it’s time to admit it – anarchists are right about institutionalized authority!
A tiny percent of Americans believe that the U.S. government has the consent of the governed.
A higher percentage of Americans believed in King George of England during the Revolutionary War than believe in congress today
Many Americans disbelieve the governments rosy statements about the economy
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll from November found that 76% of Americans believe that the countrys current financial and political structures favor the rich over the rest of the country
The U.S. financial system is so corrupt and unregulated that many dont believe the government and businesses promises to follow the rule of law and simply wont do business here anymore
Its not just the U.S.
As the Economist reported in January, trust in institutions is plunging worldwide:
The latest annual trust barometer published by Edelman, a PR firm, on January 24th [finds that] overall trust has declined in the leaders of the four main categories of organization scrutinizedgovernment, business, non-governmental organizations and the media. Of the 50 or so countries examined, 11, nearly twice as many as last year, are now judged sceptical, with less than 50% of those polled saying they trusted these institutions. Trust in Japanese institutions plunged to 34%, from 51% in 2011, not surprising given the handling by leaders of the Tsunami and its aftermath. But the collapse in trust was even more striking in Brazil, the country in which trust was greatest in 2011, at 80%, but now, following a series of corruption scandals, has slipped to 51% (admittedly, still above America and Britain, among others).
This headline slump in trust is due, above all, to the public losing faith in political leaders. In 2011, across all countries, Edelman found that 52% of those polled trusted government; this year, it was only 43%. Government is now trusted less even than the media . Trust in business fell slightly, from 56% to 53%, as did trust in NGOs, which still remain the most trusted type of institution, at 58%, down from 61% in 2011. As in previous years, the barometer is based on a poll of what Edelman calls informed people, which typically means professional and well-educated, though this year for the first time the views of the informed were benchmarked against a poll of the public as a whole. For each institution, the broader public was even less trusting than the informed, with government trusted by 38%, business 47%, NGOs 50% and the media 46%.
