Comments on: The Myth of Public Interest and the Flourishing of Political Predation http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/ The Sweet Release of Reason Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:11:50 +0000 hourly 1 By: Franrose O http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/#comment-6899 Franrose O Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:38:25 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=832#comment-6899 Being a public servant means implementing government agenda for the common good. It generalizes the country as a whole including its elements. The two companies lost billions of dollars in the collapse of the subprime lending bubble, and were on the fast track to bankruptcy. They had to be bailed out in order to keep the companies running and a large stimulus of capital was injected into them in order for them to recapitalize and get business rolling again. The actions that were taken by the companies over the last few years were reviewed by the House Oversight Committee in Washington on Tuesday, where they were criticized for their actions and termed irresponsible by Committee Chairman Henry Waxman. The firms' former executives testified that they thought they were doing the right thing, even after being counseled by senior risk managers that investing the company heavily in subprime mortgages severely compromised the firms' potential for cash flow. When the bubble burst and borrowers began defaulting, both companies started to sink. This demonstrates that proper security and planning is necessary in all areas of finance, be it at the level of large national lenders, or personal budgets. Click to read more on <a title="READ MORE about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac" rev="vote-for" href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2008/12/10/payday-loans-made-to-the-two-largest-lending-firms-in-the-us/" rel="nofollow">Fast Payday Loans</a>. Being a public servant means implementing government agenda for the common good. It generalizes the country as a whole including its elements. The two companies lost billions of dollars in the collapse of the subprime lending bubble, and were on the fast track to bankruptcy. They had to be bailed out in order to keep the companies running and a large stimulus of capital was injected into them in order for them to recapitalize and get business rolling again. The actions that were taken by the companies over the last few years were reviewed by the House Oversight Committee in Washington on Tuesday, where they were criticized for their actions and termed irresponsible by Committee Chairman Henry Waxman. The firms' former executives testified that they thought they were doing the right thing, even after being counseled by senior risk managers that investing the company heavily in subprime mortgages severely compromised the firms' potential for cash flow. When the bubble burst and borrowers began defaulting, both companies started to sink. This demonstrates that proper security and planning is necessary in all areas of finance, be it at the level of large national lenders, or personal budgets. Click to read more on Fast Payday Loans.

]]> By: Kent Guida http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/#comment-6934 Kent Guida Sat, 12 Nov 2005 10:54:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=832#comment-6934 There you go again--more knee-jerk anti-Halliburton rhetoric. If knee-jerk anti-Walmart rhetoric is something that should be criticized, and I agree it is, knee-jerk anti-Halliburton talk or anti-Halliburton talk as a knee-jerk anti-Bush proxy, is equally unsatisfactory. NPR assumes Walmart's enemies are in the right. Others assume Henry Waxman's attack on Halliburton is just. They are equally crude, thoughtless, casual, and neither should be tolerated. There you go again–more knee-jerk anti-Halliburton rhetoric. If knee-jerk anti-Walmart rhetoric is something that should be criticized, and I agree it is, knee-jerk anti-Halliburton talk or anti-Halliburton talk as a knee-jerk anti-Bush proxy, is equally unsatisfactory. NPR assumes Walmart’s enemies are in the right. Others assume Henry Waxman’s attack on Halliburton is just. They are equally crude, thoughtless, casual, and neither should be tolerated.

]]> By: battlepanda http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/#comment-6933 battlepanda Thu, 10 Nov 2005 08:37:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=832#comment-6933 Again, how does this particular story justify your point of view? If you don't even bother checking out whether Wal-mart really is in the wrong in this case, how do you know if NPR is not totally within bounds to characterize the gov. as the 'good guys' in this case? In any case, I find your argument that there is a popular conception of the government as universally benevolent and that is what is creating a hotbed for crony capitalism unconvincing. First of all, the American people is plenty cynical about gubmint. The problem is that it is a kind of passive, apathetic cynicism that numbs us to outrage like the no-bid contracts in Iraq. Of course, I'm just speculating here (as are you), but I think it is equally likely that there would be more concern over Halliburton if we had higher expectations of government and what it can achieve. Again, how does this particular story justify your point of view? If you don’t even bother checking out whether Wal-mart really is in the wrong in this case, how do you know if NPR is not totally within bounds to characterize the gov. as the ‘good guys’ in this case?

In any case, I find your argument that there is a popular conception of the government as universally benevolent and that is what is creating a hotbed for crony capitalism unconvincing. First of all, the American people is plenty cynical about gubmint. The problem is that it is a kind of passive, apathetic cynicism that numbs us to outrage like the no-bid contracts in Iraq. Of course, I’m just speculating here (as are you), but I think it is equally likely that there would be more concern over Halliburton if we had higher expectations of government and what it can achieve.

