+- +-

+-User

Welcome, Guest.
Please login or register.
 
 
 

Login with your social network

Forgot your password?

+-Stats ezBlock

Members
Total Members: 48
Latest: watcher
New This Month: 0
New This Week: 0
New Today: 0
Stats
Total Posts: 16867
Total Topics: 271
Most Online Today: 1208
Most Online Ever: 1208
(March 28, 2024, 07:28:27 am)
Users Online
Members: 0
Guests: 889
Total: 889

Author Topic: Corporate Mendacity and Duplicity  (Read 7613 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
Corporate Mendacity and Duplicity
« on: October 24, 2013, 11:24:52 pm »

Large Corporations (like McDonald's in the following video) LIE as POLICY and the MEDIA then proceed to cover for them. Conclusion: You CANNOT TRUST LARGE CORPORATION Mouthpieces (EVER). They will only be truthful when they are forced to (something that RARELY happens  >:().
And that goes double for the Corporate Media!

UPWORTHY
Joseph Lamour
Ever Hear About The Lady Who Spilled Coffee On Herself At McDonald's, Then Sued For Millions?
 
It's really unbelievable what happened to Stella Liebeck. You just have to watch to see how the media turned on this little old lady who lived in Albuquerque. Obviously a villain, right? And at 5:00, prepare to see what the coffee actually did to her. It's not pretty. Well ... nothing in her situation was

.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCkL9UlmCOE&feature=player_embedded
https://www.upworthy.com/ever-hear-about-the-lady-that-spilled-coffee-on-herself-at-mcdonalds-then-sued-for-millions?c=upw1
« Last Edit: October 24, 2013, 11:29:17 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
Don’t be fooled by packaging. Here are seven misleading words you’ll run into at restaurants and grocery stores … and how to find the truth behind the advertising.


The Lie: Healthy Fast Food

From salads to oatmeal to grilled chicken, plenty of fast food restaurants offer a handful of so-called healthy alternatives to the fried, cheesy, and bacon-y stuff. Turns out those healthy-sounding options aren’t necessarily even any healthier than the regular items on the menu. Take McDonald’s for example: the New York Times found that their oatmeal contains more sugar than a Snickers bar and only 10 fewer calories than their cheeseburger or Egg McMuffin. And the grilled chicken in their Premium Caesar Salad? Surprisingly, it contains rib meat, along with a bunch of additives.

Get the Truth: Always read nutrition labels and look up the ingredients and nutritional info when possible (readily available online when it comes to chain restaurants) before you chow down. If something as simple as grilled chicken has 11 ingredients you can’t pronounce, move along.

The Lie: All Natural

Plenty of food products, from soda to granola bars, have “natural” or “natural ingredients” on the label … and it definitely sounds healthy. But what does it actually mean? Unless it’s meat or poultry, whatever the company behind the product wants it to, for the most part.

Get the Truth: Unlike meat and poultry, which is regulated by the US Department of Agriculture, other products are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. And it turns out, the FDA has no official definition of the term “natural” or its derivatives. They only go so far as saying they don’t object to the use of the term “if the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors or synthetic substances” which gives companies pretty generous leeway. Before being fooled by a food that’s labeled “natural,” ask yourself: can I make this in my own kitchen? If you can’t pronounce half of the ingredients on the label, let alone define or find them in a supermarket, they’re probably not as natural as the branding would like you to believe.


The Lie: Whole Grain

Whole grains have been shown to reduce your risks of type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, and cardiovascular disease. So bring on the whole-grain crackers, right? Not so fast. Some products labeled “whole grain” actually contain very little of it—and some contain none at all.

Get the Truth: Look on the packaging for stamps and certifications from third parties like the Whole Grain Council. And make sure a whole grain (like whole oats or whole barley flour) is listed first on the list of ingredients. Ingredients are always listed in a descending order, from greatest amount to least amount. If it’s second, it may make up as little as 1 percent of the product.
 

The Lie: Multi-Grain

Multi-grain is touted on food packaging as if it’s healthy for you, but all “multi-grain” means is that there are multiple kinds of grains in the product—often the unhealthy refined kind. And the kind of grain is more important than how many there are.

Get the Truth: Flip the package to see if whole grains are listed first in the list of ingredients to get the most health bang for your buck. And make sure “whole” is in front of every grain listed.

 

The Lie: Artisan

The “artisan” label evokes images of small-batch cooking and skilled chefs perusing farmer’s markets for fresh ingredients. But it’s a word not regulated by the FDA, which means anyone can use it any way they want, even with bulk quantities of frozen food. Case in point, an “artisan egg sandwich”… made by Wendy’s.

Get the Truth: Dig to find out how a food is made and what it’s made from. If it’s filled with artificial flavors, trans fats, and additives, cooked by microwave, and produced in mass quantities for huge chain restaurants and fast food place, there’s likely nothing “artisan” about it.

 

The Lie: “Made With Real…“

Cheesy crackers made with real cheese. Snack bars made with real fruit. Sure, they’re made with real cheese and fruit… and plenty of other stuff too. Take Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain raspberry bars—”real fruit” is on the label, and they even added “no high-fructose corn syrup” to make it sound healthier. But really, the “real fruit” is listed as raspberry puree concentrate…and it’s only third on the list, after invert sugar and corn syrup.
Get the Truth:Get the Truth: Look at the ingredient list, not the packaging. And remember that even if the list does include real cheese or real whole fruit, it still may be sharing space with a whole bunch of junk. If a product has to cover its package in claims that it’s “real” food, be skeptical.

 

The Lie: “Made with 100% real/pure…“


But surely 100% real must mean something, right? Not really. Whether it’s sugary juice drinks made with 100% real fruit juice or a Betty Crocker casserole-in-a-box made with 100% real potatoes, the packaging doesn’t tell the whole story. The “made with 100% real” is a particularly deceptive kind of trickery, because it intentionally reads like the entire product is 100% made up of that ingredient. For things like fruit juice, that’s easy to buy into—until you read the label.

