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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini
The Coca-cola case - Part 1/9
The Corporation: The pathological pursuit of power Based on a book by Joel Bakan, The Corporation:
The Pathological Pursuit of Power, the film takes as
its starting point the fact that, under American law, corporations are
individuals and have the same rights as individual people. The
film then examines the psychopathology of these
"individuals". The corporations do not fare well. They have
trouble, for example, making and sustaining long-term relationships; they exist
only to serve their own self-interest (which would be pathological
behaviour in a human individual); do not have a good record with honesty, often
seem to act amorally, and often do not seem to suffer from guilt. Even world
disaster areas can become profit centres for them. In a bid to
own it all, even water and air and even plant DNA are up for grabs. There are no
limits, and no molecule safe. In the pursuit of profit, corporations
will deal with anyone (IBM with Nazi Germany, for example), and will try to
render governments impotent if they get in the way. Yet some
corporations are capable of mimicking human qualities of empathy, caring and
altruism.
The Corporation: the pathological pursuit of
power What is a corporation? It is one form of business ownership, a group of people working together to a group of objectives. The modern corporation has grown out of the industrial revolution. Its all about productivity, getting more produce per man hour. 150 years ago the business corporation was a relatively insignificant institution, but today it is all invasive. Corporations were originally associations of people who were chartered by the state to perform a particular function, like build a bridge. There were very few chartered corporations in early US history and the ones that existed had clear stipulations in their state issued charters, how long they could operate, the amount of capitalisation, what they made or did or maintained (a turnpike or whatever) and they didn't do anything else, they own or couldn't own another corporation, their shareholders were liable etc. In both law and the culture, the corporation was considered a subordinate entity that was considered a gift from the people to serve a public good. The civil war and the industrial revolution created enormous growth in corporations and so there was an explosion of railroads which got large federal subsidies of land, banking, heavy manufacturing. And corporate lawyers, a century and a half ago, realised they needed more powers to operate and wanted to remove some of the constraints that had historically been placed on the corporate form. The 14th amendment was passed at the end of the civil war to give equal rights to black people and therefore it said, no state can deprive any person of life liberty or property without due process of law and that was intended to prevent the states from taking away life, liberty or property from black people as they had done for so much of US history. What happened was that corporations come into court, and corporate lawyers are very clever, and they say, "Oh, you can't deprive a person of life, liberty or property? We are a person - a corporation is a person" - and the Supreme Court goes along with that. And what was particularly grotesque about this was that the 14th amendment was passed to protect newly freed slaves. So for instance, between between 1890 and 1910 there were 307 cases brought before the court under the 14th amendment - 288 of these brought by corporations, and 19 by African Americans. 600,000 people were killed to get rights for people and then with strokes of the pen over the next 30 years judges applied those rights to capital and property, while stripping them from people. The corporation - a legal person What type of person is the corporation? These are special kinds of persons which are designed by law to be concerned only for their stockholders and not so much for the stakeholders, like the community or the workforce or whatever. The great problem is that they aren't like the rest of us. They have no soul to save, and they have no body to incarcerate. They really only have one interest, the bottom line, how to make as much money as they can. Of course they make a profit and that's a good thing, it gives them the incentive to make capitalism work, incentive to make the things that we need and that's what other systems lack. The problem comes in the profit motivation because with these people there is no such thing as enough. The publicly traded corporation has been structured by a series of legal decisions to have a peculiar and disturbing characteristic. It is required by law to place the financial interests of its owners above competing interests. In fact the corporation is legally bound to put its bottom line ahead of everything else, even the public good. That's not a law of nature, its a judicial decision. So they are concerned only with short-term profit of their stockholders who are very highly concentrated. Close to half the stock is owned by about 1% of the population and the bottom 80% of the population hold about 4% of the stock. Being on the stock market, being a public company is great in many ways but it doesn't allow any time for reflection, it has to maximise its profits and therefore everything is legitimate in the pursuit of that goal - everything, not explicit but everything. Externalising of costs The corporation tends to be more profitable to the extent it can get others to pay its bills for its impact on society. The term for this is called externalities. There are real problems in this area. Running a business is a tough proposition. There are costs to be minimised at every turn and at some point the corporation says, "Let's let somebody else deal with that, let's let somebody else supply the military power to the middle east to protect the oil at its source, let's let somebody else build the roads that we can drive these automobiles on, let's let somebody else have those problems". And that's where externalities come from, that notion of letting somebody else deal with that - " I have all I can handle myself". The corporation is an externalising machine the same way a shark is a killing machine. Each one is designed in a very efficient way to accomplish particular objectives. In the achievement of those objectives there isn't any question of malevolence or of will. The enterprise has within it, and the shark has within it, those characteristics that enable it to do those functions for which it was designed. So the the pressure is on the corporation to deliver results now, and to externalise any costs that an unwary or uncaring public will allow it to to externalise. The science of exploitation To determine the kind of personality that drives the corporation to behave like an externalising machine, we can analyse it like a psychiatrist would a patient. We can even formulate a diagnosis on the basis of typical case histories, of harm inflicted on others, selected from a universe of corporate activity.
