Now that we live in a Corporatocracy, has the quality of life gone down hill?

Question

We all know that we have plenty of stuff, lots of stuff to fill our houses, garages and workspaces. But now that corporations have so much control over our lives and have socialy engineered our lives to become machines for consumption and our government for their own promotion, has the quality of our lives been sacrificed at the alter of materialism?

Could you actually become more independent of corporations and their influence?

BTW, I'm fully cognicent of the fact that we are using a corporate entity "YAHOO" to ask this question. But I think it only acerbates the issue.

for.gump..... Are you sure? Try buying something that isn't corporate made or corporate operated and owned. What television station do you listen too? All stations are corporate owned and they are the ones that control the information you get. Radio stations are the same. Newspapers? The same. There are only a couple of family owned newspapers anymore. How about the car you drive? How about the food you eat? Do you grow all your own food and have cows, chickens, and fish for your food as well? Please, your entire life is filtered by corporate control.

Answer 1

The pet food recall really should be a huge warning to us regarding the danger of these huge mega-corporations. You go out and buy a pet food and realize that one company owns all these brands and imports tainted materials from China which affects all their brands. We think we are getting a huge variety at the supermarket when in fact it’s just a few major companies that are supplying all our needs. To make matters worse they were completely negligent in their safety standards. Still people do not protest as they should because we don’t really have a choice anymore.

Also – look at the media Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal, soon he will be the only one controlling the news.

Can we live without corporations? No. Can we pass laws to control them - I would hope so.

Answer 2

You don't have to be a consumer. You don't have to buy every new item just because it is there. There are other ways. You choose the quality of your life by the way you are and the way you look at life, not by the material possessions you surround yourself with.

If you aspire to get out from under the corporate thumb then start by selling your car, cut up your credit cards, and move into a smaller house. Live below your means. Stop living paycheck to paycheck and you can pay off any debts you may have accumulated. Once you are debt free, realize that debt is just a tool to allow the corporation to control and enslave you. Realize that you can live without credit. No matter where you live, you have some access to local food. We chose to make Walmart and Home Depot what they are so we have to live with that to an extent. But that doesn't mean you have to subscribe to the idea that you are only a consumer and you have to buy to keep things rolling. To me that label is somewhat insulting. I am not just a consumer. My idea of a nice weekend does NOT involve the local shopping mall. I do realize however that most people do not feel this way otherwise the mall parking lots wouldn't be so large.

Answer 3

we are we too fat, dumb and happy to bother

If the press is not effective at pointing out abuses, they are failing at their primary mission (as a good man put it: "To comfort the afficted and affict the comfortable")

Yes, I think we're at a crisis point. Taking away basic civil liberties is a serious matter, because once taken away, it's almost impossible to get them back. As a rule, they don't get taken away by dramatic strokes, but rather eaten away, eroded. That's what Bush and company (read Cheney) are doing. The difficulty is that a lot of people simply don't care, either because they approve of harsh treatment of people they perceive as enemies, or because they simply use all their energy just getting through the day.

The people at the controls right now are ideologues, and if they have their way we will end up with some kind of unholy alliance of big business and Christian conservatism. Military-industrial theocracy isn't something I would like to live under. I used to vote Republican. I won't anymore. I didn't leave the GOP; they left me. But the Dems aren't much better. A viable Independent Party might be the answer, but the pols on both sides of the aisle will do their level best to stop that from happening, because it threatens their grip on power. Yeah, I'd call that a crisis. W will go down, I am confident, as the worst President we have ever had, against some stiff competition (e.g., Harding). The damage he has done -- diplomatic, social, financial, military -- will take generations to correct. He richly deserves to be impeached, or even tried as a war criminal. But I don't think we are up to that, for reasons cited above.

Answer 4

I'll just give a shout out to yahoo...it hasn't made our life crappier, it has opened up our world.

I think quality of life has gone way down hill. We're too socially isolated now...pyshcially. We don't know our neighbors. Community is falling apart. No one can be happy because the capitalist economy thrives on making you think you can't be happy unless you have all the goodies, which leaves everyone who believes this completely unsatisfied, no matter how much money or possesions they have. We are also subjected to fear everyone and everything so the security industry to grow, and the media helps them with this by bombarding us with scary images and heightened terror alerts, and homeland security guys saying they have a gut feeling something bad is going to happen, but not telling us what to do about it.

Something needs to change, drastically. People really need to stop worshipping money and material possesions...it only produces greed, anger, revenge, and fear.

Answer 5

Youre nothing but a modern classist, you cant stand the fact someone has more than you. Your ideal society is a communist one, where everything is equal, everyone has the same and not more than is allowed. That is a dictatorship. Like it or not corporations supply goods we use at cheap costs, are largel repsonsible for socetal advancements and technological innovations that improves and NOT deteriorates human life. There is a cost, its called money.They employ 90% of first world nation citizens. Why does poverty exist in many nations? A LACK of capitalism. The larger the corporation, the cheaper we can get goods. Corporations form the backbone of a successful capitalistic society. China and India is just now realizing this. Millions are lifted from poverty. I can book you a plane ticket to a nation like North Korea, Darfur, Venezuela, perhaps Iran where I think you'll be more happy. If not, shut your trap. Dont moan about how corporations "control your life" when you buy your latte from starbucks, go shopping at the gap and throw a flower in the cupholder of your volkswagen bug. If you do, youre nothing but a hypocrite. You have the power to go someplace else, honey. Put your money where your mouth is or shutup!

Answer 6

Good question. I would have to answer yes it has , for all but the very rich.We are becoming more and more alienated in a world that is becoming more and more polluted. Katrina and last night's bridge failure has shown that the social engineering of the 50s and 60s automakers in influencing politicians to remove all transit choices but automobiles and Interstates has left us vulnerable in times of emergencies. The overall quality of life has also deteriorated as we have less and less choices.

Answer 7

Why is it corporate "control?" If we were to get food from mom and pop stores, would we be controlled by mom and pop?

The fact is, corporations have made it easier to get the things we need in order to live. If you had to raise and slaughter (or hunt) your own food, and carry water up in buckets from a nearby well or spring, when would you do anything else? Answer: you wouldn't. You would spend your whole life doing things to fulfill your basic needs. In this respect, the quality of our lives has been greatly enhanced by corporations.

Also, the word you were looking for is exacerbate.

Answer 8

I don't do credit cards as I feel they are a form of slavery and racketeering. I own only what I require. Ok my jewelry habit maybe a bit over the top. I don't and never will work for a major corporation. I do see quality of life suffering.


Hey what's wrong with Macs?

Answer 9

I'd say no, but we have to work a lot harder to keep up.

There are some advancements that have been positive. Our air is cleaner than 50 years ago, for one. We recycle now.

Lots of people get alone fine without technology. Some people choose it.

Answer 10

Honestly? I think that when the corporation Yahoo opened its Answers site my life went downhill!