brianb

That's true to some extent. We can't overcome most if not all of the monopoly's in this country. Look at your money, power, water and numerous other examples that are present out there. Money is the top of the pyramid and we have NO competing means to overcome the Federal Reserve Note.

tomgoodman

But...but...if I spend less, I won't have as much STUFF!
Somebody else will have more stuff, and better stuff!
Unacceptable.

jungle

Bingo, they are all made from humans, pretending that one can somehow be better is a very strange and fantastic concept.

Look around, everything you see has been built by corporations: space vehicles, the roads and other infrastructure, the internet, all manner of transport, communication and everything you might ever want to buy, they also actually fund the gov along with the rest of the taxpayers.

What exactly has the gov built, invented or otherwise constructed?
Can you find anything in your home stamped "Made by gov"?

The gov is not in the business of actually making anything, so exactly what is it they do? I will leave our gentle readers to ponder this question.

Possible answers: regulate, confiscate and procure-anything else?

JetRage

Oh come on Jungle! Don't tell me you've never heard of WD-40. That stuff is so useful it almost justifies our current financial predicament.

Also I think I remember hearing Al Gore say once that he invented the internet, but I'm not sure if he really designed it for us or if we stole his design before he sold it to Al-Jazeera. I really don't remember how that played out.

JetRage

Just a thought. There are many many many examples in history of atrocities being carried out by corrupt governments. By comparison the damages done by overly powerful corporations don't really reach the same magnitude and scope. I'm not suggesting they couldn't in the future, but government in my opinion is the bigger bully.

N2264J

The internet.

.

jungle

Sorry, but thanks for playing.

N2264J

Walmart and McDonalds don't pay their employees enough to make a living so the
public ends up buying more food stamps. The cost of doing business is thereby externalized to the tax payer.

This happens in thousands of different ways.

When corporations and the rich pay less taxes than you do, the burden of financing
a society is shifted to the shrinking middle class and it isn't working.

.

N2264J

When you start thinking of the government as the enforcement arm of powerful corporations, you move closer to enlightenment.

"I spent 33 years in active military service and during that period I spent most of
my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers.
In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. My Marines operated on three continents."

General Smedley Butler

jungle

Your economic grasp seems so limited you cannot think even halfway through the reality. Do you not understand that all of those corporations actually fund the programs you speak of?

Why do you willfully ignore that the top 10% of earners cover 70% of government expense? Take a good hard look at Detroit and try to find the missing piece of the puzzle, what is missing from the equation? Why do you think they went bankrupt?

Smedley was running for Senate and needed a hook.

He lost.