Do you believe mega-corporations have too much power over

[Uncle Joe]

"We the people's" government and as a result the public good is consistently shortchanged in favor of for profit privatization?

[joeybee12]

1. I voted yes, but I wish you'd included, "Oh, God, PHUCK YES" option...n/t

[Abq_Sarah]

2. They do indeed have a disproportionate influence

Over our government. I blame the congress for allowing it to happen.

[RKP5637]

3. The US gov. is now a subsidiary of mega-corporations and about 2% of

the wealth of the nation. It's now "We the corporations' government." Too many Americans are still asleep at the wheel and/or misguided on what is/has been going on...

[Hannah Bell]

7. 2%? much more.

[RKP5637]

11. Yep, quite correct. I was telling someone yesterday IMO the gov. has lost

control of the country and the citizens have lost control of the gov. It's now USA, Inc. Thanks to SCOTUS on corp. donations, we'll soon be in essence voting for the corp. of our choice... or just declare the candidate with the most money the winner of the election and just forget the voting process.

Many of the citizens today are an inconvenience to the US. At some point, probably now, many citizens are just disposable.

[blindpig]

4. It's their government

they've been smoking us all along.

[Starry Messenger]

5. How else could capitialism expand?

Eventually it always gnaws through the straps, even those timidly placed by governments under capitalism. Even the so-called "social democratic" countries are starting to experience neoliberal encroachments. If you don't eliminate the roots, the branches will always grow back.

[Uncle Joe]

6. I believe all things must be continually managed but how do you define and what would be your

replacement for capitalism?

[Starry Messenger]

10. That's kind of a tall order, but I'll try Uncle Joe.

Capitalism being the exploitation of resources purely for profit and on the backs of workers, that benefits an increasingly shrinking but massively wealthy group of people who show no sign of stopping any time soon, no matter how nicely we ask.

I don't have any firm plans, other than not-capitalism for a replacement. I would like to see a people-driven government that isn't always having to treat corporations like they were better than the rest of us. Would that be a good start? :) I would like corporations gone. Humans lived without them for centuries and I think we could do so again with less pain then the corporations would like us to believe otherwise.

[Uncle Joe]

12. I believe that would be a good start, Starry Messenger.

I don't know if I would go so far as to eliminate the profit motive, but I do believe there must be a different method of accounting in regards to value of the environment, finite resources, privatized claims on and distribution of those resources.

I don't have all the answers either but I do believe our current system is dangerously dysfunctional and something needs to be done.

Thanks for your feedback.:)

[RKP5637]

16. I think yours is a good start. Our current economic system is clearly dysfunctional and I

think it's only going to get worse. I don't have the answers either, but I sure know the current system propped up is headed for failure for many just by nature of the definition of capitalism. It puts a society/country eventually clawing at each other for survival.

[Starry Messenger]

17. Thanks both of you!

I think the important thing at this point is that everyone keep talking about what we might do without capitalism. No one needs to firm up a blueprint on their own, but as long as we collectively keep the lines of communication open on the subject, we can collaborate on a project that would benefit more people. It doesn't matter if a great deal of our ideas are speculative at this point, it gets the grey cells moving in a direction that we are unaccustomed to. I think of it like sketches for a very large work of collective art.

[kctim]

8. No

but will gladly change my vote as soon as they are able to force me to do something against my will.

[bigwillq]

9. Yes (nt)

[Quantess]

13. This is one of the core causes of all our problems.

[Nikia]

14. We'd be better off if corporations got out of government

Corporations and trade associations are who has our government's ear, not private citizens. Corporations' purpose is to make a profit and if some corporations act responsibly, while others don't they will lose profits. Even if they were somehow kicked out of lobbying and financial support of legislators, we would still have the problem of them using the media to spread their propaganda. "We the people" need to be able to regulate corporations for the common good, but this seems impossible. I am not a Communist, but I agree that everything good is not about the right of someone to make a profit.

[Uncle Joe]

15. I agree, Nikia.

Too much, we seem to govern by the Ferengi Model and how can the dynamic of financial lobbying, aka; legalized bribery of the Congress, ultimately be good thing for the people?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferengi