Can you name a single US federal department that hasn't been corrupted?

[Anonymous]

This question has served me remarkably well. Use it.

An especially good one is the "federal regulatory department".

[1714095491]

1714095491

[1714095491]

1714095491

[benjamindees]

I'd like to think DOE.

[LastBattle]

Hmm, may as well play devil's advocate here.

How about the OSHA?

[Elwar]

I'd like to think DOE.

You can like to think that but it would not be true. It is one of the worst and should be abolished.

[LokeRundt]

How about the OSHA?

http://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=seiu&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#hl=en&pq=osha&xhr=t&q=osha+corruption&cp=15&pf=p&sclient=psy&safe=off&client=ubuntu&hs=IiM&channel=fs&source=hp&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=osha+corruption&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=a1585342030d6a54&biw=1280&bih=587

Yeah, OSHA just sucks up more money, and does shit to protect workers.

[TiagoTiago]

Do you mean whether they ever had people doing corrupt things while working for them, or if they have corruption going on right now?

[pickle]

Unless you clarify exactly what you mean by "corrupted," your question is pointless.

[AyeYo]

A typical day in Atlas's life...


This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity
generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of
Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water
utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see
what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like,
using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of
Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined
as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept
accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the
U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built
by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly
stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the
Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal
Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the
U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to
the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals
which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back
home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence
because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's
inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables, thanks
to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com
and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the
government can't do anything right.

[Litt]

A typical day in Atlas's life...


This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity
generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of
Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water
utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see
what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like,
using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of
Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined
as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept
accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the
U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built
by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly
stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the
Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal
Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the
U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to
the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals
which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back
home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence
because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's
inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables, thanks
to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com
and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the
government can't do anything right.

Sounds like it was a necessity to create all those gov entities to work in collaboration with each other to keep the "Citizens" of U.S. working without starving, getting sick, etc. Doesn't fool me for one second that they were for the best interest of the people. If you were building a prison camp the size of United States and had to put them to work, one would need similar structured entities to oversee things.

Technologies you mention that we use everyday such as GPS was also only developed for the military/space. Although the sweat of American people paid for every single penny that went into it, the people, however, didn't get the enjoy the technology until the gov decided when it would be right for us. In fact, they can keep whatever new technology or advancements from being used indefinitely if they choose to because of places like FDA. What you really need to compare the above statement is what could have been without such entities to eat away on our livelyhood. We don't know because we've never had the freedom to live that way because we were born into this failing system. There is a saying, if you don't have the courage to stand up for something, you will fall for anything. Sounds to me like you fell for it. I hope you will one day see it for what it is.

[3phase]

A typical day in Atlas's life...

Point made. However I cannot but wonder, are we really leading a happier life because of all this?

To prevent misunderstanding I only have a question, I don't have the answer yet.

Maybe we will find out during our lifetimes.

And another one that bugs me related to the OP:

Does power beget corruption (as seems to be the case, and Atlas' post suggests)? Or does corruption beget greed which inevitably leads a corrupted person to seek ways to gain power through the easiest means available (entities of centralized control) in order to achieve their corrupted purposes? Which way around does this work? You would be right to think that this is a similar issue to the chicken and egg problem.

A hint for me: A corrupted and malign person would behave as such under any restricting rules or laws or controlling entities. They would actually try to find ways that the restrictions would work for them instead of against them. An honest and decent person would behave as such under any restrictions. Until they find out that the other side always rigs the playing field, in which case they might at least start to doubt themselves, the system and their personal principles and values (unless these are etched indelibly in them).

What is the case in the end? Doesn't it come down to whether someone is honourable or dishonourable? Adding to the human race with their existence or taking away an unfair benefit out of it? Does it matter so much how many systems we can impose so that we can distinguish the two? Or does the last 100 years experiment show that it doesn't really matter in the end? People were still living, eating, working, having families and progressing (although at a seemingly slower pace) before the FDA, FCC, DOE, DOT, EPA, NOAA or whatever these are called in every country.

I don't know, but I can't help wondering about it...

