Corporatocracy - Conclusion

"Merchants never have nor ever will honor boundries, they owe no aliegence to country. Profit is their ruler driven by out and out greed for power," is a recent quote from James "JD" Hall. JD has a dislike for government and politicians in particular, for what both have done to sell our rights and freedoms to the highest bidder. We disagree on some topics, but agree on the issue that most U.S. Corporations lack loyalty to the country that made them wealthy and have a lack of concern about what their greed is costing us as citizens.

The taking of one's freedom is an act America has always fought against in wars on other continents in every era - including the current one. Our neighbors are fighting and giving their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan as this is written, battling for populations of those country's freedom from tyranny and oppression. We have always expressed views that such battles are just, proper and necessary to protect human rights and promote our values and democratic principles on the world stage.

In World War II as the world fought for just such causes in the European theater, many corporations - U.S. and international - fought alongside the Allies. Some fought on both sides in the interest of amassing huge profits, either not caring who won or hedging their bets by supporting both sides. Some of these corporations include IBM, Coca-Cola, Standard Oil and even General Motors and Ford (See footnote). In spite of the atrocities committed against all classes by the likes of Hitler, these corporations were willing to provide their products and services to this horrible regime. Their willingness to do this assisted in the extermination of minorities and other people Hitler had decreed were sub-human and thus had no place in any society. Products made by these corporations helped the German people live comfortably while they waged war against the rest of the world.

This "assistance" by such corporations enabled Hitler's Regime to succeed far longer than it would have in their absence. German workers built Opel cars for GM and others for Ford that helped Germany's economy during the war years. IBM developed and leased the "punch card" system used by Hitler to organize and keep track of prisoners in concentration camps. Following the end of the Third Reich, most German owned and held companies and corporations were prosecuted for war crimes because they had assisted Germany throughout the war. Those U.S. and International corporations that participated and also assisted Hitler were never prosecuted - or their duplicity addressed or discussed.

In light of the foregoing the quote from JD Hall is corroborated - corporations don't honor any boundary and have no allegiance to citizens or governments. They exist and operate on one simple principal: satisfy the greed demanded by owners, CEO's and investors. If public harm is committed by those pursuits, it is simply considered collateral damage in a war for profits. When public harm occurs, individuals who made the decisions or committed the acts that caused death or injury, are allowed to hide behind the corporate veil to avoid prosecution; "it wasn't me that did it, it was the business...and businesses and corporations that own or operate them can't be put behind bars and are instead "fined". The human or humans responsible for any illegal acts committed by their corporations or companies are allowed to remain free to do it all over again.

U.S. Corporate evolution has only been controlled by government rules, regulations and federal laws over the years. More and more companies have been able to manipulate all three to the point that they now dictate their own rules, regulations and challenge any law that remains to restrict their actions through litigation against the very government that sanctions their existence. Authority and oversight has been transfered from government and it's agencies to corporations through such litigation. Think about the meltdown of our economy, the travails of Enron, the ponzi scheme by Madoff. All of these acts that harmed many of our investments, retirement accounts or 401(k)'s were supposed to have been prevented by government regulation or oversight. It didn't work because corporations involved and the lawmakers they bought along the way weakened all controls until there was virtually no regulation left in place. They knew there would be an eventual collapse or bankruptcy in the future that would impact our society's workers and individual investors and create housing and mortgage chaos, but again that would simply be collateral damage. As long as the participating lawmakers and corporate interests made money until then, they were satisfied.

Enron and the collapse of giant banks, investment and mortgage companies is the reason privatization of government duties and responsibilities should never have been allowed in the first place. We have to realize that with a dwindling consumer base - that is, we all have less money to spend on trivialities, comfort items, vacations, luxury items - corporate sales have decreased markedly. With an ever increasing number of jobs in prison or overseas more of us are without employment and less money to spend. Simple economics of supply and demand apply, and we have less demand for certain items. In response to this dilemma, corporations have looked around to find another source of income to offset the loss of sales. In the mid 90's they found that source: tax dollars. The way to get their hands on that endless supply of money was to promote privatization of government duties. They instituted a campaign - that continues today - of advertising corporate abilities to perform the duties of government in a more efficient and cost effective manner. We were/are informed they can do it better for less. Many were taken in by those promises and supported privatization across the nation.

Since then reports, studies and reviews have consistently shown that the promises made have not resulted in substantial savings to taxpayers. Privately run government has not lived up to the expectations of savings we were promised. This is true of prison operations, recidivism, prison food service, healthcare or banking. What did happen was the transfer of money paid into state coffers from taxpayers went to corporations. Prison staff wages declined as did the qualifications of those hired for those duties. Corporations cut corners where governments dared not make such cuts. Though those cuts would be prohibited by government run programs, the government allowed and condoned just that when done by corporations. Because prison privatization involves housing and care of those individuals guilty of the commission of crimes, the public simply shrug and wonder why others in society care. "I mean, Duh...they're criminals!" The result of this attitude and the attendant oversight because of it has serious side effects.

Florida is one of the leading states in privatization of government programs. This past week an example of how this attitude impacts upon another segment of our society: Juvenile detention, surfaced. Staff at the Thompson Academy were accused of brutalizing the children in their care. Thompson and other private corporations are funded by the state of Florida to the tune of $74 million a year for housing juvenile offenders. This story is literally horrific and beyond belief. It demonstrates exactly why privatization is dangerous and how profits are "earned" by cutting corners. The children affected will live the rest of their lives with terrible memories. When we consider that Florida incarcerates juveniles at nearly twice the rate of other states and 80% of those children are housed and cared for by private corporations, we begin to realize the impact upon our society from privatization. If nothing else you should read this story and understand the plight of both children and adults subjected to the will of private corporations in the name of the state.

Allowing corporations to partner with lawmakers to propose and enact legislation that makes the punishment for a harmful act more severe or to impose a longer sentence so that a profit can be made over the length of a sentence imposed by a government court, is in a word, wrong. Today private prison corporations like Corrections Corporation of America, Geo Group and Cornell Corrections have their hands in every phase of corrections - from proposing stiffer laws, longer sentences, reduction in paroles granted, to housing of state and federal prisoners. All for a profit. Other corporations, though not as powerful as CCA and Geo, operate on the prison operations periphery, capitalizing on providing food service, healthcare, commissary and transportation involving prisoners. None of these "services" are provided by a sense of civic duty or responsibility, rather they are provided to make money for the private interests of those companies or corporations.

One example of the manipulation of laws and legislation to benefit corporate interests related to imprisonment, is the subject of financial contracts; loans, credit card debt and mortgages. Currently there is a nationwide push by financial corporations to change long standing laws against debtor imprisonment. Before we became a country we were a collection of immigrants who came here to escape oppression of religion and imprisonment and forced labor for debts owed to influential land-owners and barons of Europe. Here in the U.S. debtor's prison continued until abolished in the 1800's.

Today thoughts of those terrible times and issues that brought our founding fathers here have been all but forgotten. With the financial melt down that is ongoing, corporations are proposing a return to imprisonment for unpaid debts. Debt collection agencies and corporations have pushed for laws allowing them to seek incarceration of indebted individuals to make them pay up. Most of us are struggling to keep up with our debt today. This means less and less money available to pay debts we owe that aren't directly related to keeping food in our mouths and a roof over our heads. Credit card, medical and in some instances mortgage payments. This results in more losses to corporations and they've begun reverting to the use of government courts to in effect resurrect debtor's prisons as a means of collecting. Again we see a correlation of prisons and profits sought by corporations and, government involvement in helping the corporations to recover lost profits. Bankruptcy replaced debtor's prison in the 19th Century but no longer suffices for corporations that want their money.

Governments should not shirk their responsibilities where prisons and prisoners are concerned. Those incarcerated are there because they broke laws imposed by the government that sent them to prison in the first place. Transferring state responsibility for housing, health, feeding and caring for those incarcerated to private interests is a way for a government to avoid liability. If/when problems arise involving healthcare, food illnesses, injury or death that may result from improper acts of others, the government can point to the contract they have with private corporations providing those services, and claim no public responsibility, putting the onus upon the corporations. In that way if a court case ensues, no "human" goes on trial, only the corporation involved. Liability falls upon the private entity and any adverse decision results in a fine rather than imprisonment of the perpetrator - regardless of the circumstances of the case.

Enter the private sector partnerships between prison industries and private corporations and the present landscape that allows private corporations to own prison and detention facilities across our country. The taking of a citizen's freedom for acts they have committed is the responsibility of the government that created and enforces the laws that were broken. Corporate interests of profit making should never be involved in determining, proposing or enacting laws that the government applies to it's citizenry. Laws are to be enacted and enforced to provide an acceptable course of behavior by the population to protect the well being and safety of the population from those who would cause them harm.

As I previously wrote, ALEC, CCA, Geo Group and others that share similar interests and goals have/are directly involved in manipulating our laws to increase profits while pursuing the parallel goal of usurping the authority of governments under which they operate. Witness SB 1070 in Arizona - as discussed in a previous segment. Corporate manipulations in that case impact upon our elections (campaign funding, funding of election ads by hidden corporations and willing participation by government paid staffers to lobby for special interests. These staffers receive government pay and increased personal wealth from those they lobby for simultaneously), prisoner housing, use of increased taxpayer funding for incarceration and detention. The unspoken issue underneath it all is the use of prison labor to also increase profits for those making the huge campaign contributions. As discussed previously, the use of prisoners to manufacture goods, products and provide services for private corporations results in the loss of private sector jobs, and we all know who that hurts.

