Size Matters

Why is it that...

Every time a conglomerate buys up another segment of its industry, we become further removed from controlling our lives?

The larger the institution, the more sluggish and ineffective its response to emergencies? And the less social responsibility it exercises as it conducts its daily business?

Goldman Sachs got a free ride on the TARP gravy train, while General Motors, a corporation trembling on the brink that provided real jobs to hard working people, was forced to grovel?

The quality of customer service deteriorates in direct proportion to the size of the company?

When a multinational corporation buys out a small company, competition is stifled, more jobs migrate to third world countries and technological advances made by the small company that might conceivably further the exploitation of renewable energy frequently are buried?

I am approaching a place where I see large, powerful institutions, be they corporate, bureaucratic/government, unions, or even charitable (yeah, them too) as ALL complicit in the erosion of our power over our own destiny. What is more, they trust us with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Note: I included labor unions above although, with the exception of public employees unions, most of them have had their teeth extracted over the past 30 years. The unions are often less about what is good for the membership than about the power of the union itself.