Those big bad corporations
I often run into people who believe corporations, especially BIG corporations, are responsible for the mess our nation is in. The most vehement of these folks literally look for a corporation under every rock, or at least behind every problem that occurs. If there's a problem, a corporation must be causing it with their greed. There is no shortage of candidate corporations, such as all those profiting from war and defense expenditures, and all those profiting from the mystical vacillations of the stock market. Many of those who aim their wrath at corporations condemn them for simply making profit, because they've been taught that there is only so much money, so if someone has more, they've taken it from others. That's completely false, but that's how warped our government education system is on economics.
We do know that bad corporations influence government to get huge benefits for themselves, and to handicap their competition. That is crooked. It isn't supposed to work that way, but they've been doing it for a long time, and there's no sign of it abating. We all know they're buying influence and ripping off the rest of us in the process. I'm not going to defend the corporations. I could, but, for sake of argument, let's assume that they're all as bad as they seem.
Corporations get legislation passed and regulations implemented that will benefit them at the expense of others. Yep, that's wrong, but there's a more serious wrong involved than what the corporations are doing. The power that is being misused resides in the government... specifically in legislatures and agencies. If the legislators and agencies simply say NO to the corporations, the problems would no longer exist. No matter how bad the corporations are... no matter how hard they try, or how long they try, all that is required is for government employees to do what they're supposed to do anyway, which is abide by the Constitutional oath they've sworn to... and just say NO to anyone who wants special privilege. The only way the wrong results can occur is if the government people are not doing their job. In fact, to produce the bad results, the government people have to go out of their way to make it happen. They either have to introduce legislation and get it passed (which they have developed lots of tricks for) or produce and implement regulations, which is a complex task. Even worse, there is no way for such actions to occur without an awful lot of other people knowing and looking the other way.
We have a good recent example of political/corporate corruption. Online gambling has been surreptitiously destroyed by legislation sneaked into a bill on port security. Who will benefit? Only the non-internet gambling establishments... casinos, racetracks, etc. Yes... big corporations benefiting at the expense of small ones, but more specifically, corrupt politicians benefiting at the expense of all of us. Legislation sold to the highest bidders, destroying many businesses in the process, and reducing choices for the rest of us.
There isn't anything complex about that, is there? The simple truth is that if the guilty corporations stopped pressing for advantage and just walked away, the legislators and regulators would find someone else to deal with. They have the power and they KNOW what it is worth. Who was guiltier... the people who made political contributions to spend the night in the White House, or Bill Clinton for selling the privilege?
Politics is the more-corrupt party in the equation of corporate political influence. If politicians were known to be incorruptible, corporations would go away and concentrate their energies and money on just making more money. That isn't the case, though, and the corruption in government is so blatant that a big corporation would be a fool to ignore it and watch their competition take advantage. Corporations DO have competition. Government has a monopoly on what they sell.
Eisenhower warned us about the military-industrial complex. It's real, and it's huge. Thousands of corporations survive on producing product and services for our military branches, and many of the contracts are real monsters. That means a lot of corporations, and their employees, have a serious incentive to see us at war, expending equipment and other resources that must be replaced. Our government has the choice... they invite corporations to bid on what can be most lucrative contracts. Government invites corporations into the defense industry (and others) with potentially enormous contracts. That kind of power and that level of money cannot help but create corruption, and that kind of power only exists in big government.
Corporations are not the source of our problems... when they take advantage of corrupt politics; they're just the paid henchmen. They're also often the scapegoats if the collusion becomes too prominent in the public eye. Government officials can, with self-righteous indignation and practiced use of media, use their power to turn on their own co-conspirators, at the same time whitewashing their own involvement. Obviously, they're very good at that, because many Americans, like those I keep running into, believe that corporations are the enemy and government is their friend. I've come to believe this may be the most dangerous and foolish myth in the nation.
What is most ironic about the fear of big corporations by so many people is that the mere size of the business makes them suspect, and easy to hate, yet the people who fall for that fear do not fear big government. Many would choose to make government bigger still, to combat big corporations.
Most of us demonstrate our value in easily measured ways. Corporations and all other businesses measure their success by profit or loss. Politicians' personal success depends on what the voting public believes is true, so they become extremely adept at blaming others rather than accepting responsibility for their own actions.
Blaming others for results caused by government affects all of us. It's the way politicians shed blame from themselves, but it causes all of us to suspect each other. We've been taught, in government schools, that government is the good guy, there to protect us against ourselves, and the lesson has obviously been well instilled. We let politicians get away with anything, and instead turn against each other, looking for someone else to blame.
