CORPORATE INFLUENCE OVER GOVERNMENT POLICY

“Progressives have long complained of corporate influence over government policy. They’ve pilloried companies that threaten to move operations in order to extract favors from state legislatures; they’ve attacked the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council for its role in drafting a slew of pro-business state laws; they’ve called for overturning Citizens United.”

James Surowiecki, “Unlikely Alliances,” in the New Yorker, April 25, 2016, financial page.

VIEWS OF BUSINESS MATTER MORE THAN WHAT VOTERS WANT

“In a comprehensive 2014 study of two decades of public-opinion data, the political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page showed that the views of business leaders and the economic élite matter far more to politicians than what ordinary voters want.”

James Surowiecki, “Unlikely Alliances,” in the New Yorker, April 25, 2016, financial page.