Sarah Palin on Corporations Republican Governor (AK); 2008 nominee for Vice President

Governor must act as effective CEO on behalf of Alaskans

As manager of our vast public resources, the Governor must act as an effective CEO on behalf of all Alaskans in negotiating the best deals for the state, and I am prepared to tackle that challenge.

Encourage small business growth by reducing business taxes

Wall Street violated public trust & caused mortgage crisis

A: I think the corruption on Wall Street--that is to blame. And that violation of the public trust. And that contract that should be inherent in corporations who are spending, investing other people's money--the abuse of that is what has got to stop. And it's a matter, too, of some of these CEOs and top management people and shareholders not holding that management accountable, being addicted to, we call it, O-P-M, "other people's money." Spending that, investing that, not using the prudence that we expect of them. But here again, government has got to play an appropriate role in the stringent oversight, making sure that those abuses stop.

FactCheck: No, Obama's plan won't tax millions of businesses

It's simply untrue that "millions" of small business owners will pay higher federal income taxes under Obama's proposal. Several hundred thousand small business owners, at most, would have incomes high enough to be affected by the higher rates on income, capital gains and dividends that Obama proposes. That counts as "small business owners" even those who merely have some sideline income from such endeavors as freelance writing, speaking or running rental properties, and who get the bulk of their income from employment elsewhere.

Small businesses have to be brave enough to fail

"Bristol, answer me this," I said to my daughter. "You want to buy a coffee show someday, right? You know you'll be rewarded for your hard work to meet a demand for a quality product and good service. And you know you'll have to be brave enough to fail, right? This business would be YOUR responsibility. You can't look to anyone to bail out if you make poor decisions" I told Bristol, "Don't do it until this administration understands government's role in private business. Or wait until they're out of office."

Adopt a pro-market agenda that invites competition

I fought against crony capitalism as governor

It's called crony capitalism, and it's something I fought against as governor. In Alaska, we took on "Big Oil" and its allies in government who were taking the 49th state for a ride. My administration challenged lax rules that allowed corruption and irresponsible resource development, and we even took on the largest corporation in the world at the time, Exxon-Mobil.

Our reforms helped reduce politicians' ability to play favorites and helped clean up corruption. "Big Oil", including executives and lobbyists of BP, Exxon, Conoco-Phillips, and others, didn't pal around with me, but, then, that was a mutual decision.