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Public Anger and Distrust of Business and Government - by Stephen Lendman
An April 2010 Pew Research Center (PRC) for the People & Press study and others report growing public anger, distrust, and hostility toward business and government because of a "perfect storm of conditions" - wrecked economies, fueling "epic discontent" toward responsible officials.
PRC found nearly 80% of Americans don't trust government to do the right thing, the highest distrust level in half a century, this writer's April 28 article, titled "Growing Public Anger in America," discussing its findings, accessed through the following link:
People want help when they most need it, but aren't getting it, privilege always trumping the public interest, getting more extreme in America, Canada, and throughout Europe, a prescription for greater outrage, perhaps fury for beneficial change.
It bears watching as the deepening global depression plays out, throwing millions more to the wolves, abandoned by fiscal harshness, governments protecting business, not their people.
On December 9, 2005, in better times, New York Times writer Claudia Deutsch headlined, "New Surveys Show That Big Business Has a PR Problem," saying:
"More than ever, Americans do not trust business or the people who run it," according to pollsters, researchers, and corporate bosses feeling the heat, yet "bent on destroying the environment, cooking the books and lining their own pockets" ad infinitum in good and bad times.
Prior to public knowledge about Wall Street banksters, corporate scandals outing Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and other company executives fueled growing anger and distrust, management consultant Michael Hammer saying:
"There is a sense that business is a zero-sum game, that if companies are making a lot of money, it must be coming out of someone else's pocket."
In Le Pere Goriot, Honone de Balzac (1799 - 1850) wrote:
"The secret of a great success for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed."
He meant behind every great fortune lies a crime, far greater today on a global scale, but just as harmful to those hurt.
In a Roper July/August 2005 poll, 72% of respondents said wrongdoing was widespread in industry, only 2% feeling corporate bosses are "very trustworthy," 9% having full trust in financial institutions, one executive saying the term "crooked CEO is redundant."
In a November 2005 Harris poll, 90% of respondents said corporations have too much influence in Washington, 68% believed the media are too powerful, few expecting government to intervene and help.
In his April 26, 2010 Forbes.com article, Brian Moriarty headlined, "Why Everyone Distrusts Both Business and Government," saying:
