Who does the US Chamber work for?

Recent unsettling revelations would indicate that, more and more, the US Chamber of Commerce is working for foreign nationals and corporations. Big business has been sending American jobs to other nations for a long time. Our current Congress has tried several measures to stop the bleeding and to bring some of those jobs back to Americans.

Despite vigorous opposition from the right, Congress was able to remove a few of the tax breaks and incentives multi-national corporations used to fund the exportation of our jobs. Another bill proposed by Democrats would try to increase incentives to bring some of those lost jobs back to American citizens who need them. After ten years the tax breaks for the rich have not saved our jobs either. That extra "pocket change" for billionaires cost the taxpayers billions in deficits while it was invested over seas. (Bloomberg Magazine's poll of investors revealed that 33% favored China and Brazil, 31% favored India while only 24% favored investing in the US.)

The US Chamber opposes these measures and is set to spend $75 million dollars of "secret donations" to support both US and foreign companies who do not want to restore jobs to America. It is a federal crime for a foreign interest to influence our elections yet thanks to a recent conservative Supreme Court decision, corporations are now "persons" who can spend unlimited funds to influence our elections without disclosing who they are. Democrats want to require disclosure of those sources but the GOP blocked that as well. So much for their transparency pledge.

Multi-national corporations based in the US saw an increase in profits of nearly 43% even as the average American was losing jobs at the rate of 750,000 per month in 2008 at the height of the Bush recession.

The US Chamber has been escalating its recruitment of foreign corporations and foreign capitol to fund attacks against policies and candidates who's aim is to restore America to its former glory as an industrial nation. One might ask why the chamber would spend millions to defeat US jobs but the fact is that the chamber is deep in the pockets of super-rich corporations who now earn nearly 2/3 of their profits outside of the United States. To them the US's tiny 300 million people is an insignificant market compared to nearly 3 billion inhabitants of China and India. The best financial interest of those corporations outweighs the needs of our own nation, thus the rampant attack ads that serve only the profit interests of companies who will not be providing new jobs at home any time soon...if at all.

While the Democrats are not innocent in this exodus of jobs, at least they are trying to fix some of these wounds. We can't abandon that in the middle and go back to the same people who are spending billions to send even more of our jobs away to other nations. We need to stand up to financial bullies like the US Chamber and vote for our own self interest as middle class working Americans. Show them the cost of throwing away that $75 million dollars by ignoring their attacks and tuning to another channel. They do not have your best interest at heart.

I would also call on all local chambers including our own local chamber, of which I am a member, to sever all ties with the US Chamber. Stop taking our members money to be used to attack the preservation of our own jobs. The US Chamber does not support small local business.