I'll play ball . . .
Corporate greed is successful whether you regulate or whether you de-regulate. Regulation prohibits the entry of new competition into the market, thereby creating an effective monopoly; deregulation means no checks and balances and oversight to make sure we're not being ripped off.
I disagree. The problem we face today is because Wall Street executives found new ways to cheat, found new ways to make easy money, found new ways to fill their coffers, while the watchdogs and regulators were castrated and operating as on the standard procedures of yesteryear. And your own conservative Republican appointed Treasury Secretary Paulson has said the same thing. Corporate Greed and Regulation don't exist in a vacuum, Joe, and saying otherwise shows a true lack of understanding of cause and effect.
You live in Columbia, MO, Skander. Do you get good cable TV service? Do you think you'd get better service if someone could compete with the only provider, or do you think the service you're getting is as good as you're going to get? How about your land-line phones? Your natural gas? I think I'm at the mercy of Mediacom, Centurytel, and Ameren UE - and that they know that my options are to do it through them, or to do without. And I think they're making a mint.
Competition and Regulation aren't mutually exclusive. There isn't a law OR regulation saying you can't found you're own cable company, or natural gas company, or phone company to provide service for Mid-Missouri.
It's supposed to be just as illegal in the workplace as it was in baseball. The problem is that it gets punished about the same way in both.
Agreed, it doesn't get punished because some dereg blowhard under the banner of "Fiscal Conservatism" has told you regulation (in other words RULES THAT PROTECT YOU FROM COLLUSION AND THEFT) is communism. And you bought it lock, stock, and barrel.
The government oversight that was supposed to be happening in the rules of the SEC was still there; it didn't catch the problem.
I'm going to have to sit you down to watch the video again, Joe. Do you remember WHY the problem wasn't caught. Because the head of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission); this is the pertinent agency, not SEC, was a hand-picked Right-Wing Deregulator appointed by W at the behest of Ken Lay HIMSELF!!!! That guy, along with 'ole W pretty much told California to F*** OFF!!!
Absolutely, deregulation is a right-wing ideology. Government funding for "the public good" is a left-wing ideology, correct?
You'll have to explain to me how castrating administrative agencies of their rule-making and oversight, and funding public programs is in ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM related, much less the same ballpark.
The problem with your philosophy here is that you're focusing on ONLY ONE COMPONENT. In a situation like this, this can't happen because of JUST ONE COMPONENT. So Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and Barney Frank should be our moral examples?
Actually, you're the one pigeon-holing my argument. I don't care if your a bleeding heart or a fascist, I'll assign blame where its due regardless. I don't string up the liar to punish a theft. If we were talking about unnecessary pork barrel, bleeding heart, after school program for the poverty-stricken program that was costing me a hike in taxes. You bet those left-wing scum-bags would be hearing it from me. Deregulation as a platform from which unsrupulous executives and investors can abuse the system for their own petty self-interest is a RIGHT-WING SCUM BAG thing, generally.
The left has its share of scumbags, Skander
When did I say different.
And by the way, if more people DID believe that Jesus is Lord and abortion is murder and started acting like it, then maybe our country would have a strong enough moral compass not to accept what is passing as government and actually make a few sacrifices in order to do something about it, instead of looking at it from the self-centered view.
You'll have to excuse me for agreeing with the founding fathers of this country when they drew a clear delineation between church and state. I still live in the
UNITED States of America, not the
CHRISTIAN States of America. Unlike you, I don't believe a righteous statesmen needs to believe that Jesus is Lord and abortion is murder. They don't have to believe in Allah or the 5 pillars, either. I sometimes wish these moral values voters get their wish and a true Theocracy overtakes the government. Find out how that kind of a system works.
The very EXISTENCE of the United States of America was predicated on the basic human need for an individual to worship and believe as they wish with no hand of government legislating and enforcing morality. The settlers, pilgrims, and eventually founders of this country learned the hard way what religion-based government does for a society. And it seems a lot of people today would rather learn the lesson for themselves instead of looking to history. If a bible-thumping christian doesn't understand that with respect to their beliefs, the Bible may be the most important book in their lives, but with respect to their country, the Constitution is the most important document in their lives; I submit that individual is UNPATRIOTIC and UNFIT for civic duty!
