Next Tea Party Target: Corporate America

Modern Big business is not Conservative or Republican. Modern Big Business is often a partner with Big Government at the expense of the American people. It is comfortable joining with the government to shut down competition or to have the government subsidize projects that are not economically feasible on their own. Big Ethanol, which is actually a net energy loser for the American driver is a giant profit center for ag-giant Cargill. GE is another huge company whose CEO, Jeff Immelt, has been following Obama around like a puppy. He was one of Obama’s followers during his recent trip to Asia and specializes in getting business via tax breaks and government subsidies for wind turbines, ultra-expensive light bulbs and other “green” products that can’t survive without government mandates or subsidies. Of course Immelt needs all the help he can get for driving the price of GE from a high to 60 to a low of 6 while cutting its dividend by over 60% in over a decade of mismanagement. He exhibits all the skills of Obama, so perhaps it’s a good match.

Pharmaceutical giants Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer are also Big Progressive Government supporters, giving millions to promote Obamacare as well as Cap-&-Trade. Both represent Big Government joined at the hip with Big Business to screw the consumer while fattening their bottom lines and aiding the government in extending its reach into every aspect of our lives. JNJ stockholders have done better than GE’s shareholders, being essentially even for the last 5 years. Pfizer, on the other hand dropped from $44/share in the year 2000 to $12/share in 2009 while cutting its dividend in half.

So it struck me as a great idea for the Tea Party to educate its members about the way in which these big companies are using the dollars we are putting in their pockets. There are alternatives to Ge lighbulbs and other consumer products as well as the products that JNJ and PFE make. The Tea Party is a grass roots movement with literally millions of shoppers in its ranks. I will be very interested to see how these companies react to the changing buying decisions of millions of people.