Too Big to Fail, to bad that doesn’t apply to America

Florida Democrat Congressman Alan Grayson

How did we get into this mess?

How did we become the land of the “Government Bank and Auto Industry” take over and the home of the too scared to invest in our own stock markets?

You ever heard the term, “Too Big to Fail”? That term has been recently associated with companies like AIG where it is said that if it or some of these other mega conglomerates were to face the natural business consequences of bankruptcy then all the economies of the world would fail. Pretty damn scary right? (see previous post)

Well here’s a message to Congress, Alan Greenspan and the world, “Too Big to Fail” is not a good thing. I think that even the most financially inept among us would now be inclined to agree with that statement.

[C]ompanies have gotten to big. The only reason that companies are consolidating into such huge Global entities is to amass more wealth and more power.

These huge monstrosities are not helping competition in the market place, furthermore such wealth and power are a direct threat to the freedoms of the American people.

No to the contrary, what these Corporations are doing, they are devouring their competitors while creating tyrannous control and power over the markets which they are apart of. However to complicate things if these mammoths are threaten in any way our whole economic system is threaten with default. And as we now see that also includes the World.—Alaphiah

It was Congress that sold out the American people by allowing corporate lobbyists’ influence to entice them into striping out anti-trust laws (this practice continued well into the early 2000s). Such laws would have prevented the monopolizing acts of Big Oil and Banking industries from consolidating with, devouring or destroying all competition.

What’s more, Congress’ lack of regulation made these corporations the behemoth world threatening monstrosities that they are today which can threaten the world economies with either total domination or either utter collapse.

The government, the Federal Reserve and institutions that were supposed to protect the American people failed the American people miserably.

Alan Greenspan, in his essay entitled Antitrust[11] condemns the Sherman Act (antitrust laws) as stifling innovation and harming society. "No one will ever know what new products, processes, machines, and cost-saving mergers failed to come into existence, killed by the Sherman Act before they were born. No one can ever compute the price that all of us have paid for that Act which, by inducing less effective use of capital, has kept our standard of living lower than would otherwise have been possible."

We now know that Greenspan was wrong. What Greenspan was arguing for is being called Free Market Economy but what his arguments actually resulted in was the deregulation of Corporations and the concentration of corporate wealth and power which inevitably always ends in the oppression of the individual person through corporate rule.

"If we will not endure a king as a political power we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life."—John Sherman

Now Congress wishes to play on the ignorance of the American people. They know that we didn’t know that they were responsible for the deregulation therefore the unleashing of corporate domination upon the people of the world so they’re playing up phony outrage and proposing outrageous laws against the bonuses that they’ve allowed and the corporations that they’ve empowered. (see previous post)

Since 2001, the largest five oil companies operation in the United States—ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, BP, and Shell—Recorded $464 billion in profits. While some of their profit clearly stems from certain aspects of global supply and demand, investigations show that a portion of these record earnings are fueled by market manipulation, made possible by recent mergers and weak regulatory oversight by the federal government (Congress).—Tyson Slocum, Standard Oil rises Again: How Eroding Legal Protections and Lax Regulatory Oversight Harm Consumers (source)

[A] "huge intrusion" by the government into the financial sector. "Since when did the government start deciding what corporations could pay and what is generous and what is not?-- Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala as reported by Mark K. Matthews

For example Rep. Alan Grayson (D) Orlando, Florida has put up a bill meant to play on the American’s people anger with Corporate America that would give the government the authority to set executive pay. An act that is, at best too little too late, or at worst it unconstitutionally targets individuals with the full weight and authority of the Federal government.

Neil Cavuto of Fox News attempts to convey that sentiment to Congressman Grayson. (see story)(see video)

“The Constitution never gave you the damn authority of telling anyone what they should make….to blithely come here and set pay for people you even know!”—Neil Cavuto

Democrats know that if the American people smarten up and begin to connect the dots they will be in terrible trouble in 2010 and 2012. Follow is a parody of the Obama team’s recognition of just that fact. (see video)



For the political suave this looks less like the economy that Obama inherited and more like the mess that Senator Obama and his Democrat controlled Congress made.

In any event the larger question is, is America to big to fail? The answer is as long as corporate power remains unregulated and government is corrupted by corporate influence America’s failure is inevitable.