[hugolp]

A typical day in AyeYo life:

This morning Joe was awakened by his alarm clock.  Thanks to patents, which remove incentives to interoperability and modular design, the clock was designed to be thrown away rather than repaired.  Thanks to “intellectual property” law, as well, the company was able to outsource actual production and then charge Joe a 1000% brand-name markup while paying the people who made it pennies. The clock was powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy — a regulated monopoly operating on the same cost-plus markup accounting system as most other public utilities, including the military contractors who gave us the $600 toilet seat.  Joe then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility; Joe’s water bill reflects a rate structure which provides below-cost water for large-scale industrial use and agribusiness.   Joe watched the news on the kind of legacy broadcast media described by Edward Herman, which thanks to the FCC licensing monopolies is controlled by a handful of corporate gatekeepers.

He watched it while eating his breakfast of General Mills cereal, which thanks to government subsidies was produced at some giant mill in Minneapolis, despite the fact that cereal grains are most economically milled on a small scale near the point of consumption. Joe has no idea what’s in his bacon, because the FDA (at Monsanto’s behest) prohibits labeling food as GMO-free.  Most of what he eats is loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, and what little “fresh” produce he eats is shipped from a giant plantation thousands of miles away, thanks to USDA subsidies.

Joe took pills which were declared safe under an inspection regime originally created at the behest of the drug cartel itself, the inflated costs of which serve as a useful entry barrier and thereby benefit incumbent producers.  He paid a 2000% markup on the pills thanks to government-granted patent monopolies.  Joe’s medical plan stopped paying for prescription drugs because his weak union has been making more concessions at every contract renewal.  The Wagner Act criminalized most of the really effective techniques, so unions like Joe’s are forced to fight by the bosses’ rules.

Joe drives to work on a government-subsidized highway system, built under the supervision of former auto exec Charlie “What’s Good for GM” Wilson.  Joe’s commute takes almost an hour.  Thanks to subsidized freeways and subsidized utilities to outlying developments, it’s artificially cheap to build monoculture bedroom communities far removed from where people work and shop.  And thanks to zoning laws and other regulations against mixed use development, it’s extremely costly to live near your employer or be able to walk to a neighborhood grocer.

Joe begins his workday.  He’s doing the work of a downsized person in addition to his own, the work environment is becoming increasingly hostile and authoritarian, and the micromanagement increasingly demeaning.  He finds his face sore from the fake smile he constantly displays to reassure the bosses he’s got his mind right.  He got no COLA raise last time around, and his insurance copay and deductible are higher.  (It all gets back to the union thing above).  The bosses sometimes drop hints about closing the plant down and moving to China, which is a whole lot more profitable thanks to World Bank subsidies to the road and utility infrastructure the offshore factories need, and thanks to WTO enforcement of “intellectual property” law that corporate headquarters use to maintain control of outsourced production overseas.

Joe pays his bills with legal tender created by banks, under the state-granted power to loan the medium of exchange into existence out of thin air and then charge interest on it.

After work Joe finds his kids back home from the public schools, where they’re being processed into human resources who will cheerfully take direction from some authority figure behind a desk for the rest of their lives — just like Joe does.  While they were there, the kids were taught about the wonders of Our Free Enterprise System  (suitably adjusted, of course, by government action to protect us from corporate power run amok).

When Joe goes to sleep, if he’s a conservative, he will thank the beneficent Free Market for all the good things he enjoys.  If he’s a liberal, he’ll give thanks for the interventionist state as a bulwark against unbridled corporate tyranny.  And he’ll get a night’s rest, preparing for another day of serving the unholy corporate-state alliance that rules his life from cradle to grave.

Source: http://c4ss.org/content/3392

[TiagoTiago]

TL;DR: Things could be much worse, but there is still lots of room for improvement

[AyeYo]

A typical day in Atlas's life...


This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity
generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of
Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water
utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see
what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like,
using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of
Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined
as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept
accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the
U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built
by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly
stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the
Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal
Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the
U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to
the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals
which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back
home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence
because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's
inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables, thanks
to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com
and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the
government can't do anything right.