The current situation within the U.S. mirrors a similar time in our history - the 1930's when we were experiencing the "great depression". Then President Roosevelt proposed the WPA to put men and women to work on government projects and to improve infrastructure in the U.S. Few people are aware that there was an attempt by the U.S. corporate elite involving corporations such as Goodyear Tire, J.P. Morgan and Dupont in 1934 to take over our government. These corporate conspirators sought out a former Marine Corp General that had been used by our own government to secure foreign markets for corporate interest - despotism in it's truest form - to assist in their fascist take over of the U.S. General Butler turned out not to be their "man" for the job. He refused and testified before a Congressional Committee about the conspiracy, putting an end to the attempt. Of course, these corporations paid no price for their attempt at corporate tyranny, all of them are still around and part of today's problems involving corporate greed.

Today we face problems similar to those faced by Roosevelt and our ancestors of the 1930's: we're experiencing a recession bordering on another depression, our President is proposing the funding of infrastructure improvements to put people to work, unemployment is at record highs, state and local governments across the country are having to make tough budget decisions and corporations are again looking for ways to keep their profits increasing annually. Instead of assisting President Obama's efforts, those of the conservative right are fighting those suggestions vigorously. They are holding up every measure to help those on unemployment and while arguing for jobs they hold up voting on any proposed legislation to create jobs. This alone exemplifies the crossroads we have come to in America. We are clearly divided on this and other important matters and issues, where we should all be unifying behind government efforts of recovery instead of infighting on each side of the issues. One side wants improvement and the other wants us distracted, so no improvement will be had and they can then "blame" the other side for such failures. In the simplest of terms it boils down to this: One segment of our government and we as citizens are now aligned against another segment of our government aligned with big corporations in a giant social tug-o-war. While this goes on, very little is being accomplished. In the meantime the rest of the world passes us by in education, healthcare, global warming and other technologies. This class battle has brought us to a stagnating standstill. Corporations have the benefit of being able to diversify and expand their operations overseas and keep business going, while here we're mired in BS created by them. ALEC joined suit and they now have many international members from England and other countries who share their conservative views. As citizens we nor our government have that option and remain here fighting the battle begun by corporations and their partnered lawmakers.

Instead of privately conspiring to take over our government, huge corporations such as Koch Industries with the assistance of PAC's such as ALEC are funding a "grass roots" attempt to convince all of us that we'd be better off with corporations running everything. They label their effort as a return to "conservative values" - since we Americans are big on labels.

These efforts on part of corporate interests fail to also inform us that the use of prison labor and outsourcing of our jobs to foreign countries were their ideas in the first place. That the unemployment rates of today are directly attributable to them. While we try and put ourselves and our neighbors back to work, these corporations are busy moving every job out of reach, while professing their concepts will put people back on payrolls. Most of what they profess and the ads they fund that inundate our advertising is nothing but disinformation designed to make us believe they have our best interests at heart while they reach into our pockets and extract more and more of what money we have left. I urge all of us to not be taken in by this hyperbole. Nothing these corporations and their affiliated conservative lawmakers do is in our best interests. It is in the interests of making the most money possible off the dwindling amount of funds left in our pockets. Sales are down everywhere, jobs are non-existent and corporate owners and investors are looking for ways to continue their past expensive lifestyles in those markets marked by dwindling sales. With the loss of sales and income, corporations see a genuine threat to their control of lawmakers through huge campaign and lobbying contributions. Less sales means less money to throw around at politicians to keep them under their umbrella of influence. They see an end to their control of Congress and state legislatures and are doing everything possible to forestall that loss of power.

Let none of us be taken in by the rhetoric about keeping tax breaks for the richest among us in place - deep down we all know who that benefits, and it definitely is not us as workers or consumers. These tax breaks have been in place for a decade now and no real jobs were created during that period. What makes any of us believe that if we leave these tax rates in place it'll be different this time around? Nothing. The middle class is disappearing, more quickly with every passing year and is a direct result of these corporate giants taking more and more from us and keeping it. The richest among us already have everything they want and spend less on personal, household and other merchandise now than the typical middle class household does. Unless that money the upper class has is used to increase manufacturing, production and thus sales, we will cease to be a competitive industrial country. This is already happening at an alarming rate. Businesses crying for money to expand and hire new workers are pleading with financial institutions owned by those I've listed throughout this series. Those that have the money refuse to loan it for such expansions because they fear it will be lost in these economic times. So we are at a standstill and giving these despots more of what we have left should be unthinkable.

So, in conclusion...we've learned that corporations have the will, desire and ability to take the place of government. They truly believe their need and pursuit of profits far outweighs the needs of society. That through fear we can be manipulated to sacrifice our comfort, money and representation to support their objectives and that those objectives can be accomplished through media manipulated disinformation. Through contributions to lawmakers susceptible to campaign "bribes", legislation and laws can be created that help to impoverish and control us.

We've also learned that those involved in assisting corporations to invoke "corporate law" to replace existing laws authorized by our government, are willing to suggest modifications to our Constitution to accomplish their will. Candidates who represent themselves as "conservative" now challenge the separation of church and state provision of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Religion, especially that identified as the conservative right, have sought and gained much headway in participating in our electoral process. Many candidates are identified by this group as not qualified to hold elected office because of their religion or beliefs. Think those with these beliefs are somehow not related to corporations? You'd be wrong. Corporations are funding their challenges and encouraging them to ask similar questions and challenge other Constitutional Amendments, such as that which pertains to citizenship for all born in the U.S. Many conservatives - again supported by corporate contributions and funding - now suggest that the 14th Amendment also needs to be changed to disallow the children of illegal immigrants from being considered U.S. citizens if born here.

The same cabal and their corporate supporters want changes or Amendments to the Constitution regarding sexual preferences and marriage. I won't go into those arguments here, that would be too demeaning and serve no real purpose - similar to the arguments presented against gay marriage and gay rights.

We must understand that there is a force out there that is pushing for serious changes to our democracy, way of life and societal concepts. It is funded and supported entirely by corporate funding and contributions to those lawmakers sympathetic to the goals of the corporations. After all, if there's anything we've learned and most of us understand, corporations do not throw their money away. No, they are very frugal and spend their money in ways that it returns to them with little brothers and sisters in tow. They are not investing in America, they are investing in imposing their will upon us. The recent "Citizens United" U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the funding of political ads, PAC's and other electoral machinations by corporations, without any transparency is a clear indicator of where we are heading as a nation. A clear representation of how this decision is used politically is before us in this election cycle. Ads against our current administration are prevalent on TV, radio and across the internet. They are paid for with corporate funds that are virtually untraceable (as they're meant to be by those placing them). Citizens United is responsible for the ongoing scandal involving the US Chamber of Commerce's use of foreign corporate funds in our election campaigning. Again, corporate funding, but from across the water this time and given by foreign interests to ensure our continued corporate outsourcing of U.S. jobs to their countries and corporations.

We're at an important crossroads in our history. If we continue along the path we've been taking over the past two or three decades, this series shows us where we will be heading. We have the choice of avoiding that by simply looking at the choices offered and making a genuine decision to avoid that choice offered by corporations and their political partners. To do otherwise may well turn us all into laborers for corporate profiteers. Free thinking and everything we believe in is on the line. We're suffering with lost jobs and less money to spend where needed and that makes us angry and provides us with a bleak outlook for the future. The answer is to not give in to the urgings of those who would take advantage of our current situation for their profit. The answer is to hunker down and deal with our problems as we've done in the past. It is also not an answer to turn to corporations with the expectation that they have our best interests at heart. They exist to make a profit and I truly believe we've given all the profit we can - only to have it used in efforts to try and take what we have left away from us.


(Note: link to "The Corporation" shareware version on YouTube, a 23 part documentary on corporations. All segments are available on YouTube by following the links provided above. some are provided below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pin8fbdGV9Y&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SuUzmqBewg&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkygXc9IM5U&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCGTD5Bn1m0&feature=channel)

Corporatocracy II

In my last post I provided two key words: fascism and Corporatocracy . I also provided definitions of both as found in the Urban Dictionary. I believe both words and the concepts they give us are important in today's social environment - not only in America, but also on the world stage.

As I stated before, I have had an opportunity to revisit the years of my youth and compare them to the years of late. As adults all of us have similar memories of growing up; games, friends, school, injuries, lost loves, good times and bad ones. All of these are "personal" memories important to us as individuals and define how we've grown and matured with age.

What we have less memories of are social issues that were important to us through our years of reaching our maturity. With age some of those issues have faded from memory and history itself. There are fewer and fewer of us born immediately after the last World War who grew up during the period known as the "Cold War" era. I grew up during that time and remember being provided with instructions of what to do in case of a "nuclear" attack - you know, under the desk, cover my head and wait for the all clear. Now I realize just how damn stupid and useless those instructions were. Nobody would live through such an event. It was all BS put out by our government to make us believe our safety was important to "them".

There were other issues and events that transpired during that terrible era that have somehow been forgotten by us - left by the wayside as technology and our "advanced" civilization evolved - and others that have stayed with us, providing continued controversy and discussion into this new millennium; abortion, homosexuality, gun rights, immigration and death penalty and human rights to name a few.

While we continue to grapple with these social issues that haunt us as Americans, the rest of the world has not been burdened with the foregoing topics. Nations "conquered" by the US and our allies in WWII have made great strides in technology, manufacturing and education, rising above us in all those categories.