Get the Truth: Yep, I’m going to tell you—again—to read the list of ingredients! Take juice for example—the fruit juice inside may indeed be 100% fruit juice, but often it’s also mixed in with extra sugar, and the 100% real fruit juice only makes up 50% of what’ll end up in your drink.


http://www.care2.com/greenliving/7-lies-the-food-industry-sells-us.html#ixzz2ihaMqRuT

Can you now understand why food processing corporations "lobby" the government to NOT have to put all the ingredients on the label? It's because they want to con you into buying something that you think is something else of much more value! Can you now see why Libertarians against government oversight and regulations are idiots?
Coca-Cola and Pepsi 'change recipe to avoid putting a cancer warning on their labels'  •Both firms to alter the way caramel colour is produced
•Changes will take place in the U.S

•But not in UK as the drinks meet European safety rules



Pepsi, Coke, Nestle Pump Millions Into Anti-GMO Labeling Initiative  >:(
« Last Edit: October 27, 2013, 06:22:59 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
A Short Course in Clever Propaganda Part 1
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2013, 06:49:27 pm »
Take a look at this seemingly well intentioned and informative article urging people to confirm what they read.

Something is REALLY MISSING here. Can you tell what it is? How about the upiquitous (and mostly surreptitious) government efforts to manufacture consent when they aren't financing astro-turf fake grass roots popularity, **** and sensationalism to keep people distracted?



See my comment after the article. My remarks are in red in the article as well or my opinion is voiced with an emoticon.
 




How the internet is breaking  ;) journalism  ;D (and what it means to you)
Article by Leo on the Ask Leo web site.

When it comes to journalism and other information that you read on the internet, there's a very strong argument that things are seriously broken. The result is that we all need to be more vigilant than ever to separate the truth from falsehood and recognize what's important as opposed to what's popular.

Last week’s revelations, investigations, and clarifications regarding Microsoft Security Essentials really made me realize something very critical about how the internet works today and how broken it is.

The assumptions that readers are making about the information that they find online – even at relatively “reputable” sites – are wrong. The internet is breaking what “journalism” means. As a result, it’s become even more critical for online information consumers (that’s you and me, by the way) to take on a burden that we have not been trained to even concern ourselves with until now.

The burden of confirmation.

I’ve written about it before, but the sad fact is that you just can’t believe everything you read on the internet. And it is now your practical responsibility to do the legwork to confirm whether something is, or is not, true.

And yes, I agree, that’s totally broken.

And it’s partly our fault.  ???
•               
What drives the internet

Most websites on the internet measure traffic. More visitors equals more success. It’s as simple as that. Whether the success is measured in advertising revenue or product sales, the bottom line is that more eyeballs are critical to most site’s success.

And I’ll admit that this is true for Ask Leo! More visitors make my endeavor more successful.
So, how does one get traffic? Uh... Shouldn't there be a discussion of, like, ETHICS HERE  ??? So this "traffic" thing is ONLY about MONEY, Leo?  >:( Product quality, content, Good will, reliability, no ad overload, no spam, no cookies, good fact checking,  etc. have nothing whatsoever to do with obtaining traffic?  >:( ???  :P

My approach has been relatively straightforward: write articles that I think are helpful and informative, that answer real questions asked by real people, sprinkle them with my own editorial and other content, and hope that people discover me via the search engines when they’re looking for an answer to a problem. Unfortunately, that approach isn’t as effective as it once was.

Perhaps as a result, more and more sites use different techniques to attract site visitors or “clicks.”

Attracting clicks

Perhaps the most common approach to generating traffic these days is the sensational or salacious headline – one that says something so strong or outrageous that you just have to click through to read more.

“How the Internet is Breaking Journalism” might be considered such a headline, although I think it’s fairly mild in comparison to some that I’ve seen. (I’m not really very good at headline writing.) I get it Leo. You are mild, milquetoast and extremely non-confrontational because that would be bad for business.

The resulting article may, or may not, deliver on the headline’s promise. Many do not. I hope this one does. We'll see.

The headline served its purpose: it got you to click, the site got a “page view,” and perhaps an ad was shown. Mission accomplished. The fact that the accompanying article was total rubbish or content-free is immaterial. (I hope this one isn’t one of those).

Many go further, continuing with provocative and typically unsubstantiated information – all to get you to spend more time on the site, click through to additional pages, or even better, recommend the article to your friends.

All at the expense of what we often refer to as the truth, accuracy, or occasionally balance. And future clicks TOO, LEO! Why didn't you mention REPUTATION in your zeal to brand us as pavlovian dogs?

The truth is often boring and doesn’t generate page views.  BULLSHIT. 

Continued in "A Short Course in Clever Propaganda Part 2"
« Last Edit: October 27, 2013, 08:35:06 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
A Short Course in Clever Propaganda Part 2 (final part)
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2013, 08:18:16 pm »
A Short Course in Clever Propaganda Part 2   

When it comes to the news, however, there’s another factor at play.

News in internet time

Because the internet is instantaneous, there’s tremendous competitive pressure to get your article published as quickly as technologically possible. So the NSA data mining has no bearing on the decisions to manufacture propaganda or some other mendacious bit of distraction? PRESSURE TO MEET A HEADLINE? I don't think so.



This often happens at the expense of facts, replacing them with rampant and sometimes wild speculation. Speculation that is often presented or interpreted as fact. Yeah sure, facts get "lost" because of "pressure" to meet a headline. LOL!

Confirming facts takes time and resources. DUH!

The immediacy of internet publishing has taken away the luxury of time and budget; other constraints erode the resources required to even do the work. It has?  ??? Truth is now the casualty of headline pressure (time and money) as well as the first casualty of war?

News and other sites that cover current events are often faced with a very simple choice:

Speculate today,

Be correct tomorrow. Leo CONVENIENTLY LEFT OUT that this is precisely the propaganda TOOL disguised as "rushed headline inaccuracy" used by the New York Times and several other "reputable" matrix mouthpieces to push for War as far back as the Spanish American War and as recently as the Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" FRAUD, Iranian atomic boogeyman Israeli pushed fraud and the false flag terrorist child massacre instantly (and fraudulently) blamed on the Syrian government.

