for forward progress on workplace health
and safety, it was in the wake of the Massey tragedy. The Robert C.
Byrd Mine Safety and Health Act would modestly increase the size of
fines for endangering workers, make it a felony to cause the death
of a worker by knowingly violating safety rules, protect
whistleblowers who call attention to workplace hazards, and deter
employers from delaying resolution of citations for violations of
workplace health and safety rules. But the business lobby has
prevented the bill from moving ahead. A House committee approved it,
but the full House, shamefully, voted down even a stripped down
version of the legislation; and the bill never even received a
Senate committee vote. (Take action:
http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=3681 )
* Reports of sudden acceleration in Toyota cars broke through in the
major media over a year ago. They were followed by ever more
revelations of problems with Toyota vehicles, disclosures that the
car giant had suppressed consumer complaints, major vehicle recalls,
public apologies from Toyota, and damning indictments of inaction by
the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 would upgrade NHTSA safety
standards, make more safety information public, and get more funding
to the resource-starved federal auto safety agency. Yet thanks to
the auto lobby -- amazingly, including lobbying from the very
General Motors in which the U.S. government (i.e., the public)
remains the primary shareholder -- Congress has failed to make these
common-sense responses to the Toyota debacle into law. (Take action:
http://www.citizen.org/motor-vehicle-safety-act )
There's no mystery as to the Congressional failure. It is simply a
reflection of the same corporate power that led to the
under-regulation and under-enforcement that made each of the
corporate disasters possible.
Yet the ability of corporations and industries to block remedial
regulatory efforts at the very moment when they are most vulnerable
-- due to adverse publicity and an outraged public's call for action
-- speaks to the extraordinary political power of Big Business.
That power is certain to be enhanced in the incoming Congress.
Most remarkable of all, with evidence all around of the need for
stronger rules to control corporations and protect Americans, the
business lobby is gearing up for a campaign to roll back existing
regulations.
Led by the Chamber of Commerce, corporations are ramping up a
campaign claiming that the way to jumpstart the economy is by
rolling back regulations.
Yes, corporations have earned record profits in the past quarter --
U.S. corporations raked in profits at an annual rate of $1.659
trillion in the third quarter of 2010.
Yes, it was the failure to regulate Wall Street that cost 8 million
jobs and plunged us into the current recession.
In a world ruled by power not logic, however, facts are not enough
to defeat corporate propaganda and destructive policy agendas.
Doing that will require overcoming public disgust with Washington's
failures. It will also require moving beyond mere outrage with
corporate wrongdoing to organized outrage. As deeply flawed as the
policy making process is, an organized citizenry can still make
change for good. It's not going to come any other way.
Robert Weissman is president of Public Citizen, www.citizen.org.
(c) Robert Weissman
This article is posted at:
http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2010/000338.html.
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