Tag: Corporatocracy

Corporate front groups pushing laughable “National Employee Freedom Week” and other anti-union efforts

Corporate front groups pushing laughable “National Employee Freedom Week” and other anti-union efforts

Despite the success of groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the State Policy Network (SPN) and their affiliates, and other related anti-union corporate front groups in making states like Michigan so-called “Right to Work” states, these same groups are having far less success in actually getting people to leave their unions. In Michigan, for example, only around 1% […]

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Terri Lynn Land: Massive political spending by billionaires and corporations is “the American way”.

Terri Lynn Land: Massive political spending by billionaires and corporations is “the American way”.

There are few who will argue that the Citizens United Supreme Court decision has radically altered the political landscape. Most people recoil at the amount of money now being spent on behalf of candidates by millionaires and billionaires and by corporations that stand to benefit from having a politician or two on their payroll. And then there are people like […]

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Mother Jones exposé shows how Michigan’s right to work law was bought and paid for by the DeVos family

Mother Jones exposé shows how Michigan’s right to work law was bought and paid for by the DeVos family

The best politicians, laws and elections money can buy Mother Jones’ Andrew Kroll has an incredible piece out this week showing the growing and pervasive influence of the DeVos family in Michigan and national politics. Although much of what he reveals in his piece has been long suspected, he brings to light details about how the passage of Michigan’s right […]

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Rick Snyder’s “Said it, did it” mantra unravels as he signs expansion of dark money in Michigan elections into law

Rick Snyder’s “Said it, did it” mantra unravels as he signs expansion of dark money in Michigan elections into law

More like “Didn’t say it, did it anyway” or “Said it, did the opposite” Eclectameme by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog Discussing possible campaign slogans during his non-announcement of his candidacy last fall, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder said, “One that I really do appreciate, that I’ve used in my life is, ‘Said it. Did it.’”. In other words, according to […]

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New reports show power of corporatist groups like Mackinac Center to implement statewide policies/laws benefiting corporations

New reports show power of corporatist groups like Mackinac Center to implement statewide policies/laws benefiting corporations

A web of money, power, and deception Earlier this year, I wrote about Lee Fang’s important piece in The Nation magazine titled “The Right Leans In”. In that piece, Fang detailed the pervasive influence of the corporatist network called the State Policy Network (SPN) in shaping public policy in states throughout the country. Funded heavily by corporate interests and wealthy […]

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Medicaid expansion bill passed by Senate Republicans even has a place for ALEC & other corporate-funded groups

Medicaid expansion bill passed by Senate Republicans even has a place for ALEC & other corporate-funded groups

Of course ALEC has a place in Michigan’s expansion of Medicaid. They probably helped write the bill. After Senate Republicans passed H.B. 4714 on Tuesday to expand Medicaid to cover an additional 470,000 people, I thought it would be smart to have a look at just what’s in this legislation. I discovered that about 24 pages of the 40-page bill […]

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Michigan GOP proves they’re the anti-American fools & corporate tools we know they are w/ Medicaid exp. vote

Michigan GOP proves they’re the anti-American fools & corporate tools we know they are w/ Medicaid exp. vote

This is what happens when you vote Republican Since the beginning of this year, Eclectabloggers have written no fewer than 55 posts relating to Medicaid expansion, mostly centering on Michigan. When she came on as a contributor in April, Amy Lynn Smith instantly became a powerful voice for expansion of Medicaid in Michigan. There is no question in my mind […]

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Let us never forget how the corporatist front group Mackinac Center guides Gov. Snyder’s actions

Let us never forget how the corporatist front group Mackinac Center guides Gov. Snyder’s actions

This should frighten EVERY Michigander [Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog] As we watch the drama related to the bankruptcy of Detroit play out on the national stage, it’s worth recalling something I have mentioned in the past: Governor Rick Snyder is guided by the “101 Recommendations to Revitalize Michigan” (pdf) of the corporatist front […]

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The demonization of teachers & the destruction of our public school system is a public scandal & embarrassment

The demonization of teachers & the destruction of our public school system is a public scandal & embarrassment

This MUST stop

The story of 22-year Cody Bailey being installed as president of a for-profit charter school in Michigan (posts are HERE and HERE) has rekindled my outrage about the demonization of teachers and the systematic kneecapping and dismantling of our public school system here in Michigan. Operating under the guise of “education reform”, corporatists like Cody Bailey, the Mackinac Center, and the DeVos family are engaging in an unsubtle effort to convert our nation’s schools into profit centers for corporate “education” businesses. Their approach has three primary components.

Click through for much, much more.

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VIDEO: Progress Michigan goes after ‘skunk works’ group working to commoditize/profitize Michigan public schools

VIDEO: Progress Michigan goes after ‘skunk works’ group working to commoditize/profitize Michigan public schools

Ooo-ooo, that smell… Last month, after the Detroit News tore back the curtains on the secretive “skunk works” group, staffed by some of Gov. Snyder’s aides and aimed at destroying our public school system while funneling the proceeds to for-profit charter schools, the group was quickly reconfigured to be one that was more, shall we say, public? The Governor’s staffer […]

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Secret school reform group works to design a for-profit school model with Governor Snyder’s blessing

Secret school reform group works to design a for-profit school model with Governor Snyder’s blessing

Okay, this stinks

Here’s the thing about the idea of giving Michigan parents vouchers to use at any school, public or private, to educate their kids: it’s unconstitutional. Twice in the past 35 years Michigan voters have shot down ballot proposals to allow the funneling of tax dollars into private, non-public schools. This, of course, doesn’t stop corporatist groups and individuals like the Mackinac Center or the DeVos family for pushing endlessly for a school voucher system and the shifting of tax money earmarked for education into for-profit corporations.

This past week the Detroit News did some fantastic investigative journalism and reported that a group of school reformers, a self-dubbed “skunk works”, has been meeting in secret with the Governor’s blessing to form a new sort of private school where kids will be educated on the cheap using a for-profit model and it will be paid for with vouchers. The best part? No educators are part of the group.

Details after the jump.

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