Is the Government off our backs yet?

[DainBramaged]

For decades, the mantra of politicians on the right has been: “Get the government off our backs.” One such anti-government, anti-tax advocate said and it’s been repeated many times - probably because it seems so absurd, yet he is dead serious - I want to halve the size of government in 25 years and “get it down to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub.”

The current economic meltdown in the U.S. and around the world is proof enough that they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Deregulation and wild speculation with other people’s money that came with deregulation are the main reasons for the financial crisis in America, but the problem goes back far beyond that. What brings this into clear focus is the recent salmonella outbreak that has been connected to eight deaths and hundreds of illnesses in 43 states. The source was traced to the Peanut Corp. of America, of Georgia, and its peanut butter - used in many other products - has been recalled. It could take many months to trace and recall all of it.

PCA was inspected in January by the Food and Drug Administration, after the outbreak. It had not been inspected since 2001. The reason? There were not enough inspectors. The reason for not having enough inspectors? Budget cuts that reduced staff. The last inspection of PCA, in 2001, happens to coincide with the first year of the Bush (Dubya) Administration, which did everything it could to get government off the backs of corporations. The aim was to let them inspect and police themselves.

They have not done a good job of this task. There are examples all over the country and, even, some in other countries - Iraq, for example, where troops have been electrocuted just going about their daily routines, because of shoddy work by KBR Inc. (formerly Kellogg Brown and Root), a favorite company of the Bush Administration. Apparently, they were overseeing and inspecting their own work.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/311/311_sa_govt_off_backs.html

[secondwind]

1. Right on. K&R

[Morning Dew]

2. Why be so unfair to these corporations? Market forces will keep them on the straight and narrow.

I mean, if I die after using one of their defective products or eating some of their poison food, it's not likely I'll buy any more of their products.

That will teach them a lesson they'll not soon forget.

[DainBramaged]

5. Notice the negative recs already. And we thought the freepers didn't lurk here.

[geckosfeet]

7. I think people are misinterpreting the post as advocating for 'drowning government in a bathtub'.

If they went on to read Funinciello's piece they might understand, although his writing is a little thick.

These are three of the last four paragraphs:

Somewhere along the way, deregulation took on a life of its own and nothing could stop it. Eventually, the economic lifeblood of the nation hung in the balance. With deregulation of banking and finance - and with two wars of choice that drained the economy even further over the past eight years - the U.S. economy has gone into a tailspin and it has taken the rest of the world with it.

Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, the great guru of American economics and ruler of the dollar, was stunned by the failure of Corporate America to regulate itself. He was stunned by the impending collapse of America’s financial system.

The right-wing government killers had succeeded beyond any expectation. Government, indeed, was going to be a shadow of its former self. But few of them, if any, are going to come forward to take credit for what they have wrought. We haven’t seen them making the rounds of talking-heads shows on television, and their explanations in print - on the few occasions that there are any - are feeble, at best, because they will not take credit, or blame, for the job done.

The final paragraph and sentence is in fact the crux of the peice:

If America is to recover from this assault, it will be the people who will be the instrument of the recovery. Predatory capitalism will have to retreat to its cave for the foreseeable future and let a naturally industrious people prove that local and regional production of the goods necessary for life is possible. Finally, the people will prove that they can govern themselves, without the controlling hand of corporations and their lobbyists.

Now I fully believe in the ideal of industrious and creative supporting themselves with local and regional production - for certain regions product and services. But this is simply not sustainable on a global level. If it were this social model would have continued to flourish.

No one region has all the raw materials etc. to manufacture products. The north cannot farm year round to produce the food needed for all it's people. We are dependent on complex relationships with other peoples, regions and countries. It is governments job to negotiate on behalf of the people and represent their interests. One of the problems we have seen is the government does NOT negotiate on behalf of the people, but negotiates them as sources of income. Consumers that will buy goods and services. The people are in effect treated as commodities for corporate consumption in the world economy.

But I think that his last sentence encapsulates the message - corporate interests are being served by government, and it this which must be stopped. The people can and should govern for their interests. Power must be wrested from the corpo-complex.

[DainBramaged]

8. I thought DU was smarter than that?

:shrug:

[Obamanaut]

3. We have the Department of Energy and the very large budget

associated with it, yet energy problems abound.

[Deja Q]

4. KBR or Gov't on my back, I still trust the government - by far.

[kentuck]

6. K & R .

Just for the heck of it. :-)