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| demo:democracy [2025/12/17 04:30] – external edit 127.0.0.1 | demo:democracy [2025/12/22 23:34] (current) – dave |
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| - If they fall on hard times, then ‘too-big-to-fail’ corporations – notably banks – are bailed out with our money. Not the case with small businesses. | - If they fall on hard times, then ‘too-big-to-fail’ corporations – notably banks – are bailed out with our money. Not the case with small businesses. |
| - Governments spend taxpayers’ money on high-speed rail, motorways and airports that disproportionately benefit national and multinational corporations rather than local businesses. | - Governments spend taxpayers’ money on high-speed rail, motorways and airports that disproportionately benefit national and multinational corporations rather than local businesses. |
| - It’s been shown many times that [mixed smallholdings are more productive than large-scale](/smho/smallholding) [monocu](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/lowimpactlinks/linkssmallholding/#feed)[lture](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/lowimpactlinks/linkssmallholding/#feed). But large-scale, industrial agriculture gets all the subsidies. | - It’s been shown many times that [mixed smallholdings are more productive](/smho/smallholding) than large-scale monoculture. But large-scale, industrial agriculture gets all the subsidies. |
| - The state grants monopoly control of the money supply to corporate banks, along with the right to [create money from nothing, and to charge interest on it](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/why-the-banks-have-so-much-power-and-how-we-can-take-it-away-from-them/); and in return the banks buy government bonds to provide the funds they need to compete in the global game. | - The state grants monopoly control of the money supply to corporate banks, along with the right to [create money from nothing, and to charge interest on it](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/why-the-banks-have-so-much-power-and-how-we-can-take-it-away-from-them/); and in return the banks buy government bonds to provide the funds they need to compete in the global game. |
| - There are huge [s](https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subsidies-a-closer-look-at-tax-breaks-and-societal-costs)[ubsidies for oil companies](https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subsidies-a-closer-look-at-tax-breaks-and-societal-costs) to find more fossil fuels; and no tax on aviation fuel or VAT on flights etc. | - There are huge [subsidies for oil companies](https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-fossil-fuel-subsidies-a-closer-look-at-tax-breaks-and-societal-costs) to find more fossil fuels; and no tax on aviation fuel or VAT on flights etc. |
| - Giant states will always prefer giant corporations when it comes to government contracts. | - Giant states will always prefer giant corporations when it comes to government contracts. |
| - Spending on corporate weaponry hugely exceeds any ‘defence’ requirements. | - Spending on corporate weaponry hugely exceeds any ‘defence’ requirements. |
| - and [many more](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/infoarticle/40-ways-that-corporate-power-trumps-political-power/). | |
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| <WRAP center centeralign> | <WRAP center centeralign> |
| ### 3. Why voting won't change this | ### 3. Why voting won't change this |
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| The removal of the contstraints on the global movement of capital has created the conditions whereby states have to be very attentive to the needs of capital to ensure that it doesn’t move away from their country. | The removal of the constraints on the global movement of capital has created the conditions whereby states have to be very attentive to the needs of capital to ensure that it doesn’t move away from their country. |
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| Ludovica Rogers of [Co-ops UK](https://www.uk.coop/) puts it well: | Ludovica Rogers of [Co-ops UK](https://www.uk.coop/) puts it well: |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
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| It might be difficult to avoid [Amazon](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/reasons-not-buy-amazon/), [Ü](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/beware-the-sharing-economy-back-door-for-a-more-rapacious-form-of-capitalism/)[ber](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/beware-the-sharing-economy-back-door-for-a-more-rapacious-form-of-capitalism/), Microsoft and the like, but really, that’s the most important first task. If they keep getting bigger, they’ll make it harder and harder to introduce alternatives in the future. We have to find those alternatives now – all of us. | It might be difficult to avoid [Amazon](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/reasons-not-buy-amazon/), [Uber](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/beware-the-sharing-economy-back-door-for-a-more-rapacious-form-of-capitalism/), Microsoft and the like, but really, that’s the most important first task. If they keep getting bigger, they’ll make it harder and harder to introduce alternatives in the future. We have to find those alternatives now – all of us. |
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| [This is a story](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/what-post-covid-communities-could-look-like-if-enough-of-us-want-it/) of how communities might operate in a democratic, non-corporate world. | [This is a story](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/what-post-covid-communities-could-look-like-if-enough-of-us-want-it/) of how communities might operate in a democratic, non-corporate world. |
| Corporate tentacles reach your High Street (local branches), your homes (TV and internet advertising), your finances (mortgage and credit card debt) and your minds (branding). They suck money out of individuals and communities to ensure that they continue to have the most money (and therefore power). And they make you feel grateful for it, because 'they bring jobs and choice' (although small businesses provide more jobs, and the 'choice' they provide doesn't include real democracy). | Corporate tentacles reach your High Street (local branches), your homes (TV and internet advertising), your finances (mortgage and credit card debt) and your minds (branding). They suck money out of individuals and communities to ensure that they continue to have the most money (and therefore power). And they make you feel grateful for it, because 'they bring jobs and choice' (although small businesses provide more jobs, and the 'choice' they provide doesn't include real democracy). |
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| We don’t believe that the necessary change can come through voting, or through overthrowing anything, but by ‘[transcending](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/transcender-manifesto-dil-green/)’ - building a [new economy](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/lowimpact-topic/new-economy/) from our [communities](/comy/community). | We don’t believe that the necessary change can come through voting, or through overthrowing anything, but by ‘[transcending](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/transcender-manifesto-dil-green/)’ - building a new economy from our [communities](/comy/community). |
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| | ## Further resources |
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| See also '[40 ways that corporate power trumps political power](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/infoarticle/40-ways-that-corporate-power-trumps-political-power/).' | - [Center for Corporate Policy](http://www.corporatepolicy.org/) - working to curb corporate abuses and make corporations publicly accountable |
| | - [Center for Science in the Public Interest](https://www.cspi.org/) - monitoring corporate influence in science |
| | - [Corporate Europe Observatory](https://www.corporateeurope.org/en) - exposing the power of corporate lobbying in the EU |
| | - [Corporate Watch](https://corporatewatch.org/) - not-for-profit researching the social and environmental effects of corporate power |
| | - [CorpWatch](https://www.corpwatch.org/) - provide accurate, timely and easily accessible articles, reports and data on violations by multinational corporations to activists, media, the general public and policy makers |
| | - [Open Secrets](https://www.opensecrets.org/) - US site exposing money's influence on US elections and public policy |
| | - [Reclaim Democracy](https://reclaimdemocracy.org/) - resource for individual activists, groups, reporters, legislators, and the public |
| | - [Think Tank Watch](https://thinktank-watch.blogspot.com/) - informing about corporate think tanks |
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| | ## Specialist curators of this topic |
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