Wednesday 16 June 2004

Spiral of Greed

So who among us denies that greed is spiraling out of control in America? Some will say it's no different than it's always been, but it seems to me a similar spiral occurred around the turn of the last century and slowly got some much needed brakes applied. No, the propensity for greed never really stopped, but over the last 25 years some very clever marketers started selling the story that the brakes on greed were deterrents to free enterprise, and that it was somehow in the interest of the common folk to scale back or remove the "awful" bureaucratic tools of regulation; of progressive tax structures; of minimum wages to keep up with inflation; and of incentives for business to act in the public good. The free market in its infinite wisdom will magically take care of everything! Huh??? And it's liberals that are naive? There are plenty of incentives for corporations out there still, but increasingly they are incentives for misbehavior. Is it really true that 60% of the biggest corporations pay zero in taxes? Where's the outrage?

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