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How Corruption Is Strangling US Innovation
hype7 writes "The Harvard Business Review is running a very interesting piece on how money in politics is having a deleterious effect on U.S. innovation. From the article: 'Somehow, it seems that every time that [Mickey Mouse] is about to enter the public domain, Congress has passed a bill to extend the length of copyright. Congress has paid no heed to research or calls for reform; the only thing that matters to determining the appropriate length of copyright is how old Mickey is. Rather than create an incentive to innovate and develop new characters, the present system has created the perverse situation where it makes more sense for Big Content to make campaign contributions to extend protection for their old work.if you were in any doubt how deep inside the political system the system of contributions have allowed incumbents to insert their hands, take a look at what happened when the Republican Study Committee released a paper pointing out some of the problems with current copyright regime. The debate was stifled within 24 hours. And just for good measure, Rep Marsha Blackburn, whose district abuts Nashville and who received more money from the music industry than any other Republican congressional candidate, apparently had the author of the study, Derek Khanna, fired. Sure, debate around policy is important, but it's clearly not as important as raising campaign funds.'"
In other news, America seems to be full of people that want money for nothing.
I'm not anti-social, I'm anti-idiot.
What a surprise ! :D
getting serious, it is really sad what is happening with society, we have come to a stage where pretty much everything we do is getting richer the rich, we see that a lot here in México, every new law is pushing for lower salaries and less benefits, and from some years ago, gov is pushing to convert universities into technicall schools so we can have even more cheap workers.
I'm positive, don't belive me look at my karma
With all else that article had to say, the entire summary was about copyright? Hot button much?
As soon as Steamboat Mickey is in the public domain I'm going to burn that shit on billions of DVDs and just sell it on the street. I will be RICH cuz everyone wnats da Steamboat Mickey
There is a simple truism: it takes money to make money. It also takes money to lobby congress, and old-money has more to spend on lobbyists to keep money out of the hands of the proletariat, than working stiffs have to lobby for a fair economy.
one of the most popular halloween costumes this year was from Jake and the Neverland Pirates, a Peter Pan spin off that Disney has in its 3rd season now
disney jr has lots of new characters like Oso, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins and others
and the popularity of Mickey and its copyright protection is what fueled the children's animation revolution of the last 20 some years
lion king
shrek
all the Pixar movies
and at least a dozen other movies
There is a WIDE gulf between completely lack of copyright,and the never-ending copyright terms that we have in the USA today. (And don't tell me that copyrights are finite, because they DO get extended every time things are about to start to enter the public domain again.)
Arguing against infinite copyrights doesn't necessarily mean arguing for absolutely no copyright at all.
companies like Disney rape the public domain for ideas and never give back to the public domain.
Be seeing you...
It's scary how few people in the U.S. take the corruption in their government seriously. There are jokes!
The corruption is FAR, FAR more severe than shown in the Harvard Review article. For example, read Funding the Enemy: How U.S. Taxpayers Bankroll the Taliban.
Or read House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties.
To many in the U.S. government, killing other people is a way of making money.
so what if copyrights go to infinity? there is an almost never ending pool of new ideas to work on
Fifty Shades of Grey may have gotten a lot of hype a few months ago but there lots of other romance novels in the kindle store. people are always making up cool ideas for art, creating the product and selling it
"The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the Bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe.. corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed." - Abraham Lincoln
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
you get laughed at for being a tin foil hatted conspiracy theorist. The trouble is this stuff is so horrible people can't believe it's happening. It's too far removed from reality. Plus their taught from day one that America is the greatest country on earth, and it's hard to get away from a belief that's been ingrained in you since childhood.
Ever notice how little time Obama spent attacking Romney's policies? The Obama campaign did focus groups and found they couldn't attack Romney on policy because nobody believed he was going to implement them for real. The massive cuts to medicare, social security, tax cuts for the rich, etc. Maybe Romney wasn't really gonna do those things, we'll never know. But either way Obama couldn't convince anyone that he might...
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We all know the typical way of presenting news - whenever an (R) does something bad, the party affiliation is right up there, and whenever a (D) does something even more despicable, the party affiliation is omitted and both parties are said to be equally bad. We all know this already. What's interesting about this story is how Blackburn is conspicuously identified an an (R) while Khanna's party affiliation is left blank - even though Khanna is a Republican through and through. An ignorant or negligent observer might conclude that (R) are uniquely and despicably evil while (D) never seem to be attached to anything bad.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
money corrupts politics, news @ 11
Of course, but that is not the problem.
Most civilised countries throw in jail corrupt politicians. In the US bribery is legalised among other nice things such as torture and abductions (extraordinary renditions), and the penalty is zip, nothing at all. In fact the more bribes, ehm contributions you have the bigger the possibility of finding a job in the bribing industry right after leaving Congress.
