Is Government Dominated by Big Business

Have you ever wondered if the government is dominated by big businesses? Are there times when you wonder who gets the most benefit in the policies that the government creates?

These are questions that a lot of people debate on. Let us analyze and decide what the truth is behind our nation’s policies and policy makers.

There is a belief that the government has been dominated by big business and other lobbyists since the dawn of the political system. They call these the special interest groups which include among the big businesses and other collection of persons whose primary aim is to join together and exert influence on the way the government certain key policies. They have been around for such a long time that they are already viewed as a part of the whole decision making process. The presence of these groups are good, if they lobby for the right causes, however, the problem now is that the influence they exert is for the creation of policies that would only benefit them and not the general public. Such is the case of big businesses; they often use money as a motivator for the government to decide policies that would only benefit them. The more affluent they are, the greater are the chances that they will get their way.

One proof of the government being dominated by big business is the NAFTA or the North American Free Trade Agreement. In theory it was good. The promulgators told the public that this policy would be a big help to the economy of other countries, making them more able to buy the American goods. However when the agreement took effect the result became clear that the jobs intended for the American were brought outside to other countries, outsourced in business speak. This resulted in the loss of a lot of jobs in the US. And while a lot of people are going jobless, the salaries of the CEO of large American companies outsourcing jobs in poorer countries are reaching new levels of high. Therefore in the long run, this policy has only benefited the big business who lobbied for it.
Another example of the government being influenced by a big business is the case of oil industries. The oil companies’ power is so vast that they can dictate the price of oil to their own advantage. If they decide to hike it up, they can do so by limiting the supply that goes out to market. How do they get away with it? By making large contributions to different political parties, ensuring that when the candidates win, they would turn a blind eye to the greater evil of monopoly and look only at the benefits that they are getting out of it.

Still another case is the Smoking Ban issue. Although it may seem to be a good cause, the companies behind it are large pharmaceutical companies who stand to make a vast amount of money selling anti-tobacco drugs. And while it is accepted that tobacco is bad for then health, it cannot be the cause of all health problems. Banning it would certainly be good but they fail to take into consideration that there are still other sources of smoke that could have adverse effects on human health.

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