Kasz216 said:
Except when they aren't. Which is pretty much all the time. Italy, Greece and Japan are all pretty good examples of countries with longstanding well known corruption that went rampant. Russia is another great example. Or hell, the United States. 20% or less aproval ratings for congress... 85-90% retention rates. They can do whatever they want and not be held accoutnable. Drone strikes that kill more civilians then actual terrorist targets, nobody really cares. Congress insider trading for god knows how long... a lot of people just assume that most if not all of congress is in the pockets of some special interest or another... Ie corruption... yet, nothing.
Companies actually tend to be influenced MORE by actual public opinion... not happy with Nike, there are plenty of other shoe companys out there. Not happy with your political party? Your lucky if you have two other shitty choices out there who are for the same things... live in a place like most places in the US where lines are gerrymandered to assure one party wins? Your representiative can do whatever the hell he wants and get elected, not unless someone credible from the same party runs against him in a primary. |
It seems to happen that the larger the scale is, the less relevant the individual decisions of individeuals are. With markets, you get bubbles, and bad practies become norms. The markets get so complicated, and with derivatives no one understands them, that you have a hard time for oversight. With government, the regulations get more and more complex, . And companies and industries now run large scale PR campaigns to spin the issue their way (fracking is one example of this, as was offshore drilling. Yes, had issues with BP mucking up, and then the push to drill, baby, drill goes on again).
The thing about markets, is that people will buy the cheapest item, when possible. People are driven by this. The end result is an effect you will see conservatives like Lou Dobbs rail against, which is the demise of American jobs. You end up also with Walmart still being huge, and as much as people have issue with them, they still roll on. It took actually the political route using zoning, to get Walmart to reconsider.
The reality seems to be that it isn't markets alone which can solve all answers, but an involved public that can tamper excesses and having government oversight. But then, there is the issue with government on the federal level that needs to be figured out. Maybe having many more representatives would fix things. But it seems now that even the political realm is nothing more than just another market where money is spent and public opinion is bought.
And hating congress seems to be a fun thing to do. It doesn't really do anything. It seems people are happy with how their local guy milks it, but they don't like the system as a whole.
