US public loses faith in business

[Better Believe It]

US public loses faith in business
By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Francesco Guerrera
January 25, 2011

Americans have grown less trusting of business in the past year, bucking a global trend of rising confidence in companies, governments and other institutions, according to data to be presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Just 46 per cent of Americans last year said they trusted business, down eight points from 2009, according to research by Edelman, a communications consultancy, which will be presented on Wednesday. Global trust in business was up two points to 56 per cent, by contrast.

The US decline has been driven by a backlash against bankers and their bonuses, with the number of Americans who trust US banks dropping to a low of 25 per cent, down from 33 per cent a year ago and 71 per cent before the financial crisis.

Edelman’s 11th annual poll of 5,000 educated, wealthy and “well-informed” individuals in 23 countries was taken at the end of a year that featured high-profile crises at BP, Goldman Sachs and Toyota.



http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c60c01ba-27e5-11e0-8abc-00144feab49a.html#axzz1CCfEHq00

And this was "educated, wealthy" individuals who were polled! BBI

[gratuitous]

1. I wonder why that is?

Are the House Republicans rushing forward to take credit for this, too?

[RufusTFirefly]

2. A multi-million dollar PR campaign should fix those numbers (don't worry: they can afford it.)

I'm amazed -- and deeply disappointed -- at how gullible some people are.

I dearly hope that most people are finally peering behind the curtain and catching a glimpse of what Big Business truly is.

Do people screw over the majority of Americans for their own selfish motives? People Do.

[Better Believe It]

4. President Obama's State of the Union speech should help jack those numbers up a bit.

[RufusTFirefly]

7. Damn straight. As our President told us, corporate profits are up!!!

Something all Americans can celebrate!

They won't benefit from it, but hey, they can still celebrate!

[Newest Reality]

3. Well,

when profit and acquisition are seen to trump human beings and their welfare to the point that not even pretty, feel-good PR campaigns will cover-up the negative and destructive impact, nor will speculation about the outcome and future effects be pretty or look desirable.

We can see and document now the cumulative result that the current paradigm has on cultures and society. Our dominant leaders proselytize a strict, almost religious adherence to what amounts to a values system pathology in respects to resources and environmental impacts. That creates an envelope of denial, while more and more people are becoming aware of the dire situation we are railroading into as a species.

Its like wow, here we are at the brink of so many things and we can't ever go back to the luxury of thinking in infinite terms for our most necessary resources, nor can we consider our garbage can bottomless. That has failed and we are are already living in the aftermath based on statistics, events and credible scientific accounts. Yet, like economic zombies who get it but don't want the masses to catch-on, they eat our brains with the teeth of media and propaganda that portrays an alternate reality show that we are supposed to believe in and applaud, even while our neighborhoods are dissolving around us.

As much as some love money and believe in it so and want it even more, it will eventually have to give way to a resource-based, true economy where durable means LASTS and economy means we use technology not to consume mindlessly, but to economize and yet prosper together, in cooperation, and with most of us living better than many do today as far as our REAL needs are concerned. No more false necessities and solutions that are provided for artificially created problems in order that a few might profit.

We are going to embrace a REAL change that we come to by consensus, primarily for the sake of survival, or we will consent to a grueling, slow, miserable horror show that we will not only watch, but we will be part of the cast as the surprise ending is revealed and see our children into the sequel: Dystopia Way: The Tyrant's New Serf.

[Odin2005]

5. It's about damn time. Anyone who "has faith in" a corporation is an idiot.

[Quantess]

6. I see that China really likes banks!

Gee, it looks like banks have treated China fairly well...