Big business is large-scale, corporate-controlled, financial or business activities. As a term, it is typically used to describe activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things." The concept first arose in a symbolic sense after 1880 in connection with the combination movement that began in American business at that time. United States corporations that fall into the category of "big business" include ExxonMobil, Wal-Mart, Apple, Google, Microsoft, General Electric, General Motors, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. The largest German corporations include Daimler AG, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens and Deutsche Bank. Among the largest companies in the United Kingdom are HSBC, Barclays and BP. The social consequences of the concentration of economic power in the hands of those persons controlling "big business" has been a constant concern both of economists and of politicians since the end of the 19th century. Various attempts have been made to investigate the effects of "bigness" upon labor, consumers and investors, as well as upon prices and competition. "Big business" has been accused of a wide variety of misdeeds that range from the exploitation of the working class to the corruption of politicians and the fomenting of war. Corporate concentration can lead to influence over government in areas such as tax policy, trade policy, environmental policy, foreign policy, and labor policy through lobbying. In 2005 the majority of Americans believed that big business has "too much power in Washington". German industry collaborated with their Nazi government during the Third Reich, thus exploiting the working class in the interest of productivity and efficiency. Hitler's order offered German capitalists, badly hit by the great recession, the prospects of huge profits. German workers did, admittedly, enjoy full employment, but, as William Schirer has said, this was at the cost of being reduced to serfdom and poverty wages. It was not long before these conditions became the lot of the whole of occupied Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_business Big government (sometimes capitalized as Big Government) is a derogatory term generally used by political conservatives, laissez-faire advocates, or libertarians to describe a government or public sector that they consider to be excessively large, corrupt and inefficient, or inappropriately involved in certain areas of public policy or the private sector. The term may also be used specifically in relation to government policies that attempt to regulate matters considered to be private or personal, such as private sexual behavior or individual food choices.[1] The term has also been used to define a dominant federal government that seeks to control the authority of local institutions - an example being the overriding of state authority in favor of federal legislation. The term can be applied to numerous bureaucratic criticisms: Government programs, where it is argued that policy goals could be accomplished with smaller, more nimble organizations Attempts to federalize programs traditionally implemented at the state level Implementing programs that seek to accomplish functions normally associated with the private sector or private organizations (such as non-profit groups or religious organizations) Expensive programs that are likely to increase costs in the long term, that are subject to cost overruns and/or poor cost analyses, and that are resistant to reform efforts, both internally and externally Large bureaucracies lacking in accountability Limited or no checks and balances on power within an organization Inadequate or inconsistent metrics to verify efficacy Limited genuine benefits actually conferred to citizens Cost ineffective (i.e. benefits are outweighed by high costs) programs funded primarily by bond packages Commentators who use the term are often concerned about government delivery of public goods, and government involvement in the formulation and implementation of laws and policies concerning civil rights, social justice, and social welfare. Other commentators combine criticism of big government with criticism of "big business", "big labor", "big oil", "big tobacco" and "big pharma". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_government

• published: 08 Jan 2014
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