The gruesome garment factory disasters in Bangladesh, including a
fire that claimed the lives of more than 112 in Tazreen and a building
collapse that killed over 1,100 in Dhaka while maiming countless more,
has brought international pressure on Western retailers and their
partners in Bangladesh's $20 billion garment industry. While more than
seventy European and North American companies have signed onto a strong
agreement with local Bangladesh and international labor NGOs for
sweeping new safety standards (known as the Accord on Fire and Building
Safety), many large US-based retailers have refused to play ball, preferring instead to rollout their own, competing agreement.
Yesterday morning, the competing agreement—sponsored by Walmart,
Target, Kohls's Corp, L.L. Bean, Nordstrom, J.C. Penney, Gap, Sears, and
other firms—was unveiled at the Bipartisan Policy Center by former
Senators Olympia Snowe and George Mitchell. A joint statement from the
AFL-CIO and Change to Win swiftly condemned the rival agreement as "yet
another 'voluntary' scheme with no meaningful enforcement mechanisms"
and a "product of a closed process and has been signed only by the same
corporations that produced it." The union says labor was not involved in
the Walmart and Gap-led agreement.
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Showing posts with label lobbying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lobbying. Show all posts
How lawmakers and lobbyists keep a lock on the private prison business
Private prison corporations say they don't lobby on custodial policy. They seem to find legislators with views aligned anyway
Early in August, the Associated Press reported that America's three largest private prison companies, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), GEO Group, Inc and Management and Training Corp spent in the region of $45m over the past 10 years in lobbying state and federal governments. During the same period, these companies saw their profits soar as they scored more government contracts.
During the same period, various pieces of legislation got passed ensuring that immigrant detention, in particular, would remain a lucrative growth market. The companies get defensive, however, if anyone attempts to draw a connection between their lobbying efforts and their booming businesses. But whatever the purpose of the lobbying, the very fact that these companies, which perform a public service using taxpayer funds, are first and foremost profit-making entities highlights the flawed incentivisation of the private prison model and its growing presence in the American criminal justice system.
I'll get to the lobbying in a moment, but first let's have a look at that flawed incentive. Thanks to mandatory sentencing laws and the "war on drugs", the prison population has exploded over the past 30 years – to the point where it has become an untenable burden on state budgets. As a result, many state lawmakers have begun to look at ways to reduce their prison populations. This is good for society, as needlessly locking people up for excessive periods for nonviolent crimes has proven to be counter-productive and cost-prohibitive – not to mention inhumane.
Read on....
Early in August, the Associated Press reported that America's three largest private prison companies, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), GEO Group, Inc and Management and Training Corp spent in the region of $45m over the past 10 years in lobbying state and federal governments. During the same period, these companies saw their profits soar as they scored more government contracts.
During the same period, various pieces of legislation got passed ensuring that immigrant detention, in particular, would remain a lucrative growth market. The companies get defensive, however, if anyone attempts to draw a connection between their lobbying efforts and their booming businesses. But whatever the purpose of the lobbying, the very fact that these companies, which perform a public service using taxpayer funds, are first and foremost profit-making entities highlights the flawed incentivisation of the private prison model and its growing presence in the American criminal justice system.
I'll get to the lobbying in a moment, but first let's have a look at that flawed incentive. Thanks to mandatory sentencing laws and the "war on drugs", the prison population has exploded over the past 30 years – to the point where it has become an untenable burden on state budgets. As a result, many state lawmakers have begun to look at ways to reduce their prison populations. This is good for society, as needlessly locking people up for excessive periods for nonviolent crimes has proven to be counter-productive and cost-prohibitive – not to mention inhumane.
Read on....
Profiting From Recession, Payday Lenders Spend Big to Fight Regulation
Industry steps up lobbying efforts as the Senate grapples with financial reform.
Photo Credit: Lagan Sebert / Investigative Fund
The influential $42 billion-a-year payday lending industry, thriving from a surge in emergency loans to people struggling through the recession, is pouring record sums into lobbying, campaign contributions, and public relations – and getting results.
As the Senate prepares to take up financial reform, lobbyists are working to exempt companies that make short-term cash loans from proposed new federal regulations and policing. In state capitals around the country, payday companies have been fighting some 100 pieces of legislation aimed at safeguarding borrowers from high interest rates and from falling into excessive debt.
Last year, as the U.S. House drew up a financial reform bill, some lawmakers who were courted by the companies and received campaign contributions from them helped crush amendments seeking to restrict payday practices, a review by the Huffington Post Investigative Fund has found.
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