Manufacturing in the US exploded during and immediately following WWII. Jobs were available for everyone and as a country we were envied by the rest of the world. Our technical schooling, public education and insistence upon human rights and the rights of our population were pointed to as the way to the future. This was all true and continued into the 1980's. Then something happened that changed the entire course of events.

Corporate influence is what happened. Corporations that made huge sums of money over the 30 year period following the end of WWII, used their profits to begin to dabble in politics. They learned that if they were willing to contribute sums to the campaigns of lawmakers, those they backed who won would be in a position to use their political positions to influence legislation sympathetic to their corporate backer's needs.

Over the past quarter century that's exactly what has transpired. Corporations realized minor then huge, tax breaks through lobbying. They have been able to change such laws as truth in lending and truth in advertising. Where prior to 1985 there were usury laws to protect all of us from predatory lending and excessive interest rates, they legislated for changes in the law that now allow financial and lending companies to impose interest rates of as much as 200% on short term payday loans and vehicle title loans. It used to be if you saw an ad on TV or heard one on the radio, the information provided to you was honest, correct and forbidden to be misleading. That has gone the way of our manufacturing capabilities.

Insurance has always been an integral and necessary part of our society. Without it we fear we'll be bankrupted due to health or medical treatment needs. Without auto insurance we can be sued and lose everything...if our homes are destroyed by fire, hurricane, flood or tornado we'd be homeless and without the funds necessary to rebuild, without insurance. So we've all maintained insurance for peace of mind and to comply with government mandates that force us to have such insurance policies for home, auto and medical. Government mandated? Yep. In most states if you own a vehicle you must have minimum coverages. If your car is financed those coverages increase to protect the lender. If your home is financed, then you are required to maintain a certain amount of insurance to, once again protect the lender. In both of these cases the government mandate protects the corporation, bank or finance company that lent you the money. It does not mandate that you be protected, only the corporate intersts involved.

Now we are bombarded with corporate advertising every few minutes while watching TV or listening to the radio. We cannot believe most of what is said by the actors or announcers and every ad has "fine print" or disclaimers in those ads that warn or inform us that what we've just been told are not necessarily true. Have any of you seen the ad for AARP's Medicare Supplement Insurance on TV? United Healthcare Insurance Company runs the ads and provides us with a warm fuzzy feeling that the AARP endorses this insurance program. AARP is splashed all over the screen throughout the commercial. Take the time to read the print at the bottom of the screen that informs: "AARP does not recommend health related products, services insurance or programs. You are strongly encouraged to evaluate your needs".

Now it's not good enough for pharmaceutical manufacturers to advertise their products to doctors through conventions and office visits by reps, they also have managed to lobby for legalizing their advertising of products directly to the consumer - you and I - through the mass media. Again these ads promise us immediate and continued relief from ailments and conditions if we use their medications. Each one of these ads are accompanied by disclaimers that you should discuss the product with your doctor, and of course there are always critical and life threatening side effects caused by most of these drugs and by law they have to advise us of that. I don't know about you, but I leave all that medication crap up to my doctors. I pay little attention to those ads, but others do and inundate their physicians with requests to change their medication due to the advertising they've seen on TV.

Increased incarceration is another example of corporate interests. Many companies now make huge profits from housing, providing medical "care" or treatment, feeding or clothing inmates. They also profit from selling commissary goods to inmates and their visitors Another source of vast income is from prison labor, using inmates to manufacture some of the very products you use in your homes and businesses. Think that's not true? Do you have a Computer? Do you have a Microsoft operating system - Windows or Vista? Yep, you have products that have been through the hands of state or federal prison inmates.

These are but a few of the changes in laws benefiting corporations and there are many more. I'll discuss those in my next post and go into greater detail on how corporations have grown to the point they now influence our everyday lives through manipulation of laws and our governments.

Corporations, Prisons, Politics and Our Interests

Oh, What a Wicked Web We’ve Woven

By Bob Sloan

As with any research on a particular issue or project, there comes a point where it becomes obvious that peripheral forces are responsible for – or impact upon – the singular subject under review. Such is the position I find myself in today on the various prison and prison industry issues I’ve dedicated many years to researching.

I recently wrote about the involvement of US corporations; PAC’s and state Lawmakers in the current situation involving immigration legislation in Arizona and within nationwide prison industry operations for profit. Both topics required me to look closer at the reason such manipulations of law occur – I was forced to look beyond the immediate and obvious reasons; profitability and acquisition of power, to determine why both are so necessary.

At some point it dawned on me that as both a society and species certain undeniable facts remain unaltered: greed, domination and a desire to “compete” at all levels throughout our lives are chief among those facts. We have sports with teams that represent our cities, state or country that compete against others. We compete industrially against other countries and we compete for public office.

As we enter the 21st Century some things have not changed over the past 2000 plus years. We still have the desire to be the dominate personae in everything we do on a personal as well as social and governmental levels. Each of us strives to have more than our neighbors in the way of wealth, property and influence. To accomplish these personal goals we are continuously competing against our neighbors, businesses and others we perceive as a “threat” to our personal or societal goals.

Our individual actions as described in the previous paragraph have been applied to all aspects of our lives; politics, government, business, family and internationally as we relate with and to other nations and societies that share our planet. If we are greedy, dominate and competitive in our personal lives and actions and become the owner of a corporation, we carry those characteristics into our business operations and relationships. The same is true of those of us who choose to become representatives of our society in local, state and federal governments.

The continuous and unrelenting “need” to always be the “winner” in any situation leads us to be nothing more than selfish in our interactions with other members of our society or business competitors. The actual need to come out on top goes back to our days as cave dwellers, hunters and gatherers. In those early periods of life as a society, it was necessary to be the first to find food, shelter, companionship and procreate. It was just as necessary to our ancestors to fight to protect their position within their meager societies, clans or groups. Thus the need for and creation of tools of war and social conflicts.

Over the centuries those basic needs described above have become less and less necessary, yet once instilled within our psyche they have remained and influence everything we do – personally and as a collective society and ultimately a nation. While industry, manufacturing and technological advances have brought us into one new and wonderful era after another, the basic tenets of pursuing wealth and influence have remained with us and are just as strong now as it was in our ancestor’s time. Thus while technical skills and technology have changed and evolved, our human character, personality and desires have not kept pace by evolving comparatively.

In an age where space travel, atomic research, cell phone technology, splitting the atom and other scientific marvels astound and amaze us, we are still a society that has failed to eliminate war, cure cancer, eliminate hunger and most importantly, have failed to use our acquired knowledge and technology to advance both our society and species in a manner beneficial to all. The desires to make our life, our business, our government or our religion dominate and controlling over all others is still there and affects everything we as humans do. To this end we have carried the personal selfishness that was necessary in the early days of human life with us into modern society. We want to “belong” to the strongest group, Political Party or Organization. We desire more and more wealth to separate us from our next door neighbors and collectively we want our nation to stand out from other nations for the same reasons.

Today we in the United States perceive that we are the dominate country in the world. We believe our democratic form of government is the best and our lifestyles and standard of living is beyond compare. And if other nations, peoples, religions or societies are unwilling to accept our beliefs as fact, we are willing to wage war upon those unbelievers. So with this in mind, we must question just how far we have actually evolved as a species or a society since we left our caves in millenniums past? After thousands of years we should be well beyond such petty desires and individual characteristics.

Here in the year 2010 we should be able to live and work together with all other peoples, cultures and societies inhabiting our planet for the betterment of all of us. Instead the technological advances and discoveries we’ve made are used as a means of control and power over our fellow man. This understanding brings us to the issues of prisons and prison industry that exploits both humans and competing private sector businesses. Through manipulation of our federal and state laws, corporations involved in prison industries exploit prisoners through using their labor to make the products we buy and use. This allows higher profits through depressed inmate wages far below those previously paid to private sector workers for the same labor. They’ve managed to do this through a cooperative effort between their goals and our state and federal lawmakers who perform the actual enactment of laws that benefit their corporate partners – and no one else. Here is the current, evolved form of greed, dominance and competition in the new millennium.

American Corporations could be working to improve the lives and living conditions of each one of us as they generate modest profits from those acts. They should have a loyalty to those within our society who helped make them what they are today, to the government that made it possible for them to exist and prosper. But they have shown us time and again that they have absolutely no loyalty to us as individuals or a society and unless our state and federal governments are willing to provide them with more and more tax breaks and other incentives, they have no loyalty to them either.

Again the ancient character of greed is the controlling interest that determines the path and activities of these corporations. They are without concern for American workers, their families or needs – only upon generating the most money and wealth and political influence to maintain their superior hierarchy. To this end they take their operations offshore or behind prison fences, denying us both manufacturing abilities and employment. They realize that to keep us employed and their operations here in the US, their profit margins would be much less than it is by moving out of the country, thus they follow the mighty dollar, taking their “ball” somewhere else to play where they can call the shots and profit the most. As I said, they have no loyalty to the country and people who made them what they are today. These corporations acting in this manner have no concern that their actions weaken us as a nation due to the visible and actual loss of industry here in the US and the massing of finances in the hands of fewer and fewer among us.

We could all be working cohesively to make our lives, work and personal relations with others better. Our lawmakers could be working diligently to enact legislation and laws that benefit our entire society, protect our environment, and provide necessary and comprehensive healthcare and other important social needs. Instead, reverting to those same individual goals of greed, dominance and competition, our lawmakers have succumbed to accepting financial “contributions” from the powerful US Corporations – explained as campaign contributions – to do their bidding. With the assistance of corporate contributions, our lawmakers willingly do their best to divert necessary funding for important social programs; education, mental health, drug and dependency efforts, to the goals and purposes of their corporate partners. They have absolutely no shame in doing this, as their actions fulfill their basic desires of personal greed, domination and the ability to win any competition from challenging opponents in an election. Representing corporate interests guarantees them a war chest for the next and following elections. Their constituents cannot match either donations or guarantee continued loyalty, whereas corporate interests promise and deliver both.

