"Perhaps the system is not as corrupt as I think it is, I hope to be proved wrong." was a comment someone made in one of the trade diaries a few days back, to which I responded....
"Perhaps this is just a test of the system to show us how utterly corrupt it is and how much the corporate politicians of both parties can get away with. For now, I am going for hope, frayed trust for sure, but still holding hope."
I did feel justified in that hope. But after all I've read and all that's happened since then, my trust is not frayed, it is gone.
When I read the below comment today, I tipped it because I now totally agree.....
"Senate Democrats will fold and Obama will sign the TPP based only on a promise of a TAA. When the Republicans finally pass a TAA, it'll be tiny and be offset with cuts in some other social program. Then the Democrats will cry that they've been tricked.
It's all kabuki. The game is rigged, and its not even well hidden."
When did this corruption in our government become so in your face, showing such contempt for voters? It's as if they are mocking us, as if to say "you don't like it - well, what are you can do about it!"
They really are now showing us how utterly corrupt they are - how much the corporate politicians of both parties can get away with. Was that the intent all along, one big show put on for the people last week, hoping we'd buy it but not really caring if we didn't - Just a throwout for the little people who cannot afford to fund their campaigns, those that cannot offer them the big bucks jobs like their corporate overlords?
“It’s a rare thing for members of Congress to go against the money these days,”
said Mansur Gidfar, spokesman for the anti-corruption group Represent.Us. “They know exactly which special interests they need to keep happy if they want to fund their reelection campaigns or secure a future job as a lobbyist.
“How can we expect politicians who routinely receive campaign money, lucrative job offers, and lavish gifts from special interests to make impartial decisions that directly affect those same special interests?”
Gidfar said. “As long as this kind of transparently corrupt behavior remains legal, we won’t have a government that truly represents the people.”
Top 10 Ways the US is the Most Corrupt Country in the World
American politicians don’t represent “the people.” With a few honorable exceptions, they represent the the 1%. American democracy is being corrupted out of existence.
Using data from the Federal Election Commission, this chart shows all donations that corporate members of the US Business Coalition for TPP made to US Senate campaigns between January and March 2015, when fast-tracking the TPP was being debated in the Senate:
Here’s how much corporations paid US senators to fast-track the TPP bill