Very interesting subject, that probably allot of people are mostly not aware of. (Except maybe, employees of a company that have been say, the victims of a Corporate Raid and/or Leveraged Buyout). But something, that never-the-less, has a major impact on the U.S. Economy in and of itself, in very significant ways, and which has become increasingly more and more prevalent over the last several decades or so, as another sign of the times. One example of this for instance, (and something that may be worth watching), is Carl Icahn's fairly recent takeover of Pep Boys...
Being a student of Business and all (and still learning about this topic) myself, (but also being a social justice advocate as well), I would like to dedicate this post particularly to this subject, and things related to this topic...
Wow, what a mess. But everything is relative, one way or another. Interesting story, for more reasons then one; because we all know the ole' saying: "where there's smoke, there's fire." Note: The original full length documentary video of a very interesting story featured on CNBC's 'American Greed' that I had initially posted here was eventually removed from YouTube, but this rather brief news story is basically what the documentary was in reference to, and what I had commented about above...
"This is what happens when you deregulate. Greedy people will always gravitate to money and will do anything and everything to get it. It's like telling a crack head not to smoke crack in a crack house. I know it's a free country and you should be able to conduct your business to be as profitable as possible, but not when you want to destroy the country's economy for personal gains." -Clark Kent (YouTube Viewer)
Here (in the above video) we have a VERY interesting (relatively little understood) and EXCELLENT example of why it is quite often the case, when things just don't seem to add up - in relation to when important quality of life related services are cut (by implementing draconian Austerity policies) for instance, yet things like property taxes, rent, (when the average area salary doesn't seem to match the local cost of housing for example), and the general cost of living in a particular area still increases nevertheless; even despite what many of us now know about the billions of dollars (collecting compound interest no less) in most county and state Rainy Day Funds! The reason is ALMOST ALWAYS because of corruption, and the usual related white collar crimes, such as Embezzlement, Fraud, Conspiracy, and selfish, nefarious greed. (Everything is relative). Duh. (And I'm not necessarily talking about say, someone who has a huge gambling debt, or a sick child, with huge hospital bills for example, but it is almost always because of simple, although quite often somewhat involved, selfish, premeditated greed and corruption). This is also usually the case with a business, company, or corporation as well - when they are pulling in tons of money for instance, and the place is still sorta' like falling apart; and/or the wealth is sorta like not being spread around and reflected in the salaries of its employees for example. (Which may also be kinda' like part of a company's business model). Usually, this means, someone (or more often then not, a group of individuals) is on the take...
The signs are ALWAYS there, in one form or another. You just have to be smart enough (and/or have the experience in such environments) to recognize it...
And one other thing, that I've noticed regarding this stuff, time after time again (one way or another) is that corruption breeds corruption (and becomes like a cancer) until it is finally dealt with in some way...