Deus Ex Machina (aka Dem)

 
Deus Ex Machina (aka Dem)

Nul ne peut servir deux maîtres. Car, ou il haïra l'un, et aimera l'autre; ou il s'attachera à l'un, et méprisera l'autre. Vous ne pouvez servir Dieu et Mamon.  - Matthieu 6:24

By J.M. Hamilton  8-20-2016

Paris, France - Greetings from the City of Light, the City of Enlightenment.  Paris is gorgeous, singular in its wonder, decadence, and depravity.  The city’s beauty is only exceeded by the women who live and visit here.  Her streets are teaming with youth and life, and a noticeable number of men and women carrying machine guns; the latter to be expected, in light of recent terrorist events, and accepted and appreciated by the former.

Around Paris’ every corner seemingly exists a monument, icon, or castle:  Arc de Triomphe, the Hotel de Invalides, and the Tuileries Palace, et al.  Around every corner a stunning work of art, in the flesh.   

And of course, the most jaw dropping monument of all:  Versailles.  Versailles symbolizes a Rococo age, where a disengaged, oblivious, and debauched elite facilitated a revolution that shocked European monarchies and ushered forth a democratic age.  As a student of economics, power, and politics I am often amazed at how often history repeats itself.   Several generations may come and go between history’s great events, sleep covers our eyes, and tombs enclose indispensible women & men – who might lead us away from the folly the human race often repeats ad nauseam.

It’s worth remembering then the women of Paris (yes – the women), who massed and invaded a rococo Versailles, and dragged Louis the XVI and Marie Antoinette from their gilded cage.

Versailles has many lessons… perhaps applicable, here and now, in real time.  To wit, some of the direct causes of the French revolution:

The French kingdom was overextended financially as a result of two wars: the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War (both wars fought – largely – against French rival the British).

As a result of these wars, and the excessive living of the nobles and the royal family (see Versailles), the French kingdom was bankrupt.

As a result of the debt and the debt service load, the royal family piled on the taxes, which were carried by the proletariat and the merchant classes.  The nobles, the clergy, and the royal family were, conveniently, exempt from paying taxes.

The Justice system was two-tiered.  A system was in place for the elite, and for everyone else – there was no adjudication means.

Louis XVI' reign saw the rise of a new economic system called laissez faire, whereby the sale of wheat and bread – a French staple - were deregulated.  As a result, merchants and speculators hoarded wheat, and sold into areas where there was a crop failure for the highest prices.  This created shortages and famine.  Prior to laissez faire, the French kings were known for intervening in the wheat marketplace to protect subjects from predatory behavior.

Culturally, the proletariat - French citizens and soldiers -were exposed to new ideas of  “equality” and “freedom.”  Some of these ideas were picked up or learned fighting in America’s revolutionary war.  Reason and enlightenment said the King and the Church were no longer infallible.

Laissez faire, an oblivious elite, and a highly unfair tax system pushed the lowest rung of French society up against the wall.  With the proletariat’s very survival at stake, the aforementioned events launched a perfect storm, whereby the aristocracy and the monarchy were ultimately purged.

Does any of this sound familiar?

The times are not entirely dissimilar to events leading up to the French revolution.  In short, the U.S. political elite – co-opted and owned by the financial aristocracy – have become entirely desensitized to the needs of the 99%.  Our courts are two- tiered and a train wreck.  Laissez faire economics has enjoyed an unprecedented run, whereby free trade agreements have exported the 99%’ jobs, daily bread, and the tax base offshore.  Laissez faire also led to the banking deregulation that crushed the world economy.  Two nation building exercises/wars have bankrupted the U.S. government (along w/ a Wall Street bank bailout); and since a purchased U.S. government will not raise taxes on the wealthy, austerity has been enforced, resulting in cuts to education, social services, and welfare for those most in need.  The remains of the middle class and upper middle class pay at tax rates considerably higher than our true rulers, the billionaire class and multinational corporations (aka the aristocracy). 

The U.S. government for a brief shining moment, post WWII, used to look out for the proletariat, but now politicians mainly look out for themselves and the aforementioned aristocracy.