Getting something out today almost always wins. Accuracy be damned. BULLSHIT! When they set out to twist some news to suit a government approved narrative, they deliberately set up a fake fact check or bought and paid for scholar to back up the lies in the article. It takes LONGER to set up the mendacious propaganda than just post the news without filtering it for "acceptable" content. To assume EVERYTHING going out from the allegedly "reputable" web sites isn't thoroughly massaged before it goes out is Santa Claus propaganda by YOU, Leo. The only place I agree with you is when a manufactured headline (used to demonize some ethnic group) deliberately claims large numbers of victims of said ethnic group NOW, only to place a correction" in small print a week or so later.

Why you and I are part of the problem  Yeah, right, WE are the problem...


Satirical news parody site, The Onion, nailed it with an article, Let Me Explain Why Miley Cyrus’ VMA Performance Was Our Top Story This Morning.

The article is a fictitious “explanation” of why a major news site – CNN.com – highlighted on its home page the antics of the singer at the previous night’s music awards show. 

The only thing fictitious about the article is its attribution. Everything else is frighteningly accurate. Leo wants me to think the consumer of manufactured mendacity and/or truthful but unimportant distractive silliness is there because WE ASKED FOR IT, not because SOMEONE has worked their Orwellian asses off for about a century to keep us from thinking.

News sites are simply giving us what we apparently want  as measured by what we’ll click on to read.

It’s all about clicks and page views and time-on-site and advertising revenue and … well, you get the idea. Yes, and the Native Americans are a bunch of irresponsible drunkards because we gave them liquor and took their land. And the African Americans are "lazy and prone to thievery" because that's just the "way they are", right Leo? It's ALL OUR FAULT, right Leo? Gee, I think I read that about the financial crisis right after 2008, too. >:( Giving the public guilt trips is such fun... YES. LEO, I think I understand what the IDEA you are pushing is.  ;)

The fact is simple: you and I are much more likely to click stories about the outrageous antics of a pop singer than we are to click stories about what one might consider “real news,” such as atrocities happening elsewhere in the world.   
 Sure. sure, we are all brainless Pavlovian dogs...We don't care about truth, corruption, pro-war propaganda, fossil fuel piggery and poisons, massive voter disenfranchisement, CEO  fraud and theft, etc...

News sites are simply giving us what we apparently want as measured in clicks. 
At least that is what YOU want us to believe, LEO.

The same is true for the salacious headlines, fact-free articles, and sensational speculation-as-truth that’s littered all over the internet. Ahh! We have arrived at the money quote! You are claiming anything that is hard hitting is equivalent to cheap **** and hysterical fear mongering. Clever, clever, clever.

We don’t click on boring, and we don’t fact check anything. 
Yeah, you boyz in the mild Santa Claus propaganda mills are a bit upset at the FACT that the populous isn't buying the "everything is just hunky Jake" line you are used to force feeding us. SO you are now claiming we aren't rational. I guess you will leave it to the more strident propagandists to start calling us 'unpatriotic' and 'traitors' too!

I have no solution, but… Translation:  It's human nature to be Pavlovian dogs. Take a pill. Relax. Only believe mild, politically correct, everything is "hunky dory" type news and everything will be fine.


I’m not about to change journalism, or human nature.

People will click on what we’re going to click, and website owners are going to respond as they see fit for their business.

As an information consumer, however, I want you to be aware of two exceptionally important things:
Your decisions and actions drive the internet. 

You may believe that it’s big (or small) business doing whatever it is they want to make money, but the fact is they can’t do that without you. The more that you visit certain sites, the more you’re implicitly endorsing what they do and how they do it. As a result, they’re going to do more. You left out surreptitious government funded and fossil fuel funded astro-turf and fake popularity, Leo. How come?

Seriously. That’s exactly how it works.  Only for a small niche, not for non-consumer goods truthful information. People read news a lot more than they shop! The predatory capitalist corporations that run most Western governments are bending, folding and mutilating the news 24/7 but you are pretending WE get that crap because we asked for it. BULLSHIT!

You can’t believe everything you read on the internet. 
OR anywhere else, for that matter. Water is wet.  Is this some kind of, 'I'm on your side' type of con? 

This pains me deeply because while almost everyone says this, it seems like no one acts like they understand it. It’s absolutely amazing the wild and wacky stuff that people will believe if it’s published online. The fact is even those sites that we consider reputable will fall into the trap of publishing inaccurate and misleading information1 – and yet people believe it all without question. Yes Leo, a large percentage of  Homo SAPs have low IQs and are easily led astray. That's blame the victim logic. What about the very intelligent evil bastards with a lot of mainstream credibility that push war, fossil fuels and a host of other horrors destroying the biosphere in general and Homo SAPs in particular? Are you telling me that the silliest. most ignorant among us CONTROL the message on the internet? BULLSHIT! 

And that’s what has to change.
 Boilerplate. What has to change is that people in government and private enterprise engaging in activities that poison the planet and kill people must be FORCED to stop lying about it on the internet.


You must question everything
 Most people do. It's people like you who limit our choices in the media about what is "believable" or not and bore us to death with pop singer topics, ****, or lockstep propaganda day in and day out. The world is a big place but you can tune in any of the main stream media news casts and they are basically running the SAME stories. Can you say, controlled media? And don't tell me that doesn't happen on the internet.

This is where I really believe that internet journalism is really letting us down. This is how the internet has broken journalism. 
I think what is REALLY bugging you is that people don't believe the bought and paid for main stream media 'journalists' any more. That's THEIR fault for lying so much. The INTERNET has destroyed their credibility. GOOD! Tough luck for you, Leo.

You and I, we have to now do the legwork that we could in the past assume that journalists and authors had at least made an attempt to do themselves. Boilerplate. You are setting readers up to be herded into NOT believing the Santa Claus version of history.

It’s horrible. It’s awful. It’s frustrating. It shouldn’t have to be this way.

And yet, it is what it is. You and I must (and I do mean must) take everything that we read online with a grain of salt. Nothing can be believed without question. DUH!

