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U.S. Corporations, Politics Getting More Corrupt, Surprising Nobody
United Re:public / News Analysis
Published: Thursday 12 July 2012
“Have corporations lost whatever ethical compass they once had?”
The United States is getting more corrupt. So says Transparency International, which ranks the country the 16th least-corrupt in the world in 2001. By last year, the United States fell back to 24th place.
Why is corruption spreading? A recent New York Times story fingers everything from globalization to rising income inequality, as well as the growing role of corporate money in political campaigns. Yet, while corporations are spending more than ever on political campaigns, we’ve also recently seen a noticeable uptick in corporate corruption scandals.
Have corporations lost whatever ethical compass they once had? Are Americans even remotely surprised by the misconduct of the financial industry?
That’s what the New York Times asks, in light of the recent Libor-Barclays scandal. What does it mean when one of the world’s leading banks attempts to manipulate an incredibly important interest rate — and we barely blink?
Corporations had been loosely regulated by the Glass-Steagall Act, which wasshattered in 2000, as well as limits set by laws like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which corporations today furiously lobby against. They use their profits to weaken regulation. Porter writes:
Company executives are paid to maximize profits, not to behave ethically. Evidence suggests that they behave as corruptly as they can, within whatever constraints are imposed by law and reputation… the furious rush of corporate cash into the political process — which differs from bribery in that companies pay politicians to change laws rather than bureaucrats to ignore them — is unlikely to foment ethical behavior.
In this way, money’s corruption of politics makes fraud and corruption easier and more likely for corporations. Need another example? Take the reverential treatment availed to Jamie Dimon by the Senate Banking Committee, even after his JP Morgan lost $6 billion.
No wonder Americans don’t trust banks (or politicians):
Sixty-two percent of Americans believe corruption is widespread across corporate America. According to Transparency International, an anti-corruption watchdog, nearly three in four Americans believe that corruption has increased over the last three years… In 2001, Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index ranked the United States as the 16th least-corrupt country. By last year, the nation had fallen to 24th place.
What is at stake here isn’t only billions dollars in fraudulent behavior, it’s the entire American political-financial system:
It’s hard to fathom the broader social implications of corporate wrongdoing. But its most long-lasting impact may be on Americans’ trust in the institutions that underpin the nation’s liberal market democracy.
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By Aviva Shen
19 comments on "U.S. Corporations, Politics Getting More Corrupt, Surprising Nobody"
July 24, 2012 11:11am
Whatever the name of your political philosophy, it's a bit hard to dismiss the fact that the People's Republic of China, a certifiable COMMUNIST nation, is eating our industrial lunch and our economy. It's not even much of a contest. So exactly what were those huge benefits that we are supposed to be enjoying predicated on the fact that WE live in a democracy? (or something with democratic labels anyway). Democracy is NOT an economic theory, nor is socialism. What we now have is a thoroughgoing plutocracy. All of those lovely democratic ideals will be easily swept away when they are found to conflict with the efficient pillaging of our collective wealth. It's simple really; just make those things that are viewed as theft, legal. Then it's not breaking the law anymore. Isn't this the mantra of the mitts and his various waterboys; it may be morally reprehensible, it may violate any reasoned view of ethics, it may violate everything we've ever been taught about fairness, truth and honesty .............. BUT IT WAS ALL PERFECTLY LEGAL.
July 14, 2012 8:02pm
Oh, please, let's not hear about "Socialism/Marxism" at this site. That's Fox News brain-laundering that appeals only to those who vote by catchy slogans instead of measured evaluation. Obama is not a Socialist. No European Socialist would consider him a Socialist. In fact, they see him as a "moderate." You must be coming from so far right that you think any expression of concern for the welfare of fellow Americans is some evil Maoist or Stalinist scheme to undermine the American republic. Why are Republicans so self-righteous about their vaunted selfishness? They make a loud noise about being Christians, ignoring the fact that Jesus said a rich man would never enter Heaven ("sooner shall a camel pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man enter Heaven"). I guess, in typical Republican fashion, they figure they can buy their way in.
I'm not a Christian and I don't pretend to be, but when are the sanctimonious "me-firsters" on the Right going to confront their own hypocrisy? They think in terms of "I've got mine, so screw the rest of you losers." They even popularize TV evangelists who assure them that God wants them to be rich, but they only quote the Old Testament for that, not the teachings of the young rabbi who was executed for his unpopular positions. Now some of them are awaiting the return of a warrior Messiah who'll kick butt and take names and throw the unbelievers into an eternal oven.
