Mitt Romney made headlines last Sunday when he told a group of Iowa State Fair hecklers, "Corporations are people, my friend."
When the hecklers shouted, "No they're not!" he continued:
“Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. Where do you think it goes?”
File this statement under the category of Things That Make You Go 'Hmmmm.'
The notion that 'corporations are people' has become a defining statement of Romney's presidential candidacy -- and as we continue to encourage discussion among our political bloggers about the candidates, we thought we'd put the question to them this week: Are corporations really people, even figuratively?
What do you think?
After Romney made that remark last year, Democrats were quick to use it against him.
"It is a shocking admission from a candidate — and a party — that shamelessly puts forward policies to help large corporations and the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the middle class, seniors and students," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schulz, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, in a statement.
Mr. Romney's connection with Bain Capital as its co-founder, a firm that often improved the overall health of its companies by cutting jobs and salaries, doesn't exactly make him seem like the most caring potential leader of the United States.
But Republicans argue that healthy corporations result in increased job opportunities and a more robust economy, thus improving the lot of hard-working Americans.
Legally, corporations are recognized as people- Personhood extends to corporations, allowing them to own property, be sued, or conduct business in the same manner as an individual.
Yet the statement that 'corporations are people' tends to infuriate people who hear it, particularly on the heels of a recession and in a time where the Occupy Wall Street movement has gained so much traction.
Here's what our political bloggers have to say on the subject:
Corporations Can Be Good People
Corporations Are More Tin Men Than People
Corporations Are NOT People, My Friend
Corporations Are People Any Way You Look at Them
Image via Austen Hufford/Flickr
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
KStew Refuses to Shower
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
This Hot Dad Cooks AND Does the Dishes
Comments 24
In any case, this seriously goes against the republican sheeple bleeting our regulations and taxes are hostile to all businesses. Guess it is if one insists businesses actually follow the same rules as everyone else.
I know what you are saying but let's look at the big picture. Aside from the recipients, who else also benefits from entitlement spending? Businesses! From food stamps to HUD Chapter 8, big corporations count on revenues from entitlement recipients. Complaints notwithstanding, big healthcare providers also benefit from Medicare/Medicaid spending. Even institutional investors benefit from interest payments on our national debt. Naturally, they, as well as welfare recipients, are going to resist reductions in entitlement reform, but now the corporate entities that get significant chunks of their revenues from entitlement spending will wield influence well disproportionate to their numbers. This is in addition to their lobbying to completely remove any requirement they have to follow rules like human beings while enjoying rights of human beings. The Republican Party had several opportunities to seriously push welfare cuts, it wasn't just the welfare bums that objected, businesses that benefitted fought hard against it as well. I expect no better from democraps, I expected much more from the Republicans.
Yes, corporations carry a heavy stick because they have the money to dangle as campaign financing. But...this HUGE mass of people that are now dependent on the government also carry a big stick, because they carry alot of votes. Some day, they will carry the MAJORITY of votes. I'm afraid what is happening has been predicted: A democracy can only last until people discover a way to vote themselves money.