Do you think this Financial Meltdown will shift the corporate - common man power to the latter?

[TheCoxwain]

Powerful corporations have had their way for many decades now - from regulation, consumer-protection, public policy to tax codes .. they have had their sway and that is why we are in this mess. The dont just have powerful lobbyists in washington, they pit one state against another in a country, pit one country against another under the umbrella of free trade and using the carrots of jobs to get nice tax breaks ....

Regulation might lead to slower growth rates and lower innovation - but surely we are spared of this ugly mess. If left unchecked, Corporations rape the planet in order to secure wealth for a few individuals. That is why we need common sense regulations

Look at China - Rampant capitalism has laid waste to the environment, and to what end? 67000 ( THOUSAND - NOT A TYPO ) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/world/asia/14china.html">factories have closed this year .. leading to mass layoffs -- Chinese government is spending $600 Billion to stave of disaster and political unrest...


UNFETTERED CAPITALISM has failed as an Idea for large swaths of humanity ... I think the answer lies in individual enterprise WITHIN a framework of a strong socially responsible public policy that ensures stability for everyone and sustainability of our planet's resources.


Do you think we can make BIG STRIDES towards that end, using this crisis as an opportunity?

Resources : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine">Shock Doctrine

[notadmblnd]

1. I think it has the potential to.

However, If our elected officials aren't willing to sacrifice the corporate dollars that enrich them, it will continue to be business as usual.

[TheCoxwain]

4. I hope Obama sees the Big Picture and sets in motion ideas that

transform not just this country but the world ....

[Sinti]

2. Power doesn't shift on its own - you have to take it

The coming/existing credit crisis will likely force the common man to be less inclined to throw his meager earnings away on trifling toys at Wal-Mart and this could help shift the balance. A concerted effort, regardless of regulations, on the part of everyday people to resist the considerable force of advertising and other similar pressures laid against them would certainly force a shift. Power is not given, it's taken. As a whole the great unwashed have to make a decision to take it, again, and it will be theirs. Otherwise, slavery lies ahead. Revolutions don't always happen in the street. Even when they do, they happen first in the mind.

[The2ndWheel]

3. The common man is Exxon

The common man is Monsanto. The common man is Wal-Mart. They are the common man on a global scale. The same way governments which represent millions of people are the common man on a global scale. One represents collective interest, one represents private interest. They both need each other.

Actually, the governments are only on a regional scale. That's why corporations have as much power as they do. They're able to play the various governments off against each other. Government only works when it's a monopoly. We have a few hundred governments on this planet. That's why Exxon can make all that money.

[DireStrike]

5. The wealthy are always in a better position to benefit from instability

Just because a few of them are not so wealthy anymore doesn't change the aggregate.

If new things happen faster than they can swallow, it just MIGHT work out in favor of the common man. But as soon as the rich are able to process the torrent of changes, they will begin to turn it to their benefit.