Thagarr, I'm totally with ye Brother!
I've seen too much of it first hand working inside for 22 years. I'm actually writing a book....won't be published until I'm safely retired in a couple more years.
You said it. Corporations and lobbyists are the problem. We have more millionaires than anytime in our history. The propaganda is that if we raise the taxes on energy and rich that we will lose jobs. The real thruth is that folks will hire the amount of people it takes to keep business moving and to maximize their tax breaks. In recent years, energy companies have seen their highest profits in history. Exxon's quarterly profits alone were greater than the GNPs of many countries.
I don't like paying taxes, no one does, but I know it's my civic duty and goes to the running of the country (if you can call it that). I have friends in Europe that pay over 50 and even 60 percent of their incomes in tax. I say in these times everyone needs to do their part including companies and fat cats, and everyone needs to hold government more accountable.
When Eisenhower said beware the military industrial complex, he wasn't kidding. I see the far right complaining so much about the poor getting welfare, but the worst form of welfare I've seen is the do nothings that steal oxygen all around me and get six figure annual welfare checks for their trouble. The handouts to big companies is even worse with no serious oversight or liability. Even worse, no repurcussions for the knuckleheads in government management overseeing the programs the big companies are under contract to deliver - that continually produce little or nothing year after year. Senior leadership rotate in and out like musical chairs on to their next job or retirement and never get the time or chance to see the ugly underbelly in detail of what they're actually in charge of.
One good thing about this economy is that we are about to start looking at things with a microscope as far as spending goes. This means tons of fat will get cut and the guys that actually deliver serious value will compete all that harder to stay there.
@ Rupert, I'm no nancy boy, but I'd love to see more silk stockings, wigs and hemp (in it's rope form of course) in vogue again.
MK