We as a society are thus placed in a situation where neither corporate interests nor lawmakers are working on our behalf or to better our world. The current stalemate situation in our Congress and House of Representatives clearly demonstrates the power struggle between society, corporate interests and Legislators. Republicans say no to every proposed bill that benefits us collectively or individually; healthcare, jobs, extending unemployment benefits, stimulus, infrastructure improvements, funding for more teachers and other important social matters. This party managed to drive us to the brink of bankruptcy – with the assistance of the actions of their corporate partners – over the past 8-10 years. Our economy crashed and they funded the Wall Street bailout with legislation that allowed for no actual oversight over the use of our money and they fight any effort to regulate these corporations in the wake of the worst financial melt-down since the “great depression” of the last century. They were responsible for starting two wars – one preemptive – that have cost us trillions of dollars. Those funds were not theirs to spend, but ours, given to the government in the form of taxes with the belief that the government and legislators would not squander our money on useless or needless activities. Instead of paying for education and increased teacher salaries, providing health coverage for all of us or reducing prison population, they spent our money on wars. Knowing public programs were suffering without financial support, they reduced taxes paid by the upper classes in the US, forcing the middle class to pick up the slack.

The Democratic Party is similarly situated. With an eye on being competitive in the upcoming election in 2010 and the more important one in 2012, they have ignored our collective voice to take us away from the path chosen by the previous administration. Instead, they concentrate on reelection efforts rather than important social needs and demands. They work daily on “getting along with the Republicans” by trying to invite them to the table to discuss issues and take part in bettering our country, environment and helping society by implementing social programs that benefit the masses. They have the numbers to actually advance any Party legislation beneficial to us, but instead fight among themselves and with the Republicans over petty issues instead of pulling together for the benefit of our country.

Now we have a situation where once a party assumes the mantel of the Presidency through election, the standard practice is to go immediately to work to assure they can prevail in the next election cycle instead of going to work representing the interests of society and those who elected them.

The result is we are left with very little voice or influence whatsoever. What voice we do have, is drowned out by the continuing party arguments and maneuvering to acquire and keep the upper hand, which in the US is influence and control of all things. Neither of our long standing political Parties are willing to work together on issues important to us as a society and as human beings. They could work together to advance our civilization but are too busy working against one another. Regardless of the issue or actual need for social improvements, each party adopts a competitive position – one for and the other against – on every issue or legislative bill regardless of whether it is necessary or a good idea.

Behind all of this political bickering are the corporations that are funneling money into the coffers of whomever they perceive as having their best interests in mind. While these manipulations and arguments continue, more and more of us are left with no job, no real healthcare, and no income with which to feed, clothe or raise our children. If we remove special interests and funding of campaigns by corporate interests, what is left for our elected officials to do? Our business is what they’re left with, but that doesn’t result in immediate financial reward or gratification. It’s hard to believe we live in the year 2010, where men have walked on the moon and are gearing up for a trip to Mars as we watch our political infrastructure self destruct in this way. Scandal after scandal and corruption abound within our federal government at the highest levels. Acts and deeds committed by those chosen as representatives by their districts and communities. This has become “acceptable” and expected behavior of late.

The end result of all of the foregoing is that corporations have outgrown us. Several decades ago they were dependent upon us for labor, consumer consumption of their products and by both, continued corporate growth. Corporations were never intended to be considered “individuals”. They are not human nor people, yet they have managed to adopt that personae through cooperative efforts of lawmakers and our US Supreme Court.

With the loss of the 2008 elections, the Republican’s were in a position of lost power and influence. They saw that generating contributions and raising funds to be “competitive” in the future were going to be difficult with a base that was dwindling. They were going to have to come up with a solution to the loss of party and overall community financial support. The answer was to turn to those wealthy corporations who had already benefited from laws and tax breaks enacted by Republicans, and empower their corporate partners with the ability to open their bank accounts to support the party. With the appointments made under the previous President, our Supreme Court willingly complied with the desires of both the Republican Party and their corporate sponsors, by finding it “legal” for corporations to fund any political activities in any election as they see fit – with no limitation on amounts spent or regard to party contributed to. This has led us further down the path of totally eliminating our voice in choosing our own political representatives by allowing corporations to “purchase” their choice of who should represent us.

Thus society’s needs, desires and choices have become passé. This method of politics will quickly widen the gap between the “Haves” and “Have Not’s” and contribute greatly to the elimination of the middle class in America. In response Libertarian, Independent and Tea Partiers groups have found support from within the masses, where previously no such support was forthcoming to any real degree. Society has determined that neither Democrat nor Republican are willing to listen to their needs on important issues and see the constant bickering for what it is – a power struggle for dominance. We hope by diverting our votes away from that already in power, we will be able to once again make choices and decisions beneficial to us as a society, rather than continue on a path that reserves such benefits for corporate interests.

Whether we realize it or not, our society and country is functioning as nothing more than a dictatorship. Not under an individual, a cabal or similar entity. No, we are now living under a Corporate Dictatorship. There are at least 300 huge US Corporations that now use their money, influence and position to dictate the path of our country. They purchase the cooperation of elected and appointed government officials who assist them in enacting laws to their benefit. They dictate who can and can’t work by manipulating where and by whom industry and manufacturing will be accomplished. If we as employees require higher wages to live and survive, they refuse and simply close up operation and take it where they can use labor that is cheaper. It does not matter to them that they are destroying our country and society or not. The goal is wealth, domination and eliminating any competition for the markets the control. To this end they must – and do – control government oversight and laws favorable to them.

Our Corporations have changed our society completely in the past three decades or so. They did this by making new gizmos and gadgets to awe us and make us want to buy them. To increase sales and profits, they used their influence to eliminate such things as “Truth in Advertising”, “Truth in Lending” and eliminating regulations and safeguards such as usury laws, government imposed restrictions on lending and mortgage financing so we could borrow more and more money to buy more and more of their products. They moved manufacturing to countries where meager wages were paid to their workers. The money made from those transitions to offshore operations and US sales were then used to increase their influence upon us, and we never saw it coming. We always presumed they had our best interests in mind – like our government. This has continued until it is nearly too late.

As Americans we are now at a crossroads. This is our country. It is not owned by our government, or by the corporations that now control nearly every aspect of that government. It is our time to make our voices heard above the greedy and bullying clamoring heard in the US Congress and House of Representatives and comparable state legislatures. If we continue along the path we are on, only the top few percent among us will have wealth, security, influence and the ability to determine the direction of our nation. Once that occurs we will truly become a majority ruled by a minority. One party now represents the interests of those few mentioned above and are doing everything they can to protect those interests, because that’s what they’re being paid to do.

It is time for all of us to come together, regardless of Party affiliations, religious beliefs, race or ethnicity to stand up and have our voices heard in unison. Whether we are Christian, Muslim, Protestant, Buddhist or some other faith – or atheist - we will become “one” as a suppressed and controlled society where those beliefs will no longer matter if we do not act. The same goes for political beliefs, whether Democrat, Republican, Independent or Libertarian, that will no longer matter, we will all be subjected to corporate controlled rule.

Revolution is not what is needed; it is a clear and distinct voice at the polls in the upcoming 2010 election cycle – and beyond. Our elected officials have lost their way and forgotten who they represent once elected. They go to Washington and immediately fall under the sway of those who are already there, having been entrenched there for decades and the special interest groups and organizations prevalent there. They quickly forget why they were elected, their campaign promises and resolutions to act on our behalf as they accept the wining and dining as a just reward for forgetting their real purpose for being there.

We need to step up and simply say no to the status quo by refusing to reelect those who have had an opportunity to serve us and have served corporate interests instead. One term will inform whether those elected work for their community or for corporate interests. If they make the wrong choices, replace them in the next election. Political office was never intended to be a lifetime position or career opportunity, though that is precisely what it has turned into. Political offices were not intended to function as a for-profit position or a “family run business”, but that is what they have become.

Let us announce we demand a return to politicians representing our interests and not the special interests of those lobbyists and corporations flooding DC. We do not have the wealth and finances to pay lobbyists to represent our interests and should not have to. But what we do have is our vote. All that is needed is to turn out and “turn them out”. We made a great effort in 2008 and made our voices heard for “Change”. Let’s do it again and again, until Lawmakers really and truly listen. We didn’t send our sitting lawmakers to Washington to argue amongst each other and do no business on our behalf – we sent them there to represent our interests, as humans and a community. Congress and the House are not there to accuse, cajole and make unreasonable demands upon their opposition members or to investigate members of the opposition party simply because they hold a majority in the House. They’re there to conduct business on our behalf.

Unless and until we act, more and more of us are going to lose jobs and place our family’s future in the hands of those only interested in their futures. More and more are going to wind up in jails and prisons, fodder for the politician’s corporate partners. How many of the two million plus citizens now behind bars ever thought they’d end up in prison during their lifetimes? How many more of our neighbors, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers must follow that path into isolation and servitude for the corporate interests before we are willing to stand up and say enough is enough? Give us back our jobs, our dignity and our voice.

