AGW at its finest

@BohemianBoo The profit mechanism (aka capitalism) is indeed the main driver for dishonest government. However, what also doesn't help is a political system which welcomes lobbyists. It's nothing less than legalised bribery.

@room101 We'll always have lobbyists, but we can put a cap on how much money a politician can legally accept. That would make it much harder for billionaires to own politicians.

@BohemianBoo America may very well always have lobbyists. Other countries? Not so much.

Furthermore, lobbying through debate and discussion and evidence based information is one thing. "Donating" millions of dollars to politicians so that they enact policies that benefit a given industry is something else entirely.

@room101 You have never been to other countries. Too funny. If you think any politician in any country is the person running the country you are very sadly mistaken. The bureaucrats run the politicians. They always have and they always will.

@hippyjoe1955 What's funny dippy are your very obvious projections.

I've lived and worked in more countries than I can remember. I'm a first generation Greek immigrant to the UK and for the last two and a half years, I've been living in Spain.

As per usual, you're talking out of your arse. As per usual, you're a (cl)ASS A IDIOT!

@room101 Yeah, which is why I said there should be a cap for donations.
Lobbying isn't always bad. People can lobby for good causes. It's just that when billionaires have the advantage of being able to donate more, the government makes laws that benefit billionaires at the expense of the workers.

@room101 Sure you have and I have an IQ of 500. Get stuffed. You have no idea how government the world over works. The bureaucrats run the place and the lobbyists discuss with the bureaucrats how things should be and the politicians take a little graft to make it 'legal'. Some bureaucrats and politicians 'retire' to become lobbyists because they can make more money. Who do they lobby? Bureaucrats.

@hippyjoe1955 So you agree that we need better regulation in addition to getting money out of politics?

@BohemianBoo Too funny!!!!! If you think the 'regulators' are going to pass regulations preventing them from making money....... Or even obey the regulations if they were imposed. The fact is that government is a terrible thing. It is corrupt and corrupting. The best that we can do is to fire everyone involved on a very regular basis.

@hippyjoe1955 I don't need an IQ of 500 to recognise a (cl)ASS A IDIOT when I see one.

@room101 The only idiot on this thread is you. You think that somehow some country is better than another. They are all the same. Power corrupts.

@hippyjoe1955 So you want to get rid of governments and bureaucrats and politicians. Guess what that makes you.

A very left leaning Anarchist. Not that you have any clue what that phrase means😂😂😂

@hippyjoe1955 Where have I said that one country is better than any other?

Evidence please😂😂😂

@room101 You said that the US is the worst. It is not the worst. It is simply the most powerful and the most open about its lobbying. In all reality are you going to spend a lot of money lobbying the government of Cook Islands when the return would be very minimal?

@hippyjoe1955 Where did I say that dippy?

Come on dippy, it's not hard, all you have to do is scroll through this thread and copy my words which say that the USA is the worst. You don't even have to find imaginary sources which tell you that an aircraft crashed in India when it in fact crashed in Greece😂😂😂

@room101 You don't read your own posts?

@hippyjoe1955 [quote]Too funny!!!!! If you think the 'regulators' are going to pass regulations preventing them from making money....... Or even obey the regulations if they were imposed. The fact is that government is a terrible thing. It is corrupt and corrupting. The best that we can do is to fire everyone involved on a very regular basis[/quote]

First of all, nobody is saying they should be prevented from making money. Every company in the world has government regulations, many of them are still profitable.
Secondly, if history is any indications, regulations can be enforced, especially when a society has a good amount of government transparency.
Finally, we all know the government is corrupt. That's why America has Democracy, checks and balances, and transparency. This keeps any person, faction, or party from gaining too much power and forces them to obey the rules. Now this isn't a perfect system because under Capitalism people get too rich and are able to become above the law. Under Socialism, we'd still have rich people, but they wouldn't be so rich that they can buy and sell all the politicians they want.

@BohemianBoo You missed my point entirely. A company is in business to make money. The time it stops making money is the time it is shut down. I am talking about graft and bribes of all sorts that go into the 'decision making' of the government. The government is not going to pass any rules preventing the government bribees from collecting their graft.

@hippyjoe1955 [quote]A company is in business to make money. The time it stops making money is the time it is shut down.[/quote]

Yes, I already addressed this. ALL companies are regulated. Regulation does not mean they stop making money.
And we can reduce the amount of bribes that politicians get through donation caps and transparency laws.

@BohemianBoo And the bureaucrats and politicians are going to give up that stream of income...... too funny!!!

@hippyjoe1955 It's worked in the past and it's working in other countries.

@BohemianBoo It has always been thus. Even back to ancient times. Only silly people think that humans have somehow changed. They haven't. Where there is power there is corruption.

@hippyjoe1955 No shit. That's why we have checks and balances.
It really sounds like you just don't want to improve things using methods that are proven to work because, I don't know, that's "woke" or something.

@BohemianBoo That is exactly it. It has been around for as long as there has been power in influence.

@hippyjoe1955 Oh, so I didn't say that the USA is "the worst" on this post, I said it on one of my own? Cool. Should be very easy for you to provide a link to the post where I say that.

Let's Goooooo Dippy!