14 Dec 2013

Who Funds the Far Left?

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John Hinderaker finds the donor list for Barack Obama’s favorite think tank includes lots of Very Big Corporations.

The Center for American Progress is a left-wing organization that is closely associated with the Obama administration. Its principal product is a web site called Think Progress. Think Progress is part of the internet cesspool that modern liberalism has become. Written by hack left-wing bloggers, it is bitterly hostile to free enterprise. It is a low-rent site that traffics in the most absurd smears and conspiracy theories. Many have wondered for some years who finances far-left web sites like Think Progress. As of today, we know at least part of the answer, as CAP released its corporate donor list for the first time. …

[The corporate list includes:]

* Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, one of Washington’s most powerful lobbyists.
* American Iron and Steel Institute
shutterstock_93355207* America’s Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP
* Apple Inc.
* AT&T
* Bank of America
* Blackstone, one of the largest multinational private equity firms
* Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
* Citigroup
* The Coca-Cola Company
* Comcast NBCUniversal
* CVS Caremark Inc.
* Eli Lilly and Company
* Facebook
* GE
* Goldman Sachs
* Google
* Japan Bank for International Cooperation
* Microsoft Corporation
* Northrop Grumman, defense contractor
* PepsiCo
* Samsung
* Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States
* Time Warner Inc.
* Walmart
* Wells Fargo

I doubt that there is any conservative organization that can boast a remotely comparable list of corporate supporters. CAP’s disclosure is a timely reminder that large corporations are not, in general, supporters of free enterprise. Many of them love to partner with government to suppress innovation and competition. Koch Industries stands alone, as far as I know, as a relatively large company that actually supports free enterprise as a matter of principle. Which is why corporatist America, through disreputable organizations like the Center for American Progress, has waged unremitting warfare against Koch.

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5 Feedbacks on "Who Funds the Far Left?"

boligat

I have a real problem with corporations spending my dividend money on contributions to anything, especially non-profits. That should be my decision to make. I suppose that a corporation does this to “improve the business climate” for its products, thereby, supposedly, making for more profitability. I have my doubts, though. The whole process just shows how messed up the whole system is. Too many CEOs just trying to get in good with the holder of the honey pot. I think it’s a personal thing, not so much a business thing, and they’re doing it with shareholder money, not so much their own. I guess that’s why so many big business types can move seamlessly from business to government and back whenever they want.



SDD

Boligat — While I would share your aversion to corporations on economic grounds if they operated in a free market, the fact is that they don’t today. Government and the Left dominate. Donations and political contributions are, as you suppose, really nothing more than marketing expenditures designed to appease the Left and to curry favor with a government that at any time could bring retribution on those who don’t pay proper homage. The fact is that for incumbent corporations, political contributions have the highest ROI of any marketing expenditure because government will throw up all sorts of regulations and requirements that present barriers to entry by your potential competitors.

BTW, when asked about what are Bill Gates’ biggest contributions to society, most responses are about the Gates Foundation’s charitable work. NOT about the fact that Microsoft has enabled billions of people around the world to create wealth and better their lives.



boligat

SDD, I don’t have any aversions to corporations, per se, I just don’t think they should be spending shareholders’ money on “charitable” causes. You are correct, I think, in your assessment of ROI. The fact that they feel they “must” give here or help there, or donate to this and that, just shows how, like I said, things are messed up. I guess I should have thrown in “IAPW” (in a perfect world), somewhere in my comments. I suppose our biggest job is to shrink the honey pot. The voters should do this automatically… *sigh*… IAPW.



GoneWithTheWind

Many corporations and other organizations set up a committee to fund “good causes”. Over time liberals gravitate to positions on these committees and even actively exclude conservatives and then these fundng “good cause” fundng committees turn into liberal funding arms of the left. Often the “defense” of this fundng is done in such a way that if the corporation wanted to stop it they would be accused of being racist, homphobic or sexist. After all that is the purpose in seting up yourself as a protected group so you can use it as a shield to do whatever you want to.



Kareem O' Wheat

Thanks for that boycott list.



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