Corporations can be very good for a country because they employ people, create things, sell things, and provide services.  But there can be problems when corporations have too much influence over government and when they refuse to negotiate with unions or use union workers.  John Edwards is the democratic candidate who is talking the most about corporate greed and the problems that it can cause.  Here’s part of an article from Huffington Post that explains what he said in Iowa on Friday.

 

While Edwards has consistently campaigned on an economically populist
program, his speech today in Dubuque was marked by a noticeable ratcheting up
and radicalization of his critique of corporate wealth and power.

“Why on earth would we expect the corporate powers and their lobbyists, who
make billions by selling out the middle-class, to just give up their power
because we ask them nicely?” Edwards asked. He made no mention of rivals Barack
Obama or Hillary Clinton in today’s speech; in the past, he has slammed Clinton
for being too indebted to powerful Washington lobbies.

Edwards is in the midst of a final 38-county push to win next Thursday’s Iowa
caucuses. Even his own supporters will concede that taking Iowa is a do-or-die
must for a campaign running third in national polls, but in a virtual dead heat
in the Hawkeye State with rivals Clinton and Obama.

Nestled on the gritty Illinois border, Dubuque has been hit hard by the
collapse in American manufacturing jobs and offers itself as a perfect venue for
Edwards’ message of economic fairness. The local Flexsteel plant has lost about
two-thirds of its 800 jobs over the past decade. Paper maker Georgia Pacific,
another big employer in town, has also been hit hard by job exports.

“Iowa has lost twice as many jobs to unfair trade deals than it’s won in the
so-called technological revolution,” Edwards adviser Dave “Mudcat” Saunders told
the HuffPost before today’s event started. “What kind of revolution is that?”
Saunders said Edwards would stay on his message of opposing “unchecked greed”
and that it was a theme that resonated deeply throughout the state.

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Filed under: Democrats, Economy, Election 2008, Featured Stories, FrecklesCassie, John Edwards, Labor Issues, Opinion, Politics, corporations, draft