The corporation, market, and business class is much bigger than any government. The only weapon a government can really use is over-regulation and excessive taxation. Good corporations and smart citizens always know how to deal with a repressive climate….they move assets and book business offshore, leaving the government nothing. I’ve found some interesting coorelations between the S&P and Obama’s polling numbers. The day the S&P index made it’s all time high was the same day that Obama’s poll numbers were at their lowest. The S&P has an inverse relationship with Obama’s popularity, that I have managed to quantify. Since Obama’s numbers have surged and it looks like he is a lock for the nomination, the market has been in a funk and volatility has increased. It is my opinion that the equities market is afraid of Obama’s proposed treatment of capital gains. Just my humble opinion:)

Jeff

“It’s generally understood that if Obama wins, that the enforcement priorities of the DOJ would change,” he said.

Music to my ears, Josh.

If Obama wants my heart and soul he needs to talk less about my needs as a consumer and act more on behalf of my status as citizen.

Most eloquent, Sam.

The fact that companies are scrambling to complete mergers before a possible Obama administration gives an indication of just how serious they believe him to be. And anyone who says John McCain will be more aggressive in preventing media consolidation …

And we have to start somewhere, I guess. However, what we ultimately need isn’t just to put the brakes on consolidation – we need some active rollback policies. I know, I know – we’ve all bought so deeply into the lie that nothing – NOTHING – should stand between a corporation and its “right” to grab every penny, regardless of the social, cultural and moral costs, that my suggestion sounds like rank communism. But then, we were a communist country before Reagan took office, if I recall correctly.

Still, pardon me if I take a “show me” stance on Obama. I can’t help noticing one really important word in the quote from above, one that reveals a great deal about his approach to media corporations. It’s here: “is the consumer being served?” As long as we continue to see people in terms of their commercial value first (and only) we will continue to be fucked and we’ll continue to see pols who promise to fuck us slightly LESS as saviors.

If Obama wants my heart and soul he needs to talk less about my needs as a consumer and act more on behalf of my status as citizen.

I agree with you that Sen. Obama intends to di what he says. But by what means? A president alone cannot reign in an industry. Whom would he appoint to the FCC? Whom would he appoint to lead DoJ? Will he have a majority in both chambers of Congress to push legislation.

Appointments to appropriate regulatory boards are key to his ability to do as you suggest. This is why I wrote about the press’s failure to quiz candidates on their appointment intentions.

(link)

Again, thanks for the post. I appreciate your contributions to S&R.