US Chamber of Horrors
Delaware Liberal like facts and we like pretty pictures, consequently we love graphs. Daniel Gross at Slate did a fine piece on the failings of the US Chamber of Commerce:
But there is a fundamental reason why the chamber isn’t being invited into the rooms where legislation and policy are being made these days: It doesn’t have much to offer. For generations, the Chamber of Commerce has held itself out as the sensible, we-know-better voice of business: Follow the policies we—i.e. American business—approve and advocate, and the nation will grow and prosper. We’ll have more jobs, higher wages, rising asset values, and widely shared prosperity.
But here’s the thing. From 2001 to 2008, the nation listened. It elected and then put into place exactly the policies the chamber advocated. And the chamber utterly failed to deliver.
Matthey Yglesias combined the Slate piece with the following chart from J. Bradford DeLong’s Grasping Reality with All Eight Tentacles that shows the freaking hole we are trying to dig out of. Conversely, if keep on listening to the Republicans, we might dig our way to China
Tags: Chamber of Commerice, Economy, Republicans
Some smart messaging person will one day figure out how to extend the current outrage over the banks’ undue influence over the government to the Chamber and Big Businesses. Because no matter what you think about the bank bailouts — that is still the tip of the iceberg and these corporate folks are apparently Platinum Level constituents.
Great post!
Household income is not a good indication of anything as household size has diminished over the last generation. Individual income is a better source and it has been held down by the employer contributions to health care- a deferred wage of sorts.
Almost all of the wage increases during the Bush years was eaten up as health care benefits.
The Chamber is doing well in DC but the Banks have clearly lost any luster.
Mike Protack
Household size is decreasing, i.e. people aren’t having as many kids. Household income should be increasing as the number of people from a household that are working is increasing.
yeah, lets kill the employers! that will fix our economy!
lizard, i’m impressed, i thought you’d be blaming ACORN. 😉
The Chamber discovers the usefulness of frivolous lawsuits.
You gotta love it when conservatives use frivolous lawsuits when they’ve been punked. The Chamber is just another group that doesn’t care about Americans, just the wealthy and business intersts above all else. I think that is why they are viewed less favorably today. They sold out, like the GOP, a long time ago. Morality and doing what’s right is not as simple as a corporation making as much money as they can. Greed is, after all, frowned upon in the bible……