Topic: The Revolution
Corporate Corruption Killing America Only pandemic delusional thinking explains why Americans don't understand that political reforms are prevented by corporate corruption of the political system.by Joel S. Hirschhorn
(libertarian)
Monday, September 14, 2009
Anyone smart and strong enough to fight delusional thinking and who pays attention to current events should clearly see that corporate corruption of the US political system is so pervasive and powerful that there will be no genuine reform of both the health care and financial sectors.
I always believed that President Obama was just a different color corrupt politician who was subservient to the two-party plutocracy. His so-called reform efforts and ludicrous federal deficit spending should disappoint all his non-delusional supporters.
For health reform the only genuine and sensible reform legislation should have been not much more than a single sentence mandating that every American has a right to full Medicare coverage. Period. End of story. True reform. True universal health insurance.
Let the health insurance industry sell their garbage to those choosing it over Medicare and as supplemental insurance, as is done today, to cover what Medicare does not. The one major reason why the US spends more of its wealth on health care than any other nation, but with lousy results for the population as a whole is that so many Americans and their employers buy costly private health insurance. Some things essential for human survival require government programs, like police and fire protection. The overwhelming opinion of those in Medicare is very positive. In fact it is far more positive than those using private health insurance.
But the health insurance industry and others have successfully corrupted Congress and brainwashed much of the population to fear true reforms. Sure, Congress will pass some legislation that Obama will sign and they all will claim victory. But the nation will not get true reforms and health care spending will continue to rise and bankrupt the nation.
And now we also are learning slowly that the financial sector that tanked our economy by pursuing enormously risky but profitable business practices and then was bailed out by the government has not learned any lessons. Banks and all kinds of financial companies are still pursuing risky businesses, still overpaying their top executives and still screwing consumers. Congress is unlikely to pass really tough regulations to put a halt to all the awful practices by financial companies. Why? Because Congress has been corrupted by money from this financial sector.
Make no mistake: Corporate corruption is a true bipartisan effort, perhaps the most bipartisan enterprise.
Obama is no more of a real reformer than any Republican. That so many on the far right think he is a socialist is laughable. He is nothing more than a defender of the corporate-owned two-party plutocracy. To see anything else is pure delusion. The US is being flushed away. A populist Second American Revolution is the only way to save the nation. It will not come from the efforts of anyone that is a Democrat or Republican.
Wake up America! Voting for Democrats or Republicans just perpetuates this corrupt system. They fiddled while Rome burned; we borrow while America sinks.
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The views expressed in this
article are those of Joel S. Hirschhorn only and do not represent
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employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
I believe Obama is a socialist, or something very close to that. I think the idea is to blend the corporate world with government, gradually melding into one ruling entity.
This article touches on a question I have. I am very interested in what the Libertarian party stands for and am considering joining it. However, I have one concern: with minimal governmental interference in business, how can a Libertarian philosophy prevent greedy, power hungry corporations from seizing power and forming a feudal system?
good question. One basic principle that would apply is the fact that "incorporation" itself and the granting of "limited liability" is an abuse of government power and blatant intervention into the market.
Corporations exist and have privledges that individuals and unincorporated businesses don't have because of government interference [all incorporation is granted and enforced by the State]. Their basic existence is antithetical to the Libertarian philosophy.
Still, your question stands. I have never seen a Libertarian party statement close to this principle or even touching on the subject. And you are correct, if all regulation and government agencies are eliminated, without a complete reorganization and new purpose to the court systems, a feudal system might be a good description of what will occur.
You might pose that question to your local LP rep before you join.
Hi, John. This one's easy. I hope Joel won't mind me answering as I will give you the straight libertarian perspective that he likely couldn't/wouldn't.
When the government is truly laissez-faire, that means that such tripe as Sarbanes-Oxley, antitrusts regulation, and the dozen ABC agencies designed to stifle competition in the name of fairness would cease to exist. Ditto for subsidies and tax exceptions.
These laws and statutes, which are manmade, are STATIC regulation, which is bad. STATIC means loopholes can be found, or certain legal requirements continue on into irrelevance, etc. Static law is only as useful as Congress can update it. Which, as you have seen just from the gridlock on this healthcare bill- makes that scenario less likely.
Without these drives, the invisible hand, which Adam Smith triumphed, kicks into play.Let's take my favorite example of eye surgery. I use this example because procedures like Lasik are still very much unregulated and growing cheaper and safer everyday. Because the FDA doesn't mandate I use costly technology or other procedures, the safety net for my business is small. If I screw up with a patient, I likely will go out of business immediately or spend all my money fighting lawsuits. I'm not preserved by inefficient legislation that makes it harder for consumers to exercise their rights.
Thus, to tie this in with the "big, bad" monolithic corporation, they simply aren't likely to exist in a vast majority of industries. With government maintaining monopoly on justice and defense, there would be less waste and money being redirected from taxes to keep them up. We've seen this plenty of times this last year with the banks and auto industry.
Businesses are encouraged to localize, develop niche markets. This not only benefits society from not having an immoral mainstream culture, but it means more small companies, etc- as championed by the anti-Walmart liberals, etc. I hope this answers your question. I can elaborate further if you wish.
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