Regulation
“The test of our progress is not whether we add
more to the abundance of those who have much; it is
whether
we provide enough for those who have too little.” -
FDR
The Republican zeal for deregulation assured that the market would
become a wrecking ball, environmental
protections became ineffective, loose labor regulation threatened
worker safety. The lesson is clear: when mindless deregulation
occurs, consumers, workers, and economic stability are at
risk.
Still, they have not learned that
markets are NOT self regulating, and that it is the job of
government to see that fraud and wild speculation are not
acceptable, especially since taxpayers ultimately have to take the
loss. Banks have consolidated still further, so expect another
crisis ...only worse. The Dodd-Frank act is designed to address the
"too big to fail" problem that will ultimately be yet another
burden for taxpayers, but Republicans
want to roll that back also as a favor to their oligarchs.
Republicans have been keen to dismantle the automatic economic
stabilizers put in place in the 1930s. They revoked the
Glass-Steagle Law that protected taxpayers from speculators, and
now taxpayers again are on the hook. Business consolidation,
formerly discouraged by ant-trust law, also consolidates wealth for
obscenely paid CEOs. The graduated income tax might have been a counterbalance, but it has
been all but eliminated. Deadbeat Republicans refuse to pay the
bills for the wars and tax cuts that they
have put on the tab. Now many of them, the Tea Party fringe at least, are prepared to
default on the debt.
Having rolled back the New Deal, Republicans have not been
satisfied though. Across the country they are screaming for fiscal
austerity. That has meant an inadequate
stimulus program at the federal level, job cuts at every level of
government, harsh new laws restricting unions from bargaining, unwillingness to
participate in infrastructure improvement for highways and
railroads. A lot of States like New Jersey have balanced their
budgets and even given tax cuts by not paying into pension funds,
now they want to cut pensions.
* they fought regulation, so predatory practices and corruption
have become routine.
Links
Reckless
Corporations Can't Be Trusted to Regulate Themselves.
Reasons to Support #OccupyWallStreet
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