Who really owns the major companies in the world?

Historical insights & thoughts about the world we live in - and the social conditioning exerted upon us by past and current propaganda.
kickstones
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Re: Who really owns the major companies in the world?

Unread post by kickstones »

hoi.polloi wrote:Even supposedly intelligent people get caught up in the mythos that it's Americans' ignorance, Americans' fault and Americans' deserved fate that they should be subjected to such epically terrible leadership. Perhaps, there is some truth to it, but I don't think the key is to examine the leaders or the ignorance. You must see what the culture has produced. Could it be, for example, the "catch 22" of the average person desperately needing fresh education and having the State being the only one capable of giving it in the form of propaganda? I don't think it's wrong, for instance, that America escaped the doldrums of some countries' education systems which are as flawed as America's because their pride and gullibility compensates for the additional knowledge they claim to end up with. Part of 'freedom' means freedom from being a decent person by any moral standards, for better or worse.

For example, the raving genocidal racist president Andrew Jackson did his best to undermine the banking cartels but they just came back. It seems we can never get one totally good leader; they are a little right in some ways and so wrong in others. But it's just what we need — good leaders, who can somehow teach people to not need leaders. Whomever owns the major companies of this world seem to be the opposite. They train people to be dependent on a product flow, and if people slip up or try to escape, they create more dependence. Corporations operate more like the culture of London, obsessed as it is with control, with what is "proper" and bowing to quasi-useless authority figures. Few things are as shudder-inducing for me as the idea of cringing before some tailored lord with a stick up his bum because it's "proper". Not to sound like a right-wing asshole, but it does seem that the question of freedom is part of the self-destructive culture of America. Someone who is ignorant is not necessarily stupid or incapable of reasoning within the territory they know. Americans have a culture which perhaps too deeply craves conveniences, like not having to know what's out one's back yard.

As another personal tangent, I think one of the reasons pure sugar is in most everything in the States is because it creates a general craving for another product with sugar within, it doesn't matter what. It's a catalyst for consumerism and unnecessary cravings and need. (It's also cheap filler, but it serves many purposes, like oil.)

This is too general, sorry. The topic title is better to focus on. Just who "controls" the major companies? Well, thanks to kickstones and others, we do have some names and some sources to examine. A good re-read of this thread would help most people understand how the octopus tentacles of bad culture permeate the chain of command. Also, sceppy made a good point:
sceppy wrote:Those who tax the companies, 'own' the companies. No business runs, unless they pay protection money, or tax...whichever way you want to look at it. That's a simple and short answer.

Hoi, here’s another name of interest, I.G. Farben.

I came across it in this book:

World Without Cancer (1974) - G. Edward Griffin

While Part 1 of the book is concerned with the science of cancer, Part 2 examines the politics of cancer. It is this section that is relevant to the subject at hand.

It begins:

“In the years prior to World War II, there came into existence an international cartel, centered in Germany, that dominated the entire world's chemical and drug industries. It had spread its operations to ninety-three countries and was a powerful economic and political force on all continents. It was known as I.G. Farben.

I.G. stands for lnterssen Gemeinschaft, which means "community of interests," or more simply, "cartel." Farben means "dyes," which, because the modern chemical industry had its origin in the development of dyestuffs, now is a deceptively innocent sounding category that, in reality, encompasses the entire field of chemistry , including munitions and drugs.“

In particular the book looks the early history of the I. G Farben and the cartel's early success in the United States with particular emphasis on its "marriage" with DuPont, Standard Oil, and Ford.

While I’m not saying all the factual evidence presented is 100% reliable, I do think there are many truths given, and they do present a clearer picture, from a historical perspective, as to how and who own the major companies, or more specifically, control them.

It states:

“One percent of the population owns more than seventy percent of the nation's productive property, and ten percent own all of it. About half of this, in turn, is held in trust by the ten leading Wall Street banks, which, in turn, are heavily influenced, if not controlled outright, by a group so small that they could be counted on the fingers of one hand. This, stated in plain English, represents the greatest and most intense concentration of wealth and power that the world has ever seen. “

For those interested, the online publication of the source can be found on the link below:

https://archive.org/stream/World_Withou ... 3/mode/2up
hoi.polloi
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Eighty People Control Half of the World's Wealth and All of

Unread post by hoi.polloi »

An article that, even if it does not address the tippy top of the pyramid, actually rings true as a social trend. I hope that, for once, you can turn down the "numerology" obsession that too many of y'all/us has and just look at this and consider it as factual information.

Eighty People Control Half of the World's Wealth and All of the Elected Officials
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/2872 ... -officials

In the interest of skepticism, what kind of disproportionate wealth might this even be hiding? Perhaps the fact that it has already been this way for some time ...?
Oxfam releases the report every year just as global leaders gather in Davos because the key to reversing the trend lies in the hands of government. The problem requires a coordinated global effort to tackle inequality, such as punishing tax dodging by corporations and wealthy individuals. Other initiatives include: Universal public services (i.e. health and education), shifting the burden of taxation from labor and consumption to capital and wealth, living wages, equal pay, and adequate safety nets that include a minimum income.

Interestingly, many of these policies have been promoted – and rejected – here in America.

