Friday, June 14, 2013

The Political is Commercial: Washington's Revolving Door

The political is commercial -- it's a play on the seventies slogan, "the personal is political."  But it's true and it came to mind recently as I read Eleanor Bloxham's article about SEC Chair Mary Jo White and Washington's "revolving door." To put it simply: government jobs are worth… June 14, 2013 | SEC , Corporate Power , Government Capture

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Discussing the book on Reuters TV

I was interviewed for Reuters TV when I was in New York last week.  I had the chance to talk with Rob Cox and explain the theory behind Citizens DisUnited.  It really was an excellent interview and I think he was able to draw out some good explanations behind… June 13, 2013 | Capture , Corporate Drones , Corporate Power , CEO power

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Interviewed on Money Life

I had the chance to talk with Chuck Jaffe, host of MoneyLife and writer for MarketWatch.  Interesting conversation and a bit outside his usual topics -- all about the book and the effects of ownerless corporations.  And, we talked about what people can do to begin to change the… June 12, 2013 | Corporate Drones , ownership , Corporate Power

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

What is a Drone Corporation?

My new book, Citizens DisUnited, is based on the idea that corporations without involved owners (what I call drone corporations) have a huge impact on our society and are undermining our democracy.  The presentation below uses data from the book to detail the effects of drone corporations.  For more… June 11, 2013 | Corporate Drones , CEO Pay , responsible ownership , fiduciary duty , CEO power

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Absence of Ownership

I have a post about Absence of Ownership over at Big Think today -- Have a look. June 4, 2013 | ownership , responsible ownership , Capture , fiduciary duty

Monday, June 3, 2013

Privatization: Letting Foxes in the Henhouse

Recently I read Rachel Maddow’s book, Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power (2012). I’m a bit late to this party, perhaps, but the book brought some issues into sharp focus for me. In particular, this issue of privatizing services – in the case of Maddow’s book it’s military… June 3, 2013 | Capture , Military Industrial Complex , capitalism

Friday, May 24, 2013

A Stacked Deck: JPMorgan Shareholder Fight

In my business, it seems you only win the ones that don’t count. In my case: Sears pulled out all the stops to keep me off the board;   After winning a 40% precatory vote to separate the CEO and Chairman at Exxon two years running, support fell to… May 24, 2013 | CEO power , shareholder activism , JPMorgan , annual meetings , boards of directors

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Loopholes, Islands and Havens

  Tax avoidance is hot news – and especially because American tech darling Apple was called before a Senate subcommittee to explain why they paid such very low taxes in this country despite earning billions in revenue.    Today we hear of world leaders calling for international tax laws… May 23, 2013 | multinational corporations , Tax Havens , Offshore , Corporate Power , Capture

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Corporations Are Not People: A book to inspire a movement

Jeffrey Clements’ book, Corporations Are Not People, is an indispensable source of information and analysis on the present state of corporate power in America. What is particularly valuable is the cogent analysis of such a contradictory and dysfunctional conclusion.  It’s an indispensible source of the who/what/when in the Citizens United… May 21, 2013 | Citizens United , Book Review , corporate speech , Supreme Court

Monday, May 20, 2013

Human Behavior vs. Corporate Behavior

A few years ago -- around the time of the 2010 Citizens United decision -- I was thinking about "corporate citizenship" and corporate "speech."  These ideas don't make sense to me.  Corporations are a legal construct -- something made by humans -- and yet we've given them human rights,… May 20, 2013

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

What do we look for in female leaders?

The moment I emerged from my mother's womb, however, my possibilities dwarfed those of my siblings, for I was a boy! And my brainy, personable, and good-looking siblings were not....So my floor became my sisters' ceiling -- and nobody thought much about ripping up that pattern until a few… May 14, 2013

Friday, May 10, 2013

127 Years of Corporate Personhood

127 years ago today -- May 10, 1886, in an important aside in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company 118 U.S. 394 (1886), the Supreme Court concluded that corporations were “persons” entitled to the protections of the Fourteenth Amendment to the constitution and, therefore, legal participants in… May 10, 2013