Something to think about.
Posts Tagged ‘greed’
People are different. Humans are the same.
Saturday, May 26th, 2012Canadian Pharma-biz Novartis Bullies UK Rivals
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012If you are a frequent visitor to my blog, you’ll have noted that I’m quick to hop on the soapbox to decry corporatism whenever I can. Your probably like… ‘there goes Rick again, lambasting the very institutions our modern societies depend upon to survive. Doesn’t he know we’d die off without them?’
Well, yes, dear reader, I know that corporations are not without their merit, and I am aware that competition and innovation in the business world are great things. So, just to be clear, know that I am not anti-capitalism nor am I anti-business. Instead, understand that I am anti-corporatism, and therein lies the distinction. (more…)
Not All One Percenters Fear the Uprising
Sunday, December 11th, 2011
It can be easy to label every rich person as a tyrannical scrooge type pinching every penny, but it’s simply not true. Most multi-millionaires and billionaires don’t fear the Occupy movement or the impending redistribution of wealth. A lot of them, when asked, said they’d be willing to pay more in taxes. Some, like Warren Buffet, even go so far as to deliver eloquent speeches pleading for us to do so.
But there are a select few of the super-rich who tow the line for the rest of the financially fortunate. These individuals (and their cronies and paid-for politicians) are the ones responsible for a system-wide shift which has incrementally stripped entire populations of wealth and power.
It is this minority of the 1% – those with an insatiable greed – who must be reigned in. Not only do they need to be held accountable, steps must be taken to prevent others from doing the same. Whether it’s through public awareness or regulation, the processes by which today’s oligarchs have amassed their dangerous concentrations of power needs to be disrupted.
This won’t happen without a fight, which is why we have to rise up. But in the end, the majority of the super-rich will capitulate and cooperate without too much of a fight, so long as they get to remain amongst the wealthiest people on earth.
Bank Lobbyists Terrified of Occupy Movement
Monday, November 21st, 2011Lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford sent a proposal to the American Bankers Association, offering to implement an $850,000 strategy to undermine the credibility of the Occupy Wall Street protesters. The plan was leaked to MSNBC host Chris Hayes, who made the memo available on the net.
The authors of the proposal have exposed just how scared the banking industry really is. Should the Occupy movement co-opt the Democratic party in the same way the Tea Party did the Republicans, according to the lobbyists, such events could “have very long-lasting political, policy, and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bullseye.”
The document goes on to caution that Tea Party protesters could potentially join forces with Occupy Wall Street because “well-known Wall Street companies stand at the nexus of where [OWS] protesters and the Tea Party overlap on angered populism. […] This combination has the potential to be explosive later in the year when media reports cover the next round of bonuses and contrast it with stories of millions of Americans making do with less this holiday season.”
Of course, for less than a million dollars, how much could the lobbyists really hope to accomplish? JP Morgan Chase dumped $4.6 million directly into the NYPD, and so far the cops have only exasperated the situation.
But, like you’ve read here many times before, the occupy movement will not be stopped. There is too much at stake, and too much already wrong with our system for us to simply give up. The point of no return has been breached and now we cannot stop until we’ve reclaimed democracy for the world.
Corporatist Network Exposed – How the 1% Rule
Monday, October 24th, 2011
The 99% of the world who’ve been getting the shaft by today’s system now have a definitive target on which to set their sights, thanks to a team of Swiss mathematicians.
An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has revealed that a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, control a disproportionate power over the global economy.
The team found that a core of 737 companies (mostly financial services companies) control almost 80% of the global economy. See #occupy haters? The world is controlled by just a few corporations!
To get a better understanding of what this corporatist network can look like, check out the excellent visualization tools available at theyrule.net. There you can delve into the US’s ruling class and explore the inner workings of the American oligarchy.
One of the criticisms of the Occupy movement is that most of the protesters who are speaking out against corporations are clearly consumers of corporate products themselves.
But the issue shouldn’t be about whether or not we need corporations. Instead, the discussion should be what kind of relationship with corporations do we want to have?
In the not so distant future, we won’t be so dependent on corporations like we are today. We’ll have the means to produce our own energy with residential renewable solutions. We’ll be able to grow our own food in automated greenhouses. And we’ll manufacture whatever products we need with our very own 3D printers.
Yet, until this day arrives, we will need corporations around to provide us with the stuff we need to live. We can’t simply get rid of them without devastating consequences. But that doesn’t mean we have to endure the tyranny of corporatism.
Instead, we can hold these international businesses accountable to the people. Treat corporations like part of the public commons. Make these big businesses a shared resource, necessary for our world to function, but kept on a very tight leash for our security.
Now that the face of our foe has been exposed, there’s nothing left to do but declare all out war. It’s time to take the power back and usher in a more just civilization for everyone, not just the lucky ones.
Keep Corporations on a Tight Leash
Monday, November 22nd, 2010Politicians dependent on corporate donations, along with slews of well-funded lobbyists, ensures a consistent shifting of the system to benefit the corporatist agenda. Trademarks, copyrights, patent laws and other protectionist acts can stifle innovation and hamper new markets. Nearly complete domination of the mainstream media gives unprecedented control over the social consciousness and the manipulation/fabrication of consumers.
We no longer have capitalism in our world, if we ever did indeed have it. Capitalism is like survival of the fittest for business. It encourages competition, promotes innovation, and benefits consumers with lower costs and the products we demand.
The economic system that rules our world, with America at the epicenter, is capitalism’s bastardized offspring – corporatism. Corporatism is a form of tyranny. It actively blocks threats, hates competition, and can manipulate free markets along with governments and consumers all in a bid to maximize shareholder earnings.
Put simply, corporatism is when big, powerful entities use their might to make things even better for themselves. And these gains are made most often at the detriment to everything else – small businesses, employees, consumers, and the health of the planet.
The more powerful corporations become, the more influence they will exert over the world’s system. And what they want is not a better world for you and I to live in. What corporations want, as soulless entities, is more earnings, more profits, and a higher share value. That is all. Any exhibition of philanthropy or humanitarianism by corporations is rarely anything more than public relations to improve their image.
Corporations will take as much power as they can, for as long as we let them. This is why it is imperative that we – the people of earth – cooperate to counterbalance the influence of these business behemoths. To ensure that they are ultimately working for our benefit (and not the other way around) we need to keep corporations on a tight leash.