Entre one Madam Hillary Clinton, who despite many self-inflicted political wounds, appears – as of this writing – to be destined for the White House.  What exactly she’ll accomplish as the first woman POTUS remains to be seen, as she will likely be under investigation for the next four years.

Madam Hillary, despite her many glaring deficiencies, has declared herself to be something of a deus ex machina.  That it to say, HRC is: a “progressive who likes to get things done;” a friend of billionaires & the Wall Street banking cartel; a War Hawk; a friend of the proletariat, and a mass incarceration queen.  She’s also a philanthropist, whose foundation is presently being probed by the IRS.  Madam Clinton has supported free trade agreements that have gutted the American middle class, and yet, she’s now, allegedly, against such agreements – at least in their present form, currently.

Hillary and her husband have told so many lies about her email server, that the Washington Post has in a matter of weeks awarded Madam and Slick four and three Pinocchios, respectively.

In short, Madam Clinton is all things to all people, but above all – if we are to be believe our current POTUS – she is an extraordinary politician with unprecedented capabilities.

And therein lies the problem.  Now, perhaps more than ever, we need a President who can tell the elite, the special interests, and the rich, who have robbed this country blind, where exactly to get off.  The U.S. doesn’t need a fantasy literary device; the nation does not need a deus ex machina.  If Hillary is a servant to all special interests, her Presidency, if elected, is doomed to failure.  Given the state of the nation, HRC just might take the nation with her.

HRC does not appear to get it… her aristo sponsors & the U.S. political establishments, like the Royals & aristocracy of pre-revolutionary France, have run the United States into the ground.  Therefore, if Madam is to be an effective President – and start cleaning up the mess neocon-men, Wall Street, and the billionaire class have wreaked upon the nation – she’s going to have to start by telling some very privileged nobility something they haven’t heard in a very long time, if ever:  “NO.”

An interesting side note, the French revolutionaries who took out the monarchy were somewhat distrustful of democracy, so they formed a republic and a great terror ensued.  After a period of years, and with the State of France’s affairs in great disorder (much of that disorder inherited from a highly corrupt monarchy), a strongman and a military leader came to power.

That dictator, later the Empereur des Francais, was Napoleon Bonaparte.

 

Brave French police & soldiers outside Notre Dame de Paris, Mid-August 2016

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2016

McKinsey

McKinsey

Our strategy is basically the education I had through McKinsey.

-       Former Valeant Pharmaceutical, CEO, Michael Pearson, Financial Times.

Short-term capital will beget short-term management through a natural chain of incentives and influence.

-       McKinsey & Company, Managing Director, Dominic Barton, Financial Times

By J.M. Hamilton (8-7-16)

You can’t make this stuff up.

On the heels of writing my last piece on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and how it acts against the interests of ordinary Americans on a daily basis, the Washington Post came out with a story, Thursday, showing how the Chamber is suing the Obama Administration for attempting to put the brakes on tax inversions.  Tax inversions are where multinational corporations enjoy all the advantages of U.S. citizenship (the rule of law; the best democracy money can buy; and a military that is at war w/ the world to protect global trade routes), without paying for it.  No, said multinational, in this case Pfizer, rips off the American consumer and taxpayer daily (the U.S. is the only Western democracy that does not cap drug prices), and enjoys patent protections enforced by U.S. courts and free trade agreements (in essence a monopoly), and then has the audacity to bitch about paying taxes.

The Chamber and its éminence grise, Mr. Donohue, loves to fall back on the tired old argument that the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate in the world, and therefore, Pfizer is entitled to dodge taxes, via foreign inversion.  But the Chamber, conveniently, fails to mention that for the uber wealthy, and the corporate tax code in particular, is loaded w/ enough loopholes to sink the ship of state.  Pfizer of course, pays at a tax rate nowhere close to 35%, but Pfizer sure likes to make monopolistic profits in this country, and does so daily. 

One could easily argue that the Chamber’s actions are Anti-American and unpatriotic. Once again, the Chamber is lobbying’s super villain, that is to say, an evil rapacious machine – making arguments – that its corporate contributors and members wouldn’t dare make, for fear of offending the American public and stockholders.