If each of us continues to refuse to speak out against the continued Political and Corporate exploitations visited upon our neighbors, when they come for you and I, who will be left to object?

By Bob Sloan
Prison Industries Consultant
www.piecp-violations.com

Corporations, Prisons and Politics

Think You're Not Affected? Read Below and Think Again...

By Bob Sloan(C) 2010

After more than seven years of research into state prison industry operations, inmate wages, sales and laws pertaining to these facilities, I have discovered certain troubling facts that have little to do with prison labor. Corporations have found a way around controlling federal laws to increase sales, reduce wages and thus increase profits. For my blog, this is the same old grist I’ve expressed before but I urge you to read on and become worried about our future as a country and a society.
By removing the façade of prison industries and labor, layer by layer I discovered how programs such as PIECP and concurrent state programs and laws came into being. I learned how they work, why they work and those responsible for all of it. PIECP has become an often used corporate tool to reduce private sector jobs and force a reduction in hourly wage to those few jobs that remain outside prison fences.



Thousands of private sector jobs have virtually disappeared over the past two decades. At first the loss to the private sector was negligible, and then more and more became unemployed as manufacturing jobs simply were no longer available. Service jobs began to follow suit with call and service center positions also disappearing. Media reports informed us that the lost jobs were going overseas or moving to Mexico. Elected officials claimed they were doing all they could to stem this continuous flow of jobs “offshore”. What the corporations and politicians did not tell us was that an increasing percentage of manufacturing and other jobs were going to prison, literally and they were not working to stem the flow of jobs to other countries – just the opposite.

In order to fully understand how this is happening and why, I began following every link available to me. I perused links on inmate wages, PIECP, private sector job losses, laws and ordinances pertaining to prison industry, private prison operations and corporate activity involving prison labor.

What I discovered has scared the hell out of me and I’m assuming it will have the same effect upon others in our society – once you become aware of how critical the problems really are and the process and procedures that work against each of us as we seek employment. In order to be competitive in the jobs market, one must be informed. You have to know what you’re up against in this competitive endeavor. To this point, we are all only half informed.
To become fully informed we must travel back three decades and look to where the path our society is on became altered. I’ll try and put my findings in order and proper perspective and explain my findings in layman terms that are easier to comprehend than the words spoken by some of our politicians on these issues.

A few basic concepts must be explained before we begin this sad journey.

· Corporations generally have one priority – profits.
· Politicians have one primary priority – election and re-election.
· Corporations – despite the recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign contributions and funding elections – are not individuals.
· The line between Corporations and Politicians is distinct and until the late 70’s separated the two.
· Our governments, federal, state and local, are made up of individuals we elect to office and others those public representatives appoint to work on behalf of society.
· A distinction must be maintained between politicians, individuals, corporations and society as a whole. When those lines begin to blur the needs of individuals decrease as the wants and desires of corporations and politicians increase exponentially. A gap is formed and widens as society’s rights and needs are abridged in favor of corporations and those politicians they support – and are supported in return.
· The public can be supportive of an agenda that benefits corporations and has a negative impact on society, if they are falsely informed that such an agenda is necessary to protect them from some evil or disaster.

In the late 70’s our government was just getting over the Vietnam War. Millions and millions had been spent on that failed effort. During the war years our military industrial complex worked around the clock making the tools of war while hundreds of thousands of our young men fought overseas. Corporations had fewer young men to draw upon for their labor needs.

One way to keep labor needs filled was the creation of the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). This program allowed private corporations to partner with prison industries and use inmate labor in place of private sector labor. The program was designed to “assist” manufacturers by allowing them to supplement their existing “free” labor force with inmates to keep up production. While PIECP required corporations to maintain their private sector employees and not reduce their wages or benefits, corporate owners ignored this provision. Private sector manufacturing plants were closed, the workers laid off or terminated as operations moved entirely behind prison fences, exclusively using inmates for labor. At the same time ways were found around PIECP’s mandatory prevailing wage requirement and by this, inmate workers received minimum wage scale for their efforts. In addition the prisoners received no medical or other benefits and employers were not required to pay unemployment insurance (this benefit was originally required but later legislation dropped it) on them. Prisoners were required to show up for work on time, had no paid vacations or other time off.

With a taste of increased profits from using cheaper inmate labor, corporate owners expanded operations, sometimes having more than one industrial facility in operation at a time. Many prison industries opened their own operations, making and selling many products without partnering with private corporations. They found through a loop hole that markets previously unavailable to them had opened under PIECP (in Florida alone, PRIDE operates more than a dozen individual PIECP operations throughout the state). Additionally corporations sought a way to move other manufacturing and industrial facilities to Mexico, India and China to capitalize from lower wages paid to workers there and to avoid paying higher US taxes.

Corporations wanted more factories and more profits – enter the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Alec began in 1973 and was little more than what is now referred to as a Political Action Committee (PAC) but by 1980 they had grown by leaps and bounds. Their membership was a mix of 2000 (1/3 of all state lawmakers nationwide) mostly conservative state Legislators and 200 or more US Corporations. ALEC’s primary mission was to bring together corporations and lawmakers in an effort of developing proposed state legislation that benefited the corporations. This was accomplished through a duality: Board of Directors (see: http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Board_of_Directors&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11888) composed of lawmakers from each state and a Private Enterprise Board (see: http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Private_Enterprise_Board&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=13256) composed of ALEC’s corporate representatives. These two boards meet jointly and develop what is termed “Model Legislation” (see: http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Model_Legislation1), proposed laws the corporation wants put in place. The two Boards receive advice and other support from a third “Board” – a Board of Scholars (see: http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Board_of_Scholars&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=11486 for a listing of these individuals and the firms or entities they represent). These scholars are a mix of individuals with a dedication to ALEC’s belief and agendas and work to facilitate the creation and ultimate passage of legislative bills favorable to the corporate membership. Scholars are well positioned within legal firms, media outlets and other important entities ancillary to ALEC’s agenda.

ALEC has nine (9) “Task Forces” set up to address important issues such as public safety, environmental protection, taxes and telecommunication.

Corporations pay annual dues to ALEC to belong. These “dues” range from $7,000.00 to $50,000.00 depending upon the amount of influence the corporation needs or desires. In addition corporate members buy positions upon the task forces offered by ALEC. The cost of seats upon these important “committees” range from $2,500.00 to $10,000.00 per seat per year and a corporation can purchase as many seats on each task force as are vacant or available (see: http://www.alec.org/am/pdf/Corporate_Brochure.pdf).
No Model legislation leaves ALEC without consideration by and approval of the Private Enterprise Board. So any legislation by ALEC’s 2000 has no chance of leaving a task force and becoming law unless authorized by the corporate side (see: http://alecwatch.org/chaptertwo.html).

I could report more on ALEC but I believe you have the gist of what and who they represent. I will however point out some of the legislation they have been responsible for and take credit for:
· Legislation limiting tort claim awards for medical and other professional malpractice violations.
· Three Strike laws.
· Mandatory Minimum sentences for criminal Gun charges.
· Mandatory Minimum sentencing for drug charges.
· Habitual Offender laws imposing up to life terms upon conviction.
· Legislation relaxing environmental protection laws on behalf of manufacturing and industrial corporations.
· Legislation authorizing privatizing of state and federal prisons and prison industries.
· Legislation allowing huge corporate tax cuts/credits (such as the Bush Tax cuts of 2000).
· Legislation awarding tax credits to US Corporations who moved industrial and manufacturing operations offshore.
· NAFTA legislation.
· Legislation allowing drug manufacturers to advertise their products directly to the public through the media and a denial of Medicare to negotiate drug prices for Medicare members.
· Legislation limiting the amount of damages and fines to be paid by Oil companies in the event of spills or environmental contamination.


Some of the foregoing legislation was necessary to increase incarceration to provide a steady flow of warm bodies for prison labor needs. The resulting increase in prison populations bears a direct link to these state laws. Tax dollars for the building of more and larger prisons were funneled into private corporate coffers through privatizing of these prison facilities – you and I paid for these expensive construction projects.

In order to get the tax dollars necessary for all of the foregoing, it was necessary to secure the acquiescence of society. This was accomplished through disinformation campaigns funded by corporations. Society was informed time and again of increasing crime rates and the need for more prisons. We were told hardened criminal murderers, rapists and child molesters were going to be released and walk among us without more prisons, and we approved tax dollars.

Move forward to the present and examine the current situation involving Mexican Nationals and other alien immigrants. Disinformation campaigns tell us that we are at risk from an influx of illegal immigration into the US. Drug cartels are killing our citizens at an alarming rate, even beheading some of us. We are told they are the primary reason for our lost jobs and want to come to the US to have babies that will be US citizens.

Once again we acquiesced to the “facts” presented to us and became frantic to stop illegal immigration. In response we demanded the US Government take affirmative steps to stop the border crossings. We funded the building of a nearly useless fence, and are paying for the increased presence of National Guard units along the border and the introduction of stealth drones to surveil the border between Mexico and the US. We were told none of this was working. Illegal immigration was on the rise and something had to be done to stop it.

The result was public support of Senate Bill 1070 in Arizona – and subsequent proposed legislation in as many as 12 other US states. When SB 1070 was introduced we were not fully informed about the situation or real reason for the hysteria that resulted from deliberate disinformation. Illegal immigration was down by more than 40% - while we were being told it was increasing – and private corporations who hold US contracts to house illegal immigrants and other federal detainees found their facilities with more and more vacant beds. The two corporations involved and holding these contracts…? - Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group (formerly Wackenhut). Both are members of ALEC and provide millions in funding and dues to ALEC annually. They were losing money every day for each empty bed and needed legislation as a stop-loss measure. ALEC’s Public Safety Task Force went to work on proposing legislation to assist CCA and Geo Group in filling their beds.