Diagnosis - the corporation bears all the marks of a psychopath who bears no responsibility for its actions. Can any and every product be made sustainability? Not every product eg landmines. Some products ought not be made at all. Unless we can make products sustainably perhaps we don't have a place in this world. The way of the corporation is the way of the plunderer, plundering something that belongs to every creature on earth. The day must come when plundering is not allowed. The largest, the wealthiest, the most powerful, the most pervasive, the most influential is the institution of business and industry - the corporation - which also is the current present day industry of destruction. It must change.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions Tuesday, November 9th, 2004 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/09/1526251 We speak with John Perkins, a former respected member of the international banking community. In his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man he describes how as a highly paid professional, he helped the U.S. cheat poor countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could possibly repay and then take over their economies. John Perkins describes himself as a former economic hit man - a highly paid professional who cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. 20 years ago Perkins began writing a book with the working title, "Conscience of an Economic Hit Men." Perkins writes, "The book was to be dedicated to the presidents of two countries, men who had been his clients whom I respected and thought of as kindred spirits - Jaime Roldós, president of Ecuador, and Omar Torrijos, president of Panama. Both had just died in fiery crashes. Their deaths were not accidental. They were assassinated because they opposed that fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads whose goal is global empire. We Economic Hit Men failed to bring Roldós and Torrijos around, and the other type of hit men, the CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right behind us, stepped in. John Perkins goes on to write: "I was persuaded to stop writing that book. I started it four more times during the next twenty years. On each occasion, my decision to begin again was influenced by current world events: the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1980, the first Gulf War, Somalia, and the rise of Osama bin Laden. However, threats or bribes always convinced me to stop." But now Perkins has finally published his story. The book is titled Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. John Perkins joins us now in our Firehouse studios.
RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: John Perkins joins us now in our firehouse studio. Welcome to Democracy Now! JOHN PERKINS: Thank you, Amy. It’s great to be here. AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Okay, explain this term, “economic hit man,” e.h.m., as you call it. JOHN PERKINS: Basically what we were trained to do and what our job is to do is to build up the American empire. To bring -- to create situations where as many resources as possible flow into this country, to our corporations, and our government, and in fact we’ve been very successful. We’ve built the largest empire in the history of the world. It's been done over the last 50 years since World War II with very little military might, actually. It's only in rare instances like Iraq where the military comes in as a last resort. This empire, unlike any other in the history of the world, has been built primarily through economic manipulation, through cheating, through fraud, through seducing people into our way of life, through the economic hit men. I was very much a part of that. AMY GOODMAN: How did you become one? Who did you work for? JOHN PERKINS: Well, I was initially recruited while I was in business school back in the late sixties by the National Security Agency, the nation's largest and least understood spy organization; but ultimately I worked for private corporations. The first real economic hit man was back in the early 1950's, Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of Teddy, who overthrew of government of Iran, a democratically elected government, Mossadegh’s government who was Time's magazine person of the year; and he was so successful at doing this without any bloodshed -- well, there was a little bloodshed, but no military intervention, just spending millions of dollars and replaced Mossadegh with the Shah of Iran. At that point, we understood that this idea of economic hit man was an extremely good one. We didn't have to worry about the threat of war with Russia when we did it this way. The problem with that was that Roosevelt was a C.I.A. agent. He was a government employee. Had he been caught, we would have been in a lot of trouble. It would have been very embarrassing. So, at that point, the decision was made to use organizations like the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. to recruit potential economic hit men like me and then send us to work for private consulting companies, engineering firms, construction companies, so that if we were caught, there would be no connection with the government. AMY GOODMAN: Okay. Explain the company you worked for. JOHN PERKINS: Well, the company I worked for was a company named Chas. T. Main in Boston, Massachusetts. We were about 2,000 employees, and I became its chief economist. I ended up having fifty people working for me. But my real job was deal-making. It was giving loans to other countries, huge loans, much bigger than they could possibly repay. One of the conditions of the loan–let's say a $1 billion to a country like Indonesia or Ecuador–and this country would then have to give ninety percent of that loan back to a U.S. company, or U.S. companies, to build the infrastructure–a Halliburton or a Bechtel. These were big ones. Those companies would then go in and build an electrical system or ports or highways, and these would basically serve just a few of the very wealthiest families in those countries. The poor people in those countries would be stuck ultimately with this amazing debt that they couldn’t possibly repay. A country today like Ecuador owes over fifty percent of its national budget just to pay down its debt. And it really can’t do it. So, we literally have them over a barrel. So, when we want more oil, we go to Ecuador and say, “Look, you're not able to repay your debts, therefore give our oil companies your Amazon rain forest, which are filled with oil.” And today we're going in and destroying Amazonian rain forests, forcing Ecuador to give them to us because they’ve accumulated all this debt. So we make this big loan, most of it comes back to the United States, the country is left with the debt plus lots of interest, and they basically become our servants, our slaves. It's an empire. There's no two ways about it. It’s a huge empire. It's been extremely successful. AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. You say because of bribes and other reason you didn't write this book for a long time. What do you mean? Who tried to bribe you, or who -- what are the bribes you accepted? JOHN PERKINS: Well, I accepted a half a million dollar bribe in the nineties not to write the book. AMY GOODMAN: From? JOHN PERKINS: From a major construction engineering company. AMY GOODMAN: Which one? JOHN PERKINS: Legally speaking, it wasn't -- Stoner-Webster. Legally speaking it wasn't a bribe, it was -- I was being paid as a consultant. This is all very legal. But I essentially did nothing. It was a very understood, as I explained in Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, that it was -- I was -- it was understood when I accepted this money as a consultant to them I wouldn't have to do much work, but I mustn't write any books about the subject, which they were aware that I was in the process of writing this book, which at the time I called “Conscience of an Economic Hit Man.” And I have to tell you, Amy, that, you know, it’s an extraordinary story from the standpoint of -- It's almost James Bondish, truly, and I mean-- AMY GOODMAN: Well that's certainly how the book reads. JOHN PERKINS: Yeah, and it was, you know? And when the National Security Agency recruited me, they put me through a day of lie detector tests. They found out all my weaknesses and immediately seduced me. They used the strongest drugs in our culture, sex, power and money, to win me over. I come from a very old New England family, Calvinist, steeped in amazingly strong moral values. I think I, you know, I’m a good person overall, and I think my story really shows how this system and these powerful drugs of sex, money and power can seduce people, because I certainly was