Saturday, April 3, 2010
It's Not Just the Banks ... Defense and Pharmaceutical Giants Also Too Big
Everyone knows that the megabanks are considered too big to fail.
But its not just banks ...
There was AIG and the big auto makers.
And CNN noted yesterday that the government found pharmaceutical giant Pfizer "too big to nail".
And former high-level CIA officer Giraldi notes that the national security apparatus has grown too powerful to rein in:
Forget free market capitalism. Forget checks and balances.Giraldi believes that, as with companies such as AIG and GM becoming “too big to fail,” the size and success of this massive national security espionage scandal has simply become too big to bust...
Giraldi added, “The people in Congress and in the Justice Department who should be investigating this…and also in the media—because the media is tied hand and foot to government—this is all part of one big, you know, conspiracy, if you want to look at it this way. And, essentially, this is a story that they don’t want to get out.”
A handful of dinosaurs are using raw size and power to control everyone else.
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I grew up in a military family. The person who was in the military now works for a very, very large defense contractor. I've often thought that when the Cold War "ended" and privatization became a buzzword, retirees and others leaving the military realized they could just continue their careers by starting and/or joining defense contractors. Thus, the Cold War mentality lives on with these people feeding at the public trough while making all these absurd proclamations about spreading freedom and liberty. Anyone who keeps up with news about Iraq and Afghanistan knows just how much these contractors have been making and the role(s) they've played in driving this country to war. There is so much money to be made and they know it. Really sick.
ReplyDeleteBig Pharma, defense, HLS, domestic spying, etc are just huge government stimulus packages to feed taxpayer wealth into the hands of private corporations that cannot make a profit selling in the private sector alone.
ReplyDeletehttp://eye-on=washington.blogspot.com
Walter Adams and James Brock wrote a very good book about this problem back in 1986. The book is called The Bigness Complex.
ReplyDeleteInstead of lean and mean business, we have overweight companies eating up the public's wealth, a bloated government, and unaccountable labor unions, and Americans wonder why productivity in the country is not what it used to be.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
ReplyDeleteWho doesn't know this to be true?
Are we a nation of asses or just cowards?
Let's get this thing started.
Time to go VIRAL!
S
as with companies such as AIG and GM becoming “too big to fail,” the size and success of this massive national security espionage scandal has simply become too big to bust. . .
“The people in Congress and in the Justice Department who should be investigating this…and also in the media—because the media is tied hand and foot to government—this is all part of one big, you know, conspiracy, if you want to look at it this way. And, essentially, this is a story that they don’t want to get out.”
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All brought to you by Free Market Theology starting with Ronald Regan and for the following 30 years. I don't se where even your Austrian School economics will prevent this from happening. No rules, no control .
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget the giant oil companies, too....and the giant health insurance companies....and walmart.....
ReplyDeleteIn response to Grey Tiger. If true Austrian School economics was allowed to be realized, the "too big to fail" would have been allowed to fail, and even though we'd go through a difficult economic period, we'd start a new economy without those megagiant's dominating everything. The problem is not too much deregulation, the problem is that the big boys own our government. Austrian Economics strives to take that away and put the power back in the hands of the people.
ReplyDeleteGrey Tiger,
ReplyDeleteThe market hasn't been "free" for at least half a century. When government began to interfere with the market, corporations began to lobby and bribe the government, pushing for legislation that puts competitors at a disadvantage. Thus, you end up with entities that are "too big to fail" because there was no free market to prevent a monopoly.
free traders, but what are we going to with the trade deficits, especialty China?
ReplyDelete