Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Business-friendly policies? Friendly to which businesses?

One of the buzz words in politics is being business-friendly.  Makes me think the Constitution begins "We the Corporations of the United States…"

Businesses run the gamut from über-corporations like Wal-Mart and Apple to local businesses with a few dozen employees to single-person businesses.  One size of politics does not fit all.

One would think that the U. S. Chamber of Commerce represents all businesses, but according to Daniel Gross, "Does the Chamber of Commerce Know What's Best for Business?", Yahoo Finance Tech Ticker, it is "essentially a lobbying group for large businesses".  Well, not all businesses, Apple quit the Chamber in 2009 over climate change.  Pick your story with a search for "Apple Chamber of Commerce".

Gross points out that the Chamber angers "everyone from deficit hawks" to environmentalists.  He also points out that the Chamber got much of what it wanted but that didn't deliver the results the Chamber promised.

To think that the House of Representatives began its year with the reading of the Constitution and immediately forgot "We the People".