no longer represents the majority of its members, and is nothing more than a right wing lobby machine.
Courageously the Obama administration has taken the unprecedented step of directly approaching the heads of giant corporations, by-passing the COC. Predictably the Republicans have voiced their objection to this process, but the Whitehouse strategy is not without some risk. The COC is a powerful group and the last thing the President needs is to alienate thousands of bi-partisan business leaders.
In recent years the Chamber of Commerce has amassed a fortune and the President recently highlighted the half a billion dollars the COC has spent on K-Street campaigning for the Republicans over the past decade. To everyone’s surprise, President Obama scored some early knock down punches, when several high profile companies severed their ties with the chamber, specifically over its opposition to Climate Change legislation. The COC and the Republicans are vehemently opposed to a carbon emissions credit system that may harm the economy.
Ten months into the new administration, and the Republicans are still licking their wounds, but they have managed to stagger back up off the canvas. Limbaugh was quoted “these are dark days”, indeed they are, for you and the other one percent of the population that owns and controls 33.4 percent of the nations wealth. The COC has waded into the fight with a $25 million dollar partisan campaign ‘defending free enterprise’. But what are they really defending, is it Newscorp, is it the banana republic status the Bush Administration hammered the country into? Or maybe its just that ugly stained international reputation.
America is a Corporatocracy where corporations own, rule and influence most aspects of society, the American Dream has been just that, a dream for a very long time. As George Carlin recently described the upper class and corporate America; “…it’s a big club and you ain’t in it!”
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