seduced. And if I hadn't lived this life as an economic hit man, I think I’d have a hard time believing that anybody does these things. And that's why I wrote the book, because our country really needs to understand, if people in this nation understood what our foreign policy is really about, what foreign aid is about, how our corporations work, where our tax money goes, I know we will demand change. AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to John Perkins. In your book, you talk about how you helped to implement a secret scheme that funnelled billions of dollars of Saudi Arabian petrol dollars back into the U.S. economy, and that further cemented the intimate relationship between the House of Saud and successive U.S. administrations. Explain. JOHN PERKINS: Yes, it was a fascinating time. I remember well, you're probably too young to remember, but I remember well in the early seventies how OPEC exercised this power it had, and cut back on oil supplies. We had cars lined up at gas stations. The country was afraid that it was facing another 1929-type of crash–depression; and this was unacceptable. So, they -- the Treasury Department hired me and a few other economic hit men. We went to Saudi Arabia. We -- AMY GOODMAN: You're actually called economic hit men --e.h.m.’s? JOHN PERKINS: Yeah, it was a tongue-in-cheek term that we called ourselves. Officially, I was a chief economist. We called ourselves e.h.m.'s. It was tongue-in-cheek. It was like, nobody will believe us if we say this, you know? And, so, we went to Saudi Arabia in the early seventies. We knew Saudi Arabia was the key to dropping our dependency, or to controlling the situation. And we worked out this deal whereby the Royal House of Saud agreed to send most of their petro-dollars back to the United States and invest them in U.S. government securities. The Treasury Department would use the interest from these securities to hire U.S. companies to build Saudi Arabia–new cities, new infrastructure–which we’ve done. And the House of Saud would agree to maintain the price of oil within acceptable limits to us, which they’ve done all of these years, and we would agree to keep the House of Saud in power as long as they did this, which we’ve done, which is one of the reasons we went to war with Iraq in the first place. And in Iraq we tried to implement the same policy that was so successful in Saudi Arabia, but Saddam Hussein didn't buy. When the economic hit men fail in this scenario, the next step is what we call the jackals. Jackals are C.I.A.-sanctioned people that come in and try to foment a coup or revolution. If that doesn't work, they perform assassinations. or try to. In the case of Iraq, they weren't able to get through to Saddam Hussein. He had -- His bodyguards were too good. He had doubles. They couldn’t get through to him. So the third line of defense, if the economic hit men and the jackals fail, the next line of defense is our young men and women, who are sent in to die and kill, which is what we’ve obviously done in Iraq. AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain how Torrijos died? JOHN PERKINS: Omar Torrijos, the President of Panama. Omar Torrijos had signed the Canal Treaty with Carter much -- and, you know, it passed our congress by only one vote. It was a highly contended issue. And Torrijos then also went ahead and negotiated with the Japanese to build a sea-level canal. The Japanese wanted to finance and construct a sea-level canal in Panama. Torrijos talked to them about this which very much upset Bechtel Corporation, whose president was George Schultz and senior council was Casper Weinberger. When Carter was thrown out (and that’s an interesting story–how that actually happened), when he lost the election, and Reagan came in and Schultz came in as Secretary of State from Bechtel, and Weinberger came from Bechtel to be Secretary of Defense, they were extremely angry at Torrijos -- tried to get him to renegotiate the Canal Treaty and not to talk to the Japanese. He adamantly refused. He was a very principled man. He had his problem, but he was a very principled man. He was an amazing man, Torrijos. And so, he died in a fiery airplane crash, which was connected to a tape recorder with explosives in it, which -- I was there. I had been working with him. I knew that we economic hit men had failed. I knew the jackals were closing in on him, and the next thing, his plane exploded with a tape recorder with a bomb in it. There's no question in my mind that it was C.I.A. sanctioned, and most -- many Latin American investigators have come to the same conclusion. Of course, we never heard about that in our country. AMY GOODMAN: So, where -- when did your change your heart happen? JOHN PERKINS: I felt guilty throughout the whole time, but I was seduced. The power of these drugs, sex, power, and money, was extremely strong for me. And, of course, I was doing things I was being patted on the back for. I was chief economist. I was doing things that Robert McNamara liked and so on. AMY GOODMAN: How closely did you work with the World Bank? JOHN PERKINS: Very, very closely with the World Bank. The World Bank provides most of the money that’s used by economic hit men, it and the I.M.F. But when 9/11 struck, I had a change of heart. I knew the story had to be told because what happened at 9/11 is a direct result of what the economic hit men are doing. And the only way that we're going to feel secure in this country again and that we're going to feel good about ourselves is if we use these systems we’ve put into place to create positive change around the world. I really believe we can do that. I believe the World Bank and other institutions can be turned around and do what they were originally intended to do, which is help reconstruct devastated parts of the world. Help -- genuinely help poor people. There are twenty-four thousand people starving to death every day. We can change that. AMY GOODMAN: John Perkins, I want to thank you very much for being with us. John Perkins' book is called, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 (800) 881-2359.
