Progressive Ponderings: Permeate and Undermine
by Joe Mayer
“It (big oil) ‘permeates and undermines’ the ecosystem in much the same way that big corporations have ‘permeated and undermined’ our political system with similarly devastating results,” Bob Herbert, New York Times, 5/21/10.
In this one precise sentence, Herbert encapsulates big money’s purchase of our democracy, our economy, our freedom, and even our moral values.
Nature and human nature are exploited by power and wealth through bigness – multinational, multiplex corporations – and through legal – Supreme Court approved – illegality. Nature and human nature are commercialized. The worth of both nature and human nature is determined by the market for each.
While our wastes and addictions to carbon energy pollute our environment, the producers of these also claim the right to pollute our political system. As big money claims and assaults the world’s natural resources, it encases those claims in law through international trade agreements. When the human objects show signs of rebellion, the corporate-owned media features the government as villain. Even as the moneyed elites chastise government, they manufacture the weapons designed to keep exploitive reality in place.
One of the ways this whole system is kept in place is the incestuous relationship between government and big business. Personnel monopolizing the upper levels of government and business ride a revolving turntable that bastardizes both. Claiming that government can only succeed through having talented economic exploiters in its hire, capitalism plunders government.
These out-of-control corporate conglomerates are sabotaging every aspect of our lives – jobs, housing, education, media, resources, environment, diversity, values, health and health care, and, yes, even our spirituality. Would it be permissible for a minister, priest, or rabbi to preach the above critique in a Sabbath or Sunday homily? Are justice and empathy also victims?
Rand Paul, Libertarian and the Republican nominee for Senator from Kentucky, recently chastised our president for criticizing and blaming a corporation for the current oil gusher south of Louisiana. In his mind this “accident” is without blame or cause. It’s reminiscent of Rumsfeld’s “stuff happens.”
But Paul and Rumsfeld are right in our market-driven society. A grade school student can be handcuffed and teenager miscreants can be sentenced to life, but corporations can commit no crime. The financial and derivatives crimes have produced no criminal charges. The Massey coal manslaughter produced no criminal charges. And at this point the man-made oil gusher has produced no criminal charges. Until individuals, making criminal decisions on behalf of their corporations, are held accountable with consequences for their crimes, our governing dilemma will continue.
The “law-and-order” mentality in the United States toward almost any human offense of the law has produced the largest percentage of incarceration of any country in the world today. But it is out of order to charge government or high corporate executives with crimes. Illegal war, torture, indefinite detention, causing the loss of fifteen million jobs, foreclosures, and bankruptcies seem to have no legal remedies in a corporate state.
And now, the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are “human”!
“It (big oil) ‘permeates and undermines’ the ecosystem in much the same way that big corporations have ‘permeated and undermined’ our political system with similarly devastating results,” Bob Herbert, New York Times, 5/21/10.
In this one precise sentence, Herbert encapsulates big money’s purchase of our democracy, our economy, our freedom, and even our moral values.
Nature and human nature are exploited by power and wealth through bigness – multinational, multiplex corporations – and through legal – Supreme Court approved – illegality. Nature and human nature are commercialized. The worth of both nature and human nature is determined by the market for each.
While our wastes and addictions to carbon energy pollute our environment, the producers of these also claim the right to pollute our political system. As big money claims and assaults the world’s natural resources, it encases those claims in law through international trade agreements. When the human objects show signs of rebellion, the corporate-owned media features the government as villain. Even as the moneyed elites chastise government, they manufacture the weapons designed to keep exploitive reality in place.
One of the ways this whole system is kept in place is the incestuous relationship between government and big business. Personnel monopolizing the upper levels of government and business ride a revolving turntable that bastardizes both. Claiming that government can only succeed through having talented economic exploiters in its hire, capitalism plunders government.
These out-of-control corporate conglomerates are sabotaging every aspect of our lives – jobs, housing, education, media, resources, environment, diversity, values, health and health care, and, yes, even our spirituality. Would it be permissible for a minister, priest, or rabbi to preach the above critique in a Sabbath or Sunday homily? Are justice and empathy also victims?
