http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/09/you-vs-corporations/

Excerpt:

Every generation or so, a major secular shift takes place that shakes up the existing paradigm. It happens in industry, finance, literature, sports, manufacturing, technology, entertainment, travel, communication, etc.

I would like to discuss the paradigm shift that is occurring in politics.

For a long time, American politics has been defined by a Left/Right dynamic. It was Liberals versus Conservatives on a variety of issues. Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice, Tax Cuts vs. More Spending, Pro-War vs Peaceniks, Environmental Protections vs. Economic Growth, Pro-Union vs. Union-Free, Gay Marriage vs. Family Values, School Choice vs. Public Schools, Regulation vs. Free Markets.

The new dynamic, however, has moved past the old Left Right paradigm. We now live in an era defined by increasing Corporate influence and authority over the individual. These two “interest groups” – I can barely suppress snorting derisively over that phrase – have been on a headlong collision course for decades, which came to a head with the financial collapse and bailouts. Where there is massive concentrations of wealth and influence, there will be abuse of power. The Individual has been supplanted in the political process nearly entirely by corporate money, legislative influence, campaign contributions, even free speech rights.

This may not be a brilliant insight, but it is surely an overlooked one. It is now an Individual vs. Corporate debate – and the Humans are losing.

I did inhale.

I had something very like this post written already!

Where do corporations fit even on the comparatively sophisticated graph of politicalcompass.org? They're conspicuous by their absence. Traditionally pro-corporate movement would be downward movement, away from government regulation and towards libertarian values.

But the instant that corporate impact on one's life begins to mimic the effects feared from government, we realize that even that newer and more sophisticated model is no longer describing our reality.

In short, insofar as corporations supply the *rules that impact our daily lives and govern our actions*, corporations must be interpreted as de facto government.

that the system, or should I say systems, are basically totally broken. until people are willing to do that there will be no change, and things will continue to get worse. at some point i have no doubt there will be radical change. what i fear is that it will be radical neo nationalist change, and probably be very bad for the US and the world overall. OTOH i expect that at some point america will enter a new period of isolationism, probably pretty extreme isolationism..

I think he framed the debate incorrectly.

Being the proponents of corporations has always been right wing.

The Democratic party has basically become a right wing servant as well.

In the government examples he points out, it's simply that both parties now are at the beck and call of corporations. In other words, both parties have become servants of the right wing.

What am I missing?

Woodward's latest dropped for the public this am.

Woodward, Bob (2010). Obama's Wars. New York: Simon & Schuster.

“The absence of any US-Iran bilateral channel...may have the perverse effect of reinforcing Iranian interest in progressing in the nuclear realm so that the US will be forced to take it seriously and engage it directly." ~ Richard Haass