The demise of Capitalism?
Everywhere we look lately, the news is full of articles about this corporation (or that State!) coming under economic hard times. The Federal Government bailed out the greedy banking industry to the tune of OVER $780 BILLION dollars, Chrysler has filed for bankruptcy (and now doesnt own itself any more), The state of California is in a major fiscal free fall, and mom and pop businesses everywhere are struggling just to break even.
Ive watched the antics of big business now for over 30 years (not counting my high school years when I wasnt paying attention LOL!) and Ive seen them get all the breaks, primarily from the Republican party, at the expense of the basic needs of the average Joe on the street. Its sickening really. And does Big Business return the favor? Does it offer Joe Schmoe a job so he can pay his bills or feed his family? Thats a big fat NO boys and girls. Big business cares not a whit about the little guy whose blood sweat and tears made them successful. No sir. Big Business completely abandons Joe Schmoe by setting up operations in another country altogether! China, India, any third world country will do, as long as they can keep padding their profit margin.
It isnt confined to manufacturing either. Agribusiness giants have plowed under the mom and pop farms the same way. The tactics vary from overwhelming the small farmer with competing crops to glutting the market to suing farmers whose fields lie adjacent to theirs and whose crops may have been cross-fertilized by GMO (genetically modified organism) seeds! Court decisions have come down forcing those unlucky farmers to destroy their crops merely because their crops may have been cross pollinated from GMO crops–all in the name of patent protection!!
Credit card companies got a huge assist from the corrupt administration of G.W. Bush (in my opinion, the single worst President this country has ever ever ever been saddled with) almost immediately lobbying the Republican Congress for draconian penalties to be visited upon consumers who are struggling financially. Nevermind that these same credit companies dangled juicy credit offers under the noses of these consumers, they completely abdicate their own complicity and asked for AND GOT the green light to begin a vicious cycle of penalties assessment, accelerated billing cycles, increased interest rates, and to top it all off, the ability to ruin a prospective employee’s chance for employment (new hires’ credit history could also be considered as a condition of employment).
The mortgage lending industry is especially corrupt, offering unrealistic loans while disregarding the very real issue of the borrower’s ability to repay! These slimy jerks knew exactly what they were doing, with their adjustable rate mortgages, balloon payments, interest only loans etc. The fine print was somehow overlooked or unexplained and the hopeful homeowner had no real idea what they were in for. Worse, the downsizing and outsourcing of the business environment virtually guaranteed that people wouldnt make their house payments because oops, your job just went overseas, sorry!
Big Business seems to be given every tax break, every loophole, every possible allowance at the expense of the little guy. They take their industries offshore and remove the ability of the working man to pay his bills. They ask for and receive permission to penalize the little guy for not paying his bills, and bankruptcies and foreclosures are the news of the day. Yet when they are left with their so-called “toxic” assets, they go crying to that same corrupt administration who actually assisted them in creating their own armegeddon and have the GALL to ask for a government bailout!! What happens to the little guy when his job goes away and his bills are snowballing? Can he seek the same relief??? NO!! Not only that, but the government, in its shortsightedness, and its rush to balance its books, sees fit to cut the safety net programs that would help families hang on!
Why not penalize the true culprits? Penalize Big Business and the Credit and the Mortgage lending, and the Insurance companies (auto, health, life, home), etc. Tax them according to their profits, with no loopholes. Penalize them if they choose to set up shop in another country. Tax their goods if they choose to sell back in this country. Repeal every single concession given to credit card giants at the start of the GW Bush administration. Create oversight bodies to strictly enforce transparent accounting. Force insurance companies to pay their claims. No more fine print that allows them to keep monies paid in good faith for insurance coverage that is disallowed through exclusions. In short, bring back honest dealing. The kind that fosters trust. Capitalism was meant to be market driven, not greed driven. What Big Business seems to have forgotten is that a market needs a consumer as well as a producer. Tampering with the market by removing the ability to put capital back in (either through job loss or financially hampering the consumer) will, in my opinion, ultimately sound the death knell of the capitalistic system. Who knows? Maybe thats a good thing.
Its ALL Blarney!! 
Hear! Hear!!!
What is it you do for a living anyway? This is one piece of pretty professional writing! Well said! This needs to be published in the Washington Post Opinion Section!!!