Finding who to blame for corruption is really simple... identify where the power lies that makes corruption possible. The wielders of the power are the source of the corruption... and that is government. Instead of looking for a corporation to blame, look to the political system that makes corruption so easy and widespread.
We do know that bad corporations influence government to get huge benefits for themselves, and to handicap their competition. That is crooked. It isn't supposed to work that way, but they've been doing it for a long time, and there's no sign of it abating. We all know they're buying influence and ripping off the rest of us in the process. I'm not going to defend the corporations. I could, but, for sake of argument, let's assume that they're all as bad as they seem.
Corporations get legislation passed and regulations implemented that will benefit them at the expense of others. Yep, that's wrong, but there's a more serious wrong involved than what the corporations are doing. The power that is being misused resides in the government... specifically in legislatures and agencies. If the legislators and agencies simply say NO to the corporations, the problems would no longer exist. No matter how bad the corporations are... no matter how hard they try, or how long they try, all that is required is for government employees to do what they're supposed to do anyway, which is abide by the Constitutional oath they've sworn to... and just say NO to anyone who wants special privilege. The only way the wrong results can occur is if the government people are not doing their job. In fact, to produce the bad results, the government people have to go out of their way to make it happen. They either have to introduce legislation and get it passed (which they have developed lots of tricks for) or produce and implement regulations, which is a complex task. Even worse, there is no way for such actions to occur without an awful lot of other people knowing and looking the other way.
We have a good recent example of political/corporate corruption. Online gambling has been surreptitiously destroyed by legislation sneaked into a bill on port security. Who will benefit? Only the non-internet gambling establishments... casinos, racetracks, etc. Yes... big corporations benefiting at the expense of small ones, but more specifically, corrupt politicians benefiting at the expense of all of us. Legislation sold to the highest bidders, destroying many businesses in the process, and reducing choices for the rest of us.
There isn't anything complex about that, is there? The simple truth is that if the guilty corporations stopped pressing for advantage and just walked away, the legislators and regulators would find someone else to deal with. They have the power and they KNOW what it is worth. Who was guiltier... the people who made political contributions to spend the night in the White House, or Bill Clinton for selling the privilege?
Politics is the more-corrupt party in the equation of corporate political influence. If politicians were known to be incorruptible, corporations would go away and concentrate their energies and money on just making more money. That isn't the case, though, and the corruption in government is so blatant that a big corporation would be a fool to ignore it and watch their competition take advantage. Corporations DO have competition. Government has a monopoly on what they sell.
Eisenhower warned us about the military-industrial complex. It's real, and it's huge. Thousands of corporations survive on producing product and services for our military branches, and many of the contracts are real monsters. That means a lot of corporations, and their employees, have a serious incentive to see us at war, expending equipment and other resources that must be replaced. Our government has the choice... they invite corporations to bid on what can be most lucrative contracts. Government invites corporations into the defense industry (and others) with potentially enormous contracts. That kind of power and that level of money cannot help but create corruption, and that kind of power only exists in big government.
Corporations are not the source of our problems... when they take advantage of corrupt politics; they're just the paid henchmen. They're also often the scapegoats if the collusion becomes too prominent in the public eye. Government officials can, with self-righteous indignation and practiced use of media, use their power to turn on their own co-conspirators, at the same time whitewashing their own involvement. Obviously, they're very good at that, because many Americans, like those I keep running into, believe that corporations are the enemy and government is their friend. I've come to believe this may be the most dangerous and foolish myth in the nation.
What is most ironic about the fear of big corporations by so many people is that the mere size of the business makes them suspect, and easy to hate, yet the people who fall for that fear do not fear big government. Many would choose to make government bigger still, to combat big corporations.
Most of us demonstrate our value in easily measured ways. Corporations and all other businesses measure their success by profit or loss. Politicians' personal success depends on what the voting public believes is true, so they become extremely adept at blaming others rather than accepting responsibility for their own actions.
Blaming others for results caused by government affects all of us. It's the way politicians shed blame from themselves, but it causes all of us to suspect each other. We've been taught, in government schools, that government is the good guy, there to protect us against ourselves, and the lesson has obviously been well instilled. We let politicians get away with anything, and instead turn against each other, looking for someone else to blame.
Finding who to blame for corruption is really simple... identify where the power lies that makes corruption possible. The wielders of the power are the source of the corruption... and that is government. Instead of looking for a corporation to blame, look to the political system that makes corruption so easy and widespread.
posted by Robert Ronald Smith at 9:40 PM
Permalink
Post
to freedomSLUT
