Political discourse in this country is in crisis. We do not have two distinct parties- we have one party with two different branches, one extremely pro-corporation while the other gives lip service to being for the people. But the democrats still fundamentally believe that if the corporations fail, then the people will suffer. This means that they have to continue to prop up corporations in order to support "the people". It's just a convenient excuse to be pro-corporation. And we let them do it! Obama's plan was never meant to be anything different than what we already had, it was just a stab at "a correction". The economic philosophy we are currently being driven by, thanks to Milton Friedman, calls for less and less government regulation- except when the system crashes. Then we pour money into the system to try and prop it up so that we can "free it" again. The Clintons and the democratic party bought into the chicago school of economics whole heartedly in the 90s and the dems have never looked back. Obama is the same! Saying "change" over and over again does not make it different!
Corporations drive mom and pop shops out of business. Small businesses are no longer able to compete because corporations can do things cheaper & faster. How many independently run shops can any of us think of? Perhaps a handful. I would not mind owning my own bookstore... but how can I compete with Barnes and Noble or Amazon when they can set the price for the publisher? How is supporting big business in any way for "the people"??? Do we really think that the kind of job creation most commonly talked about (i.e. giving a company more money to hire more factory workers) is really going to move us forward? No, it simply allows the CEOs and the share holders to give themselves big salaries and nice fat bonuses while workers make less and less. Tax breaks for the wealthy and for the corporations will bankrupt this country! We have to quit buying into two lies the republicans have spread: 1. government is bad (thanks to Reagan for that one: "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.") 2. the private sector is the way to get things done. While most might not agree with these statements overtly , the attitudes are still omni-present in many liberal discussion and in their support of the "compromises" within the stimulus. It's time for the people to stand up for themselves and stop allowing the corporations to run our government. It truly should be a government OF, FOR and BY the PEOPLE.