Rand Paul, Libertarian and the Republican nominee for Senator from Kentucky, recently chastised our president for criticizing and blaming a corporation for the current oil gusher south of Louisiana. In his mind this “accident” is without blame or cause. It’s reminiscent of Rumsfeld’s “stuff happens.”
But Paul and Rumsfeld are right in our market-driven society. A grade school student can be handcuffed and teenager miscreants can be sentenced to life, but corporations can commit no crime. The financial and derivatives crimes have produced no criminal charges. The Massey coal manslaughter produced no criminal charges. And at this point the man-made oil gusher has produced no criminal charges. Until individuals, making criminal decisions on behalf of their corporations, are held accountable with consequences for their crimes, our governing dilemma will continue.
The “law-and-order” mentality in the United States toward almost any human offense of the law has produced the largest percentage of incarceration of any country in the world today. But it is out of order to charge government or high corporate executives with crimes. Illegal war, torture, indefinite detention, causing the loss of fifteen million jobs, foreclosures, and bankruptcies seem to have no legal remedies in a corporate state.
And now, the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are “human”!
Powered by Blogger
3 Comments:
rogressive Ramblings...it really is uncomfortable to read such tripe.
Predictably, Mayer just blames business for the ills of the world and forgets to tell us that government labor unions and the trial attorneys are the equally significant in making campaign contributors to politicians. He would have us believe that only those evil corporations with their greed motives are the biggest problem facing our political system when we have the trial attorneys who buy off politicians to write friendly laws making lawsuits easier with the quid pro quo for campaign contributions to said politicians. Then there are the government unions who earn 45% more than the people paying their salary (i.e. the taxpayer) with over 2 million federal workers 20% of whom earn 6 figure salaries. Expanding government payrolls is certainly one way to help any candidate re-election.
Mayer has no problem with regulating a company or a business or regulating one of their products out of existence and then simultaneously denying it their first amendment right to 'peacably assemble' to 'petition the government for a redress of grievances'. True, corporations are not 'human', but they still have 'rights'. Funny how media corporations with their editorial boards are not denied free speech endorsing candidates for public office, for example. Apparenly only the benevolent governemnt unions, the trial lawyer benefactors and the complicit media are the entities who should be conferred the good graces of government. Everyone else is merely a candidate to be plundered by government.
The situation in the gulf is a tragedy and everyone wants this solved as quickly as possible. But, Mayer has misplaced his anger. Sure, BP has culpability in this situation, but his knee-jerk reaction to make sure someone in business goes to prison is just hyperbole. Those of us who understand the meddling role of government know that the after decades of government investing for the political returns (i.e. campaign donations, re-election) has accumulated in the corporate state that Mussolini promoted. We can't sue government when it errs or put Chris Dodd, Barney Frank or George Bush in jail over policy differences. Nor can we those businesses who are in bed with government to ensure a slice of the market guaranteed by the cozy relationship. We should recognize when government is the cause and not the solution and have the courage to not look the other way when the entity that has a monopoly on force ultimately is the root cause for disastrous circumstance that can and do occur.
Ah,,, the dreaded trial attorneys, please,,, trial attorneys are the only entity standing between ordinary citizens and corporate malfeasance,, and we have all seen how well corporations can avoid regulations and actually paying fines levied against them.. Look at the facts, are ordinary citizens even getting their turn in courtrooms? No. The largest theft of taxpayer money occurred because of deregulation, the largest oil spill in our history occurred because the oil industry has not been regulated. Did you know that this Deepwater Horizon rig was licensed in the Marshall Islands to knowingly and specifically avoid safety regs and taxes? Government is not the problem. Misinformed people who continue to adovcate for letting the capital markets function without regulations are.
So,,, government blundered when it built the Hoover Dam or put a man on the moon? Government blundered when it created the GI Bill which gave millions of Americans a hand getting educated?? The policies of the New Deal which created the great middle class wealth of the 50's and 60's? Wake up Patrick! When you vote conservative you endorse a specific political policy that aggressively works to sell you out to the corporations every day....cant you just feel all that GWB wealth "trickling down" to the middle and lower classes??? They win elections because they mislead people like you and the rest of us have to pay,,k, thanks...
Post a Comment
<< Home