Since I have urged readers to chip in to take on Google and other monopolists that are big contributors to rising inequality and flagging growth, I thought it was also important to encourage you to give to people in immediate need, namely, Hurricane Harvey victims.
I’m particularly bothered to see the American Red Cross again taking advantage of this disaster to hoover up funds, when its track record, particularly with Hurricane Sandy, was dreadful. Bare bones Occupy Sandy put the Red Cross to shame.
Even worse, the Red Cross refused to come clean about its spending after Hurricane Sandy in the wake of a ProPublica probe. And worse, most people do not understand that the Red Cross has a monopoly position which allows it to impede the efforts of more effective organizations. As we wrote in 2014:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/08/help-neediest-harvey-victims-wherever-live.htmlIt’s not clear what to make of an attorney general who opens an investigation and then accepts lame excuses for maintaining secrecy from its target, in this case, the American Red Cross. We’re flagging this example because it exemplifies an effort by organizations to use “trade secrets” as a pretext for hiding more and more of their dealings with governments. This is absurd, since the premise of Federal and state Freedom of Information Act laws is that government records should be open to the public, and that includes records of entities doing business with government agencies. In other words, if you want to have government bodies as your customers, one of the costs of doing business is having your formal interactions with them subject to public review.
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