To promote more detainees, it was first necessary for the public to be falsely informed of a need for more arrests to protect them from these aliens. To accomplish this, the media was employed to carry stories of violence and crimes committed by illegal Latino immigrants. This media blitz was led by Fox News outlets nationwide as ALEC worked on the formation of the proposed legislation. CCA lobbyists on the staff of Arizona Governor Brewer worked behind the scenes to secure the assistance of Brewer to further complain of how her state was being overrun by Latinos while US authorities drug their feet in assisting her in closing Arizona’s borders.

When the Public Safety Task Force finished their proposed legislation, it was given to ALEC member, Senator Russell Pearce (R) of Arizona. He took the proposed bill back to Arizona and re-wrote it in his own words. When he finished, he took the bill back to ALEC for review, amending and tweaking. When that was finished, he was sent back to Arizona to introduce the proposed legislation. His task was supported by an additional 36 Arizona legislators who were also members of ALEC. Pearce and his friends were successful in getting the bill passed and Governor Brewer quickly signed it into law

Only after passage did we discover who Pearce was and that ALEC was involved in modeling the legislation to the benefit of CCA. Similarly, we were without knowledge of the presence on Governor Brewer’s staff of CCA lobbyists until after the deed was done. Of course CCA immediately issued statements that they had not lobbied Governor Brewer or any other legislator on the SB 1070 measure. However, immediately after that statement it was discovered CCA had been a contributor to Senator Pearce’s campaign efforts for some time and that in 2009 Pearce spearheaded an effort to privatize Arizona’s entire prison system!

You may think that there can't be that much money in housing illegal aliens, huh? You'd be wrong. ICE and Immigration and Naturalization authorities advise that ideally an illegal immigrant is detained in a CCA facility for only 20 days before a hearing and possible deportation back to Mexico or country of residency. The cost for these 20 days of detention is approximately $2,900.00 per detainee. However, for some reason there is a "back-log" involved with getting these cases before the judge or deportation. The average detention is 423 days instead of 20. The cost for 423 days is $60,000.00+ per detainee - paid to CCA under their federal contract. Currently CCA receives $11 million per month for housing of prisoners/detainees and if/when SB1070 is found constitutional, they're in a position to see a substantial spike in their monthly revenue. Now imagine how well they're positioned if the other states pass similar legislation and start stopping everyone they suspect of being illegal, and putting them in detention facilities? Think the price of their stock is going to go through the roof?

In summation of this single incident the explanation goes something like this: immigration detention had fallen off. The corporations with federal contracts to house detainees were losing money. They needed a way to increase income and as members of ALEC they had their assistance and the assistance of fellow ALEC members, Senator Pearce and 36 other Arizona lawmakers. CCA has two paid lobbyists well placed as “sleepers” on the staff of Governor Brewer so with the assistance of a media blitz led by Fox News, it was such an easy accomplishment, they decided to take the same legislation nationwide. Why only limit arrests and detention to Arizona when there were so many other states with ALEC lawmakers willing to promote the same laws?

BP also supports ALEC. In the Event Horizon rig explosion and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP informed us that they would pay for the damages and environmental contamination from the oil. They initiated an expensive media campaign to inform that they were responsible and would pay damages to those who lost income due to the spill. However, when it came to the actual clean-up who did they hire for the work? Not those unemployed due to the spill, no they hired state prison inmates to do the work. Most of these inmates were not paid – the work was part of their sentence and they were assigned by DOC officials to that job. If they refused they were sent back to prison and lost good time.

After all the hysteria surrounding the “worst oil spill in history” and government claims that it would be decades before the impact upon the ocean and environment would be reversed, BP agreed to deposit $20 billion dollars into a fund for damages and recovery efforts. Despite reports that it would be years before fishing and collection of shell fish would be safe for human consumption, within a few weeks of the capping of the well, our government officials and the media now informs us they can’t find any more oil! It has vanished. To me this demonstrates quite clearly that when corporations comply with monetary demands made by the government, the government is willing to assist in limiting the cost to that corporation, again by promoting a disinformation campaign to manipulate the public.

What does all this tell us? It tells me that our governments – state and federal – are no longer subject to the will of the people they represent. Rather they are supportive of corporations and rich individuals who pay to play. If laws are required on behalf of these ultra rich corporations and corporate owners, lawmakers see that it is done. These legislative members answer to the dollars put into their campaign coffers and no longer represent our interests. Legislators, government authorities and corporate owners have discovered that by manipulating the public through our media outlets, we can be convinced to accept any plausible explanation for their action, for laws imposed upon us and for huge expenditures of our tax dollars to the benefit of corporations.

Until the latest fiasco involving Arizona and BP I had hopes that the despicable acts complained of were committed by the previous administration and the present one would adopt procedures to erase the acts committed under Presidents Bush and Clinton. However it now appears that President Obama and his Cabinet are once again only the puppets of corporate America, subject to the will of their contributors and their paid power brokers and lawmakers. Whatever agenda they support issues they present or laws they want passed, Congress will endeavor to accomplish – for a price, of course.

The end result of all the manipulations, relaxed regulations and imposed laws upon us is the imprisonment of more than 2 million Americans and Lord knows how many immigrants. From privatization and incarceration, many states are deeply in debt and if not on the verge of bankruptcy (such as California) close to it. Many states have begun to find ways of reducing their prison populations through alternative sentencing options, early release and other programs such as substance abuse alternatives.

All of this financial strain and burden upon the states – and we as their citizens – is the responsibility of those corporations linked to and funding organizations such as ALEC. To them there is no such thing as compassion of loyalty to their employees, only to the bottom line on their financial statements. If it’s profitable to move operations to another country and subject entire communities depending upon them to unemployment, loss of homes through foreclosure and an inability of parents to provide medical care to their children, those corporations could care less. They are looking forward to the next item on their agenda and what laws have to be created or amended to allow them to check that off their list and move on to the next.

Without the huge financial contributions from corporations, lawmakers would actually have to concentrate upon service to their constituency in order to gather supporters and contributions for election or re-election. That is one reason why the Supreme Court decision to allow unlimited expenditures by corporation in election cycles is so detrimental to us as a society. Corporate America has already reduced our national manufacturing and industrial capabilities to a dangerous level – by moving operations behind prison walls or across borders. Their needs have resulted in mass incarceration and increased detention of those who come to the US for a better life and sanctuary from an environment that is depressed and lives in poverty. The decreasing but steady influx of Mexican Nationals into the US while our industrial and manufacturing companies are moving there to take advantage of the lower wages, clearly demonstrates though willing to work, most Latinos decide on risky illegal immigration rather than stay and submit to slave labor in the country of their birth. Unfortunately, our loved ones in US prisons don’t have that choice. They continue to work daily for the corporations partnered with their prison industries. Any laws beneficial to them are stopped in their tracks at the state level. Every attempt to exercise their rights of access to our judicial system are also stopped by recent laws limiting pro se law suits. These men and women are trapped within a system created and managed by private corporations and under rigorous laws enacted on behalf of those corporations by lawmakers representing those corporate interests.

Unfortunately in today’s world it really is “Pay to Play” and in these financial times the only ones who can “Pay” are the top 2% or our society and their corporations. Lawmakers have outgrown our ability to pay them to represent us, so it has come down to an “Us against Them” environment. As long as we continue to elect and place the same set of individuals in positions of making our laws and looking after our interests we’ll continue along the same path. It’s time for all of us to make a stand and make our presence known.

Whether a candidate is Republican, Democrat, Independent or Libertarian – if they are part of the problem of supporting corporate interests over those of the public, they have no place in our Legislature or Judiciary. The trend that started more than three decades ago must be stopped in its tracks and the effects of that trend reversed. If not, our future is bleak. More and more of us will wind up without jobs, income or support and find ourselves in prison alongside those we were supposed to be protected from. The jobs stolen from us are already there and as inmates with experience we’ll be welcomed back to our old machines and equipment, consigned to work there as slaves for the corporations that are driving our economy and profiting the most by our continued refusal to stop them.

We’ve all been warned and are now informed. What we do with that information is up to us…as is our future and the future of this great Country.

What's Your Job Worth?
One Must Follow Legislation and The Money
From the American Legislative Exchange Council...

...All the way to your state and federal Legislator's pockets

By Bob Sloan

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In today's news there is article after article describing the financial crunch being experienced by every state, local and municipal government in the US. The governing bodies are constantly searching for a way to cut expenditures and save tax dollars for important matters. Some of the first cuts being suggested and considered in most states are to Corrections budgets. Inmate education programs go first, recreational and vocational are next and substance abuse programs follow. This is being done nationwide as this is written. It is being done in the face of an ever-increasing prisoner population that continues to set records state by state. Other cuts, related to prisons are a reduction of janitorial, maintenance and grounds staffs of city, county and some state governments and government buildings and parks. These jobs were not eliminated, rather the private sector workers were laid off or terminated and replaced with state prison inmates. These inmates receive no pay for their labor but tax dollars paid for by those terminated pay for their continued incarceration. Seems to be something twisted and surreal about these circumstances and an exchange of jobs between convicted offenders and non-offenders.

