Money and Corruption

In repsonse to Nate's comment, and to expand upon my previous post, here are a few thoughts and statistics about how I see money and material wealth helping to "internally corrupt" a state:

1. The average superbowl ad in 2007 cost $2.6 millon dollars. This is so society can learn about beer, cars, and junk food. http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/03/news/funny/superbowl_ads/index.htm
2. The average salary in baseball is $2,944,556. With players making upwards of $10 million a year, its no wonder there is a strong sense of competition...steroids, perhaps? http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/salaries/avgsalaries
3. Wealth is constantly intertwined with political corruption. With lobbyists and rich donors contributing to campaigns, there is no way to avoid biased and corruption. Our government is increasingly inefficient due to all the external influences. When you're constituents=money for you, how can you be expected to remain honest?
4. Automobile companies are constantly using wealth to their advantage. I mean, they could produce more fuel efficient cars, but then they would lose money (and so would their oil tycoon friends). It also helps when they pay of politicians to stop them from increasing EPA standards.
5. In hollywood, money and advertising aim to dictate everything about how we live our lives. Is American Idol anything more than a corporate stunt to get us to spend money on CDs and clothing? You be the judge. Likewise, with radio these days being run almost entirley by Clear Channel, their only goal is to make money for themselves.
6. With corporate executives raking in astronomical sums, that doesn't really create a fair, honest, work environment (see Enron).

I'm sure there are plenty of other examples of money acting in this fashion. As you can see, wealth continues to control and corrupt the state internally. While it may lead to peace in a larger sense (citizens are content and won't want to start a war), it creates a division within.