If the Chamber is lobbying’s bête noire, than McKinsey & Company is the consulting world’s equivalent.  McKinsey & Company is based in New York City, and its global consulting empire, as recently as 2014, was said to generate $8.3 billion in revenue.  McKinsey is privately held by 1,400 partners, and employs 17,000 workers worldwide.  Additionally, it is the wheelhouse for 9,000 consultants, many of them MBAs or persons possessing graduate degrees, if not doctorates.  It not only counsels the Fortune 500, but many of its consultants end up running the companies they advise.  C-Suites and boardrooms are littered w/ former McKinsey associates and executives.  And just because an associate or partner leaves for greener pastures doesn’t mean those McKinsey ties are severed.  As revealed earlier this year in the Financial Times, McKinsey also operates a $9.5 billon dollar hedge fund for its employees and partners, that helps insure continued loyalty, and partnership, even after an employee leaves.

To give one some idea of McKinsey’s clout and power, a recent Forbes article, quoting from the book The Firm, observed:

 “A few years ago, more than 70 past and present CEOs of Fortune 500 companies were McKinsey alumni, and in 2011 more than 150 McKinsey alumni were running companies with more than $1 billion in annual sales.”

So with all this consulting going on, and consolidation in industry after industry into cartels and monopolies, isn’t there a conflict of interest?   Many observers and writers say that the McKinsey business model produces an inherent conflict of interest.  One of McKinsey’s key offerings is industry benchmarking, or “best practices,” where a company can see what industry peers are up to.  Conveniently omitted are competitor names, but if there are only three or four players left in a given industry it’s not hard to figure out, thanks to McKinsey, who is employing said “best practices.”  

Hmmm... sounds like collusion defined, via an intermediary.

There’s more… McKinsey is the master consultant of financial engineering practices that have devastated many advanced economies.  Need to cut staff to boost the bottom line, bring McKinsey in for a study.  Consultation on M&A and industry consolidation, and the resulting “synergy,” McKinsey is there to hold a multinational’s hand.  If one was nefarious, and looking for the Xanadu of insider information – in industry after industry – McKinsey affords an ocean of data and information.

Perhaps that’s why so many McKinsey alumni have landed in hot water, or have flirted with disaster.  McKinsey’s consultants and partners are consummate insiders, possessing information that would allow them, or friends, to make a killing in any number of markets: stock, bonds, commodities, futures, derivatives, and swaps.  

Rajat Gupta is perhaps one of the more infamous McKinsey alums, brought down by insider trading.  Information Mr. Gupta picked up, by sitting on the board of Goldman Sachs, was shared with a hedge fund operator.  Mr. Jeff Skilling learned a thing or two from McKinsey, before moving on to help cook the books at Enron (accounting gymnastics were employed that brought that company to ruin).  Tidjane Thiam, who presently runs Credit Suisse, has suffered some risk management problems as of late, and Credit Suisse has reported close to a billion dollars in losses in late 2015 and early 2016.  Looks like some Suisse trading positions went south, in some illiquid markets.  Before running Credit Suisse – you guessed it – Mr. Thiam was a McKinsey employee.  To be sure, not all McKinsey alums have come to a bad end.  Mr. Sundar Pichai and Ms. Sheryl Sandberg, of Google and Facebook fame, respectively, appear to have done very well.

However, if there is one person who epitomizes the McKinsey ethos, and what that ethos has done to the American & advanced economies, it is former Valeant Pharmaceutical CEO, Michael Pearson.  In news reports, we learned that Mr. Pearson surrounded himself w/ friends from McKinsey, when he took over Valeant Pharmaceutical.  Then he did a tax inversion deal - the Chamber and Mr. Donohue are presently raving about - to dodge paying U.S. taxes.  But what Mr. Pearson did next is right out of the McKinsey playbook:  he loaded up Valeant with a debt tsunami; acquired drug company after drug company (often at or near market peaks); a la Enron, he was alleged to have cooked the books, with some shady accounting and drug wholesalers; Mr. Pearson stripped the labor force of Valeant and its acquisitions; gutted R&D; and jacked up the price of medicine in a manner that Jeffrey Shkreli could appreciate.