Wow, and all this from a guy who said to "turn the other cheek?"
July 14, 2012 7:26am
I've been saying elsewhere for several years now, that Capitalism is...
going to fail if we follow this destructive path of overspending.
on the verge of failure, if we don't put people back to work very soon.
teetering on the brink and that this BS line of "Double Dip Recession" is really an MILDER term to mean DEPRESSION.
showing a severe division between Rich vs (more) Poor.
When a story posted a week or so ago, regarding the "Ultra Rich have their own Economy", this showed that these people are going to control everything in our lives, including buying of these scumbag politicians.
In short, Capitalism has gotten to powerful for it's own good and controls our Society.
This story just supports this. More will follow!
July 13, 2012 8:36am
President Wilson once said, "The business of America is business." The more corrupt business is then the more corrupt is America and it's government. The latest is that the tax credits for our growing alternative energy industries were not extended--which would allow them to compete with cheaper Chinese imports. Yet our legislators refuse to cancel tax breaks and subsidies for the oil companies. To destroy alternative energy competition all the oil companies have to do is wait and let their hired politicians do the job for them.
July 13, 2012 6:44am
There are famous bible quotes that cover this, they are something like;
"Beware the money changers" ( banks, lenders )
"The love of money is the root of all evil"
Strange how the evangelical right loves to support both of these through their support of the very party who overtly supports both greed and corporatism.
I have two relative articles on my blog about this.
Evil of Money: http://www.joethevoter.org/evil-and-money-in-politics.html
Who does the GOP work for: http://www.joethevoter.org/confession-of-a-gop-operative.html
If people paid more attention we could get out of this mess by going to public funded elections and by limiting individual donations to only those persons who actually reside in a politician's home district.
July 12, 2012 6:55pm
It is sad to see that so many believe that they can outsmart the laws of life, we create our own life as well as the life of those near and dear, they are also affected by the way we act, the way we think and believe, These people are destroying what was so beautifully crated and crafted by the correct thinking of our founding fathers. The worst part of this is that we do nothing, just complaint, we need to get together and demand correctness.
July 13, 2012 6:47am
Don't put too much credit on the founding fathers. Our constitution at the time was a compromise many thought would not work. Ben Franklin even stated when he reluctantly signed it, that he did so only because he feared they could do no better.
At that time owning slaves was constitutional. Women could not vote or own or inherit property and so on...
It has taken centuries to try to amend the constitution into something that sponsored equality for all Americans and the job is still incomplete.
July 12, 2012 5:07pm
Ok folks, maybe you can help out here! We could put the big boys from Barclays behind bars! Yes, the ones that rigged the interest rates to profit from YOUR loss!
But be quick, we only have a couple of days left!
http://www.avaaz.org/en/bankers_behind_bars_g/?tWdFoab
sign now, please!
July 12, 2012 3:57pm
If we were to all join the Corruption Party, then we could get things going our way with no hassling over so-called elections.
July 12, 2012 3:39pm
The Supreme Court is helping: Corporations are people and they can donate anonymously. Al Qaeda are secretly investing to defeat Obama.
July 12, 2012 3:23pm
Our system is corrupt and the pressure to maximize profits can even be coming from institutional investors, as well as the rich, for pension funds, NGO's, humanitarian organizations, Universities, etc all running low on donations and public money who then are having to depend more on endowment funds. It is a corruyption as a sign of institutional stress and a civilization running out of gas to power itself. A sign of things to come in the century or learning how to live within the means of our planet wihtout the wasted resources on wars of destruction and reconstruction profiteering, excessive accumulationof wealth for a few, a population growth economics, and poisoningthe very plaent we live on. Not to mention ignoring redundancy in critcal life support systems in oredert ot maximize short term profits.
July 12, 2012 2:45pm
For the 'spread' of corruption the one most telling reason offered by the article and several commenters is that regs against corrupt corporate and politician behavior have been weakened. That is, the law - which we count on to define truly basic (if not higher) standards of permitted behavior - has deliberately and brazenly been weakened.
