Coss Posted from Biodiversivist.

 

Corporatocracy.

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

Ever wonder why you can step across the Mexican border and instantly move from one of the richest countries on Earth to one of the poorest? It’s all about governance. Mexico’s government is hobbled by the corrupting influence of wealthy individuals. Politicians trapped in that system have no choice but to participate because everyone else does. In a sense, you can’t really blame well-meaning American politicians for participating in our own corrupt system because if they don’t, they may not get reelected.

Eisenhower tried to warn us about the military industrial complex. Power begets power and has an almost overwhelming tendency to accumulate into the hands of fewer and fewer people. America’s success story is entirely based on the existence of wealth redistribution into a thriving middle class, which has been retreating for decades now. Without government fulfilling its role to prevent the accumulation of wealth into a few hands, forms of slavery will arise again, as has been the case for all of human history.

Environmental concerns have and always will take a distant back seat to the profit motive. Obama clearly sees the problem. Who sees the solution?