Another recent incident in the news demonstrates the use of inmates in lieu of unemployed workers in the Gulf Coast region. The recent BP oil spill dumped millions of gallons of crude oil upon the beaches of several states along the Gulf. Instead of choosing to at least allow those who lost jobs or income due to the spill to help clean it up at a decent hourly wage, BP instead chose to use inmates in Louisiana and other states. No or low wages, no speaking with media by prisoners and no complaints could be made by those workers. Once assigned to this detail, prisoners who refused the assignment, lost gain time and face going back to maximum security prison facilities to finish their sentences. Our state prison administrations cooperated fully with BP, even going so far as to refuse to be interviewed by the media or provide any confirmation as to the use of their inmates for the cleanup work (clothing worn by these inmates with “prison labor” stencils on it, were exchanged for regular BP provided uniforms when questions began to surface. The media blackout, exchange of clothing and statements of “no comment” lead us to believe these participating agencies and corporations have to hide they are using prison labor. Could it be they think what they're doing might be considered illegal?

The above brings to the front one of the major problems in today's communities and American society overall – the ever-increasing tax dollars being spent on prisons and incarceration, while education spending gets fewer and fewer tax dollars. We are forsaking the education of our children in order to imprison more and more of our neighbors who are then put to work in your old job for considerably less than you were paid.

As prisons fill and become overcrowded, crime rates at all levels are dropping even as we experience a deep recession, high unemployment and a dwindling number of private sector jobs. One must wonder what is the reason for these increasing prison populations while crime rates are decreasing? How can this be? Could it be that prison industry and their partners need more and more workers? (The federal prison industry – UNICOR- employed 26,000 inmates in manufacturing until earlier this year when they were forced to cut back due to the recession and fewer orders).

A more important question is “why” is this phenomena happening? Money. Money and greed at the highest levels of our state and federal governments. Previously I've written extensively about the federal Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) that is allowing the use of inmate labor to manufacture products now sold to us as consumers. In this article I'm going to address the reason this program has become so corrupt, identify some of the corporations, organizations and legislators involved as well as the reason for a lack of interest by the controlling US Government Agencies and Departments with oversight.

A good place to begin is the current immigration furor in Arizona. Governor Brewer signed SB 1070 – more commonly called the “Breathing While Brown” - into law. Governor Brewer has made statements to the effect that she must sign and put this law into effect to protect Arizona from the massive increase in illegal immigration from Mexico and other countries through Mexico, because the federal Government has failed to prevent border crossings. Opponents argue that it is a law that is blatantly discriminatory and designed to bring immigration to the table in the upcoming mid-term elections. Several states have begun to consider immigration legislation similar to Arizona's and from this, one would probably deduce that each of those states have independently considered the law and believe implementation of such legislation would help protect their residents from alien influx and a loss of jobs to those illegals.

However this is just not the case. The entire illegal alien issue now raising such cane in Arizona did not actually begin in Arizona. No, it began behind closed doors within the American Legislative Enterprise Council (ALEC). The concept was born there and ALEC looked for a likely place to put it to the test. Arizona was chosen due to the the placement of certain lobbyists (friendly to ALEC member Corrections Corporation of America) within the Governor's advisers and re-election campaign, the influence these individuals could wield with the Governor , and the fact that 35 members of the Arizona legislature are ALEC members. The actual job of introducing legislation was assigned to ALEC member, Arizona Senator Pearce. Pearce developed SB 1070 and a month or so prior to making his legislation proposal to the Arizona Senate, he took the proposed legislation back to ALEC for consideration, review and suggested amendments or tweaking.

One might think that proposed legislation is never conceived in such a manner, but you would be wrong. ALEC takes great pride in telling the world that because of their “model Legislation” activities, they were the driving force behind: truth in sentencing, three strikes, mandatory minimum sentencing, mandatory drug and other state enacted laws dealing with crime. In essence this “Council” of conservative politicians and like thinking corporate partners develop laws that would benefit their concepts and send their members back to their home states to encourage other legislators to support those laws at the state and federal levels.

The Cabal

Currently there are several corporations, organizations, associations and members of our state legislatures that have formed a close knit cabal to control prison industry manufacturing, guarantee laws to ensure a continued source of inmate workers and increased profits to participants. Important officials within various important federal governmental agencies and departments willingly cooperate with this cabal in an effort to deflect oversight and investigations away from their activities.

At the center of this clique of influential entities are the aforementioned ALEC and the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA). Nothing could be accomplished without the assistance of both of these organizations and their members. One influences state and federal laws and legislation for the purpose of enacting actual laws favorable to their goals. The other is responsible for applying those laws in such a manner as to ensure the maximum profit to corporate participants in the private prison industrial complex while deflecting public and private investigations and reviews.

Who are the Corporations?

Corporations directly involved in prison industry by using inmate labor to make their products or provide their services are:
• Boeing
• Microsoft
• Northern Telecom
• AT&T
• Honeywell
• IBM
• Pierre Cardin
• Compaq
• Nordstrom
• Texas Instruments
• Chevron, McDonalds
• Target
• United Vision Group
• Starbucks
• Victoria's Secret
• TWA
• Costco
• US West
• Nortel
• Lucent Techhnologies
• Intel
• 3Com
• Hewlett Packard
• Siemens
• Kaiser Steel
• J.C. Penny
• Hawaiian tropic
• Spalding
and a myriad assortment of other manufacturers. These entities are directly involved in using prison labor and manufacturing for profit. Most of them do this through sub-contractors or other companies so they have the ability to deny using inmate labor.

What is the NCIA?

It is exactly what the name implies – an association of those state prison industries, corporations, vendors and suppliers who participate in correctional industries nationwide. The NCIA Board of Directors and association membership is composed of employees, administrators and staff of the 42 participating state prison industry operations and representatives of those corporations or companies who provide materials and shipping services to those industries. In essence a group of individuals, corporations and state facilities joined at the hip for the purpose of making money and doing it through unfair competition against private sector manufacturers or companies who make the same or similar products. They oversee their own operations and are responsible for seeing that they are in compliance with state and federal programs. The NCIA holds annual “conferences” (last year in Cincinnati, Ohio) where products and services are displayed and seminars are attended by members and those interested in joining the NCIA or partnering with a prison industry. Other peripheral vendors set up shop at these conferences to sell wares to the various prison industries. Prison made products are donated to the NCIA – printing of annual reports, pamphlets, furniture and furnishings for the NCIA offices. The entire Board of Directors of the NCIA are authorities within the participating prison industries, the federal Bureau of Prisons and private sector corporate members see: http://www.nationalcia.org/?page_id=12 for a listing of those Board members and whom they
represent.

The NCIA was chosen by the Department of Justice and Bureau of Justice Assistance to oversee the PIECP program. They perform all those duties previously held by the BJA – and do so under a substantial tax payer grant from the DOJ, so you pay for this “oversight”. This choice by the BJA and DOJ allows participants to oversee themselves without further government oversight or influence. The participating corporations mentioned above are represented both by the state prison industry where their products are manufactured as well as the suppliers of materials for that production and the legislative members (ALEC) of state and federal governments.

Complaints and allegations of non-compliance by PIECP participating prison industries and/or their private sector corporate partners sent to the DOJ, OJP or BJA are referred to the NCIA for investigation and response. The NCIA fails to do either and the government departments and officials complained to, refuse to force an investigation or response from the NCIA. Business continues as usual without government interference.

What is the American Legislative Exchange Council?

ALEC is a group of mostly conservative state and federal legislators who make up – by their own admission – 1/3 of all elected state Senators and Representatives nationwide. ALEC has nine (9) “Task Forces” to address and propose state and federal legislation beneficial to their Council and supporters of ALEC. To research ALEC go to: http://www.alec.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Log_in and start there.

ALEC has a Private Enterprises Board that consists of members that represent:

• Correction Corporation of America
• Geo Group
• GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals
• AT&T Services
• UPS
• Bayer Corporation
• American Bail Corporation
• Centerpoint 360
• Energy Future Holdings
• Johnson and Johnson
• PhRMA
• Kraft Foods
• Coca-Cola Corporation
• Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
• Diageo
• Peabody Energy
• Intuit
• Koch Industries
• Exxon Mobil
• Reynolds American, Inc.
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• Salt River Project
• State Farm Insurance
• Altria Client Services, Inc.

ALEC claims responsibility for the enactment of laws that limit gain time or good time credits for prisoners, extending their sentences to as much as 85% of the entire sentence. They currently have proposed legislation in each of their nine task forces that represent the interests of their Private Corporate partners, such as CCA and Geo Group. These “legislative proposals” are listed at their site under “Model Legislation” but most are only accessible by ALEC members.

Relationship between Brewer, CCA and ALEC

In the instant situation in Arizona it is important to remember Senator Pearce presented his draft of the proposed legislation to ALEC first and that ALEC is funded in part by CCA, CCA's annual membership fees, Geo Group and their annual membership fees as well as the above listed other corporate partners.

Over the past few days it has been reported that Governor Brewer's deputy chief of staff, Paul Senseman was a lobbyist for CCA and his wife is still lobbying for CCA through the same agency Senseman previously worked with. Brewer's Policy Adviser and Campaign Manager, Chuck Coughlin is President of HighGround Public Affairs Consultants which lobbies for CCA. CCA currently has an ironclad grip on the Arizona and federal private prison contracts to house illegal immigrants as well as other state and federal inmates.