Thirty-five of the 80 individuals controlling wealth hold American passports. Many of the names are familiar, such as Bill Gates, the Waltons of Wal-Mart fame, George Soros, Warren Buffett, both Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson. It is also no surprise that many of these names are often seen on the same donor lists of politicians across the nation, Congress and our recent presidents. The Oxfam report notes than nearly 12 percent of political contributions come from the list of 80 billionaires.
These are the people they claim to be the main owners, Oxfam fudging notwithstanding, so can we presume the "wealthy" listed here are merely the top of the money pyramid — at which point the very base of the true power pyramid begins?

Perhaps, at such a level, the "pyramid" structure applies. Perhaps, it is also helpful to presume there is less of a "scramble" at this level and it no longer applies as much — in which case, might the leaders be more accurately described as a "ring" or "network"?
nonhocapito
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Re: Eighty People Control Half of the World's Wealth and All

Unread post by nonhocapito »

hoi.polloi wrote:Perhaps, at such a level, the "pyramid" structure applies. Perhaps, it is also helpful to presume there is less of a "scramble" at this level and it no longer applies as much — in which case, might the leaders be more accurately described as a "ring" or "network"?
I cannot help but thinking that these different individuals at the top really hate each other and as a rule would want to do each other out. Because such is human nature when power is involved. They might use each other, or sign alliances when convenient, but otherwise dreaming of a world where the others don't have such power and don't get in the way.
Of course, they would always respect the tall order of keeping the people uninformed and duped and enslaved, but: Wouldn't they organize networks and groups (political, corporative, financial, of propaganda, military etc) in the effort to steal each others' power and wealth? And if so, wouldn't we witness such high-level battles in the real life economy of our societies, under the pretense of "global events" and "history" as offered by the media?

This is why I'm reluctant to think in terms of a one pyramid...
Maat
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Re: Eighty People Control Half of the World's Wealth and All

Unread post by Maat »

nonhocapito wrote:
hoi.polloi wrote:Perhaps, at such a level, the "pyramid" structure applies. Perhaps, it is also helpful to presume there is less of a "scramble" at this level and it no longer applies as much — in which case, might the leaders be more accurately described as a "ring" or "network"?
I cannot help but thinking that these different individuals at the top really hate each other and as a rule would want to do each other out. Because such is human nature when power is involved. They might use each other, or sign alliances when convenient, but otherwise dreaming of a world where the others don't have such power and don't get in the way.

Of course, they would always respect the tall order of keeping the people uninformed and duped and enslaved, but: Wouldn't they organize networks and groups (political, corporative, financial, of propaganda, military etc) in the effort to steal each others' power and wealth? And if so, wouldn't we witness such high-level battles in the real life economy of our societies, under the pretense of "global events" and "history" as offered by the media?

This is why I'm reluctant to think in terms of a one pyramid...
I agree, Nonho. That makes perfect sense!
hoi.polloi
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Re: Who really owns the major companies in the world?

Unread post by hoi.polloi »

You may be very right. In that case, I feel that on some level the "leaders" (of each group/pyramid of useful dupes) may occasionally form alliances with the notion that they are "better" than what their conflicting peers consistently fall to.

In that case, they may exist in their own little drama we might never experience but could easily understand. There are those among them who wish the jealous competition were not the case, and there are those among them who are happy it is the case, and everything in between; but still each of them uses power as jealously when you strip away the philosophy or idealism. Hmm.

If that is the case, we can actually see how pressuring these "leaders" to behave may actually do some good. It gives some incentive and power for the idealistic among them to create a better group dynamic with us — the "plebs", even if it is with a kind of arrogant and cold method assuming their inborn superiority to others — their self-appointed "fate" to control large groups.

Pressure to change the situation, as we apply it, may not ever get them true understanding of where we — the 99.9999% — are at. But, it may be the most useful thing we can do. Or it may be useless. Or counter-productive.

Either way, this tiny population we are — that is aware of such a realistic picture of the way the world really works — can spread the word of all these possibilities and hopefully gain a better grasp of things. We don't need to know precisely what is happening, but your speculation nonhocapito gives us better ways of thinking and asking about it. Thanks.
Flabbergasted
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Re: Eighty People Control Half of the World's Wealth and All

Unread post by Flabbergasted »

nonhocapito wrote:I cannot help but thinking that these different individuals at the top really hate each other and as a rule would want to do each other out. Because such is human nature when power is involved. They might use each other, or sign alliances when convenient, but otherwise dreaming of a world where the others don't have such power and don't get in the way.
Of course, they would always respect the tall order of keeping the people uninformed and duped and enslaved, but: Wouldn't they organize networks and groups (political, corporative, financial, of propaganda, military etc) in the effort to steal each others' power and wealth? And if so, wouldn't we witness such high-level battles in the real life economy of our societies, under the pretense of "global events" and "history" as offered by the media?

This is why I'm reluctant to think in terms of a one pyramid...
I think you are right on the money there. A while ago I posted a dialogue excerpted from the movie "Conspiracy Theory" which makes a similar point: http://cluesforum.info/viewtopic.php?f= ... 5#p2378061
Sometimes I wonder if the major branches of organized Jewry somehow fit into the conservative/revolutionary dichotomy hinted at in that dialogue.
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