The political reality is that Washington and Westminster are the PR wing of Wall St and the City. The bailout was hardly an aberration - it was the inevitable next stage in a clear pattern of creeping corporate ownership of politics, legislation, and representation.
The problem won't be fixed by limiting bonuses or raising taxes. It won't even fixed by reinstating some new version of Glass-Steagall.
It can only be fixed by explicitly minimising and limiting the influence of Big Money on policy - the modern equivalent of separating church and state.
Currently there are no checks and balances on corporate influence, which makes further decline and disaster inevitable.
Apart from sites like dKos, with a useful but very limited ability to field and finance alternative candidates, and a few lingering political traditions, the only limit on the reach of the plutocracy is the brick wall of Earth's ecology.
the only limit on the reach of the plutocracy is the brick wall of Earth's ecology.
Which is fortunately and unfortunately more akin to a rubber band than a brick wall.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Fortunately and unfortunately, we're getting pretty close to that limit. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
It can only be fixed by explicitly minimising and limiting the influence of Big Money on policy - the modern equivalent of separating church and state. Currently there are no checks and balances on corporate influence, which makes further decline and disaster inevitable.
I think it can only be fixed through a change in the very nature and basis of money, corporates and state, and I think that the enabling factor for this rapidly evolving transition is the direct instantaneous connection of the Internet. "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
