corporate welfare as we know it

WEALTH

Not all robber barons are the same. The so-called gilded age of the late 1800's and supposedly re-emerging today is full of popular populist myths. The original robber barons extracted tolls along the Rhine river by force in the middle ages - but Rockefeller and Gates competed in a competitive marketplace to gain their commanding advantage and did not rely on the fiat power of government. If anything they wanted government to leave them alone. The same is not true of Sun Microsystems and Netscape that tried to use government power to un-enrich Microsoft. John Edwards thinks there is two Americas - and he is correct - but not along lines of class defined by wealth as he fantasizes. The two Americas are those that make it on their own and pay taxes and those who rely on transfer payments from government politicians for their very own survival (and vise versa). The investment banker making many millions a year is in the same class as the specialty bakery owner making a more modest income. The millionaire sports team owner who blackmails his city for a new taxpayer funded stadium is in the same class as the welfare queen with half a dozen illegitimate children. Now standard oil (ExonMobil) is truly becoming a robber baron with their acceptance of human CO2 caused global warming and their eventual demand for tax writeoffs and subsidies to reduce greenhouse gasses. This is an important distinction.