"All the World's a Stage We Pass Through" R. Ayana

Showing posts with label rich industrialists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rich industrialists. Show all posts

Saturday, 17 January 2015

America Is the Same Ol’ Oligarchy It Was over a Century Ago - And so is just about everywhere else


America Is the Same Ol’ Oligarchy It Was over a Century Ago
And so is just about everywhere else


History Lesson: America Is the Same ‘Ol Oligarchy It Was over a Century Ago




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When Americans see charts like this one which illustrate that virtually all the food on grocery store shelves basically comes from no more than 10 megacompanies, or hear statements like this one from US Attorney General Eric Holder who told the Senate Judiciary Committee that some banks are just too big to prosecute, or check out studies like this one out of Princeton which openly declare we are not a democracy but an oligarchy…it’s kinda hard to believe we aren’t an oligarchy (because we are).

Come on, even our Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (you know, the lady that runs the place that prints our money and sells it to us with interest) has basically admitted it.

But are things really getting worse these days or is this just par for the course — the same course we’ve been on for over a century now?

Tinkering around in an old bookstore in a small Texas town, we came across a set of old books on democracy; we got the first seven volumes of a set entitled, The March of Democracy: A History of the United States written by James Truslow Adams — the guy who coined the term “The American Dream” — for a mere $20.



marchofdemocracy


The first book’s copyright is 1932. The last book ends in 1958.

Fascinating stuff…

For example, in volume four “America and World Power,” the book discusses how “Gradually and quite naturally, there grew up the belief in a great conspiracy on the part of the very rich to ruin the poor.”

Read this and tell me — does any of it sound even the least bit familiar to you?

Most strikingly in the public eye were the great Titans of the new business era, the coal and meat “barons” and the copper, railway, steel, and other “kings,” men of the type of the elder J.P. Morgan, of James J. Hill, William H. Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Frick, William H. Clark, and Rockefeller. Such men had certain broad traits in common, differ as they might from each other as individuals. They were men of wide economic but intensely narrow social vision, and of colossal driving power and iron wills. They could lay their economic plans with imperial vision in time and space, but for the effect of their acts on society they cared nothing whatever. They claimed the right to rule the economic destinies of the people in any way that would enure their own personal advantage. Illogically, they insisted upon the theory of laissez-faire for all except themselves, while they demanded and received every favor they wished in the way of special privileges from the government, as in the tariff and the silver purchase Act. The whole machinery of government must be at their disposal when desired — legislation, court decisions, and Federal troops. They combined their business units into “trusts” and combinations of almost unlimited power, yet they insisted on “freedom of contract” when dealing with labor, whose organization in any form they almost wholly refused to sanction.

They never taught you any of that back in school, did they?

That was written, by the way, in 1940; the author was discussing how America was run back in the late 1800s.

Not only is the emphasis on Democracy a distortion of the fact the nation was founded as a Constitutional Republic, where rights are preserved rather than subjected to the whims of the majority, but these passages demonstrate the familiar snow job surrounding the all-but-official banker’s oligarchy that has ruled this country and many others for some time.

In fact, in volume five, “The Record of 1933–1941,” Adams records the death of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., as the end of the era of this great wealth — never to occur again.

On May 23, John D. Rockefeller, Sr., died at the age of 97. Owner at one time of the largest fortune in the world, his lifespan had covered the entire history of American business from before the Civil War… Nearly $350,000,000 are handled by three of the Rockefeller Foundations for education, medical research and other uses. Whatever may be thought as to the methods of accumulating the beginnings of the fortune in a period of different business ethics and social outlook, no other man through his financial gifts has ever so widely benefited mankind. With our income and inheritance taxes no other such fortune will ever again be accumulated, and his death marked the end of an era in American history.

And so that’s the end of the story, kids…

Everything ended happily ever after.

Well, not quite.

Despite appearances, the shift on the part of the Rockefellers and other Robber Barons of the day from outright monopoly to “philanthropic” “non-profit” charity work was not an end to the dominance by the super-rich of the early 2oth Century, but an intensification of their undue influence. The taxation of the wealthy as well as the anti-trust actions of the day, which included busting up megacorpses like Standard Oil and AT&T, were perhaps well meaning but fundamentally failed to reign in the disparity of power.

Instead, new tax laws, in reality, acted to restrict new wealth from reaching the heights of the oligarchy, allowing “the elite” the keep their own, and initiate new members as desired. The tax-free status of many institutions – including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Ford Foundation – allowed the incredibly wealthy to a) shield their fortunes from taxation, b) appear to do good works and boost public opinion of their principle members while c) influencing, writing and developing official public policy through the steering mechanisms of its own tax-free grant making, think tank and research powers. Much social engineering has taken place – with far too little public notice – through these bodies. Additionally, d) many of its directors and board members were in “respectable” positions to shift into official government positions through the revolving door without appearing to be acting on behalf of their corporate masters.

The Reece Committee Hearings, conducted in 1953, attempted to probe the role of tax-free foundations in public life and uncovered many outrageous and conspiratorial actions taking place, including very apparent agendas advancing a one-world corporate-dominated government. However, it did not succeed in a general public understanding of what was taking place, nor did it reign in their powers.

Yesterday, the markets in gold, silver, oil, steel and other commodities were successfully cornered by the Rothschilds and other top bankers. Under Wall Street direction, and through the powers of the then newly-created Federal Reserve, these titans were able to officially dominate nearly all the important areas of public life, including great expansions in consumer spending and government agency powers. The icons of this magnificent and terrible wealth were John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, E.H. Harriman, Cornelius Vanderbilt and a handful of others.

