In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Bush was going to run the nation like a corporation.
He was going to be the CEO in Chief.
You know - like Bernie Ebbers .
See Bush has hidden the true costs of programs from Congress, much like Ebbers as CEO hid costs from shareholders.
But unlike Ebbers, Bush isn’t going to prison (yet), he still lives in the White House.
But the government acting like a corporation isn’t anything new. A lot of corporations falsify environmental impact like studies to get to build what they want.
Just like the Department of Energy did to the NRC: Scientist May Have Falsified Yucca Papers
When I worked at large banking firm long long ago. I marveled at the concept of letting go employees and then hiring them back as consultants at 2 to 3 times the cost. “It keeps company overhead down when viewed by the measure of the size of its salaried workforce.” See it looked better to share holders. The fact that it cost more wasn’t an issue… it was perception.
By contracting out many security services in Iraq to private concerns the Defense Department has the political advantage of reducing the number of US troops in Iraq. The downside doesn’t need to be discussed, such as the fact that:Corporations ain’t so hot. They, like the government, become dehumanized entities and the costs of their actions are removed from the individuals who enacted them.
- mercenaries aren’t bound by The Code of Conduct that our troops are bound by. In fact our military justice system can’t touch mercenaries.
- One has to wonder who they take orders from. Their managers or our military leaders. In theory our military is answerable to the officials we elected. Who do mercenaries answer to… their boss?
- Our own special forces have been dealt the blow of reduced numbers of troops staying for additional tours of duty. Why stay when you can do the same job for 5 to 10 times the money.
Here’s the thing - the thing that is best for the environment, best for the employees, best for the economy, and best for America: Small businesses.
Politicians and Corporations hate small businesses. Small businesses can’t fill a politicians war chest. Small businesses are just a prop that both democrats and republicans trot about. Any safety regulation, or any regulation in general that a corporation doesn’t like is described as a threat to small businesses, though often the small businesses would not be effected. If the regulations in the end become enacted they are rewritten or repurposed to become a shield the corporations wield to defend themselves from competition from small new comers.
The present state of the FDA effectively eliminates the creation of any new small pharma company. You got a drug that eliminates cold sores? It will NOT go to market unless you give the rights to a big pharma company. The regulations now serve more as a barrier to competition then any safe guard to us citizens.
Big Business and Big Government are allies. In the post world war II America large corporations and the government have formed a symbiotic relationship. They need each other.
The GOP ran for decades under the cry “smaller government.” When they came into power the government only became bigger. They realized that their base (their true base: “The haves and the have mores”) wanted it that way.
So, while Wal-Mart can pretty much do as it pleases… the government is all over those dangerous lemonade stands.
Presently corporations too often operate without any checks and balances. Just like our present government.
The one promise Bush fulfilled: He’s running America like a business.
I wonder when he’ll start glazing the chicken with shoe polish.
- rob 2:40 PM - [PermaLink] -
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