Thursday, November 3, 2011

100 years ago today: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

One hundred years ago today (November 3, 1911) one could read this headline SHALL CORPORATIONS RULE ODGDEN on the front page of the Ogden City (Utah) Evening Standard. This writer(s) of this editorial make the argument that that corporations are inherently "soul-less" and that THE CORPORATION WILL TAKE ALL IT IS PERMITTED TO TAKE, AND SOME THINGS THAT IT IS NOT PERMITTED TO TAKE. GREAT CORPORATIONS ARE TAKING POSSESSION OF THE WHOLE NATION..

It is striking that one of the key observations of the piece, that everyone involved with a particular ticket was a current or former member of a corporation, could be made of the incestuous relationship between large corporations and government today. And the question it asks--whether those people if elected would put the good of the corporation over the good of the people who elected them--if one that many are asking today.

The concerns of the Occupy Wall Street movement are similar to those of the grandparents and great grandparents of the people protesting today and even a cursory glance at American newspapers from a century ago indicate that this is a truly grass roots movement. And the grass has very deep roots.

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