Tuesday July 24, 2012, 10:02 pm
According to "ALEC Exposed": ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills."

That being said, please note that Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Bank of America, General Electric, and Walmart are for-profit corporations that are known to be, or to have been, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) members or supporters. JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs received TARP bailout money. "U.S. Chamber Watch" reported that "GE took a beating in the press this week when it was revealed that, unlike the vast majority of working Americans, GE avoided paying any taxes last year. But the story gets worse. Through a series of tax incentives, breaks and write-offs, GE recorded a net gain on their 2009 tax liability. This is to say that not only did GE avoid paying taxes, taxpayers paid GE. In fact, during the past five years GE has "received a net tax benefit from the I.R.S. of $4.1 billion." Meanwhile, since 2002, GE has eliminated 1/5 of its American work force."

As far as I'm concerned, if a company joins a secretive and powerful organization like ALEC for the sole purpose of manipulating our government for the purpose of increasing their own profit margin, what they donate to charity is more likely an attempt to improve their public relations and receive legal tax write-offs. If they're willing to perform underhanded acts in order to screw the public (as the banks did by causing the mortgage foreclosure crisis), why would they make charitable donations? These companies are run by people who send American jobs overseas and toss people out of their homes. The people who run them are anything but charitable...

Thanks for for posting this informative and revealing article, Carrie!

Wednesday July 25, 2012, 4:18 am
noted, thanks Carrie

Wednesday July 25, 2012, 7:42 am
This paltry amount of giving does not make up for what they take and destroy.

Wednesday July 25, 2012, 11:27 am
Must agree with Alexandra and Susanne!

Wednesday July 25, 2012, 1:19 pm
Noted! Thanks for posting!

Wednesday July 25, 2012, 1:39 pm
thanks for that bit of explanation Susanne! will re-post this.

Wednesday July 25, 2012, 3:35 pm
Genuine philanthropy or buying off guilt?

Wednesday July 25, 2012, 3:49 pm
I noticed from the list that most of these corporations do more harm than good. I did like Wells Fargo and Target.

Wednesday July 25, 2012, 5:13 pm
Thanks for the post! :)

Wednesday July 25, 2012, 10:07 pm
Thanks.

Thursday July 26, 2012, 4:24 am
Noted, thanks,.

Thursday July 26, 2012, 7:29 am
If all states had B Corp option--that could become the way to determine real from fascade on charitable giving, too

Thursday July 26, 2012, 1:52 pm
I wonder why Care2.com Inc. didn't make the list?

Thursday July 26, 2012, 6:41 pm
Thanks Carrie.

We'd all be better off if these corporations charged less for their products and services so that we could decide what to do with the extra profit rather than allowing them to do so.

Thursday July 26, 2012, 8:03 pm
Anything that is given to Charity from wal-mart comes from the Associate/employee. In fact it is almost a must to donate.If you do not you are harassed.Anything that could be donated like day old bread is thrown away.They could feed many people but it doesn't come from their pockets.

Friday July 27, 2012, 10:43 am
Thanks for posting

Friday July 27, 2012, 9:46 pm
thanks for posting. It seems that we have long way to go before these corporations embrace genuine philanthropy

Saturday July 28, 2012, 2:54 am
Noted, great to hear. We always hear the bad side of big companies, but never the good.

Saturday July 28, 2012, 9:41 am
I think Susanne R. nailed this one beautifully.

Saturday July 28, 2012, 12:29 pm
I happened to be online when I received your star. Thank you, Allan! I appreciate the star and your kind comment !

Saturday July 28, 2012, 7:46 pm
I keep reporting all this SPAM, but would appreciate it if every now and then you did too. Thanks my friends.

Sunday July 29, 2012, 8:13 am
I too, report the spam whenever I see it. Thanks for all the good comments everyone