Originally posted by caltour:

I agree that socialism (even the moderate socialism practiced in much of Europe) is far from perfect. But that's not the real point here. What I am concerned about are the glaring defects of American capitalism. Big money has gotten its hooks deep into the democratic political process, and the average citizen is being fleeced.

As I said in my original post: when business dominates our public policy apparatus, the average citizen no longer holds the reins of power. Let's face it. Business' agenda for us is to work longer hours, for less pay, and less health insurance, and less job security, and . . . well, you get the idea.





Socialism is not just imperfect, it is probably not a viable long term option. "Big money" is intertwined in government and that causes problems. But not just big corporations but big law, big unions, big medicine, big (insert type) activist groups. Too a degree, they balance each other out...but to a degree, they do make government work for them and not the "average" citazen. I believe in less influence for lobbiests for ALL these entities but it is hard to regulate. I do think it is mistake to lean TOO hard on big corporations however. While they certainly can potentially shaft the worker, they are in an ever increasingly global, increasingly competative situation...and if they do not perform BETTER than the overseas competition we as a nation take a big hit in terms of state & federal taxes, trade deficit, GDP, and jobs...ie. we ALL get the shaft.

I think it is just counterproductive to treat big buisinesses as an evil that must be tightly controlled..as some foriegn competitor having no such restrictions will clean their perverbial clocks..

1999 Amazon Green SVT Contour (#554/2760) "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." -Soren Kierkegaard (as posted by Jato)