You and I must do the job that in the past we might have relied on good journalism to at least begin to do for us: confirm the truth, check sources, clarify statements, and see through the hyperbole. Right... Anytime strong wording is use, it must be hyperbole. A propaganda rag with deep government pockets cannot buy cred and false statements to give some astro-turf pseudo scientific or fake goody two shoes historical narrative the aura of respectability while disparaging a truth teller without government funding... ;)

Of course, the practical reality is that we can’t actually do that for every single thing we encounter. As a result, we develop relationships with sources that we trust – venues that have proven themselves to be honest, accurate, and at least somewhat diligent about presenting truth as truth, speculation as speculation, and avoiding the temptation to do just about anything for a page view. Ah yes, the RELATIONSHIPS...."sources that we trust – venues that have proven themselves to be honest, accurate, etc.". I get it Leo. If DA GOOBERMENT  ain't backing it, it isn't "believable"


Naturally, I hope Ask Leo! is one of those sites. I admit I have gotten a few good tips on computers here but the total absence of perspective about real world conditions is misleading. Leo NEVER exposes any of the many scandals in the computer industry including back doors by Microsoft and others on behalf of the government. I have had to go to other sites to get anything that isn't extremely mild. He does provide pretty good data BUT it is seldom complete and you need to go to less restrained computer geeks to find out the total story. Leo worked for Microsoft for WAY TOO LONG.  ;D

But even for those sites that you trust, you must keep up your guard and do your own due diligence. Accidentally or not, it’s very easy to get it wrong. That is the one statement here I agree with. However, in the light of what has already been said, I consider it disengenous. Mixing truths with falsehoods is the bread and butter of successful propaganda.

And if I ever start posting about the antics of half-naked pop-stars, slap me. Hard. As if that was the main problem with the internet. Defense of bullets and bombs is doing much more damage than bulbous boobs ever will.  >:(

http://askleo.com/how-the-internet-is-breaking-journalism-and-what-it-means-to-you/

Agelbert comment to Leo:


I'm sorry Leo, I must take issue with you on this assumption:
Quote
Your decisions and actions drive the internet. You may believe that it’s big (or small) business doing whatever it is they want to make money, but the fact is they can’t do that without you. The more that you visit certain sites, the more you’re implicitly endorsing what they do and how they do it. As a result, they’re going to do more.

Seriously. That’s exactly how it works.

NO, it is definitely NOT how "it works.". I can quote you chapter and verse from the 1950s to the 1990s on how the overwhelmingly high percentage of stories were NOT "when it bleeds, it leads" or simple sensationalism appealing to the lowest common denominator of readership.

I can bring you proof of funding of pro-war, pro-fossil fuel, pro-predatory capitalist practices, active suppression of news about criminal activities by our own government in order to keep the people in the dark about said activity.

Don't tell me they wouldn't be "interested" in reading that and would prefer Hollywood scandals and other mindless entertainment. You are a knowledgeable man. Study Operation Mockingbird.

Follow your own rule (and mine as well!) and CONFIRM all the following statements rather than tossing them aside as mendacity before you responsibly investigate them.

Quote
"You could get a journalist cheaper than a good call girl, for a couple hundred dollars a month." - CIA operative discussing with Philip Graham, editor Washington Post, on the availability and prices of journalists willing to peddle CIA propaganda and cover stories. "Katherine The Great," by Deborah Davis (New York: Sheridan Square Press, 1991) 

"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." -- William Colby, former CIA Director, cited by Dave Mcgowan, Derailing Democracy
"There is quite an incredible spread of relationships. You don't need to manipulate Time magazine, for example, because there are [Central Intelligence] Agency people at the management level." -- William B. Bader, former CIA intelligence officer, briefing members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, The CIA and the Media, by Carl Bernstein

"The Agency's relationship with [The New York] Times was by far its most valuable among newspapers, according to CIA officials. [It was] general Times policy ... to provide assistance to the CIA whenever possible." -- The CIA and the Media, by Carl Bernstein

"Senator William Proxmire has pegged the number of employees of the federal intelligence community at 148,000 ... though Proxmire's number is itself a conservative one. The "intelligence community" is officially defined as including only those organizations that are members of the U.S. Intelligence Board (USIB); a dozen other agencies, charged with both foreign and domestic intelligence chores, are not encompassed by the term.... The number of intelligence workers employed by the federal government is not 148,000, but some undetermined multiple of that number." -- Jim Hougan, Spooks

"For some time I have been disturbed by the way the CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the government.... I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations." --former President Harry Truman, 22 December 1963, one month after the JFK assassination, op-ed section of the Washington Post, early edition

As terrible as it is to live in a nation where the press in known to be controlled by the government, at least one has the advantage of knowing the bias is present, and to adjust for it. In the United States of America, we are taught from birth that our press is free from such government meddling. This is an insidious lie about the very nature of the news institution in this country. One that allows the government to lie to us while denying the very fact of the lie itself
--------------------

Leo, it is cruel joke to believe the many idiotic, prurient and sensationalistic web sites out to keep people distracted and dumbed down on the internet are not every bit as FINANCED with government funds to provide the appearance of popularity as  the main stream media propaganda outlets. Pravda and Izvestia are alive and well in our media. As a matter of fact, those old Russian propaganda rags have probably more truth in them since the Soviet Union collapsed than CNN does.

It costs money to run web sites but you fail to mention that the government funds web sites surreptitiously for the purpose of manufacturing public consent. Noam Chomsky is NOT a "conspiracy theorist".

Sure Leo, we have a small niche where we do the old "compete for popularity" thing. But presenting that niche as "exactly the way it TOTALLY works" is a disservice to your readership.


Operation Mockingbird may have a different name in the internet, but the modus operandi has not changed and if you don't know that, it's time you did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
« Last Edit: October 27, 2013, 08:39:22 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
How to deal with Cunning Deceitful Manipulators
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2013, 08:46:53 pm »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_UyuMVCFQc&feature=player_embedded
How to deal with Cunning Deceitful Manipulators

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
Mens Rea
« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2013, 07:03:08 pm »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O99siSbqTX8&feature=player_embedded

Senator Elizabeth Warren unwittingly describes the Wall Street deliberate impoverishing of Americans for over 40 years. Maybe she cannot bring herself to say the expression, "MENS REA" in regard to Wall Street and most of their pet politicians from Reagan on down.

