Monday, March 29, 2010

Obama condemns Graft but America runs on Lobby money

It is always strange to read about how the banks, pharmaceutical and chemical industries and all the major industries use money power to influence the outcome of what is happening in the USA. The Health Care issue and how much medicines will cost under it reflects this. The moves but the pharmaceutical industry to influence the outcome was clear and documented and the moneys and support given to the Democrats changed as the deals between the administration and the industry were worked out. Is this so much different to the graft Hamid Karzai seems to be accused of fostering in Afghanistan? Who steals and who is paid off is the way of the present.

Obama visits Afghanistan and tells his troops they will defeat the Taliban but also with his advisers is considering if the Taliban should be coaxed to the table and into the current government there. What is the deal that will make this happen and will we call it graft or just the price of new friends. Without graft there would be no government in Afghanistan and there is clear evidence that in America government is bought and controlled by vested interests. In the end both are the same.

Our ethics in America and worldwide are in shambles and it is no use calling the kettle black when greed is the underlying credo of both governments and money abounds from the powers who want to get their way. In Afghanistan it flows from Government and Obama's administration carps about it because it is their money and their embarrassment. In the USA it flows from the multinational corporations to the bureaucracy and downward to the contractors. In both cases it is the ordinary folks, you and I, who suffer. Under the name of democracy we are led to believe that the vote gives us power but at this point in the venture that does not seem to be true.

The world at large is being badly served by both democracy and the capitalistic system. Whether Capitalism will ever really be the way to a stable and fair system of business is a real question. Its object is money in the pocket and we have come to a time when most people agree that the multinational Corporations are running the world and use persuasion money to enhance their power. Whether it is money for campaigns to persuade people to vote for a candidate or money to moderate how much the health care plan will affect the pharmaceutical corporation's profits it matters little. In the end the people suffer the consequences.

As governments privatize more and more of what we always thought belonged to the people and were essential to the people is gone. What has happened is more cost to us with less security. The governments have become just money collectors for others and we get no real governing at all.

It seems clear that the idea of one world is a splendid one but for the major players like the banks and the large corporations it is optimal for it reduces the table to one player and a bunch of pawns to be played as they wish. The citizens of the world are being decimated from my perspective. Our welfare is really on the back burner and profit at any cost is where it is at today. Can we change this?

Only revolution seems to be able to change these things unfortunately. I neither advocate or embrace this but if real reform of our ethics is not forthcoming then revolution is all that is left to exact change.

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