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Today, those icons of wealth are the likes of Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Carlos Slim, Larry Ellison, the Koch Brothers, Michael Bloomberg, Steve Jobs (now deceased), the Walton family descendants of Walmart and, again, a handful of others who are largely known for their role in the age of computers, the Internet, telecommunications and electronic devices.

The real wealth, from older robber barons accumulated in land, resources, banking and investment and commodities are still there, but remain under reported on the Forbes’ list of the world’s richest, instead ruling largely from the shadows and influential but secretive groups such as Bilderberg.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as the Gates-Buffett led billionaires’ “giving pledge” are keeping in stride with the groundwork laid and continued by the Rockefeller Foundation and Ford Foundation. Heavily funded initiatives to push vaccines, birth control, population control, Western-oriented “education,” GMO and corporate-dominated agriculture and the like remain some of the most consequential and troubling policies done in the name of “good” by tax-free entities wielding enormous, nearly incalculable wealth and power.

In short, the myth of “democracy” and freedom in the United States – the beacon around the world – perpetuates, despite a few blemishes. But in reality, the Oligarchy took hold some time ago, has not let up and perhaps never will.

Let that sink in, kids. Take a good look, and let it all sink in.

And don’t forget to read Charlotte Iserbyt’s revealing and TRUE work, loaded with documents and footnotes, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America.

It helps to explain why you don’t know this stuff, why the reigns of power have been stolen from us, and why things are not soon going to get better.

Unfortunately, the late comedic genius George Carlin was all-too-right when he explained the owners of America and why the education system is broken:

And like Carlin said of James Truslow Adams’ American Dream,



“The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it.”


From Truthstream Media @ http://truthstreammedia.com/history-lesson-america-is-the-same-ol-oligarchy-it-was-over-a-century-ago/

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Thursday, 19 November 2009

Save the World from Polluters’ Lies

Save the World from Polluters’ Lies

Entrenched Rich Industrialists Destroy the Planet with the Help of Well Bribed Government Flunkies
 

Overview

Stalemate in Copenhagen

Global attempts to craft a pivotal new climate treaty in Copenhagen this December are being stymied by a far-reaching, multinational backlash led by fossil fuel industries and other heavy carbon emitters, according to an eight-country report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Read More
Stephen Rountree
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China

A Climate Dilemma for China

Fast-growing China is key to a global climate pact, but its leaders have made no firm commitments on emissions controls. Despite setting ambitious goals for renewables, the government is under pressure by forces that favor continued heavy reliance on abundant, carbon-intensive coal. Read More
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International

BINGOs and the Global Lobbyist

Industries that once fought against a global agreement to curb emissions have shifted strategies. Today, they admit that controls are needed, while wooing U.N. delegates — at coffee and hotel bars — to use language that would slow and likely weaken the resulting accord. Read More
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
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The United States

A Case of Lowered Expectations

President Obama promised a new chapter of U.S. leadership on climate change, but his administration has worked to lower expectations for the emissions cuts the world will see. The problem: vested interests and intensive lobbying in a nation that relies on coal to generate half of its electricity. Read More
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Australia

“Brown Down” in Australia

The sky over Sydney Harbor Bridge reddened this fall due to dust swept in from Australia’s drought-stricken interior. Australia may be especially vulnerable to climate change, but it also relies so heavily on cheap coal that global warming policy has been a battle. Read More
Quentin Jones, Courtesy of Fairfax Media
Key Facts
70 percent coal-based energy
World's largest carbon emitter
Goal of 15 percent renewable energy by 2020

China

A Climate Dilemma for China

Beijing — Although China is now the world’s top greenhouse gas producer, it leaders insist that Western countries, which contributed the bulk of carbon emissions, bear primary responsibility for a solution. Even within China’s one-party system, businesses vie for influence on climate policy. And the battle now being played out will have profound consequences for the effort to address global warming.
Key Facts
Largest historical carbon emitter
Climate lobbyists soared 400 percent in six years
Eyeing return to near 1990 levels by 2020

United States

A Case of Lowered Expectations

Washington — Other nations complain that the United States, despite President Obama’s pledge of leadership, has not made the commitment to address climate change that is needed from the country that over time has contributed the most to the greenhouse gas burden now in the atmosphere. His international negotiators have worked to lower expectations for what the world can expect from a nation where coal-fired, energy-gobbling industries dominate the political scene and there are five climate lobbyists for every member of Congress.
Key Facts
Global leader in coal exports
Largest per-capita greenhouse emissions among major global economies
Aims for 20 percent renewable energy by 2020

Australia

“Brown Down” in Australia

Sydney — Scores of interests have fought over the last year to “brown down” Australia’s first comprehensive plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. Although the hot and dry continent faces severe peril due to climate change, industries that rely on cheap coal power have used the threat of economic risk to fight Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s effort to address global warming.
Key Facts
Deforestation responsible for 55 percent of emissions
Will double oil production in next 10 years
Aims for 80 percent decrease in deforestation by 2020

Brazil

Caught Between Competing Interests in Brazil

Even though Brazil’s carbon emissions are low compared to those of the United States or China, the country plays a key role in global warming as home to the largest expanse of Amazon rain forest: About 55 percent of the country’s emissions are now due to deforestation. Agribusinesses and their political allies have balked at proposed environmental controls, and argue that Brazil should not rush to act on global warming until wealthier countries offer their plans...



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