But I'll say it! And it describes the conscience free behavior of people like Mking PERFECTLY! These prevaricators are not stupid; they just wallow joyfully in Malice and Aforethought continuously. Why? Because, to them, humility, honesty, cooperation, the golden rule and altruistic thinking are WEAKNESSES. 
In a century or so, if we don't "reform"    the Mkings among us, a few sad ETs will gaze on the brown, dead ball that was once a vibrant place full of life called Earth.

They will discuss the timeframe for a seeding procedure to attempt bioremediation based on a several thousand year time scale due to the presence of DNA destroying radionuclide contamination of the soil and the oceans. They will lament the Homo SAP tragic and suicidal fixation with caloric intake and concentrated power that blinded them to the vital, non-optional requirement for inter-species and intra-species cooperation and altruistic behavior in order for the sustainability of a complex biosphere to be a reality. They will wonder how, with so much knowledge of the life processes around them, humans failed to realize the fragility of the biosphere they so depended on.

One ET specialist in endocrine systems and biochemical signaling considered the possibility that the sugar reflex was behind most of the human excesses that blinded that species into the belief that hoarding and storing energy was a viable strategy, even when taken to extremes that resulted in excess "fat", creating analogous "anoxic" conditions in the biosphere, even as excess fat in a human liver brings necrosis from lack of oxygen, that began to destroy them.

Perhaps their brains became intoxicated from the toxins present in too much caloric intake.

Perhaps they weren't as intelligent as they seemed.

Homeostasis, if applied to their biosphere and industrial civilization, would have saved them. But, like a primitive primate given the choice of **** over food, would always pick **** until it died. :(

Attention then turned to the next planet on their survey and the quandary of the seemingly intelligent humans with such incredible lack of foresight was shelved for a future discussion. 



Renewable Revolution
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
Why is Google Funding ALEC?
« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2013, 07:38:26 pm »
Surly said, if you want the truth, follow the money. Certainly corporate interests are far more astute in covering their tracks these days, laundering their efforts through middlemen, foundations, shell companies, etc....


YEP!

And speaking of MONEY and the habit of some (allegedly green) large corporations of putting money in GW denial organizations while pushing a certain amount of renewable energy in what APPEARS to be schizophrenic behavior but is ACTUALLY a TAX and REGULATION avoidance strategy, see what GOOGLE is doing with some money...

Why is Google Funding ALEC?

SustainableBusiness.com News


Petitions with 230,000 signatures have been delivered to Google asking the company to stop supporting ALEC, which it joined this year just as 60 other corporations cut their ties with the right-wing extremist organization.


Google is a bright light in the corporate world taking strong advocacy positions on climate change and renewable energy and walking the talk on those positions by investing heavily in the field - some $1 billion since 2010. It's an innovator on energy efficient data centers, uses green building practices extensively, serves organic food in its cafeterias, all of which is actively opposed by these organizations.

This year, Google tied for first place for leading the tech industry on addressing climate change. 


So it crushes our trust when they simultaneously fund a slew of organizations - ALEC is one of many - that are working relentlessly to prevent action on climate change and obliterate the renewable energy industry.

In its blog, Google says, "Why are we making these investments? It's simple: we believe in a clean energy future, and we think that companies like ours can help make it happen," says Kojo Ako-Asare, head of corporate finance for Google. "We invest in these projects because they make business sense, because they help put more renewable energy on the grid and because they have a positive impact on the local economies where they operate." ::)

Google has extensively mapped a changing planet to bring peoples' attention to climate change: 

Google time lapse

"Google should Google ALEC's agenda. Funding right-wing extremists at ALEC is a guaranteed way for Google to undermine its own admirable clean energy goals. It's like building a new house only to set it on fire after defunding the fire department," says Michael Brune, Executive Director of Sierra Club.

"Google's support for ALEC is part of a disturbing embrace of the climate denial machine by a company that professes to fight global warming," says Brad Johnson at Forecast the Facts. "It may be time to pronounce Google's famous 'Don't Be Evil' motto dead."


Next year, ALEC has its sights on killing state Renewable Portfolio Standards, state net-metering laws, the Northeast cap-and-trade program (RGGI), and federal level restrictions on power plant emissions.

 Who's Who List of Right-Wingers


Google financially supports the who's who list of right wingers from infamous climate denier Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) to the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

 This year, organizations that received “substantial” funding from Google for the first time include Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, the Federalist Society, the American Conservative Union (best known for its CPAC conference), and Heritage Action - the political arm of the Heritage Foundation that led the charge to shut down the government over the Affordable Care Act.

All these groups are heavily supported by the Koch Brothers.



Google's PAC, called Google Inc. Net PAC, contributed to Ted Cruz's Senate campaign and already contributed to his next senate race even though it's five years from now.


Agelbert  Note: And HERE is where following the MONEY LEADS TO: 
 


As for why it supports Grover Norquist's "no taxes ever" pledge, to "shrink government to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub," that's pretty clear: Google creatively shields some $2 billion a year from global taxes, reports Bloomberg. and is holding $33 billion offshore to avoid US taxes.
 

The company even sponsored a recent fundraiser for the Federalist Society, a network of right-wing judges and lawyers that includes Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito  , John Roberts,  Antonin Scalia    and Clarence Thomas.   Justice Thomas was the guest of honor at that event, for which Google was listed as a top-tier “gold” sponsor. Google names the Federalist Society on its list of groups receiving its most substantial grants in 2013, reports the Center for Media & Democracy.

Sure, Google would say it also funds progressive groups and after all, it's just looking after its business interests. But "there really aren't two proportionate sides to the facts about the climate changes that are underway, as to whether working people should be paid a living wage, and whether corporations should have to pay taxes just like working people do. By funding extreme groups on the right under the guise of a false equivalency, Google is enabling groups that seek to undermine government," counters Lisa Graves, Executive Director of Center for Media & Democracy.