With the passing of SB 1070 CCA is positioned to see a spike in their revenue from housing all of the immigrants picked up under the new law in Arizona. ALEC members have taken Pearce's ALEC proposed legislation and run with it to each individual state legislative body in an effort to expand acceptance and implementation of the Arizona Breathing While Brown law to all the other states. This has resulted in similar legislative consideration in Tennessee, Indiana, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode island, South Carolina, Texas and Utah(see: http://www.againstamnesty.com/event_locations.html).

An interesting link between all of these states, ALEC, CCA and the proposed legislation is William Gheen of ALIPAC. He is the listed “organizer” supporting these legislative proposals in each of the foregoing states. He is very protective of CCA and that corporation's interests as evidenced by his recent objections when President Obama announced humane treatment for all immigrant detainees. CCA has nine (9) facilities that house illegal immigrants see:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?=cache:c4Nnr3132gYJ:immigrationclearinghouse.org/alipac-president-william-gheen-denounceshumane-treatment-for-detainees/+%22William+Gheen+%2B+CCA%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us and the President's order immediately affected CCA.

Through coordinated efforts SB 1070 has been supported and funded by CCA at several levels – lobbying Arizona law makers, to other states through ALEC members and directly to Governor Jan Brewer through her close ties to lobbyist Coughlin and past lobbyist Senseman and his lobbying wife. It has been supported and funded by the Corporations mentioned above - involved in ALEC. SB 1070 rhetoric and support has now spread nationwide like a hardy infection. Proponents spread the word through disinformation and misleading facts and statistics. An example of this is a current statistic in Arizona that informs that the number of arrests and detention of illegal immigrants is down by more than 40% while proponents claim illegal alien immigration is on the rise – along with Arizona's crime rate. They now talk of drug cartels beheading citizens to frighten both citizens of Arizona and visitors to that state.

Completing the Puzzle – Why?

Jobs, corporate profits and greed. Private sector jobs are disappearing quicker than I-Phones when they first came out. Corporations have been sending jobs overseas for more than a decade and a half now. Those jobs they can't send to Mexico, India, China or other third world countries with low wages and therefore must be kept here in the US due to logistics, transportation or shipping costs, are going to prison. Literally.

As the recession deepened and our economy tanked, US Corporations were one step ahead of the curve. They were already involved in using inmates to manufacture their products and provide their services. Their support of laws such as SB 1070 in Arizona, truth in sentencing, three strikes,mandatory minimums, guaranteed a steady supply of captive workers for the prison industries that make their products. When it became apparent that more and more US workers were loosing their jobs, PIECP participating corporations moved more and more manufacturing operations behind prison fences where wages are next to nothing, facility leases are also next to nothing ($1.00 per year in most cases) and the corporations did not have to pay for benefits such as insurance, vacation pay, maternal leaves or unemployment insurance premiums.

Members of ALEC and other similar organizations like the Association of Private Correctional & Treatment Organizations (APCTO ) and the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA) make sure their corporate contributors and partners receive the benefits of legislation regarding privately owned prison and prison industry operations. CCA is the number one private prison operations corporation in the US. Geo Group is number two. Both own or manage prison facilities with prison industrial manufacturing operations on site. Both have links to and use PIECP industries to increase profits for the corporations and their participating private manufacturer partners.

To make prison industry work in a manner to allow the most profit, it is important to keep inmate worker's wages as low as possible and keep actual manufacturing costs down. To accomplish this, it is necessary to avoid the “prevailing wage” requirement of PIECP by substituting minimum wage scales or lower. In addition oversight of the program has to be limited and any complaints of noncompliance must be diverted.

If the foregoing machinations are to function properly it is important to influence those Governmental Agencies and Departments which oversee PIECP and the public and private participants in the program. To this end the Department of Justice and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) had to be convinced or coerced to turn a blind eye upon the PIE Certification Program. They accomplished this by assigning oversight of the program to the NCIA in 1995. All compliance reviews and investigations are now handled by this association rather than the BJA or DOJ. This allows the prison industries and their corporate participants to operate freely without interference from the state or federal governments. They violate the program on a daily basis without any governmental control or supervision. In this manner large US corporations are able to amass huge profits. Money they then disperse as campaign contributions to law makers or donations to organizations such as ALEC, NCIA and APCTO to assure continued dominance in their particular markets or fields of manufacture. This keeps the wheels greased and the money flowing in waves.

Conclusion

With the near collapse of Wall Street, the automotive industry, housing, and loss of jobs our country is mired in financial and employment problems. Banks, and Wall Street were bailed out with taxpayer dollars – yet are unwilling to put that money to work creating jobs and promoting manufacturing. GM and Chrysler received bailouts and instead of hoarding the money, used it to create or keep as many as 55,000 jobs in Michigan. Big bank and investment corporations are investing our money in lobbying our Congressional and Senatorial members to keep them from voting for any legislation that would keep them from doing it all over again. Corporations now have too much influence in our government, laws, legislation, work force and financial interests. They are not individual citizens, yet our Supreme Court now rules they can do what they want with their funds to influence our elections – for their benefit.

The immigration law in Arizona is only a sample of the efforts the cabal will put into an issue – not as a real community matter – in an effort to profit from the near hysteria they deliberately instill through a dedicated media marketing campaign(s). If the corporations make more money, the lobbyists make more, organizations like ALEC receive more in funding and support to advance more of their agenda(s). Campaign contributions enlist more legislators and thus the cabal gains more influence and power. Increased profits allow for more advertising and scare campaigns on imaginary threats to generate more laws, stiffer penalties and the increased need for prisons and prison industries. Prison industries in turn, have more inmates to put to work manufacturing products to make the corporations more and more money and the cycle continues – with private sector jobs falling like dominoes. While we labor daily to find work, feed our families and make our car and mortgage payments, the fat corporations get fatter and simply tell us to try harder to find a new job.

The training of inmates to reduce recidivism through PIECP is the goal of that program and was the legislative intent behind enacting it. However, training of inmates to instill work ethics, knowledge and skills to make them better able to earn a living when released is a joke. There are no jobs for them on the outside. The jobs they've been trained for have all been moved behind prison fences and in order for them to work at their trained occupations they must commit more crimes and go back inside. With the millions of non-offenders already on unemployment rolls, how are exoffenders to get employment? Where will they work to earn a living to keep out of prison again? They can't – don't listen to the rhetoric about re-entry programs and how well they work – it is an impossible situation for ex-cons and the corporations and likes of ALEC not only know that, they depend on it so the ex-offender will soon re-offend and return to the factory.

Corporate investments to influence state and federal laws pertaining to prison labor and the overall private prison industrial complex involves: lobbying, funding organizations such as ALEC and purported “studies” made by the likes of the Reason Foundation and John Thomas – a University of Florida professor that produced research favorable to the private prison industry in the mid 1990's, while he sat on the board of Prison Realty Trust (operated by or a spin-off of CCA. Thomas was later forced to resign and fined $20,000 for his duplicity).

This cabal is a cyclic program that takes more and more jobs from the private sector and replaces those workers with inmates at seriously reduced wages. The profits made from this are then reinvested in lobbying for more laws, more arrests and stiffer sentences, building of more prisons and detention facilities. This money is also put to work through campaign contributions to impact legislation such as SB 1070 in Arizona and other states represented by the members of ALEC in an effort to fill the beds owned by members/supporters CCA and Geo Group – amongst other private prison operating corporations.

At the peak of all the machinations, PIECP, prison labor, prison labor partnerships and the private corporate profits from the program are the US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. These agencies bear responsibility for the operation of PIECP and compliance with the program guidelines. They serve as the buffer between corporate interests and maintaining compliance with the prison labor program operating under their authority. By outsourcing that responsibility to the NCIA these agencies have effectively turned their collective heads so they can effectively assert plausible deniability when the corruption is discovered.

Other US Governmental agencies and departments have also fallen victim to the actions of those in authority within the DOJ and BJA. Investigations by the USDA and FSIS have been compromised due to the corruption within PIECP operations and the DOJ and BJA's refusal to force compliance by a Florida prison industry operation.

So if/when your job disappears and you are unemployed with few prospects for obtaining other employment, you can thank all of those corporations, legislators and organizations mentioned in this article. They are all busy working to take your job and give it to an inmate worker so their supporters and members can make even more money. While they're at it, these same people – especially the elected legislative members of your state and federal government – are also working to deny or extend unemployment benefits to those of you who have already been displaced by prison labor.

A terrible side-effect to all of this is the United States' loss of much of our manufacturing and the ability to compete with third world industries that now have the ability to out-produce our nation because most of our technologies and manufacturing expertise and funding has been sent there by greedy corporations that would rather make a dollar than see our country strong and competitive with a similarly strong private work force.

You now know where your jobs have gone, who the responsible parties are and how they've managed to accomplish all of this. You know which corporations are using prison labor to increase profits and deny you a fair wage at a good job. Do you keep buying their products and using the services of the likes of AT&T (using prison labor and sitting on ALEC Board)? Will you still be influenced by the slick TV ads for the likes of GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly or Pfizer and ask your doctor to prescribe their latest pill? You know which of your Representatives and Senators are playing ball with these corporations and belong to ALEC and other organizations that do not have your best interests in mind. Will you continue to vote for them?

If you answered no to these questions start writing letters and sending emails to your elected representatives. Speak out about the corporations involved – or at least question them about their activities and involvement with prison industry and the likes of ALEC. Develop boycotts of products made with prison labor by these corporations and urge others to join you in demonstrating in front of office of these corporations. Lastly, get the word out to friends and family – let them know that unless we, as a society stand up for our right to work and thus support our families, the future holds only more of the same.

If you answered yes to any of the foregoing questions posed...you're part of the problem.