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lonestar2004
Live to party,work to affordit.


Registered: 10/03/04
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Top 10 Corporate Welfare Queens
#5897550 - 07/25/06 09:29 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Monday, July 24, 2006
Top 10 Corporate Welfare Queens
Ranked by FreedomWorks.
These organizations grow fat and rich thanks to special treatment from the federal government. They manipulate the political system to get insider deals, government guarantees, fixed prices and other benefits, paid for by taxpayers and consumers.
10. United States Postal Service (USPS)
The USPS is a monopoly more interested in job protection than efficiency or innovation. Labor costs consume 80% of USPS revenue, while UPS and FedEx spend only 56% and 42% of their revenue on labor, respectively. Reform would allow competition for mailbox and first-class mail service.
9. Maritime Shippers and Unions
The Jones Act mandates that all cargo shipped between U.S. ports—including deep-water shipping to Hawaii and Alaska—must be carried on U.S.-built and flagged vessels. That protectionism costs the economy $1.3 billion a year in higher shipping prices, according to a 1999 study by the International Trade Commission. It’s time to repeal the Jones Act restrictions.
8. National Education Association (NEA)
The ultimate monopoly is America’s K-12 government schools, and the NEA is the gatekeeper that opposes almost any reform. Sheltered from competition, public schools continue to decline despite dramatic increases in per-student spending. States should give all students a voucher that allows them to attend the school of their choice.
7. FreddieMac and FannieMae
These are quasi-government companies that purchase wholesale mortgages, but unlike most investment banks, they get special government loans and are backed by an implicit federal guarantee. If the real estate market tanks today, taxpayers could be on the hook for billions. It’s time for Freddie and Fannie to grow up and cut the cord.
6. Big Sugar
Uncle Sam gives sugar special status and protects growers from competition through import quotas and marketing allotments. A handful of industrial growers dominate the industry and receive more than $1 billion a year in subsidies from rigged prices, according to the GAO. Congress should end sugar’s sweet deal.
5. Big Cotton
U.S. taxpayers and consumers provide billions of dollars to cotton growers through a numbingly complicated array of programs that violate U.S. trade agreements. One company, Allenberg Cotton of Cordova, Tenn., collected more than $186 million from 1995-2004 just in cash payments, according to the Environmental Working Group. Congress should terminate the cotton program.
4. Asbestos lawyers
While trial lawyers of all stripes abuse the legal and political system for personal gain, the asbestos litigation attorneys are a special breed. Runaway asbestos lawsuits have already bankrupted more than 70 American manufacturers, destroying 60,000 jobs and costing billions. Yet most of the litigants aren’t sick. Congress should pass medical criteria legislation to stop asbestos pillaging.
3. Amtrak
Passenger railroads are a failure in America, and the Amtrak monopoly is the reason. Feather-bedding union rules and money-losing routes to nowhere are the hallmarks of this national embarrassment, which burns through more than $1 billion a year from federal taxpayers. Amtrak should be completely privatized and opened to competition.
2. Corporation for Public Broadcasting (NPR/PBS)
Big Bird is on welfare, to the tune of about $347 million a year. While taxpayers foot the bills, Sesame Street’s owners make millions from licensing toys and videos. With massive budget deficits and plenty of new channels on cable and satellite radio, it’s time for Big Bird and his buddies to get off the dole.
1. Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
From ethanol mandates to sugar subsidies, ADM is a case study in corporate welfare. New studies show that it takes more fossil energy to create corn ethanol than the fuel provides, but Congress is doubling the amount we have to buy anyway.
http://www.humanevents.com/lists.php?id=16151
Good list but the NEA should have been number 1!!!!
-------------------- America's debt problem is a "sign of leadership failure" We have "reckless fiscal policies" America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better Barack Obama
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kotik
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Re: Top 10 Corporate Welfare Queens [Re: lonestar2004]
#5897589 - 07/25/06 09:48 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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I coudn't agree more (about NEA)
-------------------- No statements made in any post or message by myself should be construed to mean that I am now, or have ever been, participating in or considering participation in any activities in violation of any local, state, or federal laws. All posts are works of fiction.
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GabbaDj
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Re: Top 10 Corporate Welfare Queens [Re: lonestar2004]
#5897633 - 07/25/06 10:01 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Most of them deserve every penny.
-------------------- GabbaDj FAMM.ORG
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lonestar2004
Live to party,work to affordit.


Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 8,978
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Re: Top 10 Corporate Welfare Queens [Re: GabbaDj]
#5897649 - 07/25/06 10:10 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
GabbaDj said: Most of them deserve every penny.
Don't worry, I saw a similar list back in the 90s and nothing has changed.
-------------------- America's debt problem is a "sign of leadership failure" We have "reckless fiscal policies" America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better Barack Obama
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Redstorm
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Re: Top 10 Corporate Welfare Queens [Re: lonestar2004]
#5897654 - 07/25/06 10:11 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
4. Asbestos lawyers
While trial lawyers of all stripes abuse the legal and political system for personal gain, the asbestos litigation attorneys are a special breed. Runaway asbestos lawsuits have already bankrupted more than 70 American manufacturers, destroying 60,000 jobs and costing billions. Yet most of the litigants aren’t sick. Congress should pass medical criteria legislation to stop asbestos pillaging.
How is that being a corp. welfare queen? I didn't read anything about them receiving money from the gov't.
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lonestar2004
Live to party,work to affordit.


Registered: 10/03/04
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Re: Top 10 Corporate Welfare Queens [Re: Redstorm]
#5897662 - 07/25/06 10:16 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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I don't know but it needs to be REFORMED!
Asbestos Litigation Reform Legislation
The Issue: Asbestos claims are inundating the United States courts at an alarming rate. To date, the number of asbestos liability claims filed in the U.S. is over 700,000. The growing number of asbestos lawsuits have cost American businesses billions of dollars and sent more than 60 companies into bankruptcy. If left unchecked, experts predict one to three million claims could be filed and $200 billion in awards paid, before the litigation ends. Studies also show that the asbestos crisis has cost the U.S. economy 60,000 jobs and workers as much as $3 billion in lost wages and in pension savings that are often held in company stock.
Background: In 2003, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, (R-UT) introduced landmark asbestos litigation reform, S. 1125, The Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act (FAIR) Act. The bill would eliminate the hundreds of thousands mostly frivolous asbestos claims now clogging court dockets. Replacing the uncertainty of asbestos litigation with a no-fault compensation system, using medical criteria to determine eligibility for established payments based on various levels of injury. Defendant companies and insurers would contribute to the fund, providing resources to meet all future needs. While labor supports the trust-fund approach, they have harshly criticized reform legislation as inadequate, and the trial lawyers are mobilized against the bill. In the summer of 2003, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings and passed an asbestos litigation reform bill, S. 1125, largely along party lines.
Status: In April 2004, revised asbestos litigation reform legislation (S. 2290) was introduced in the Senate. The new measure is the result of hundreds of hours of multi-party negotiations that settled many administrative issues. However, a Senate vote on S. 2290 failed to garner the support of any Democrats and the 60 votes necessary to formally take up the modified bill. While negotiations continue, Senate leaders thus far have failed to obtain an agreement regarding the size of the trust fund or how much each group would be required to contribute. No action is expected in the House until the Senate completes action. While AAIA supports asbestos litigation reform, the association does not support the legislation in its current form.
-------------------- America's debt problem is a "sign of leadership failure" We have "reckless fiscal policies" America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better Barack Obama
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lonestar2004
Live to party,work to affordit.


Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 8,978
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Re: Top 10 Corporate Welfare Queens [Re: Redstorm]
#5897675 - 07/25/06 10:24 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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The cost of asbestos litigation for insurers and defendant corporations could reach an astounding $200 billion! This is more than the Northridge, California earthquake, Hurricane Andrew, and the September 11 terrorist attacks combined.
TORT TAX
The average American family of four pays a hidden "tort tax" of more than $3,200 a year--or $809 a person, according to insurance consultancy Tillinghast-Towers Perrin. The U.S. Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform reports that in 2002 more than 16.3 million lawsuits were filed in state courts. That's one every two seconds, which is a national scandal and diverts enormous time and resources away from productive endeavors.
http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/article.asp?article=825&paper=0&cat=150
-------------------- America's debt problem is a "sign of leadership failure" We have "reckless fiscal policies" America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better Barack Obama
Edited by lonestar2004 (07/25/06 10:25 AM)
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Silversoul
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Re: Top 10 Corporate Welfare Queens [Re: lonestar2004]
#5897810 - 07/25/06 11:13 AM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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That list is deceptive, as many of them are run as government services. This does not corporate welfare, which implies subsidization of a private industry.
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