Lawson and Alm:
In 2010, a tiny cabal of 535 individuals — just 0.00017% of the population — spent $3.5 trillion, or about 23% of the $14.5 trillion U.S. economy. That leaves 77% for the other 99.99983% of us. The group is the U.S. Congress — whose members have enormous powers to tax and spend. And they've used them to grab economic power well beyond anything found in the private sector.
Something that both libertarians and OWS protesters can agree on: a concentration of power is bad. THe difference, is that libertarians recognize that big government and big business are two sides of the same coin. Lefties want more government: read, a higher concentration of power.
Doesn't a lot of the government money go back to the people for equitable distribution, for health care, for social services, and so on, while monies made by the corporations, especially those 'outsourcing' and making huge profits through cheap labor, are enjoyed by a relative few and policies are geared to keep the stockholders (mostly all quite well-to-do, I should think) happy. I know this is simplistic. The best a government can do is to try to keep controls on itself and on any other entity, whether it be a religious or an economic one, to prevent circumstances where power can be amassed and abused. We have seemed to wrestle to the ground the power of the Christian Church in Canada. Now we need to find a way to restructure government to protect the people from the people's representatives. How the heck do we make sure no one man can become a demagogue, as Harper has become.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that's my ramble.
Actually, i'd say the best we can do is to have things radically decentralized and much smaller. I don't want 0.0007 percent of the population, even if they are elected, with that much power over spending (with that much money).
ReplyDeleteYou can't just say "Let's radically decentralize things." It's like your ignoring the inherent nature of people to be greedy. Someone is always going to end up running shit. It's the same reason communism seems to work in principle but never actually works out the way it should: Someone always craves power.
ReplyDeleteEssentially you have to choose if you want big business to run the show or if you can put your faith in some form of government that can try to keeps things afloat. There really is no option C, at the end of the day, you're going to have to serve somebody.
Big business runs the show when they get in bed with big government. If you opt for big government, you opt for big business too. That's how government actually works. They respond to political incentives - and larger players have more sway. The proecss is self-perpetuating as it's access to big government that feeds big business. Putting government in charge is the perverbial fox guarding the hen house.
ReplyDeleteBetter solution: breakdown government so that there is very minimal federal government and lots of options for choice at the local level. Peoples consumption habits, and effecitve business models dictate which businesses survive and thrive.