Why dont people see Corporations as “Big Brother”?

[OddBeMe]

They only view government as Big Bro.. But in reality Apple, FB, Samsung etc should be our worries. And yet we’re strangely brainwashed to just hate government. Run by people we vote for.

[Avicenna]

Do you see the close cooperation between the federal government and large corporations? It's both of them we have to be concerned about. If there wasn't this quid pro quos between them, don't you think that governments could rein in large corporations?

Furthermore, the government is run to a much greater extent than you seem to realize by people who are not elected and aren't hired by people were elected. In facts, it's mostly run by unelected bureaucrats.

If you think the government is run entirely by elected politicians, how do you explain the government not reining in large corporations but instead showering them with corporate welfare and protecting them?

[Pot8o]

Money is power.

Doubt you'd have less successful lobbying with no bureaucrats. One of the roles of civil servants is to make sure politicians know the law and not to break it. With no bureaucracy, lobbyists could just get straight to the executive with no gatekeepers. You'd see Presidents wearing sponsored suits.

[Avicenna]

@Pot8o: No one is saying we should do away with bureaucrats. In mentioning them, I'm pointing out that any analysis that ignore them is badly incomplete and will result in conclusions being made that bear no resemblance to real-world practice.

It's wishful thinking to posit that bureaucrats can rein in politicians, i,. e., the people who vote on their salaries and benefits and make political appointments even if the bureaucrats were inclined to do so (and they're not). It's easier to form a cartel than to compete.

[Avicenna]

But lobbyists do go straight to the legislative and executive branches. All the time. They write the legislation and talk directly with the president's staff.

[Pot8o]

So which is it? The bureaucrats are creating inertia to reform or the bureaucrats are powerless to stop it?

Anyway, I stil think the real issue is that money talks. Until you have a culture that doesn't worship it, which means a culture that doesn't worship the freedom of the individual regardless of the externalities that accrue from that freedom

[Pot8o]

... until then big business and politicians will conspire to rig the game in favor of big business. The problem with not worshipping the individual is that you risk ending up in a collectivist nightmare.

But yeah, too many decades of largely unregulated capitalism has consequences.

[Avicenna]

@Pot8o; There's plenty of regulation (actually too much), but you've correctly pointed out the nexus of money as the issue. The more power a government has, the greater the payoff for controlling it. Limiting that power to the necessities of government is the key. Eliminating or at least sharply limiting corporate welfare and the revolving door between the public and private sectors is a huge part of that as well as limiting the regulatory state.

The one thing that's left out is the role of ideological bureaucrats (which is why you can't count on them to "restrain" politicians' bad behavior).

[OddBeMe]

Then why is your side always cancelling regulations for big busness?

[Sargentcaptain]

Because I'm not forced to forfeit most of my paycheck to the almighty Samsung. I'm not forced to go to the Disney Prison-land™ if I say something the mouse doesn't like. I'm not being forced into submission by Colonel Sanders. I don't have to obey laws set by Ronald McDonald. Walmart isn't taking away my rights.

[OddBeMe]

Actually you are. Both of us paid handsomely for Tarp and other interest free loans to big business.

[Sargentcaptain]

And I wonder which one of us opposes those and wants the government out of such things and which one of us is bitching about the gov just not being powerful enough to fuck over all of us.

[msmissydc]

Totally agree. But having one big enemy with the goverment and using the same old conspiracies that allways have existed is easier than thinking.

[dustybiker]

Can’t see the forest for the trees.

[Juxtapose]

Oh trust me, I know that corporations are one of the main reasons why the government sucks and I want to heavily regulate them so their influence is close to nothing.

Never trust a corporation, they are sociopathic money making machines who do not care for human life and would gladly enslave every human being on the planet for another cent.

[jshm2]

Because they see business as being under the hand of government, rather than the other way round.

[OddBeMe]

God is that 180 degrees wrong….

[Sevenpointfive]

i see them as BB. i don't need my info analyzed

[MiseriaCantareAFI]

What's funny is, trump hates all those companies, since they're "richer" than he is

[OddBeMe]

I think my gma is richer than him.