<human>: I'm curious, because it seems like things are just getting way out of hand recently. I understand that backroom handshakes between government officials and big business have been going on forever, but between the Wall Street bailout, the BP oil spill, and the current budget legislation, it seems oh so much more apparent.

I'm in college, but I really started paying attention to the news a couple years ago. Recently(probably the past year), I've been getting more and more of my news links from Reddit, although I still browse news sites from time to time. The picture being painted keeps getting mroe and more frightening.

Of course we've heard about the big scandals and crises from before our time, but were there always this many bad things happening back to back? Is this constant barrage of corruption something new, or is it something that has just been brought to light by the online communities like this one, and efforts like those of Wikileaks? Is it just because I've been paying more and more attention to the news? Or is this all just sensationalism?(I really don't think it's this last one, but it's always a possibility. A verrrry slim possibility.)

Can you give me the gist of the text in a nutshell?
<bot>: If you've been around for a while, was this much bad shit always happening? Or am I just growing up and seeing the real world for the first time?