American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

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How to get something for nothing stratagem? Hand-cuff Incarcerate and enslave. End the Detroit Prison Industry. All the taxpayers have been captured and thrown under the jail via unnecessary and excessive laws, promulgated to have gifted taxpayers, work for free, for the KOCH brothers; the other end of the $35,000 and $50,000 per year, per prisoner. All they need to do to you, in Detroit USA, is cause you to trespass on ‘your’ foreclosed on, by the banks, we bailed out (WellsFargo Cash Cow) property, and now they’re in the money. All the tax payer high earners are finally all incarcerated. http://markmaynard.com/…/

– the corporate front group that many seem to think is supplying the Snyder administration with its ideas. Here’s a clip.

1. State legislators who pay $50 per year in dues and in exchange get junkets to luxury resorts, free or heavily subsidized vacations for their families, and other fringe benefits including free child-care and medical tests, Broadway shows, and dinners at expensive restaurants. ALEC’s membership includes 2,400 state legislators, which is over 30% of all state lawmakers in the country.

2. Over 300 corporate sponsors who pay up to $50,000 per year in dues plus up to $5,000 to sit on industry-specific task forces in their areas of interest such as energy, healthcare, telecommunications and taxes. The task forces write and approve the model legislation that conforms to the business interests of their corporate members. Tax records indicate that corporations collectively pay as much as $6 million a year. The corporate executives and their lobbyists then get substantial face time with the state legislators at ALEC’s retreats and other events.

According to its website, the corporate funders currently on ALEC’s Private Enterprise board include Koch Industries, Altria, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKlein, Pfizer, Reynolds American Inc. (the parent company of cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds), Energy Future Holdings, Peabody Energy, PhRMA, AT&T, UPS, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and State Farm Insurance…

What could possibly go wrong?

In all seriousness, why aren’t the Michigan Democrats pushing an alternative budget that focuses on the closing of corporate tax loopholes, prison reform, and the passage of a graduated, progressive income tax? I’ve got to think that a majority of Michiganders would prefer that to increasing taxes on the elderly and the working poor.

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