Of all the staggering revelations to come out of the Republican leadership race — like Sarah Palin’s alleged drug use and Rick Perry’s rather confusing stance on the Middle East — one of the more amazing was former Massachusettes Governor Mitt Romney’s remarks on corporations several weeks ago.
His claim that “corporations are people” might be worrying, but is echoed in the U.S. Constitution itself. The Fourteenth Amendment legally enshrines corporations as human beings, eligible to the same rights and protections as citizens.
So-called “corporate personhood” protects corporations on the grounds that “no State can deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” It was originally introduced to protect African-Americans after the Civil War, but generations of corporate lawyers have flipped the coin.
Standing knee-up on a hay bale like John Wayne, cast as a Goldman Sachs trader, Romney was responding to hecklers’ demands to increase progressive taxation on the rich, at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. But he was also regurgitating over a century of legal history. “Corporations are people, my friend,” he said. “Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. Where do you think it goes?”
The logic that leads Romney to this conclusion is far from polished. Hypothetically speaking, if my shoe made money and that revenue came back to me, would that make my shoe a person? This is what Romney appears to be arguing. If a shoe is a person, then is a government a person too?
Perhaps Romney is portraying corporations as squeaky-clean arbiters in by-the-people, for-the-people exchanges of power and finance? Wrong again. Corporations are legally accountable to their stockholders, not the public.
It is estimated that offshore corporate tax havens cost the U.S. at least $100 billion every year. Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) has also demonstrated how 12 of the U.S.’s largest companies engage in tax fraud. And it’s the taxpayer that suffers. In a list including Dupont, General Electric, Boeing, and Verizon Communications, Exxon Mobil paid the highest tax at 14.2% - 20.8% below the statutory tax rate.
If these corporations were people, they would be criminals.
What Romney should have said was: “Corporations are abstract 'persons' according to constitutional law, my friend. Everything corporations earn, bamboozle, and conceal ultimately goes to a minority of very rich people. Where do you think it should go?” It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
When Romney says he believes in America, he’s not wrong. The governor is simply legitimising a century-old constitutional loophole on the campaign trail. Romney is a product of an age where politicians are businessmen first, and statesmen second — or third.
Recently, a trader from Goldman Sachs chillingly told BBC News: “Governments don’t rule the world. Goldman Sachs rules the world.” And yesterday, it was revealed over half of the UK Conservative Party’s post-election bankrolls come from the City (Britain's Wall Street), the largest percentage from hedge funds.
It is one thing to pretend a corporation is human, but another to portray it as a good, honest human. The fallout from the 2008 Great Recession was proof enough of what corporatism is capable of. We should be making the right reforms to make sure it will never happen again.
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
The Discussion
If someone told you not to fire a cannon at a ship, because after all "those ships are people!", would you accuse him of mistakenly thinking that ships really are human beings, or that ships have all the rights of human beings?
Romney *clearly* wasn't talking about corporate personhood.
Does anyone think if we raise the corporate tax rates we're going to see less money in off shore accounts? Maybe our own onerous corporate tax system is to blame in the first place? The GOP is supporting a plan to lower the rate, to make us more competitive, and doing away with all the loopholes and corporate welfare/subsidies. Doing away with the loopholes/subsidies would go a long way toward reducing the influence of lobbyists in DC. Simpson Bowles recommended essentially the same thing. Instead of playing class warfare in hopes of lifting his 2012 prospects, Obama would be wise to cut a deal w/ the GOP on real tax reform. That would be the best thing we could do for the job market.
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The great disparity in Republican ideology is how vehemently they demonize government as evil (and necessarily attempt to limit or event abolish aspects of it as a result of this thinking), yet glorify corporations as beacons of hope and virtue. Is it really logical to assume oil companies have the best interests of average Americans at heart, or that financial giants like Goldman-Sachs really, truly enrich the lives of the majority?
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I believe his comment was meant figuratively versus literally. Corporations are not people (legal entities yes), but they were created by people, run by people, and owned by people. People (shareholders) benefit from the success of corporations. Sort of like saying "We are Marshall"...
While the thought is not my own, I would appreciate your consideration of the following common sense contention, "Corporations have no right to vote and as such should not have the same rights as individuals." My reason for inquiry is extension of Free Speech rights granted in Citizen United. TY.
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Ehhh - I'm going to stick my neck out here and defend Romney. His only point was that increasing corporate income taxes (by eliminated loopholes/subsidies/whatever) will increase the taxes of an actual person. Or people. He's right. It was a politically dumb thing to say, but he wasn't wrong.
To his credit, he didn't wade into the Citizens United debate and declare that corporations have the right to free speech. He didn't say that corporations should be allowed to fund political campaigns anonymously, because otherwise, there would be a "chilling" effect on their free speech rights. That's the sort of nonsense that you're arguing against. And I agree with you 100%. But I think Romney avoided that.
the 14th amendment DOES NOT enshrine corporations as people. It says:"All persons born or naturalized. . ." A corporation cannot be either born or naturalized. Person-hood as it pertains to corporations came about from a forward to a supreme court case. That forward has NO LEGAL STANDING and was written by a court clerk and not a justice. It is NOT part of a decision and congress can decide at any time (if only they would) to strip corporations of not only any privileges they might have but to disallow their very existence.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2469/how-can-a-corporation-be-legally-considered-a-person
Yes, this is a big deal. If I liked everything else about Romney (I don't) that statement would be enough to lose me.
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What Romney meant when he was facing down the heckler that day was corporations are run by people who display the same symptoms of human behavior like anyone else, and not these faceless, evil robotic entities that some try to caricature them as. This doesn't excuse anyone or any company of any wrongdoing. But progressive taxation, or even constant threats of it, stifles economic activity and disincentivizes long term planning, expansion, hiring, and risking capital. It's no coincidence that the private sector has remained dead in the water for the last 3 years. No one knows what long term regulations, healthcare costs, or tax rates are going to be. Pro-growth tax reform will jumpstart the economy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Aewj_IndN4
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Where, exactly, does the 14th Amendment "enshrine" corporations as human beings? Corporations aren't counted for representation. Corporations don't vote. Corporations are "made of" people in the same sense that unions or churches or other groups are made of people. They shouldn't have special rights
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