Rewarded with Taxpayer Money
Trillions. Literally trillions of taxpayer money is now pouring to financial institutions. Today the Federal Reserve added $800 Billion more. The United States has now pledged $8.5 Trillion dollars to the financial crisis. To put that in perspective, one could have paid off, in their entirety, every house being foreclosed on for $320 billion dollars, the supposed root cause of the financial crisis. The entire home mortgages liabilities in the United States are $10.6 Trillion dollars
So, why is the United States pledging money worth 60% of the entire United States GDP?
More importantly why is this spitting in the wind even going on?
To date, Citigroup has been given more money than it's worth, yet taxpayers don't own the bank, the same executives are there, nothing has changed.
Why are not alternatives being shouted from the rooftops with this level of money being pledged?
Margaret Blair and Ralph Gomory state an obvious point that never makes it to the lips of policy markers, Leadership is More Than Profit.
In the rush to globalization, the United States has tossed aside a crucial principle that guided the economic prosperity of the twentieth century: corporate leaders have a responsibility to their country, their community, and their employees that goes beyond maximizing share value.
Isn't this a most opportune time to realign our corporations to the interests of the United States? Why are we not demanding national loyalty from our corporations in exchange for taxpayer funds?
While Gomory and Blair suggest tax incentives, assuredly some sort of corporate personhood redefinition could be done.
In Corporate Citizen, an Oxymoron Dr. Bruce Scott recommends a redefinition to start a federal charter or licensing to require corporations act in the national interest.
Considering the handing of these corporations gobs of taxpayer money, why not make part of the equation a realignment to the US national economic interest? The public should have voting shares with a controlling interest, even founder stock or stock with restrictions. One could at least make receiving these funds conditional on keeping and creating jobs for Americans in America.
We need our Congress to represent the American people and put oversight, conditions on this money and somehow stop this inane hemorrhage. The same people who caused this problem simply cannot be entrusted to solve it.
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