But why do we seem always to have notable corruption at all, whether 'spreading' or 'contracting'? The reason is given in Lord Acton's correct and justly famous (but by would-be 'progressives' and other would-be 'reformers' universally and fatally disregarded) statement (1887): 'power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely'. In other words, what guarantees incentive to corruption is the concentration of political decision and legislative power - precisely as is done in our oligarchic republican system set up by the 1787 federal constitution. Our public decisions are made not by short-term teams comprising many ordinary citizens but by a relative few long-term special officers (elected or appointed).
De facto each of these powerful and long-termed officers can treat their subsantial public-policy decision power as a private commodity, to sell off to would-be corrupters. And, with few officers that need be corrupted in order to make policy decisions that secure big rewards, corruption-on-the-cheap is profitable to the corrupters.
We will continue to have corruption so long as we continue to have a constitutional oligarchy, no matter what sort of 'progressive' good guys are installed from time to time as the political oligarchs.
July 12, 2012 2:38pm
What chance do we the people (the majority) have since the passing of Citizens Unite? Our democracy is up for sale.
July 12, 2012 1:20pm
The Upper class expects to do what ever they want, and are quite indignant when told they can't. But Upper classes have always been a bit snooty.
July 12, 2012 1:18pm
Corporate corruption is escalating because Wall Street and Washington are the same. Most of media is corporately owned. Many people are learning to check out independent news sources and to support them, online and on tv. Link tv, Pacifica Broadcasting, the program Democracy Now! Truthout, and all of the other activist orgs online fill in the blanks. Turn off Fox and the rest of mainstream news. It's pablum made for the US. The news exported to the rest of the world has more oats in it. Check out European news and Al-jezeera. These folks are doing great work--real journalism. I send my dollars to them instead of my political party.
July 12, 2012 12:45pm
U.S corporations ARE our government! Any questions?
July 12, 2012 12:36pm
The MOST corrupt entity, IMHO, is the Media.
Then...I place ALMOST all politicians in that group. There are a few good guys, but it does not take much time, before they are corrupted too.
That is why we should vote them in..and then VOTE THEM OUT. If they are NOT doing what We the People (the majority) desire....then it is time to GO!
The minority should not be able to have the power they do. The Majority of the people should rule! And to this day, most of the majority of the people want us to abide by the Constitution!
Corporations...Not ALL corporations are corrupt. But many.
This is a sign of the times. We are ALL sinners. But there is such a thing as refraining from TEMPTATION.
People today...most people...do things that FEEL good, instead of things that ARE good.
This is the END of TIMES..IMHO. And MOST of this HAS to happen before the return of our Savior.
Now I know many who read this site are not Christians. I really don't care about your nasty expressions against me. (Sticks and Stones) This is MY opinion, and until it is illegal to say so...I will continue to express my opinion.
And to those who put down the Republicans..the Democrats are just as bad..but you do not hear about it, because the corrupt media is so tight with the Democrats. I consider the Congress ..both sides of the aisle...to be both sides of the SAME coin. They are working together for the demise of our country. For Global authority. As long as they..the elite...get their piece of the pie... they could care less about those they are supposed to serve.
Look BEYOND the US media and find the TRUTH.
That is why I use the Internet for a lot of my research. Of course there are lies there....but there is also TRUTH. You just have to know how to find it. How to verify.
But, sadly, I hardly ever read or hear the truth in the corrupt US media..(TV, Radio, publications)
July 12, 2012 11:42am
All this corruption is costing the tax payer.
Yet in the face of this massive corruption Republican legislators continue to say that, "America has the highest corporate tax rate in the world." But America does not have the highest "effective" corporate tax rate in the world, not even close. In fact, some of the most profitable corporations pay little if any tax.
Don't vote for these rats.
July 13, 2012 8:41pm
Hey Bozo, do you seriously believe that our corruption in AmeriKa is a one-sided problem, that the dirt is coming only from the Right? I will assume you are of average or above average intelligence, but why would your field of view be so narrow? Is it OK with you that our Socialism/Marxism is creeping through the floorboards as quickly as the Fascism? Is it a matter of getting "equality" through Socialist/Marxist agendas or where ever you can find it, or do you actually care about the integrity and transparency of the regime which serves it to you?
You guys who look through that soda straw at Republican/NeoCon corruption without turning your head from Right to LEFT may just be suffering from "gimmethatitis". There's a cure for that you know.