Encouraging Article... More People Around The World Distrusting Government (legal, health care, regular)

[DRob4JC]

Trust in Government Is Collapsing Around the World

Elites used to possess outsized influence and authority, Edelman notes, but now they only have a monopoly on authority. Influence largely rests with the broader population. People trust their peers much more than they trust their political leaders or news organizations.

...
This is part of a larger divide that has been opening up between “mass populations” and “informed publics” (Edelman defined the latter group as those who have a college degree, regularly consume news media, and are in the top 25 percent of household income for their age group in a given country). The 2008 financial crisis, he argued, produced widespread suspicion that elites only act in their own interests, not those of the people, and that elites don’t necessarily have access to better information than the rest of the population does. The sluggish, unequal recovery from that crisis—the wealthy bouncing back while many others struggle with stagnant incomes—has only increased the skepticism.

...
“Between the top 25 percent of income earners and the bottom 25 percent of income earners, there’s a 31-point gap in trust in institutions in the United States,” he added. “Donald Trump comes right out of that statistic.”

The gap persists across countries facing varying degrees of economic difficulty: It’s 29 points in France, 26 points in Brazil, and 22 points in India.

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Edelman said that people tend to trust businesses more than governments, in part because “business gets stuff done” while government is seen as “incapable.” People trust technology companies in particular because “they deliver value.”

I have always said government is not the expert. Seems like more people are figuring that out. The only issue - will people act on what they are seeing before too much power is given to government?

This definitely is a big factor in the success of Trump and Brexit.

[PedroMartinez]

The government has essentially become a corporation where its leaders go into it with hopes of wielding power and coming out very wealthy. We see it all the time.

Additionally, like many corporations, its focus is on its own expansion and revenue.

The thing about our government is that it's a monopoly and we are forced to buy any product they determine that we need.

This isn't a D or R thing, since both parties act this way.

[DRob4JC]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

The government has essentially become a corporation where its leaders go into it with hopes of wielding power and coming out very wealthy. We see it all the time.

Additionally, like many corporations, its focus is on its own expansion and revenue.

The thing about our government is that it's a monopoly and we are forced to buy any product they determine that we need.

This isn't a D or R thing, since both parties act this way.

Agreed. One just needs to look at the college loan fiasco.

Government has inserted itself into the revenue stream, the have taken over the borrowing structure, and prices for attending colleges are out of control. We saw what happened to the mortgage industry. Health care is in the on-deck circle.

Example: In New Jersey Student Loan Program, Even Death May Not Bring a Reprieve

Amid a haze of grief after her son’s unsolved murder last year, Marcia DeOliveira-Longinetti faced an endless list of tasks — helping the police gain access to Kevin’s phone and email; canceling his subscriptions, credit cards and bank accounts; and arranging his burial in New Jersey.

And then there were the college loans.

When Ms. DeOliveira-Longinetti called about his federal loans, an administrator offered condolences and assured her the balance would be written off.

But she got a far different response from a New Jersey state agency that had also lent her son money.

“Please accept our condolences on your loss,” a letter from that agency, the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, said. “After careful consideration of the information you provided, the authority has determined that your request does not meet the threshold for loan forgiveness. Monthly bill statements will continue to be sent to you.”

Great customer service... I guess when you are a monopoly, you don't have to worry about the customer.

[irspow]

That people ever trusted any form of government is testament only to the vast ignorance of people in general. Governments, of any form currently in existence, are, and have always been, fictional constructs for some to enslave others. Whether democracies or dictatorships, their sole purpose is to enslave some to the interest of others.

No rational person will ever voluntarily choose to be the slave to another, to be the subject of arbitrary coercion from the dictator's, "majority's", "collective's", or their neighbor's special interest. No rational person gives another ownership and control over their life willingly. (Virtually) Everyone lives under the dark shadow of a "contract" which makes them a slave to the interests of others. In our Plantation, we supposedly have given "consent" to be a slave to the "majority". However, "consent" is supposedly assumed by anyone who avoids the violence and coercion that follows if anyone were to not do so. Immoral and rather comical if looked at rationally.

Without voluntary consent, absolutely free of any violence or threats thereof from any party, no "contract" would ever be considered "legal" (or moral). Why anyone would "trust" or have "faith" in the slavers that control them is beyond explanation. Why anyone would surrender their natural human rights to an institution of violence, aggression, extortion, coercion, and slavery is beyond explanation. Maybe people, after thousands and thousands of years of these silly unholy immoral constructs that we call "governments" which are nothing more that "legalized" and institutionalized barbarity and slavery are starting to finally wake up.

All modern societies and governments have at their foundation their fundamental origins. "Contracts" among thieves and pirates to plunder and enslave the masses to their special interests. Maybe, just maybe, people will one day interact with one another obeying the non-aggression principle and reject all of the silly constructs which are "governed" only by enslaving some for the benefit of others. And maybe, we are just starting to see a few tiny steps in that direction...

But looking how vast swaths of Americans embrace the "left" and "right" who are both just authoritarians and barbarians, I think we are not really close to embracing human freedom any time soon...