4 ms·

I feel like the federal government at large has failed us, due to financial conflicts of interest taking priority over everything

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
svachalek 4y ago
It's gotten really bad, and still seems to be accelerating in that direction. When government stops responding to voters, it's no longer a democracy (or democratically elected republic if you want to go there).
- rabuse 4y ago
  We're shifting towards a feudalistic society.
  - uoaei 4y ago
    Call it corporatism, techno-/neo-feudalism.... Call it a mess. Make no mistake: these dominating and coercive structures and the natures of their functions are built with intention. In each example you will find expressions of capitalist ideology, namely, control and exploitation at the behest of the profit motive, as fundaments of their construction. This is not how government ought to be, and I really hesitated before using that word because I don't like to assert it lightly. Government is for governance -- in democracies and even democratic republics, it is by definition a service for the people. The cost of those services, inasmuch as you can quantify a cost borne by a sovereignty that manages its own fiat currency, cannot use the same language nor apparatuses as are applied "at the kitchen table" so to speak. That is ridiculous in the most spiritedly literal interpretation. Additionally, we know by now that optimizing for wealth re: quarterly profits does not mean optimizing for cultural/societal/civilizational longevity and sustainability. I have not yet seen a significant apologia regarding this basic fact. So clearly the incentives are wrong vs the stated justifications for the existence of governmental bodies. The fact that corporatists infiltrate sovereign governments to install or convert allies who manipulate public opinion and policy to produce such a narrative should be considered a political crisis second to none.
usrn 4y ago
There isn't a single functioning agency of the federal government. The entire thing has been turned against the American people in order to serve these large corporations.
- nine_k 4y ago
  How about DARPA? NASA?
gumby 4y ago
I think you’re missing all the stuff that works, and thus isn’t written about.
- Calamitous 4y ago
  I’d be curious what stuff you feel works well, in the federal government? (I’m not being snarky, just genuinely curious)
  - gumby 4y ago
    Do you not live in the USA? It's not as bad as is portrayed. I have lived in other countries with superior quality of life but every place has its tradeoffs. Transport is quite safe -- federal regulation of road construction, air traffic control etc is quite good. Food and drug safety (though I could write a book full of complaints) is quite high -- you can't imagine what it looked like before the pure food and drug act and all the work that's happened. Food stamps and welfare get paid out, and despite rhetoric otherwise, will continue to be indefinitely. Yes, farm subsidies are a rat's nest of petty corruption but that's a thermodynamic loss in exchange for which there hasn't been a famine in the US in almost a century; and widespread malnutrition, which was true when I was born was solved before I came to the States. NASA has made some amazing satellites; NASA, NOAA USGS, NIST etc generate and publish enormous amounts of earth and other data. DOE means the military doesn't control the nuke tech, and is why we were able to stop doing physical nuke tests; despite visible homelessness HUD has ensured a roof over the heads of people who in living memory would have not had access to one. The court system is generally non-corrupt and by international standards quite fast and effective. OSHA saves lives. The fed is probably the best central bank in the world. I remember what the US looked like before the EPA was formed (by a republican government no less) and all the consumer product safety rules the dept of commerce has promulgated mean you can take much for granted when you go to the shops. Financial regulation means nobody remembers a run on the banks or all the "widows and orphans" fraud that was rampant a year ago. I believe it was just discussed on HN in the past couple of days how the US process for insuring and rolling up bad banks is unique in the world. I could go on. People form governments for a reason and the fact is most of what we "hire" the government to is stuff we don't have expertise for ourselves (nukes? radio interference? Bank controls? road safety standards?) or for which it's simply easier to have a convention defined (speed limits). But since it works who bothers to pay attention?
cyanydeez 4y ago
Which is just privatization of X.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

svachalek 4y ago

It's gotten really bad, and still seems to be accelerating in that direction. When government stops responding to voters, it's no longer a democracy (or democratically elected republic if you want to go there).

rabuse 4y ago
We're shifting towards a feudalistic society.
- uoaei 4y ago
  Call it corporatism, techno-/neo-feudalism.... Call it a mess. Make no mistake: these dominating and coercive structures and the natures of their functions are built with intention. In each example you will find expressions of capitalist ideology, namely, control and exploitation at the behest of the profit motive, as fundaments of their construction. This is not how government ought to be, and I really hesitated before using that word because I don't like to assert it lightly. Government is for governance -- in democracies and even democratic republics, it is by definition a service for the people. The cost of those services, inasmuch as you can quantify a cost borne by a sovereignty that manages its own fiat currency, cannot use the same language nor apparatuses as are applied "at the kitchen table" so to speak. That is ridiculous in the most spiritedly literal interpretation. Additionally, we know by now that optimizing for wealth re: quarterly profits does not mean optimizing for cultural/societal/civilizational longevity and sustainability. I have not yet seen a significant apologia regarding this basic fact. So clearly the incentives are wrong vs the stated justifications for the existence of governmental bodies. The fact that corporatists infiltrate sovereign governments to install or convert allies who manipulate public opinion and policy to produce such a narrative should be considered a political crisis second to none.

usrn 4y ago

There isn't a single functioning agency of the federal government. The entire thing has been turned against the American people in order to serve these large corporations.

nine_k 4y ago
How about DARPA? NASA?

gumby 4y ago

I think you’re missing all the stuff that works, and thus isn’t written about.

Calamitous 4y ago
I’d be curious what stuff you feel works well, in the federal government? (I’m not being snarky, just genuinely curious)
- gumby 4y ago
  Do you not live in the USA? It's not as bad as is portrayed. I have lived in other countries with superior quality of life but every place has its tradeoffs. Transport is quite safe -- federal regulation of road construction, air traffic control etc is quite good. Food and drug safety (though I could write a book full of complaints) is quite high -- you can't imagine what it looked like before the pure food and drug act and all the work that's happened. Food stamps and welfare get paid out, and despite rhetoric otherwise, will continue to be indefinitely. Yes, farm subsidies are a rat's nest of petty corruption but that's a thermodynamic loss in exchange for which there hasn't been a famine in the US in almost a century; and widespread malnutrition, which was true when I was born was solved before I came to the States. NASA has made some amazing satellites; NASA, NOAA USGS, NIST etc generate and publish enormous amounts of earth and other data. DOE means the military doesn't control the nuke tech, and is why we were able to stop doing physical nuke tests; despite visible homelessness HUD has ensured a roof over the heads of people who in living memory would have not had access to one. The court system is generally non-corrupt and by international standards quite fast and effective. OSHA saves lives. The fed is probably the best central bank in the world. I remember what the US looked like before the EPA was formed (by a republican government no less) and all the consumer product safety rules the dept of commerce has promulgated mean you can take much for granted when you go to the shops. Financial regulation means nobody remembers a run on the banks or all the "widows and orphans" fraud that was rampant a year ago. I believe it was just discussed on HN in the past couple of days how the US process for insuring and rolling up bad banks is unique in the world. I could go on. People form governments for a reason and the fact is most of what we "hire" the government to is stuff we don't have expertise for ourselves (nukes? radio interference? Bank controls? road safety standards?) or for which it's simply easier to have a convention defined (speed limits). But since it works who bothers to pay attention?

cyanydeez 4y ago

Which is just privatization of X.