I have never loved big government and have always been suspicious of it. Now I must extend that to big business. Big business has co-opted big government to such an extent that I can hardly tell them apart. People move from Big Business to the Clinton Administration or Bush Administration and back effortlessly. Much of our bloated government spending goes into corporate waste. The Defense Department, Health and Human Services spending, pork barrel highway projects, etc. Watch where the Gulf disaster money goes. THIS IS NOT THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM. It is what Ayn Rand described in "Atlas Shrugged" and some of her other works.

People are dying in droves thanks to a badly handled major disaster and the Bush administration continues to divert billions of dollars to Corporate Welfare.Shameful!!!

Corporate Welfare is just a nice way of saying Socialist theft.

Corporate welfare is a somewhat vague concept to most. Some people bristle at using a word against corporations they think is more apt for welfare queens. Actually, some of biggest holes in welfare as we've known it are parallel to the most unethical practices in corporate welfare. In both cases, honest tax payers end up paying more than their fair share because of clear abuse of public money. Certain corporations may unethically enrich themselves at the expense of the public in many ways. (1) Lobbying elected politicians for special laws that are against the public interest in exchange for financing that politician's reelection campaign (Pork barrel politics at its most classic). (2) Threatening local governments with relocating their entire operations (or not building new operations locally) unless special huge tax breaks are provided that other local companies do not receive. (3) Winning large government contracts through means other than a fair, competitive bidding process. In a time when public servants often seem to be serving themselves more than the public, we could use a few more John McCains who have boldly addressed campaign finance reform and other large-scale lapses in financial ethics. Whether it's the individual person who is the public money cheat (welfare abusers, using loopholes or lies on tax reporting) or it is a corporation who doesn't pay their fair share, the costs are heavy to honest tax payers. We can't excuse either side of the fence.

Countless handouts to corporations and direct government subsidies to businesses, orph, is not true capitalism. That is socialism. An important issue, considering that nearly $100 billion each year in handouts are provided to corporations, hence the name corporate welfare. If you want to talk about cutting wasteful spending within the federal budget, then start here. States and local governments who provide assistance to local businesses that are seeking to expand or relocate typically have more positive results, as the assistance is more direct and targeted. However, at the federal level, it is just one large black whole, and rarely is the funding appropriated for so-called business development each year utilized in ways that will benefit local economies. An entire review of the federal budget for such wasteful spending is definitely needed.

Most people who have a problem with corporations generally don't seem to have much of an understanding of economy, how money works, how capitalism works, how they have personally benefitted from the system, etc. It's really not a problem, thank you.

Stop it. Stop it all.