]]> By: Will Wilkinson http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/#comment-6932 Will Wilkinson Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:38:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=832#comment-6932 I was more annoyed by the usual naive assumed conception of government as defender of an uncontroversially shared idea of the public interest. Like I said, that's that kind of fog of misrepresentation behind which corruption and crony-capitalism lurks. The anti-business thing is really secondary. I was more annoyed by the usual naive assumed conception of government as defender of an uncontroversially shared idea of the public interest. Like I said, that’s that kind of fog of misrepresentation behind which corruption and crony-capitalism lurks. The anti-business thing is really secondary.

]]> By: Battlepanda http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/#comment-6931 Battlepanda Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:12:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=832#comment-6931 This is kind of lame. You criticize media coverage for being anti-business, but you don't even bother to make sure the example you cite has an anti-business angle that is unjustified. This is all well and good if you're preaching to the libertarian choir, but if you want to cogently argue your point of view to those who don't share it, it is not enough to say "NPR is anti-walmart", but demonstrate within the context of this specific story that NPR got it wrong on walmart. Otherwise, you're just blowing so much hot air. This is kind of lame. You criticize media coverage for being anti-business, but you don’t even bother to make sure the example you cite has an anti-business angle that is unjustified. This is all well and good if you’re preaching to the libertarian choir, but if you want to cogently argue your point of view to those who don’t share it, it is not enough to say “NPR is anti-walmart”, but demonstrate within the context of this specific story that NPR got it wrong on walmart. Otherwise, you’re just blowing so much hot air.

]]> By: Gene Callahan http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/#comment-6930 Gene Callahan Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:26:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=832#comment-6930 "makes it increasingly difficult for government to serve it's genuinely necessary functions..." But government <em>has no</em> genuinely necessary functions! “makes it increasingly difficult for government to serve it’s genuinely necessary functions…”

But government has no genuinely necessary functions!

]]> By: odograph http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/#comment-6929 odograph Mon, 07 Nov 2005 18:19:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=832#comment-6929 BTW, the fact that very few companies are really "hated" implies to me that such stigma must actually be pretty easy to avoid. BTW, the fact that very few companies are really “hated” implies to me that such stigma must actually be pretty easy to avoid.

]]> By: odograph http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/#comment-6928 odograph Mon, 07 Nov 2005 18:11:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=832#comment-6928 I'm not sure how precise we can be on this cheating and fairness. It seems to me to be a late-breaking field of study. But maybe we can look at it with a little comparative taxonomy ... why is Wal-Mart "bad" and Target "good?" If a Nike or a Home Depot successfully manages its social position ... should we blame the people for not liking Wal-Mart, or Wal-Mart for so ineffectively interacting with the people? There are probably human/tribal things going on here, in our interactions with corporate players, that we are too immersed in to even see. I’m not sure how precise we can be on this cheating and fairness. It seems to me to be a late-breaking field of study.

But maybe we can look at it with a little comparative taxonomy … why is Wal-Mart “bad” and Target “good?”

If a Nike or a Home Depot successfully manages its social position … should we blame the people for not liking Wal-Mart, or Wal-Mart for so ineffectively interacting with the people?

There are probably human/tribal things going on here, in our interactions with corporate players, that we are too immersed in to even see.

]]> By: R.J. Lehmann http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/#comment-6927 R.J. Lehmann Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:29:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=832#comment-6927 Cheating implies breaking the rules. Sure, it happens, and sometimes it happens in big, obvious ways. But for the most part, rule-breaking is the purview of fly-by-night operators who look only to make a few bucks before cutting and running. Empires like Wal-Mart, like Microsoft, like ExxonMobil -- they usually don't have to break the rules. Instead, they rewrite the rules to better suit them. Cheating implies breaking the rules. Sure, it happens, and sometimes it happens in big, obvious ways. But for the most part, rule-breaking is the purview of fly-by-night operators who look only to make a few bucks before cutting and running.

Empires like Wal-Mart, like Microsoft, like ExxonMobil — they usually don’t have to break the rules. Instead, they rewrite the rules to better suit them.

]]> By: odograph http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2005/11/04/the-myth-of-public-interest-and-the-flourishing-of-political-predation/#comment-6926 odograph Mon, 07 Nov 2005 15:46:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=832#comment-6926 I think the answer is to understand human nature, and not try to hammer it to fit a favorite economic theory, be that theory from the left or the right. I think the answer is to understand human nature, and not try to hammer it to fit a favorite economic theory, be that theory from the left or the right.

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