HBR is correct, the US is failing not because of bribery, but because there is no mechanism in the system to thwart that threat.
I'm not sure it's corruption. It's more like taking advantage of a system that is optimized for helping the Haves get more.
That's the textbook definition of corruption. Using your public position for personal gain.
Politicians should be like Nascar drivers and be required by law to wear a vest that has patches of all the corporations (and any individuals that donate more than a set amount per year) that own their votes. The size of the patch directly relating to the amount of ownership. When the amount of ownership gets above 50% that politician can no longer run for public office as it is obvious that he no longer represents his constituency.
this was pointed out during the recent storms (Sandy), and there were several pundits that pointed out that Democrats tended to staff FEMA with professional disaster management folks while the Republicans tended to give those positions out to friends, family and donors. That was why the disaster was as well handled as it was and didn't turn into New Orleans II: The Squeal.
The hard part about this is even though it's demonstrably true (it's easy to trace the reasons for the FEMA appointments under the two administrations) it's so outlandish to think that a man would appoint someone to such an important position for political points that people just don't believe you when you point it out. Even if you've got the evidence (google it) to back it up...
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We haven't increased the size of the House of Representatives since the 1930s, but the size of the population has grown 3X since then. The House is supposed to grow (and shrink) with population, yet it has not for nearly 100 years. Are we to believe we have the same level of representation as our great grandparents? Just try to get your Representative on the phone, for example. You might be able to reach him if you have a campaign check, but even that's doubtful these days.
Why is this relevant to the conversation? Because $435 million is a drop in the bucket for most companies, while you'll likely never see your Representative in person, let alone sit down with him/her and voice your opinion. The corporations don't care about who or which party gets elected, just so they remember who cut them the million dollar donation.
But imagine if there were 1000 or more Representatives. Now how easy would it be for corps to buy the Congress? Yes, a lot of the activity would just switch over to the Senate, but both houses have to agree to get legislation passed.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
Like Bain and the guys that did Hostess in are what's scaring me. Basically guys with money and connections come in, buy a company, and then immediately start raiding the pension funds and paying themselves huge consulting fees from the loans they take out on the business' good name. Then they blame the whole sodding mess on workers making 45k/yr and unions and shut the whole thing down and move it to Mexico where slave labor abounds.
br> These guys are what'll stop innovation. They've got it so good (because they're so damn rich) they don't care about innovation. They become intensely, frighteningly conservative. There what's moved the US so far right these days. They don't want anything to change since they're makin' out like bandits. Hell, they've made progress (as in 'progressive') a bad word...
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when you've already got a successful business. There's a reason most of Disney's stuff is retreads of old tales. It's much easier to sell something tried, true tested and familiar. Later on when you're established and you've got a steady flow of cash in payin' the bills you can get to real innovation. The thing people like to ignore is that most big innovation is built on past successes. Just about all the big guys in tech got there because their parents were well enough off to support them while they fucked around getting something off the ground. Try doing that around a 40-50 hour work schedule. Doesn't happen.
Disney et. all are monopolizing those stories. Hell, that Harry potter twat has sued people copying the framework of her stories that she herself stole.
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All that they have to do is revoke all Copyright extensions from the last century, and revert all existing copyright expiration dates to their original dates, subject to the following:
If the copyright holder wants to extend the copyright, there will be a fee of 1 Million USD per year, per work to do so, doubling each year for that work. This dollar amount is a suggestion - but it should be punitive enough to discourage copyright extensions from being made, and keep the list from getting too big.
Create a website that lists all of the works that have had their copyright extended. All other works revert to the public domain at their normal copyright expiration dates. Back when copyrights were originally extended, this would have required a paper distribution of the list, with yearly updates. Now, thanks to the internet, the cost of distributing that list is essentially free.
This would serve two purposes: (1) allow the works to enter public domain as they were originally intended, and (2), generate tons of revenue for the federal government for each work that is restricted from the public domain. This is Win-Win.
This will allow Disney to continue to retain the copyright on Steamboat Willie indefinitely, or as long as they are willing to pay. If the copyright would have expired, it would have only affected that work, not Mickey Mouse in general (which is trademarked). All it would mean is that someone could watch and distribute Steamboat Willie without paying Disney - not that anybody could create their own Mickey Mouse cartoon. Our public domain has been robbed of millions of works because of this idiocy.
Although people are often sloppy about the distinction, strictly speaking, that's rent seeking, not corruption. The difference is important. Corruption suggests a criminal offense, and it suggests that the solution is more laws, regulation, and law enforcement. But if you try to fix rent seeking with additional laws, you're just throwing gasoline on the fire, since people will figure out how to use the new laws to their advantage as well.
