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The Corrupt Government Is Dead, Long Live the Corrupt Government

By Wlady Pleszczynski on 10.21.08 @ 7:51PM

Quoting from a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the new November issue of the (smartly redesigned) Atlantic offers (scroll down) as good an explanation as any as to why an Obama could be winning in this time of troubles:

People living under the yoke of corrupt governments tend to want … more government regulation. It’s a vicious cycle: in trusting societies, people act civilly and expect less government interference. In distrustful societies, people act selfishly and expect tighter regulation. But more government corruption leads to less-trusting societies, and citizens will generally “prefer state control to unbridled production by uncivil firms”—even when they know their leaders are crooked.

Comments

Mike Showalter| 10.21.08 @ 9:07PM

Wlady, I'd say we've arrived at our destination. So, where does this leave us? How do we break the cycle? Another American Revolution? Isn't going to happen, different circumstances and all that, so how? Perhaps it gets so bad it collapses of it's own weight, we have chaos for a few years, then enclaves, cities, city-states, etc., and history begins again. It's a nice theory. Whada ya think? Yeah, maybe not. Oh well, hopefully, we won't be around to watch it, unless it's already begun. Never in my wildest dreams did a BHO appear in the mist. What have we done?

Charles Y| 10.22.08 @ 9:26AM

Is it possible that Bush is so crafty that he leaving Obama with an absolutely unworkable economy. The credit bubble pops, Bush throws on 1930s style regs that Obama will not be able to untangle--setting the stage for a new Reagan-esqe figure in 2012???

Michael Roush| 10.22.08 @ 9:31AM

Mr. Plesczcynski, Thank you for the thought provoking post. Mr. Showalter, I have to agree with your assessment that we now live in a distrustful society in which fearful people are calling for more government regulation. Who can doubt this given recent events? Are our warring political leaders capable of setting aside partisan politics and speaking clearly and honestly to the American people about our problems? It it any longer possible to develop bi-partisan plans to address our economic, energy, infrastructure and security needs or will our leaders continue to be driven by the passions of their respective fringes who are convinced of the absolute rightness of their ideology and demand total victory in the political area. Where to begin? Politics is, first and foremost, about compromise. Perhaps we begin by asking the far right and the far left to sit down and shut up.

William VanEe| 11.6.08 @ 8:47PM

The first time this socialist bs was tried was shortly after the Mayflower landed. They quickly found out that it wouldn't work and shit canned the idea. It is as impossible to be almost socialist as it is to be almost pregnant. It is time to fill the Potomac with tea bags and start over!

Tony| 11.8.08 @ 1:46PM

It's pretty sure in an economic system like the United States only the big and small private business's in America are going to survive.
Everyone else is going to get squished of course prodded underneath the stir.
Our country is based upon economic abilities so fascism has already generally succeeded.