If this seems all too familiar to many Americans, it’s not only because what Mr. Pearson did epitomizes the McKinsey way, but it is also the business model for an entire industry, otherwise known as private equity.  Hedge funds too, love the McKinsey model, and more than a handful of hedge funds took a severe beating when Valeant’s stock tanked.  But fear not…. Mr. Pearson – who once was a paper billionaire – enjoyed a nice severance package, while Valeant’s stockholders are said to be taking epileptic medicine to calm their seizures.

All this information (shared for the price of a consulting contract), all this industry consolidation, the incestuous board room & C suite relations, the cult like embrace of McKinsey’s current and former consultants and partners… and the $9.5 billion dollar hedge fund McKinsey operates (amazingly, has only lost money once in 25 years), w/ all appropriate firewalls and protections against impropriety (we are solemnly assured)… If there ever was a company that personifies all the economic problems America faces today, it, likely, could be summed up in one word: McKinsey.

Conflict of interest magnified exponentially, and a cadre of elite insiders rigging the game for themselves and a select few: McKinsey & Company?

And now, wait for it… Here comes the punch line…. There appears to be some remorse.   

Per a recent Bloomberg piece, McKinsey – in light of Brexit, and the American electorate’s near rabid response to anything smacking of an establishment politician  - is having a quiet reflective moment.  With both U.S. political parties rebelling against free trade, embracing Glass Steagall, and rejecting globalization and the resulting U.S. pink slips - the consultant firm was such a strong advocate for - McKinsey appears to have turned the corner.  To be sure, McKinsey, per a recent write up assures us, the organization still finds value in offshoring, immigration, trade, and so forth, but these things must be done with more “sophistication.”  Lest advanced economies and Western democracies blow up like a city block with a gas leak, as McKinsey’s Senior Partner, Richard Dobbs, recently put it.

Apt analogy.

I guess crushing the labor force, and with it aggregate demand, in a consumer driven economy, isn’t particularly brilliant, especially in the long run.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2016

The Chamber

The Chamber

Donohue has also suggested that presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would implement the TPP — a major chamber priority — despite her current position of opposing the agreement.

- The Intercept, Chamber of Commerce May Prefer Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump

By J.M. Hamilton (7-23-16)

The Reagan/Thatcher revolution has suffered some setbacks as of late.  Thirty-six years of neo-liberal/laissez faire economics has led to a massive revolt against the economic and political establishment.  How do we know?  We can see it at this year’s Republican convention, with the nomination of Mr. Donald Trump; we can see it in the Democratic platform, the most progressive document put forth by the Democratic party in decades.  Surely that document was not written by the establishment’s candidate, Madame Clinton; but rather, it was written and guided by the Sanders/Warren wing of the Democratic party. 

Even this year’s GOP platform calls for the return of Glass Steagall. 

And the revolt against crony capitalism, and the Ayn Rand school of economics isn’t limited to America.  Across the pond in Britain, the new Tory Prime Minister, Ms. Theresa May, sounds more like a progressive from the Labour party of old, than the reactionary Margaret Thatcher.  P.M. May replaced Mr. Cameron on the heels of a Brexit vote, that rocked the E.U. and the European establishment to its core.  Post Brexit vote, the European elite quickly decided there would be no more referendums.  Apparently, good government and democracy shouldn’t be left in the hands of the people.  All kinds of unsettling things are likely to happen when decisions are left in the hands of the 99%, who have suffered stagnating wages, record unemployment and underemployment, the evisceration of the middle class, and rising wage & wealth inequality.  The mood among citizens of Western democracies is rather nasty.

Demagogues on the right often attempt to distract voters from the failings of neo-liberal economic policies that have brought decay, ruin, and a lack of opportunity to voter’s lives – by blaming immigrants.  In America this is particularly ridiculous, as we are a nation of immigrants.  (However, there is something to be said for having some control over ones borders, as unlimited immigration is a threat to a nation’s social safety net, and citizen’s wages.)  While moderates and left of center candidates place blame on federal and state governments - co-opted and run by the billionaire class and for the billionaire class, the monopoly economy, and free trade agreements that benefit an elite few (aka crony capitalism).  That said, both Senator Sanders and Mr. Trump have both placed a considerable amount of blame on free trade agreements that have gutted America’s middle class, and a foreign policy establishment and military industrial complex (MIC) that has run completely off the rails.  The MIC, in particular, consumes extraordinary amounts of discretionary federal spending that could be better put to use on social services, college education, rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure, or paying down the national debt.  Under the current rigged system, as acknowledged by Messrs. Trump and Sanders, democracy is for sale to the highest bidder. 