Sounds like it was a necessity to create all those gov entities to work in collaboration with each other to keep the "Citizens" of U.S. working without starving, getting sick, etc. Doesn't fool me for one second that they were for the best interest of the people. If you were building a prison camp the size of United States and had to put them to work, one would need similar structured entities to oversee things.

Technologies you mention that we use everyday such as GPS was also only developed for the military/space. Although the sweat of American people paid for every single penny that went into it, the people, however, didn't get the enjoy the technology until the gov decided when it would be right for us. In fact, they can keep whatever new technology or advancements from being used indefinitely if they choose to because of places like FDA. What you really need to compare the above statement is what could have been without such entities to eat away on our livelyhood. We don't know because we've never had the freedom to live that way because we were born into this failing system. There is a saying, if you don't have the courage to stand up for something, you will fall for anything. Sounds to me like you fell for it. I hope you will one day see it for what it is.

We have thousands are years of history to look back on.  All you need to do is open your eyes to see it, and perhaps pick up a book.

[NghtRppr]

If you stop feeding him, he'll get probably get bored and go away.

[bitcon]

+1000 hugolp

[em3rgentOrdr]

+1000 huglop!

[Anonymous]

A typical day in Atlas's life...


This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity
generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of
Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water
utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see
what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like,
using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of
Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined
as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept
accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the
U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built
by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly
stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the
Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal
Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the
U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to
the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals
which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back
home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence
because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's
inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables, thanks
to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com
and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the
government can't do anything right.

Sounds like it was a necessity to create all those gov entities to work in collaboration with each other to keep the "Citizens" of U.S. working without starving, getting sick, etc. Doesn't fool me for one second that they were for the best interest of the people. If you were building a prison camp the size of United States and had to put them to work, one would need similar structured entities to oversee things.

Technologies you mention that we use everyday such as GPS was also only developed for the military/space. Although the sweat of American people paid for every single penny that went into it, the people, however, didn't get the enjoy the technology until the gov decided when it would be right for us. In fact, they can keep whatever new technology or advancements from being used indefinitely if they choose to because of places like FDA. What you really need to compare the above statement is what could have been without such entities to eat away on our livelyhood. We don't know because we've never had the freedom to live that way because we were born into this failing system. There is a saying, if you don't have the courage to stand up for something, you will fall for anything. Sounds to me like you fell for it. I hope you will one day see it for what it is.

We have thousands are years of history to look back on.  All you need to do is open your eyes to see it, and perhaps pick up a book.

Thousands of years of war, starvation and slavery. You should be so proud of this tradition. Look where it has got us.

[finnthecelt]

[finnthecelt]

[AyeYo]

A typical day in Atlas's life...


This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity
generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of
Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water
utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see
what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like,
using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of
Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined
as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept
accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the
U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built
by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly
stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the
Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal
Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the
U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to
the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals
which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back
home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence
because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's
inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables, thanks
to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com
and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the
government can't do anything right.

Sounds like it was a necessity to create all those gov entities to work in collaboration with each other to keep the "Citizens" of U.S. working without starving, getting sick, etc. Doesn't fool me for one second that they were for the best interest of the people. If you were building a prison camp the size of United States and had to put them to work, one would need similar structured entities to oversee things.

Technologies you mention that we use everyday such as GPS was also only developed for the military/space. Although the sweat of American people paid for every single penny that went into it, the people, however, didn't get the enjoy the technology until the gov decided when it would be right for us. In fact, they can keep whatever new technology or advancements from being used indefinitely if they choose to because of places like FDA. What you really need to compare the above statement is what could have been without such entities to eat away on our livelyhood. We don't know because we've never had the freedom to live that way because we were born into this failing system. There is a saying, if you don't have the courage to stand up for something, you will fall for anything. Sounds to me like you fell for it. I hope you will one day see it for what it is.

We have thousands are years of history to look back on.  All you need to do is open your eyes to see it, and perhaps pick up a book.

Thousands of years of war, starvation and slavery. You should be so proud of this tradition. Look where it has got us.

Ironically proving my point.