Friday, January 29, 2010

Supremely Questionable

If you watched all of the State of the Union Address on Wednesday, then maybe you are a better American than I.  I caught bits here and there, but by-and-large it was unwatchable.  Political party affiliations and personal beliefs aside, there is no denying that the speech was overly long, full of fluff and empty promises (Obama may very well believe in everything he says, and he may do his best to accomplish each goal, but the fact is that things just don't happen that way in government), and was just flat out hard to sit through - if only because of the ridiculous pauses every 10 seconds for unnecessary standing ovations.

At some point I may read the entire transcript and get into it a little more, but today I just want to touch on the newest Supreme Court Ruling.

On January 21st the Surpreme court overturned a ban on corporate spending on political campaigns.
If you want to know more, there are plenty of sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus.html.  I'm of course interested in the political/governmental effects, short-term and long-tem, and whether this was a prudent decision, but that's for the mass media to get into.

Instead, I'm wondering what it will do to the corporations themselves and their employees.
  • If the company you worked for gave millions of dollars to a party you don't support, would you quit?  Would you speak up? 
  • Would you pass on a job at a company that gives to a party you don't support?
  • Would you stop buying products/using services made by a company that gives to a party that you don't support?
  • Would you sell off your stock options?
  • Can the act of a company giving to a political party set the company up for workplace discrimination lawsuits?  ('I support the other party and that's why I can't get promoted...')
  • If corporations are involved more in the political process, what will it mean for Unemployment Insurance?  Cobra?  Unions?   
  • Corporations obviously have a huge interest in health insurance costs.  How will that effect all this talk of nationalized health insurance?
  • Can non-profit companies give money to political campaigns?
  • How does the giving of money to a political campaign effect corporation profit sharing? stock dividends?  Who really donates to the campaign?  the company or its workers or its shareholders?
I guess I'm just wondering why this isn't a bigger issue and why it isn't being covered from all angles.

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