In America, there is no greater example of the rigged economy than the largest lobbying/trade organization, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, led by the septuagenarian, Mr. Thomas Donohue.  The U.S. Chamber (not to be confused w/ local chapters representing Main Street interests) is a two hundred-million-dollar lobbying juggernaut, and its influence and power over the three branches of American government is extraordinary.  

If there is a political revolt in this country, against the governing establishment, how much longer before there is a revolt against the economic order and the billionaires, who have rigged the rules in their favor?  The Chamber’s influence over a Wild West economic policy is unprecedented, and there is no greater representative of the Monopoly economy’s interests then the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  A careful examination of the Chamber’s policies and positions, under the Donohue administration, illustrates exactly why America finds itself in the situation it’s in today: in a near revolutionary state w/ an outright revolt against the establishment.

Let’s go there, and review the Chamber’s positions & policies:

1)   Free Trade – There has been perhaps no greater threat to the interests of ordinary Americans than the free trade agreements negotiated over the last three decades (free trade is little more than tax, wage, & regulatory arbitrage).  These agreements have led to the export of millions of American jobs offshore, and hollowed out the middle class; and while it’s true that the payback has been a surfeit of inexpensive imports dumped in America, it’s hard to pay for these goods when one is unemployed or underemployed.   I wonder if Mr. Donohue sleeps well at night knowing that 20 to 25% of American children live in poverty?  Poverty often brought upon these children by Mr. Donohue and the Chamber’s advocacy for free trade agreements, and assorted policies that have brought ruin to this country’s middle class and its tax base.

2)  Deregulation – What’s more laissez faire than no rules or regulations, and who is a greater advocate of deregulation than the Chamber?  Whether its advocacy for the repeal of Glass Steagall, or a strong position against Dodd-Frank, the Chamber can be counted on to best represent Wall Street’s interests against the American people.  It is this advocacy – whether it be for the financialization of the economy (aka the debt driven economy), or the elimination of rules & regs surrounding swap and derivatives – that played a significant role in the 2008 calamity and economic collapse.  And when the Chamber's Wall Street contributors do write financial regulations for the U.S. Congress, it is often riddled w/ loopholes, deliberately vague, and so cumbersome, so as establish barriers to entry against competition.

3)  Corporate Tax Loopholes & Corporate Tax Avoidance -  Want to know the architect and defender of today’s corporate tax avoidance, and dodge, schemes?  You guessed it, the Chamber is a huge advocate of America’s corporate tax policy, where it’s widely known that the crème de la crème of the Fortune 500 - via a catalogue of loopholes & offshore havens - cut their effective tax rate down considerably or dodge paying taxes altogether.  As JMH has pointed out many times before, when the wealthy pay no taxes this means the middle class – and those least able to pay - have to pick up the slack, often via regressive tax structures.  As the U.S. is a consumer economy, higher taxes on the upper middle class, and the middle class, means lower consumer demand and lower aggregate spending, and in turn, economic stagnation.  All so that Mr. Donohue’s plutocratic donors can salt away billions upon billions more.  Supply side economics/Voodoo economics/Trickle- Down tax policies have failed America. 

4)  The Fear Card –  The Chamber loves to play this card, and it plays it often.  Want to motivate a congressperson or a senator to adopt the Chamber’s polices, threaten jobs loss.  And nobody plays this card better than Mr. Donohue and the Chamber.  If the Chambers supporters don’t get their way, Mr. Donohue is quick to state that it will result in the loss of jobs, and the government – be it federal or state – will be directly responsible.  Tax policy, deregulation, judicial rulings impacting commerce… the Chamber’s refrain is always the same:  any policy, regulation or ruling against the Chamber’s constituency will result in jobs loss.  The irony of course, is that the Chamber, since Reagan, has had its way with America and largely dictated American economic policy, and often to a ruinous end for many Americans, particularly in regards employment, depressed wages, and employment opportunity.  The Chamber’s free trade and pro-globalization policies alone have resulted in the export of millions of jobs offshore.

