The reality of US democracy
Updated: 2011-08-05 07:55
(China Daily)
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Comment on "US debt crisis and the country's future" (China Daily website, Aug 2)
The article highlights the fact that the United States' attempt to dominate the world through its military might has cost not only American taxpayers but all of us vast amounts of money and left us feeling insecure and uncertain about the future.
But I would suggest that Wall Street's greed, irresponsibility and financial adventurism have cost us even more in terms of bankrupt governments, job losses and unemployment.
The problem is that US elections are so costly - because of the nature of the US election system - that neither President Barack Obama nor the House of Representatives nor the Senate is willing to rectify the situation. The reason is simple: House and Senate members, and US presidents get much of their support and electoral funding from major Wall Street companies and their clients.
The US House and Senate are out to ensure that the jobless remain jobless. Moreover, any social security benefit that the poor and jobless could have received has disappeared because balance sheets have to be propped up and the high incomes of greedy bankers maintained.
The highly tragic irresponsibility and self-serving greed of US politicians and enterprises should be a lesson for Chinese people who are blind to everything in the US. Aren't the failures of Western multi-party democracy system obvious?
Ross Grainger, via e-mail
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(China Daily 08/05/2011 page9)