After several sessions with the evening news it seems the following conclusion is inescapable: business in this country has gotten big enough to control our government. Automobile, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, insurance, mining, banking . . . they all have grown so massive that they can influence and direct the governments (not just the Fed but state and regional, too) whom we elected to protect us.
What else can explain why governmental bailouts seem to disappear into thin air and the consumer on Main Street who uses a company's product (car, food, drugs, mortgage) sees absolutely no change in his or her plight? The phrase "corporate arrogance" was coined to fit times like these, when company giants pretty much write the rules they operate by. Their Golden Rule is to maximize their net profits.
Many of the watchdog agencies that were created to protect our public health and safety are staffed and led by people retired from the same banking, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries they are charged with regulating. Talk about conflict of interest.
Which is how a coal mine can still be operating with 122 safety violations this year alone. And why a car company can continue in business after hiding safety defects.
What's to be done?
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