Everyone knows what they mean when corporations, bankers and lobbyists say they support "Free Markets" and "Free Speech" and "Free Enterprise" and such. It means that for the most part it's free for the rich and the wealthy to bite off the larger chunks and let the poor feast on the leftovers. It's a 'free for all' in who gets to take the first chunk of the wealthy earth pie.
Seems to me the government saw what we humans were capable of around 2000 when everything was booming, and they've been trying to suppress us ever since. now everyone I know is having a hard time trying to live in this absurd society.
Free enterprise capitalism is an ideology that legitimizes the existing social structure that we have today. That's what I'm saying.
It's been going on a lot longer than that. 2001 was simply the kickoff point to expedite their agenda. The fact is, humanity living under any sort of governmental or monetary system has never been truly free.
They claim to support those things, but that doesn't mean that is what they support, and the evidence proves this. It simply means they're versed in the art of doublespeak, like most politicians and bureaucrats are. The fact is they support economies that are heavily regulated and manipulated in their favor.
*coughs* Corporations favour heavily sanctioned and burdensome regulations? That's far from the truth. Who is this "they" that you are referring to anyway? Because it's certainly not the CEO of McDonalds. Big, monopolized businesses favour a varied labour law system so that they can get around paying taxes, fair wages and benefits to their workers who produce goods for them. People who work in banks attach fees upon fees to force their clients to pay up throw choking them. And all for what? CFOs in large multi-national banks last a few years at a $30 million salary and then end up getting fired or are forced to resign because they've been dipping their hands into illegal territory - either attempting to work around existing domestic national laws or bypassing them altogether and getting caught. It's all about externalized costs of production in order to get the most capital. In a global market that is the most free, they are able to manipulate and mold the kind of industrial system that the corporations so desire. It's like looking at a rat maze and knowing where the cheese is. They can entice whichever path is desirable for the company for the rat to take. I mean, yeah - corporations have more money than governments do. It's all that governments are able to do to make attempts to catch up to that kind of money by installing sanctions and curtailing their economic might. *sips more merlot*
And... *interjects with another thought from behind door frame* There are lots of corporate cronies who hold office nowadays. That much is most certainly true. But this is why there is an incentive for government officials to favour lessening the restrictions on trade and foreign investments. They all run companies themselves. Why would they favour something highly restrictive and choking even for their own businesses? Because it's not true. They hold office as well as hold positions to keep their own corporate ties thriving and growing. But they do this from the public sector by infiltrating it.
Yes, regulations IN THEIR FAVOR. You are under the impression that corporations hate any and all regulations, but many corporations champion such big government intervention. That's where the lobbyists come in. In the late 90s, Enron was one of the largest lobbying influences behind the international Kyoto Treaty, which would have created world compliance to new regulations and large energy contracts for Enron (if they hadn't went bankrupt).
Why? How are big corporations benefiting from highly restrictive laws and tariffs? Only the protectionist economies in countries like Cuba (who are protectionists by coercion) benefit from high tariffs, because they don't import anything unless it costs less to make it domestically. You see, the more stuff you can extract, produce, commodify and sell the cheapest is going to be what some corporate opportunist is going to do and lobby to maintain.
IMO I think is because it has not been that long since ethnic people had the same opportunities as their white counterparts. Bad times: It has only been a few generations since those days. It won't be long before there is less disparity. Perhaps it is the same "struggle" as women had to endure.
Here's the thing. Regulations do nothing, because the biggest corporations have the money and the lobbyists to buy off the politicians. Once again, this is where corporatism comes into play, which is what this system is based around. There is no such thing as "restrictive laws" under a corporatist system, where the corporations control the government and make the rules, and where the government is totally unaccountable to the people. Regulations only work to put the smaller corporations out of business, so this also helps the transnationals by eliminating any competition. So again, this is another false debate. If you want to get to the heart of economic manipulation, you need to focus on the central banks which print the money out of nothing and thus manipulate and devalue the currency. What we see now is the very same government intervention you seem to speak so highly of. What we see is the state (which is controlled by the banks and corporations) bailing out these institutions with taxpayer money. Yet you believe the state works for the interests of the people (when almost everyone was against it)? I don't think so.
Mmm... I was all with you up until the bold part. First of all, I favour government intervention as a preventive measure and as a way to balance the struggles for power against corporate overlording dominance. I do support a social contract in some form, one that you do as well when you speak so highly of your own Constitution. Secondly, I don't favour the bailout - and you know that. I've posted several occasions explaning what a poppycock scam I find it all to be (Link) - and you're right - it doesn't favour the people who had their tax money stolen from them. I have never disputed this or argued my way out of it. But you know, if the corporate elite have all this money they are printing out of thin air, why don't they bail themselves out? Thirdly, I do believe that banks create money out of 'thin air' so to speak and I've posted about this as well. Link But not the kind of thin air you think or perceive it to be.
Corporations in and of themselves do not have the power to have overlording dominance. It's only when the corporations merge with the state under corporatism that they have the excessive power we see today. Corporations in and of themselves do not have this power, but when they buy off the government and the police forces and the military, then these corporations pose a direct threat to the people, as the government becomes simply the military arm of these corporations/banks and is thus completely unaccountable to the people. It's government intervention that has caused this meltdown we see happening right now, and they are using this meltdown as an excuse for even more control and more intervention. The elite do not like free markets -- they like monopolies. They want a completely managed economy, and that's what will arise from this crisis THEY created in the first place.
Gee, thanks for using my hard earned money to help some big banks and corporations while I struggle to pay my student loans. Where is my cut? My bailout? Basic questions to ponder. I agree so much with what Matt has to say. The man speaks the truth. They print this money out of thin air and give it to the banks so they can continue to loan all this money to people who can not afford anything. If they used that money to *gasp* help people pay off their loans, that would perhaps boost the economy but oh no they do not want that!! If you split the bailout up and gave it to every American college student they would have something like 15-20 thousand to help pay off those disgusting American university loans. And so forth. People should feel outraged. This BS that is going on should also make people see how much BS the whole money system is, and how much of a fraud it is.
i got a great message about giving every person over the age of 18 something like $425k, charge taxes on it, even, and it STILL wouldn't cost as much as this "bail out." pfft.