Rent seeking grows with the size and power of government. The only way to reduce it is to reduce the size of government.
I don't see the point of this article. It seems to be based on the common conflation of copyright, trademarks, and patents.
Copyright terms have no bearing on innovation. It restricts the creation of unauthorized copies and derivative works to the domain of fair use until the term of the copyright expires. These activities are, by their very nature, not innovative. I fail to see how the continual extension of copyright duration impacts innovation in any way.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
I am sorry to have to tell you that Lincoln never said that.. Although the quote has been around forever, it is not actually attributed to Lincoln, and is a forgery.
Sounds like she is representing the people she is supposed to represent. If you want a candidate who supports your industry, and your industry has a geographical central location like Silicon Valley, Nashville, Hollywood, or any number of other examples, it makes sense to support the candidate who will best represent you.
As such, Rep Marsha Blackburn is a terrible example of the problems money causes.
The article lists many different industries - Automotive, Intellectual Property, Accommodation and Transport, Telecom. The summary focus only on IP, and only on an example which seems like the way things are supposed to work (in the current system, not an optimal system). The other examples are more clear abuses of the system.
We are to the point where officials spend more time campaigning than working (at times, and it's only a handful, but we've broken that barrier). And it is causing problems, but so much more than just what hype7 pointed out.
Fact 2: Most winners will not know they are going to be winners. Most losers can see they are going to be getting the short end of the stick
Fact 3: The losing side will fight tooth and nail to avert it.
When the side that is going to lose is rich and powerful, they employ very powerful techniques to avoid it or postpone it. They will buy out the competitors, engage in collusion, pay the legislators (legally or illegally), spread misinformation, doubt and feat, anything. It is very instructive to read the book by the University of Chicago professor, Dr Raghuram Rajan, Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists
Copyright is one place where we can see the dynamics playing out very clearly and use it as an opportunity to educate the public.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
"Don't be silly, there are no misattributed quotes on the Internet." -- Mark Twain
My old econ professor said "in the USA, you call it lobbying. In my country and in others, they call it corruption." We have this culture of just accepting it as part of politics when really it should be strictly outlawed, but obviously the only people who will outlaw it are the cunts being paid to keep it legal. Short of a revolution, we are basically fucked. Not in a catastrophic way, but in a "slow, inexorable slide to the bottom" kind of way.
A real American would have a half dozen or more homes in different areas, flying from one to the next depending on which one will be rebuilt due to the next natural disaster. Anything else is just one of the 47% asking something for nothing.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
when you're a poor ass rust belt or New Orleans worker you live where you're born and you stay there because moving is expensive. I 140 miles for a job and it ended up costing me $2k. You are correct that it's awful that we bail out the rich while ignoring the poor though. Socialize the loses, privatize the profits.
Also, $60 Billion dollars really isn't a lot of money. It just seems like a lot because to one person it is. And I think my main point is that under Democratic leadership most of that $60 billion won't go to rebuilding $5+ million dollar homes. It'll go to rebuilding $50-$100k homes.
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The one who has the gold makes the rules, and the one who makes the rules takes the gold.
It's a feedback loop.
Money is the key factor there. Perhaps political funding reform is needed? Seems like whoever get the most money and support from those with the most money wins. Political parties were partly designed so Joe Schmo could run for president, but it's a popularity contest where fashion is the dollar.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
corruption in the U.S. political system, TERM LIMIT the legislators to ONE term Senate gets ONE term, 10 years, House gets ONE term, 5 years. And at the end of the term, they MUST wait 10 years to run for the other chamber, to prevent them from ending one body of congress, just to get elected to run for the other body. Also, BAN all lobbying. Put K street OUT of business. You want to talk to a congressperson? Go to their LOCAL office in their home district, not DC. Next, congress will meet M-F, from 9am to 5pm, with only the traditional holidays. NO "spring break, NO Christmas (whoops "winter holiday) break. Also, there will be a dormitory built for them to live in while in DC, at no cost to congress. All meals provided for, single rooms. Also, transportation provided by shuttle bus to and from the capital. If you want to bring your own car? That's your business but you will not be refunded for gas/mileage. By doing this, the "hardship" of having to maintain two residencies will be eliminated. Next, all healthcare will be provided to them under the OBAMACARE mandate. They will have to live within the SAME LAWS they pass for everyone else. Doing most of these, and 70% of the career politicians will just give up and leave the chamber on their own free will. What DC needs is an attitude adjustment. They are NOT "kings & queens" to be swooned over and made to think they are above the rest of us. Time for NEW BLOOD in DC, which is what the founding fathers wanted in the first place. Come to DC, stay a few years, return to your home district and let someone else with new ideas come here. What we have now is a different version of the Politburo, but without the crappy soviet ear cars.