The sickness behind the entire system is that it rewards such behavior and patronizes the ability to create power and wealth rather giving preference to efforts that raise the standards of living for everyone, in particular those who have minimal opportunities for social progress without the assistance and protection from government. However, the problem is more systemically entrenched than simply having a bunch of psychopathic personalities sitting in high executive positions. Joel Bakan has explained that “the problem is not so much that we allow people to get away with breaking the law. It’s that we create laws that allow people to get away with doing things that are horrific. And what I mean by that is that it takes us back to the issue of how deregulation combines with the law of the corporation. The law of the corporation basically says it is your legal duty to exploit and to plunder in order to create wealth for your shareholders. The law of the regulatory state used to say, “but you can’t do this or that.” It no longer says that. So, in effect, what used to be illegal behavior that is certainly morally wrong, whether it meant creating unsafe environments for workers, creating an unsafe factory or insider trading are no longer illegal.”
“It is law and order for poor people who might steal a popsicle from a corner store. Three strikes and you’re out. But for corporations, the legal restraints on their activities have been diminishing rapidly since the 1980’s, and our entire political culture is hostile to the notion that government should regulate corporations with well enforced laws.”

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