I've never seen a US President speak from such weakness as I did when I saw President Obama give his "please don't hurt me" speech to the US Chamber of Commerce the other day. Is there even a pretension that we still have a representative government, instead of a corporatized bribe contest?

Obama didn't say anything, except for invoking the words of Roosevelt and Kennedy. That shit might fly in a State of Union message, or some campaign stop. Companies exist for one primary reason, to make money. He needs to learn that basic principle. Maybe he can go to the local DC Learning Annex and get a little tutorial on how to manage a business.

"Companies exist for one primary reason, to make money. He needs to learn that basic principle."

Because we all know that making a buck trumps love for country, or a modicum of human decency.

but not with Obama attending a local Learning Annex class on how and why businesses operate. Obama would have been better off by sending his new Chief of Staff, who understands that basic premise.

See Willy, Obama believes that the interests of society and employees should supersede the interests of customers and shareholders. That's laudable, but skewed to the left. Great companies balance the objective between serving the interests of just shareholders vs the interests of stakeholders, which include customers, shareholders, employees and society.

Obama's primary message yesterday to the Chamber was, please hire more people. But then he invokes comments from Roosevelt and Kennedy. That sounds good, makes you feel good, but how does that create more demand? How does that help with the myriad of complex and mind numbing regulations. He needed to talk specifics, and he didn't. He doesn't have a game plan.

No, it's just politics as usual.  Obama knows he's not getting much support from the Chamber but he's trying to show the public he's not as anti-business as he's been portrayed.  Whether people believe him is another matter.

Companies want to "EARN" their money...

Dem governments just want to take other people's money.

In a simple way, why companies are good, why liberals are bad...

We have allowed companies to reep the rewards of endless corporate welfare programs, outright bailouts, offshoring jobs without consequence, allowed endless mergers, and even allowed them gut this country of our industrial base.

Has there ever been a society in all of human history that has allowed itself to be gutted of it's industrial capacity in the name of encouraging corporate profits?

The reality Saint, is that the good ole USA has given business endless opportunites. And with that, they have left this country in shambles. The nation that has given them the ability to live with more luxary and comfort than anyone else has ever known in all of human history, now have to be politely asked by the President of the United States to please, pretty please, stop your destruction of America.

The love for a buck thumps the love for country. But only, it seems, if you already have a lot of bucks. Do you have any idea of how hollow bemoaning a few regulations sounds to someone who's had to rely on charity to feed their children? Do you think that these business "titans" could put their incessant narcissism aside for one moment to consider the consequences of their actions? Mebbe, just mebbe hire an American who's been unemployed now for 2 years or more with those trillions of dollars they're sitting on?

Obama hasn't learned this: trying the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Asking the US Chamber of Commerce to fix this problem is insanity.

The more rational and indeed patriotic thing to do would be to drop a few predator drones on the Chamber's head. And no, I'm not being flippant.

As he compromises and caves to every special interest, just remember Obama gives a great speech and he's not whitey.  

At least he does let down the Nobel committee.

Companies will profit from any activity that is available to them including taking handouts from the US government. Earn is an obsolete term these days. The goal of capitalism is to get maximum profit from minimum investment.

maximum profit for minimum investment had ALWAYS been the goal of capitalism.

In regards to government subsudies, hell, the GOVERNMENT decides those, not businesses, so what's wrong with a business getting what it is allowed to get from the government.

the capitalist class runs the government. If you dont see a problem with that try bidding against Boeing for a missile contract!

because that's the core issue here. Don't get all philosophical on me. There are a few key reasons why we will continue to have chronically high employment for the foreseeable future.

First, technology. What really evolved out of this past recession is a structural shift to focusing on increasing productivity through the use of technology. I know you are young, but 10 to 15 years ago, you had to call the airline or travel agent to make an airline reservation. Today, you can call the airline, but probably you go online and use Orbitz, Travelocity, Priceline, or directly to the airline's website. The travel agent has gone the way of the dodo bird. You didn't need a college education to be a travel agent or work in an airline call center. What do you do? Avoid technology to bring back 500K travel agents, or airline reservation employees, because it's morally the right thing to do?

Second, education. 90% of the unemployed don't have an education, or any of the required skills and competencies. To be a travel agent or airline reservation employee didn't require a college degree, but to work for Orbitz, Travelocity or Priceline probably does, because of the use of IT. If you have a degree in math, science, technology, engineering, etc, you'll be fine. You might be screwed if you decide to major in art history, or other disciplines in liberal arts.

Third, and this is for you willy. Companies are sitting on a ton a cash. They really don't need to hire back to the pre-recession levels. They are either using their cash hoard to buy other companies, OUCH, because when you acquire you have redundancies, hence more layoffs. Or, you take the cash to buy back shares. Less available shares means a lower P/E, which may translate into a higher stock price. Good for shareholders.

Fourth, construction and housing ain't coming back anytime soon. These industries don't require a formal education per se. What do you do with these people?

This is a major problem, because we will have a big segment of society that will be chronically unemployed. I hate to say this, but we are getting a bit like Europe with chronic high unemployment.

I don't think the Chamber was the right venue for Obama to address this problem. We have an educational problem, and when you have only 25% of Americans with at least an undergraduate degree, and over 30% of kids dropping out of high school, the problem is not totally with those evil corporations.

So don't get all progressive on me. It is what it is. We need to fix the root problem, and the Chamber was not the place to do it.

1) technology has resulted in dramatic increases in productivity. In other words, supply has increased. Wages have remained flat. Ergo, all the economic bubbles we've had lately. This is why something external to the market needs to be applied to bring demand back in balance with supply. It's why we need to increase the minimum wage and make it easier to form or join a union.

2) we have an education system that trains people to be obedient workers, instead of training them to get higher wages or to secure their jobs as they do in Germany.

3) Companies are sitting on a ton of cash. That's why we need to TAX THEM. The Federal Trade Commission also needs to step in and prevent further conglomeration, which does nothing but lay off workers and reduce market competition. What we should be doing is breaking companies up, particularly in the energy, healthcare, and telecommunications industries.

4) Our main problem is with our trade policy. Until this country stops offshoring it's wealth, then our economy will not recover.

And lastly comparisons to Europe's unemployment is quite silly, since 1) we don't really count our unemployed, and 2) Europe has a real social safety net.

therefore I see no problems with it...

BTW, last time I checked, we have open elections...