5)  K Street Lobbying – As mentioned, until Mr. Donohue came on board, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was largely a trade association; but with his arrival, the Chamber has become the largest lobbying organization in America, w/ out-sized political influence over the government and the government’s pro-plutocratic policies.  Citizens United, McCutcheon, and now the latest ruling absolving a former VA governor of pay-to-play, these SCOTUS rulings have only served to make the Chamber’s lobbying power that much greater.  In short, no politician, no matter how venal or corrupt, thanks to SCOTUS is being held to account; and those few politicians who would like to honor democratic principles, and their constituency back home, are run over and rolled by the K Street machine.  In short, play ball with the Chamber & K Street, or the Chamber will finance and sponsor your opposition at the next election.

6)  Big Pharma – Some of the worst and most rapacious villains on the business stage today are no longer Wall Street executives, although they still get their fair share of attention, but rather, Big Pharma executives.  Messrs. Shkreli and Pearson (the latter of Valeant Pharmaceutical fame) has certainly gotten the bulk of the attention, but the fraud and habitual ripping off of Americans by many drug manufactures has become standard operating procedure.  Moreover, many of these corporations no longer plow a portion of their profits back into R&D, or the discovery of life saving medicines and therapies; but rather, financial engineering w/in the Pharma industry (aka stock buybacks, M&A, layoffs and pinks slips) is de rigueur.  Standing by Big Pharma’s side, as the price of medicine skyrockets many multiples over…. You guessed it, The Chamber of Commerce (and its Ayn Rand philosophy).  When progressives make the case for a single payer healthcare system, the primary blame for ever escalating medical costs within the private provider healthcare system is Big Pharma.  And Big Pharma’s champion is the Chamber.

7)  Privatization – Yup.  The Chamber is huge proponent of privatization.  Republicans, particularly the base, wonder why government never shrinks.  Democrats wonder why there is no money for infrastructure improvement or social spending for those in need.  The answer can largely be attributed to the privatization of our government, where military contractors, privatized prisons, and surveillance contractors lead to problems like war w/out end, mass incarceration, and a surveillance state run amuck.  It’s hard enough to roll back government when some faceless government bureaucracy, and its staff, are running the show, but when a private contractor takes over a government function forget about it.   Once privatization takes hold of an agency or government bureau, rolling back big government - no matter how redundant or insidious the program - means killing jobs, opportunity, and private enterprise.  And what tax-free organization – nonprofit – pushes privatization?  We already know the answer: The Chamber.

8)  The Monopoly Economy -  The Chamber's advocacy for the laissez faire economy, means that businesses - by divine right - may merge and acquire, infinitum.  Since Michael Milken invented the junk bond in the 80s, and w/ the advent of hyper-accommodative Federal Reserve policies, the number of mergers & acquisitions has soared in this country, so that the number of stock listings on American stock exchanges has been crushed.  Of course, JMH has written extensively about the harmful effects the monopoly economy has on consumers, opportunity, jobs, creativity, a diversity of products & services, investors, and the resulting collusion against clients and the public in the market place.  All that, and more:  Because monopolies charge monopolistic profits, which are a tax upon Americans' stagnating income.  Bottom line:  Not only are your stagnating wages stretched to pay Uncle Sam (because multinational corporations often dodge paying their fair share), but one’s paycheck is stretched thinner still to pay monopolies & oligopolies like Big Pharma, Big Oil, the Wall Street cartel, the Cable utility, and the Airline & Rental car cartels, etc., etc., etc.   Thank the Chamber and Mr. Donohue.

