2007 NPR Debate: on Corporations

Hillary Clinton: Bush defanged the Consumer Product Safety Commission

A: The reason we have such few recalls, even though they have been increasing because the evidence has been so overwhelming is because this administration has basically defanged the Consumer Product Safety Commission. They do not have any real appetite for going after these companies and countries that are flooding our markets with dangerous products, and that has to stop.

Hillary Clinton: FactCheck: Yes, Bush shrunk CPSC; but it shrank before Bush

It’s true that Bush has made some controversial appointments to the CPSC. Congressional Democrats have opposed his choices several times, accusing his nominees of having conflicts of interest or being weak on product safety. CPSC is also widely reported to be understaffed and underfunded. During the Bush administration, the commission has gone from 480 to 401 full-time employees (including only one full-time toy tester).

But not all of this can be pinned on Bush. CPSC has been shrinking for decades. Between 1980 and 1982, during Ronald Reagan’s administration, the agency went from 978 employees (its peak number) to only 649. Even during Bill Clinton’s time in office, the agency went from 515 to 480 employees.

John Edwards: Trade policy caters to interests of big corporate America

A: This whole issue of balance--if you look at what’s happened--and this didn’t just happen under George Bush; this has been going on for a decade and a half now--in my hometown, the mill that my father worked in, and the people that I grew up with--that mill’s closed now. The jobs are gone. The same thing has happened in Newton, Iowa, and all across this state.

I met a man a few years ago, who talked about having to look his child in the eye and explain why her daddy, who had worked in that mill his entire life, that factory, had lost his job and hadn’t done anything wrong, because his child did not understand.

American trade policy is catering to the interests of big corporate America. It has been for a decade and a half. And we desperately need a president of the United States who, instead of asking, is this going to help corporate profits--is this actually going to stand up for American workers and American jobs.

John Edwards: Corporate interests have taken over democracy

A: I think we have an enormous struggle to try to restore the power in the country and the democracy back to the American people and take it away from big corporate interests, et cetera, who’ve taken over the democracy.