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Originally posted by: pjstroh
There's no shortage of ethics issues in the private sector. GM hiding safety issues. Toyota did the same a few years back. Banks give predatory loans. Oil drillers write up bogus plans to cap a deep water leak. Coal mines ignore safety protocols. Insurance companies rescind sick customers. In short, there are lots of scumbags that put profits in front of people.
And this will not change so long as our country embraces this hypocrisy: COrporations are people when they want to support political candidates...but they are not people when it comes time to hold them accountable for unethical activity.
Nobody from GM will go to prison, just like nobody from BP went to prison, or Wall St, or Duke Energy, or PG&E, or Massey. But they'll all be shoveling out millions in the next political cycle. Why? Because they are just people like you and me.
Wow! Not so long ago Chilcoot and others sneered at poor old DonDiego for saying corporations were considered citizens on select legal matters. In a related matter, corporations may soon be held as citizens with the protection of the 1st Amendment pertaining to religious freedom. DonDiego welcomes pjstroh to the club.
DonDiego agrees with pjstroh's observation that crooks are everywhere in the corporate world. But DonDiego also suggests that there are crooks elsewhere as well. Like within the Government. That's one reason DonDiego likes to see Laws enforced without bias, . . . whether personal, professional, or political. That's why the Constitution was written with built-in checks and balances. But they don't always work.
F'rinstance, . . . what if in the case of GM the standard bankruptcy provisions of the Law had been followed, instead of having the Government intrude to save, . . . well, . . . save, umm, . . . someone whom they chose to save - like GM executives and unions and cheat others - like, f'rinstance GM bondholders.
DonDiego humbly suggests in the information gathering of a regular bankruptcy procedure the fact that GM was liable for damage and death caused by defective ignition switches. Because GM knew it. And the Government knew it. And THEY would've both been liable if they'd've hidden such pertinent information from potential buyers of GM assets in accordance with the Law.
Instead, to protect the chosen beneficiaries, not only did GM and the Government not reveal this information, but the Government granted GM immunity for any misdeeds prior to 2009! And only now, . . . now can one begin to see just why that immunity pact was so important.
And pr'bly why the Government sold off its GM shares sorta unexpectedly in December 2013, . . . almost like they knew something.
And unfortunately DonDiego agrees with pjstroh that no one from GM will go to prison, . . . and suggests that no one from the Government will either. It's a pity.
Power corrupts. It corrupts businessmen. It corrupts workers. It corrupts those in Government. The only defense is a strong set of Laws enforced impartially, . . . i.e. a Government held accountable to its citizens. DonDiego fears such Government is fading away.
