First off, please accept my humble apology for having misspelled "mobil". I find it laughable that a man who idealizes Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin would get his knickers in a knot over a misspelled word and be such a stickler for sources.
No, Gary, Bush 43 didn't personally call Monaco and demand I be laid off anymore than he did the millions of others that lost their jobs. Republicans had control of all three branches of the government for six years, so I'm not sure what you mean about laws affecting market interference, when in fact they deregulated the hell out of everything. Blaming Americans for not buying RVs is ludicrous and not worthy of a response. As far as accepting a pay cut, we were not given that option; the place went belly-up. But for the record, I would have accepted one just to keep my health insurance.
On to the Bush-Cheney-Exxon connection. Yes, I read Mr. Jungbauer's letter. He neglected to mention Exxon Mobil spent $40 million over the last decade buying subsidies, corporate welfare and tax breaks worth at least $5 billion. Campaign contributions buy access and favorable legislation. As far as personal profit for Bush-Cheney, we will never know, as Cheney's energy policy was concocted behind closed doors and never made public. (A note to Tea Partiers, I am just as dismayed as you about the racketeering that took place during non-health care negotiations).
I have nothing against business making a profit. What I have a problem with is CEOs and owners pillaging their own companies to buy themselves another pretty bauble while the living standards of their employees plummet. As you said, "make profits that are reinvested into the company," this hasn't been happening. They have shipped our jobs overseas, set up off-shore tax havens, and steal their own companies blind with golden parachutes and multi-million dollar bonuses.
Since you mentioned Walmart, I am sickened that four Walton family heirs appear on the Forbes top 10 list of the richest people in America, while many of their employees qualify for state assistance, which is subsidized by taxpayers. This type of greed does not make America strong or raise anyone's living standard. Louis Brandeis said, "We can have a democratic society or we can have concentrated wealth in the hands of a few. We cannot have both."
After 9-11, Bush 43 nationalized airport security. Was this an act of socialism? Nationalization allows the government to take over private business in the interest of national security or economic interests of the country.
On health care, different polls reflect different results. New York Times/CBS poll shows 65 percent in favor of a public option; Thompson-Reuters, 60 percent in favor.
For a man so concerned about the Constitution, I suggest you check out the six violations to the Bill of Rights that the Patriot Act gave us. The Constitution also declared a black person to be two-thirds of a human being. Is this a policy you are in favor of?
Lastly you say, "the people created the republic." You certainly have the right to believe that, but we do not have a republic, democracy, representative government or anything close. We have an oligarchy.
