[CTRL] FW: The Case for a Do-Nothing Congress

[Shane A. Saylor, Eccentric Bard]

 -Caveat Lector-

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On
Behalf Of Robert Weissman
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 1999 1:21 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list CORP-FOCUS
Subject: The Case for a Do-Nothing Congress


Many Americans think that a do-nothing Congress mired in gridlock prevents
it from conducting the people's business.

Think again.

A majoritarian faction of corporatist Republicans and Democrats have
aggressively combined to usher through many of corporate America's top
legislative priorities. And the Clinton White House, while threatening to
brandish its veto power, has instead mostly sought minor modifications to
the corporate dream bills.

Consider the following gifts bestowed on the nation's largest businesses
by the corporatist Congress:

* Y2K Immunity. Although it is fair to say that the public and businesses
have been widely aware of the eventual arrival of the year 2000  for
decades, many software designers failed to design products that will
adequately respond to this eventuality, and then failed to take timely
corrective action. Congress chose to give them special protections
nonetheless.

The Y2K immunity legislation would make it much harder for consumers and
small businesses that suffer from Y2K failures to be compensated, and
would also make it difficult to file class action lawsuits for Y2K harms
or injuries. Although President Clinton initially said he "strongly
opposed" the legislation, he has now agreed to a compromise measure that
closely resembles the earlier version he denounced.

The National Association of Manufacturers and other business lobbies made
Y2K immunity legislation a top priority -- as much for its precedential
value as because of the legislation's inherent importance to big
corporations. With the Y2K victory in hand, they will now look to chip
away at other citizen protections in the civil justice system. Next up: a
broad bill to undermine citizens' ability to file class action lawsuits.

* Financial Consolidation. Under the banner of "financial modernization,"
H.R. 10 would permit banks, investment companies and securities firms to
merge. Both houses have now passed H.R. 10; and the White House, now
threatening a veto over community reinvestment and other provisions, may
cut a deal to permit a slightly watered-down version to become law.

If enacted into law, H.R. 10 would likely generate a tidal wave of
financial industry mergers. The financial lobby would tighten its
political stranglehold on Washington. Giant conglomerates would lock in a
too-big-to-fail status, ensuring a future marked by bailouts of
mega-financial firms.

The mega-companies will invade consumer privacy by trading insurance, bank
and other personal data between affiliates, and then conducting intrusive
direct marketing schemes accordingly. The right to violate consumer
privacy is so essential to the financial goliaths that they threatened to
oppose H.R. 10 if it was amended to include minimal privacy protections.

* Modern Day Debtors' Prison. In a gift to the credit card industry, the
House of Representatives has passed misnamed "bankruptcy reform" that
would undermine one of the remaining fairness rules intended to benefit
the down and out. The Senate is poised to pass the bill soon. Consumer
advocates hold out hope for a White House veto.

The bankruptcy legislation would make it much harder to file for
bankruptcy; extend the period debtors were forced to stay in bankruptcy;
and make it harder for debtors to prioritize payments for vital items such
as a homes or food over credit card debt.

* NAFTA for Africa. The African Growth and Opportunity Act, a gold mine
for U.S. business, is scheduled for a quick vote in the House. If it
passes the House -- no certainty, thanks to public opposition -- it will
come up for consideration sometime thereafter in the Senate, where it will
face entrenched opposition. Should it pass both chambers, the White House
is eagerly awaiting a signing ceremony.

The NAFTA for Africa bill would grant very modest trade benefits to
African countries; but it would condition those benefits on African
countries opening their borders to imports and investments from U.S.
companies, privatizing government operations, protecting U.S. intellectual
property interests and following the prescriptions of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). Illinois Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. has
rightly said the bill is about Africa's "recolonization."

Gridlock comes in the 106th Congress only when an outraged public forces
issues of citizen concern onto the legislative agenda. Then the
corporatists are usually able to block even modest positive measures in
areas like a patients' bill of rights or campaign finance reform, but they
are less able to ram through the corporate wish list.

When the public enters a do-something mode, Congress reverts to a
do-nothing posture -- generally about the best that can be expected from
the current band of rogues.

 Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

_______________________

Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based
Multinational Monitor. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The
Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Common Courage Press,
1999, http://www.corporatepredators.org).

Focus on the Corporation is a weekly column written by Russell Mokhiber
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