Rules are Different for Corporations

Have you noticed this: When the "conservatives" in the Bush Administration want corporations or financial institutions to institute reforms or change their practices, they ask them to do things differently and it is all voluntary.

"Oh, pretty please, Mister Big Polluter, we would be so grateful if you cut back on carbon emissions, if even a little." "Mister Sub-Prime Lender, will you please do due diligence on your loans from now on?"

All voluntary. Never any teeth to the requests.

But when the lawmakers (and this goes for both parties) want us, the voters, to do something differently, they pass criminal laws against what they don't want us to do. They make it a felony. Or they figure out another way to make a change in our behavior more or less mandatory.

They'll trust the corporations and banks to "do what's right" without any attempt to compel them. But they never give us the same benefit of the doubt.