 "Political spending for corporations is purely transactional. It is all about getting policies that maximize profitability, so even ostensibly hip companies like Google invariably spend lavishly to support groups and politicians that pursue decidedly anti-democratic policy outcomes. It is why sane democracies strictly regulate or even prohibit such spending, regarding it accurately as a cancer for democratic governance.",  notes Bob McChesney co-founder of the media reform group Free Press and author of How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy.

 Read more:

 
Website: www.prwatch.org/node/12319

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25385
« Last Edit: May 06, 2017, 08:10:06 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

Surly1

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 916
Re: Corporate Mendacity and Duplicity
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2013, 07:58:40 pm »
"By funding extreme groups on the right under the guise of a false equivalency, Google is enabling groups that seek to undermine government," counters Lisa Graves, Executive Director of Center for Media & Democracy.

Take it to the fking bank. Incomprehensible.

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
Re: Corporate Mendacity and Duplicity
« Reply #9 on: December 07, 2013, 05:32:38 pm »
Surly said,
Quote
Take it to the fking bank. Incomprehensible.
???  >:(

I feel the same way. The only way to make heads or tails of this is that the GOOGLE big shots believe THEY are the Government.  >:(

They see representative democratic government as a "competitor" to be undermined. This is Libertarian, Randian, Predatory BS based on the LIE that the "ELITE Galts" would do a better job of governing the rabble than the one the rabble elects.

These cheap, relativistic, self justifying greed based mephisto-"philosophies" will be the death of us.

I overheard Lucifer make this remark in a fit of depression the other day. It surprised me that Satan isn't more peppy in these times when everything seems be going his way.


Quote
In the last several centuries, the only new SIN I've been able to come up with is Advertising...  :(

Yes, we know good old Mephisto-Prince of the Earth just "does what he does", but the issue is REALLY NOT ABOUT HIM, but about US.

As long as HOMO SAP continues to believe in fairy tales about sliding scale ("SITUATIONAL") ethics and other cockamamie silliness as a magic wand to justify doing any damned thing he wants to do (I'm NOT swearing here!  ;)),  every place we dwell in is totally trashed. 

Isaiah used a bit of hyperbole in threatening his stiff necked and arrogant fellow Jews but he generally established proper cause and effect in human ethics.    Everything else is pseudo sophisticated "modern" BULLSHIT. 

Here's Isaiah giving it to us with both barrels, fully loaded with 100% truth, ethics and the effects of ethical and non-ethical behavior in Homo SAP:

Quote
Isaiah33:1 Woe to you who plunder, though you have not been plundered;

And you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you!

When you cease plundering,

You will be plundered;

When you make an end of dealing treacherously,

They will deal treacherously with you.


14
The sinners in Zion are afraid;

Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites:

“Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?

Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”


15
He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,

He who despises the gain of oppressions,

Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes,

Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,

And shuts his eyes from seeing evil:

16

He will dwell on high;

His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks;

Bread will be given him,

His water will be sure.

What most Homo SAPs that LAUGH at the words above DO NOT GET is that those words are not about big daddy God kicking our ASSES IF WE ARE "BAD".

These words are CAUSE AND EFFECT in human relations! You can call it karma or any other wistful, fate like term you want to dream up. The fact remains that, in this universe, ethics are NOT NEGOTIABLE if you want to perpetuate your species. The non-self aware life forms are on automatic pilot so they don't have the CHOICE of forking it up.

We do. We did. We need to stop being STUPID or it is OVER.




« Last Edit: May 06, 2017, 08:21:48 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

Surly1

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 916
Re: Corporate Mendacity and Duplicity
« Reply #10 on: December 08, 2013, 12:44:09 pm »
Just an inspired rant, AG.

BTW, just because of the post above, I spent the morning coming up to speed on Operation Mockingbird. I saw no indication from anything I have read that it was ever ended.

Murrow> Jack Anderson? Really?

Apparently there were cold war battlefields we didn't even know about.

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
Re: Corporate Mendacity and Duplicity
« Reply #11 on: December 08, 2013, 04:10:47 pm »
Quote

Just an inspired rant, AG.

BTW, just because of the post above, I spent the morning coming up to speed on Operation Mockingbird. I saw no indication from anything I have read that it was ever ended.

Murrow> Jack Anderson? Really?

Apparently there were cold war battlefields we didn't even know about.

Glad you liked my rant.  ;D
As to Operation Mockingbird, yeah, they've got that one down to a fine art. I think they are so jaded by their success that they are unaware of the nearly total laughing stock the MIC mouthpieces are to the up and coming generation. Remember that the GOAL of manufacturing consent is to manipulate the behavior of the masses so they will be conditioned to BELIEVE anything you say. That is why they are so assiduous about wanting to know about our every activity (as a check on the behavior modification success of the propaganda mill). They THINK it is working but IT ISN'T WORKING.


These  goons are SO impressed by their sophisticated data mining techniques that they forget that people just don't care much about privacy like they used to. People are posting their life histories out there with abandon and the goons probably think it is a gold mine of data.              



Well, they don't understand the Heisenberg uncertainty principle as applied to human relations. Here's the deal, Surly. If I KNOW you are watching my every move and I ALSO KNOW that I cannot avoid you watching my every move because you control the technology I use to be more efficient about my daily activities, as long as I am an average Joe, after a while I cease to care.

I am the OBSERVED object. As the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states, once the object is OBSERVED, it's behavior changes. Hence the OBSERVER will never truly understand what makes the OBSERVED TICK (the goal of all observer goons is therefore frustrated).

To the average Joe, it's like going to the bathroom or not. You undress in the bathroom and you wear clothes outside. Well, the internet is now a giant bathroom where a thousand cameras are on us and we all get to bask in the joys of exhibitionist behavior (this drives the goons batty!  ;D).

The average Joe/Jane has also figured out that the MIC mouthpieces are bullshit factories for the 1%. That too drives the goons crazy because the whole "credible source" thing they have always relied on to con the rubes has been flipped on its head. What's more the average Joe/Jane, now living in the functional equivalent of a red light district with 30 con artists arrayed along his path continuously, is forced to adopt improved critical thinking skills or lose his shirt and have his identity stolen too! We are ALL becoming STREET SMART to the MIC media's dismay.

