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Writers Articles And Opinions |
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22 July 2010 By Stephen Lendman
An April 2010 Pew Research Center
(PRC) for the People & Press study and others report
growing public anger, distrust, and hostility toward
business and government because of a "perfect storm of
conditions" - wrecked economies, fueling "epic
discontent" toward responsible officials.
PRC found nearly 80% of Americans
don't trust government to do the right thing, the
highest distrust level in half a century, this
writer's April 28 article, titled "Growing Public
Anger in America," discussing its findings, accessed
through the following link:
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/04/growing-public-anger-in-america.html
People want help when they most
need it, but aren't getting it, privilege always
trumping the public interest, getting more extreme in
America, Canada, and throughout Europe, a prescription
for greater outrage, perhaps fury for beneficial
change.
It bears watching as the
deepening global depression plays out, throwing
millions more to the wolves, abandoned by fiscal
harshness, governments protecting business, not their
people.
On December 9, 2005, in better
times, New York Times writer Claudia Deutsch
headlined, "New Surveys Show That Big Business Has a
PR Problem," saying:
"More than ever, Americans do not
trust business or the people who run it," according to
pollsters, researchers, and corporate bosses feeling
the heat, yet "bent on destroying the environment,
cooking the books and lining their own pockets" ad
infinitum in good and bad times.
Prior to public knowledge about
Wall Street banksters, corporate scandals outing
Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and other company executives
fueled growing anger and distrust, management
consultant Michael Hammer saying:
"There is a sense that business
is a zero-sum game, that if companies are making a lot
of money, it must be coming out of someone else's
pocket."
In Le Pere Goriot, Honone de
Balzac (1799 - 1850) wrote:
"The secret of a great success
for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that
has never been found out, because it was properly
executed."
He meant behind every great
fortune lies a crime, far greater today on a global
scale, but just as harmful to those hurt.
In a Roper July/August 2005 poll,
72% of respondents said wrongdoing was widespread in
industry, only 2% feeling corporate bosses are "very
trustworthy," 9% having full trust in financial
institutions, one executive saying the term "crooked
CEO is redundant."
In a November 2005 Harris poll,
90% of respondents said corporations have too much
influence in Washington, 68% believed the media are
too powerful, few expecting government to intervene
and help.
In his April 26, 2010 Forbes.com
article, Brian Moriarty headlined, "Why Everyone
Distrusts Both Business and Government," saying:
"Since Gallup began measuring
public trust in 1976, 19% of people polled have held a
'very high' or 'high' opinion of the honesty and
ethics of business executives. Public trust of
congressmen has been even feebler, averaging just
15%," an all-time low reached in 2008 at 12% for both,
unsurprising in the post-bubble economy, the 2009
Edelman Trust Barometer saying 84% of the public
blames business, 81% government and regulators they
appoint.
In their "Handbook of
Organizational Performance: Behavior Analysis and
Management," editors C. Merle Johnson, William K
Redmon, and Thomas C. Mawhinney, included an "Ethics
and Business" section, explaining distrust toward
business from antiquity. More recently in the 1950s
and 60s:
"old horror stories about
sweatshops and child labor were replaced by fear and
anger toward the 'military-industrial complex.' In the
1980s, people (like anthropologist) Marvin Harris
argued that (oligopolies increasing bureaucracy), and
a shift to a service-and-information economy were the
root causes of most of our social and personal
problems." He omitted the financialization of America.
Even then, Wall Street bankers dominated, running the
country by controlling its money.
In the 1980s and 90s, numerous
scandals erupted, including savings and loan fraud,
insider trading, illicit deals with foreign
governments, and public figures on the take. Although
business and government officials claim ethics
standards, scant evidence shows they practice them,
the public finding out when corruption and other
improprieties surface, reinforcing John Acton's maxim
that:
"Power tends to corrupt, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are
almost always bad men," especially in business,
government, and the military, environments fostering
wrongdoing.
New People for the American Way (PFAW)
Survey
Conducted in June, it showed:
-- deep dissatisfaction with the
political system;
-- voters believing corporate
influence on government policies is a "serious
problem;"
-- support for a constitutional
amendment limiting corporate influence (specifically,
funding parties and candidates to influence elections)
"is broad and bipartisan;" and
-- Americans saying they'd vote
for candidates endorsing this idea.
Specifically:
-- 63% of voters feel "things in
the country are (on) the wrong track;" only 20%
expressed positive views;
-- 85% said corporations have too
much political influence;
-- 93% believe ordinary people
have too little or none;
-- 92% feel corporate influence
is a problem, 56% calling it serious;
-- Democrats and Republicans are
part of the problem, not the solution, caring more
about business than people;
-- 95% said corporations spend
money to buy influence;
-- 93% want corporate spending
limits imposed;
-- 93% believe unlimited
corporate spending influences elections and infringes
on the public's rights, drowned out by big money;
-- most Americans feel corporate
spending isn't free speech;
-- only one in four Americans
knows about the Supreme Court's Citizens United v.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) decision, permitting
unlimited corporate political spending;
-- when explained, 78% object,
including the court equating spending with speech;
it's not; it's bribery, influence buying, rigging the
system to benefit them;
-- nearly two-thirds reject the
notion that corporations are people; they're not;
they're businesses; the largest are giant ones in
oligopoly and monopoly industries with interlocking
directorates;
-- about three-fourths feel
unlimited corporate political spending harms the
public interest;
-- 89% support legislation
mandating greater corporate political spending
disclosure, and want ads saying which corporations
paid for them;
-- 62% believe greater disclosure
isn't enough; and
-- 82% feel Congress isn't doing
enough to curb corporate influence; Congress, in fact,
curries it.
Transparency International (TI)
2009 Global Corruption Survey
TI calls itself a "global civil
society organisation (sic) leading the fight against
corruption....," its 2009 survey showing a "growing
distrust of business," saying most respondents in 69
countries believe corporations bribe public officials
to buy influence, specific findings showing the
following:
-- private sector corruption is
growing and worrisome;
-- half of respondents would pay
more to buy from a corruption-free company;
-- political parties and the
civil service are perceived as the most corrupt
globally, the term corrupt public official, in fact,
redundant;
-- in some countries, the
judiciary was called most corrupt; also the police;
-- developing nations fared
worst, but none are corruption-free;
-- ordinary people aren't
empowered to correct abuses; and
-- governments do little to
correct them when public officials are beneficiaries.
Overall, the results show "a
public sobered by a financial crisis precipitated by
weak regulations and a lack of corporate
accountability." But people are also willing to
actively support clean business. "What is needed now
is bold action by companies (to correct) their
policies and practices, and to report more
transparently on finances and interactions with
government."
Most important is public
sentiment demanding responsible governance, not
settling for ineffective, corrupted, collaborating
ones, the common practice globally only grassroots
activism can change.
Stephen Lendman lives in
Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished
guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the
Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central
time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs
are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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