9)  Retrograde Industries -  The Chamber lobbies for some of the nastiest dead-end industries in the nation today.  Not only does the Chamber lobby for these industries, but it often takes positions for these industries that the industries themselves wouldn’t dare take (for fear of offending stockholders/investors).  Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Tobacco, Banking… you name it.   If it’s industry with a serious PR problem, often because said industry’s products and services are highly detrimental to the consumer and society at large – say firearms – these industries can count on the Chamber to be their champion.  In fact, the Chamber, and Mr. Donohue, goes out of its way push their cause.  As long as the money is there, seemingly no argument is too crazed or deranged (e.g. the Chamber still does not acknowledge climate change and fights vigorously anti-tobacco laws, rules & regs).  As for the social costs - the resulting blood bath caused by the firearms industry, the Wall Street bailouts, reduced life expectancy and higher medical costs associated with tobacco consumption – well, that’s not the Chamber’s concern.  The social costs are for the taxpayer and the U.S. government to pick up.  Just like when Mr. Jamie Dimon pays his employees a non-living wage to pad J.P. Morgan’s profits…  no worries, the government and the taxpayer will keep his employees alive, w/ food stamps for his tellers.

10)               Opaque -  Like the Elite themselves, and our government in the service of the elite, the Chamber is opaque.   We don’t know who funds it.  It’s a non-profit, so the Chamber doesn’t have to reveal who its contributors are.  However, we do know a few, like:  Bill & Melinda Gates; the Koch brothers; Karl Rove (aka Turd Blossom); and Steven Cohen (of Hedge Fund fame).  As mentioned above, the Chamber operating out of Washington takes a lot of unsavory positions… positions that favor certain industries, but which the industries themselves don’t want to be associated with for fear of alienating consumers & investors.  By making the Chamber fully transparent, along with its contributors, imagine how quickly some of the Chamber's more harmful positions might evaporate?  Like turning a bright light on in a pest or rodent infested kitchen in the middle of the night, those positions – as well as the Chamber’s support - might scatter rather quickly.

11)               Foreign Policy – Tied into the privatization position above, one reason that America might find itself perennially at war is that for every U.S. troop that goes into battle, there could be anywhere between one and three private contractors following said soldier.  Obviously, that’s a lot of contractors to feed, who are dependent upon endless war, which – along with the MIC -  might explain why America is unable to extricate itself from both Afghanistan and Iraq.  Mr. Donohue’s foreign policy adventures go beyond government privatization, however, and are often more direct.  Like when Mr. Putin invaded the Ukraine, and POTUS Obama launched economic sanctions against Russia in retaliation, Mr. Donohue was quick to support the Russian dictator (largely out of fear that said economic sanctions would screw up a large deal between the Russian government and Exxon Mobil).  You see, in Mr. Donohue’s world profits always come before human rights, questions of sovereignty, or concern for global citizens taking a stand against an oppressive authoritarian regime.  Undoubtedly, some of the multinationals that support the Chamber’s positions have relations with some of the world’s most egregious dictatorships (w/ some of the worst human rights records).  Undoubtedly.  And the Chamber can be counted on to represent these business interests with some of the most repugnant dictatorships on the planet.

Upon reviewing the aforementioned policies and positions, it can be easily argued that no other institution in America (save the money hungry Congress) has played a greater role in gutting the U.S. middle class than the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  Mr. Donohue's reign coincided with the biggest financial collapse, since the great depression, and ever rising wage & wealth inequality; the policies the Chamber advocated played a very large role in these economic events.

The Chambers positions have become so untenable that some high profile members have quit supporting the non-profit.  Among them:  Apple, CVS, Nike, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Exelon.

Who’s next?  Given some of the Chamber’s more repugnant positions, how much longer before other members quit?  After all, who wants to be associated w/ an organization that is largely responsible for the death of the American dream and pillaging the country?

More to the point, there’s an anti-establishment backlash underway throughout the political world:  Republicans are throwing out the party elite for a presidential candidate who has never held office; Madame Hillary Clinton damn near lost her race against the U.S. Senator from Vermont, Mr. Bernie Sanders; and the, formerly, all powerful Mr. Ailes has been shown the door at Fox News, over allegations of sexual misconduct.  And we all know how the Brexit vote turned out.

With the establishment being purged, or forced to clean up its act, how much longer before Mr. Donohue is shown the door?  That is to say, there’s reasonable advocacy for one’s clients, and then there’s a mania bordering on the irresponsible and the negligent.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2016

Note to my readers:  JMH does enjoy a good cigar on occasion.  While I’m all for educating the public on the health risks associated with tobacco, and taxing same to pay for the social costs, your humble blogger does not call for tobacco’s outright ban.  Some sins must be permitted, as long as the public is educated on the risks going in.