The average Joe/Jane is now like the bacteria that have adapted (NOT "EVOLVED"! LOL!) to all those antibiotics and become superbugs! We are a fricking VIRUS! 


Back to Mocking the Mocking Bird Mechanism. ;D

There's a dude that had about nine wives and died recently. This guy was king of the intelligence agencies  hill. He stayed out of the news but was a key figure in Operation Mocking Bird from the START. He sold his media outlets to Murdoch in 1985! Nice HAND OFF to the next "king", eh?  ;)

Check John W. Kluge out for a fun story.

Here's the boilerplate PUFF PIECE:

Quote
John Kluge ranked as one of the least known but most powerful moguls in the modern television industry in the United States as Chairman of the Board for Metromedia International Group.

Born in Chemnitz, Germany, in 1914 John Kluge served in U.S. Army intelligence, 1941-45 after Immigrating to U.S. in 1922. Kluge proved a group of independent TV stations could make millions of dollars. His Metromedia, Inc. pioneered independent stations operations through the 1960s and 1970s. In the mid-1980s Rupert Murdoch offered Kluge nearly $2 billion for the Metromedia stations, which then served as the basis for Murdoch's FOX television network. This deal made Kluge one the richest persons in the United States.

It was the food business that led Kluge to television. In 1951 he invested in a Baltimore, Maryland food brokerage enterprise, increased sales dramatically, sold his majority stake in the mid-1950s, and began to look for another industry that was growing. He found television. In 1956 Kluge was too late to enter network television, but saw possibilities with independent TV stations. He assembled an investment group and purchased the former DuMont stations. He ran Metromedia on a tight budget, saving rent, for example, by headquartering the company across the Hudson River from New York City, in Secaucus, New Jersey. He seized upon the programming strategy of simply re-running old network situation comedies and low budget movies. And Metromedia made millions with relatively small audiences, because costs of operation were so low.

Under his stewardship, Metromedia grew into the largest independent television business in the United States. Thereafter Kluge purchased assorted businesses to add to his Metromedia empire. Over the years he acquired the Ice Capades, the Harlem Globetrotters, music publishing companies holding such titles as Fiddler on the Roof, Zorba the Greek, and Cabaret, television production and syndication units, Playbill magazine, and a highly profitable direct mail advertising division. But he did make mistakes. One disastrous misstep was Kluge's 1960s purchase of the niche magazine Diplomat; another came with his proposal for a fourth TV network. Neither project succeeded, nor the failures cost Metromedia millions of dollars.

Kluge reached his greatest successes in television by buying the syndication rights to M*A*S*H. With this asset he finally gave rival network affiliates a contest for ratings in the early fringe time period. Not one to sit still, during the early 1980s Kluge cooked up a deal to take Metromedia private. In 1984, by structuring a $1.3 billion leveraged buyout on unusually favorable terms, Kluge ended owning three-quarters of the new company and pocketing $115 million in cash in the process. Now private and in full control, Kluge did not hesitate when Rupert Murdoch approached him with $2 billion to buy Metromedia's television stations.

Out of TV, Kluge attended to his other businesses. Under the Metromedia name, he began to manufacture paging devices and mobile telephones. In managing these telecommunication ventures, Kluge retraced the steps he took in his television career: buy a license in a major market at an affordable price, then wait as the market evolves, and finally cash in.

In 1995 the Actava Group Inc., Orion Pictures Corp., MCEG Sterling Inc. and Metromedia International Telecommunications Inc. signed an agreement to form a global communications entity to be named Metromedia International Group Inc. Kluge already owned a major stake in Hollywood's Orion Pictures. The new four-part alliance merged wireless cable and Hollywood production skills to sell all forms of mass communication to citizens in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics.

Kluge attended Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, and earned a B.A. in economics, Columbia University, 1937

John W. Kluge passed away on September 7, 2010, and is deeply missed by all at EWI.
http://www.ewi.info/john-w-kluge

I don't have the time. I wish you would do an expose on Kluge. I'll bet that guy was hooked up with Bush even before 1963, if you know what I mean. 

Don't worry. the CIA won't go after you. Kluge is dead and they can deny everything you say. The new method used today is to just get some bribed bullshit artist to write a book counteracting every factual and solid piece of history about some intelligence goon and make it an instant "New York Times Best Seller".  ::)

I would enjoy reading it and I'm certain you could come up with some fascinating anecdotes about Kluge. I mean, NINE WIVES?!!! This guy has some juicy stuff in his sordid past.

Just tracking down the "HEALTH PROBLEMS" of his ex-wives would be most illuminating and informative...
www.luxist.com - 580 × 243 - Search by image
Billionaire Patricia Kluge to sell the contents of her home, Albemarle House ...



Operation Paperclip? Operation MockingBOID? Never HEARD OF IT! And I don't SPEAK GERMAN either!



« Last Edit: May 06, 2017, 08:29:04 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
Re: Corporate Mendacity and Duplicity
« Reply #12 on: December 12, 2013, 04:12:24 pm »
The Gates Foundation’s hypocritical investments


Excellent Infographics laying out their profits over planet piggery! 







The INVESTMENT in ExxonMobil IS GIGANTIC compared with just about everything else! THAT SAYS IT ALL! 




May God DAMN every Lying A__HOLE that uses the phrase, "I'm a BUSINESSMAN" to abandon all ethical conduct!  >:(

http://grist.org/climate-energy/the-gates-foundations-hypocritical-investments/
« Last Edit: December 12, 2013, 11:41:39 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
Re: Corporate Mendacity and Duplicity
« Reply #13 on: December 20, 2013, 08:26:17 pm »
Published on Monday, December 16, 2013 by Common Dreams       

Seven Ripoffs That Capitalists Would Like to Keep out of the Media  >:(
 
by Paul Buchheit   

What capitalism likes to keep quiet about itself would fill a book... or an evening news hour. (File)
Tax-avoiding, consumer-exploiting big business leaders are largely responsible for these abuses. Congress just lets it happen. Corporate heads and members of Congress seem incapable of relating to the people that are being victimized, and the mainstream media seems to have lost the ability to express the views of lower-income Americans.

