Thursday, September 18, 2008

Corporations and Employment

On to the third installment of Presidential Posts!

Here I'm going to cover Corporate Policy and Employment issues in the mind of each candidate.

John McCain: McCain wants to cut corporate income taxes to keep US jobs. He also does not want to impose an Internet tax. McCain is strictly anti-union.

Sarah Palin: Palin wants to reduce small business taxes as an incentive for new businesses.

Barack Obama: Obama wants to give tax incentives for corporate social responsibility, and he wants to tax companies who outsource overseas. He wants incentives for broadband to be in every community and more university based research and development into technology. He is pro-union and believes that unions help keep jobs in the US.

Joe Biden: Biden wants to make jobs stay in the US by taking away tax subsidies for corporations who send jobs offshore. He wants to stop Internet sales tax and he is pro-union.

Note to Self: This post brought to you by OnTheIssues.org.
My grade for each –
McCain: B+
Palin: B-
Obama: D
Biden: C+

Let me give a little explanation for my grading... I agree with lowering corporate taxes to keep jobs in the US and taking away tax subsidies for those that outsource. I am severely anti-union. I believe unions are the reason companies feel the need to outsource in the first place in order to stay competitive. [I specifically remember the story of a forklift driver for a car company who made six figures, but complained that he didn't make enough to pay for his boat or his house in the mountains. Wah.] Unions are the reason our car industry is sucking it. I believe business competition works and the incentive for broadband to build is money. When people have the money to pay for Internet, the Internet will come. Until then, deal with dial-up.

Less people sticking fingers where they don't belong, please...

8 comments:

pure evyl said...

I like the way that you graded this one.

Matt said...

I hate the way you graded this one.

Obama- D???

First of all, you have the facts incorrectly stated. He wants to end the tax BREAK for companies who send jobs overseas.

Corporate responsibility is a great thing...this requires employers to be more responsible!!! Healthcare for example...I cant even tell you how many people I know PERSONALLY that dont have healthcare because their employers dont provide it.

And unions...have you ever been a part of a union?

unions help protect workers. Especially minority workers (which being mexican appeals to my family greatly). If negotiating fair wages, better benefits and unsafe working conditions is a bad thing and caused car factories to go down...

we shouldn't be in the car business.

Companies outsource so that they can maximize profits.

business competition is great...but not at the price of the workers health. That is what's supposed to seperate us and make us a great country.

MJ said...

PE - Thanks.

Matt - The facts I have given are the ones that were provided by ontheissues.org, so as far as me misstating, please take it up with them before you eat my face off.

Next, I understand the protection that you see from unions as a benefit to workers. They are beneficial to workers in a lot of ways as far as making sure workers are treated fairly and given proper benefits. The problem is that they do, in fact, keep companies from being able to give competitive wages. We are in a world market now, and so we have to compare ourselves to other countries too. This is why our jobs are going overseas. It is fine to have unions, but then we can't complain when industries leave the US. The job of a company IS to maximize profits. I agree - not at the expense of the worker's health, but until other countries are not willing to work for so much less, the US will continue to lose jobs.

And I am gleaning from personal experience - my future father-in-law is a union leader for the railroad. The sad part is, he agrees with me.

Matt said...

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Corporations.htm


"Obama believes that companies should not get billions of dollars in tax deductions for moving overseas" - quoted from ontheissues.org

you could make the same argument for minumum wage- does it help or hurt.

I will always be on the help side.

MJ said...

Matt - Yes it could. I won't state my thoughts on that, because I'm afraid you may not visit me anymore :D

Agree to disagree, dear.

Matt said...

I would never stop visiting :)

Anonymous said...

A forklift worker making six figures, ok. Now is that the rule or exception? To use this as an example is a bit extreme.

Corporate greed is the reason the U.S. is this situation now starting with Reaganomics.

Wanting to make profits at the expense of treating workers with fairness.

MJ said...

Anon - It's probably not the rule, but it's what the "unbiased" news media decided to put on to somehow make me feel bad for unions... didn't really work I'm afraid.

And if we dug up Reagan and propped him up with a stick, he would still be a better President than either of the boobs in the running right now.