1. Corporations Profit from Food Stamps

It's odd to think about billion-dollar financial institutions objecting to cuts in the SNAP program, but some of them are administrators of the program, collecting fees from a benefit meant for children and other needy Americans, and enjoying subsidies of state tax money for services that could be performed by the states themselves. They want more people on food stamps, not less. Three corporations have cornered the market: JP Morgan, Xerox, and eFunds Corp.

According to a JP Morgan spokesman, the food stamp program "is a very important business to JP Morgan. It's an important business in terms of its size and scale...The good news from JP Morgan's perspective is the infrastructure that we built has been able to cope with that increase in volume.."

2. Crash the Economy, Get Your Money Back. Die with a Student Loan, Stay in Debt.

The financial industry has manipulated the bankruptcy laws to ensure that high-risk derivatives, which devastated the market in 2008, have FIRST CLAIM over savings deposit insurance, pension funds, and everything else.

But the same banker-friendly "bankruptcy reform" has ensured that college graduates keep their student loans till they die. And sometimes even after that, as the debt is transfered to their parents.

3. Almost 70% of Corporations Are Not Required to Pay ANY Federal Taxes

And that's even before tax avoidance kicks in. The 'nontaxable' designation exempts 69% of U.S. corporations from taxes, thus sparing them the expense of hiring tax lawyers to contrive tax avoidance strategies.

The Wall Street Journal states, "The percentage of U.S. corporations organized as nontaxable businesses has grown from about 24% in 1986 to about 69% as of 2008, according to the latest-available Internal Revenue Service data. The percentage of all firms is far higher when partnerships and sole proprietors are included."

In recent years the businesses taking advantage of the exemption include law firms, hedge funds, real estate partnerships, venture capital firms, and investment banks.

4. Lotteries Pay for Corporate Tax Avoidance

This means revenue comes from the poorest residents of a community rather than from billion-dollar corporations. Many of the lottery players don't realize how bad the odds are. Fill out $2 tickets for 12 hours a day for 50 years and you'll have half a chance of winning.

Some astonishing facts reveal the extent of the problem. Low-income households spend anywhere from five to nine percent of their earnings on lotteries. A Pennsylvania survey found that nearly half of low-income residents planned to **** at a newly-opened ****. America's gambling losses in 2007 were nine times greater than just 25 years before.

5. The National Football League Pays No Federal Taxes

One of the most profitable organizations in America, with billions in tickets, TV rights, and merchandise sales, and with an NFL Commissioner who earned more money than the CEOs of Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, and AT&T, is considered a non-profit. It has a tax-exempt status.

It gets even worse. While the individual teams themselves are not exempt from federal taxes, they enjoy multi-million-dollar subsidies from their states for new and refurbished stadiums. Fans - and non-fans - of the Washington Redskins, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Minnesota Vikings, the Seattle Seahawks, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are among those who pay taxes for their hometown football fields. New Orleans taxpayers paid for leather stadium seats. For the Dallas Cowboys, a $6 million property tax bill was waived.

A Harvard University urban planning study determined that 70 percent of the capital cost of NFL stadiums has been provided by taxpayers, rather than by NFL owners.

6. Live on Park Avenue, Get a Farm Subsidy

A disturbing but fascinating report called "Farm Subsidies and the Big Dogs" lists Washington, DC, Chicago, and New York City, in that order, as the worst offenders.

•In New York, "Many entities receive the federal subsidies at their downtown office buildings, such as 30 Rockefeller Plaza, or at their million dollar residential condos."

•In Chicago, "Nearly every neighborhood in the city receives federal farm subsidy payments - including the Gold Coast, Downtown-Loop, Lincoln Park, and even the President's neighbors in Hyde Park."

•In Washington, "Even U.S. Senators are receiving farm subsidy checks."

Perhaps more of us should become farmers. In Florida, according to Forbes, "anyone could legally qualify their land as farmland by stocking it with a few cows." Wealthy heir Mark Rockefeller received $342,000 to NOT farm, to allow his Idaho land to return to its natural state.

7. Profit Margin Magic: Turning a dollar into $100,000

Which costs the consumer more, printer ink or bottled water? Calculations by DataGenetics reveal that the ink in a $16.99 cartridge comes to almost $3,400 per gallon. The cost of a gallon of cartridge ink would buy enough gasoline to run the average car for over two years.

Water seems to cost less, until the details are factored in: we're paying for our own public water, which we've given away almost for free, and which comes back to us in no better condition than when it started.

For every 100,000 bottles sold, Nestle pays the proceeds from ONE bottle to those of us (the taxpayers) who own the water.

So This Is Capitalism..

Consumer-exploiting, tax-avoiding, profit-maximizing, responsibility-shirking, winner-take-all capitalism. An economic system which, as Milton Friedman once believed, "distributes the fruits of economic progress among all people."

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
 

Paul Buchheit   

Paul Buchheit is a college teacher, an active member of US Uncut Chicago, founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, PayUpNow.org, RappingHistory.org), and the editor and main author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (Clarity Press). He can be reached at paul@UsAgainstGreed.org.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/12/16-1
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 36274
  • Location: Colchester, Vermont
    • Renwable Revolution
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

+-Recent Topics

Future Earth by AGelbert
March 30, 2022, 12:39:42 pm

Key Historical Events ...THAT YOU MAY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF by AGelbert
March 29, 2022, 08:20:56 pm

The Big Picture of Renewable Energy Growth by AGelbert
March 28, 2022, 01:12:42 pm

Electric Vehicles by AGelbert
March 27, 2022, 02:27:28 pm

Heat Pumps by AGelbert
March 26, 2022, 03:54:43 pm

Defending Wildlife by AGelbert
March 25, 2022, 02:04:23 pm

The Koch Brothers Exposed! by AGelbert
March 25, 2022, 01:26:11 pm

Corruption in Government by AGelbert
March 25, 2022, 12:46:08 pm

Books and Audio Books that may interest you 🧐 by AGelbert
March 24, 2022, 04:28:56 pm

COVID-19 🏴☠️ Pandemic by AGelbert
March 23, 2022, 12:14:36 pm