NSA (National Security Agency) insider comes forward with stunning disclosures "Economic Hit Man" Rarely does the public get an opportunity to learn what has really been going on. John Perkins has "risked it all" by publishing his book ,"Economic Hit Man", only 3 months ago. This will answer a LOT OF QUESTIONS many have been suspecting. I know most do not like to make time to listen to audio clips. You will want to make an exception this time. Normally, I try to limit my excerpts to 1 or 2 - 10 minute audio segments. The 3 1/2 hour interview had so many disclosures, which we seldom, if ever, learn about, that I could not ignore them...thus the length of this particular set of audio clip excerpts. Jackhttp://effectnetwork.blogspot.com/ * * * * * "Economic Hit Man" John Perkins, the founder of Dream Change Coalition, shared the story of the time he spent as an international 'economic hit man' after being recruited by the National Security Agency. He defined an 'economic hit man' as someone who assists in cheating developing countries and US taxpayers, by funneling money from the World Bank to the wealthy in the private sector. THE FOLLOWING TAPES MAKE FOR FASCINATING LISTENING Note: first clip has been fixed 1. http://PlayAudio-123.com/play.asp?m=149311&f=KOFPZR&ps=13&p=1 (10 min) 2. http://PlayAudio-123.com/play.asp?m=149210&f=KZGVCX&ps=13&p=1 (10 min) 3. http://PlayAudio-123.com/play.asp?m=149212&f=VUJLDZ&ps=13&p=1 ( 8 min) 4. http://PlayAudio-123.com/play.asp?m=149216&f=HPPHUG&ps=13&p=1 (10 min) 5. http://PlayAudio-123.com/play.asp?m=149218&f=RVNOPG&ps=13&p=1 (10 min) 6. http://PlayAudio-123.com/play.asp?m=149222&f=BQCYYB&ps=13&p=1 ( 4 min) Those wanting to listen to entire 3 1/2 hour interview go to: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2005/02/15.html See also - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FORUM_FOR_DISCLOSURES/ The REVISED " EFFECT Network" Blog: http://effectnetwork.blogspot.com/
THE MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS AND THE
GOVERNMENTS This awareness indicates that for the most part these multinational corporations and the governments which they control tend to enter into areas to exploit the countries, setting up just enough structure within the country to call it a government, recognize it as being the legitimate government, and defend it against all other who might interfere with their structured corporate government within that country. This Awareness indicates that wherein democracies or other forms of political activities are brought to bear against these corporate governments and structures, these are termed as outlaw forces and the corporate structures using their influence in the nations will seek to supply arms to defend their established governments in the smaller nations. This Awareness indicates that if entities could strip away the belief that governments are created and held by the sacredness of a constitution or law within a country, and see these governments are established and created by the economics of intrigue and corporate structures, they would realize half of the reality upon this plane, they would recognize the forces that are acting in regard to much of the developing nations and emanating from those nations in which the corporations hold power. This Awareness indicates that on the other side, there is the State Socialists as represented by the concepts of Communism, ( the State) this as Communism and Bolshevism, the State Socialists as opposed to the Capitalist, or Corporate Socialists, approach these developing nations to exploit the people by seducing their minds into the belief that they are being violated by the Corporate Socialists through the exploitation of their land, their minerals, their natural resources, encourage and incite them into attempting revolution to overthrow those corporate governments that have been set up, and to take back the land for themselves. This Awareness indicates that the action parallels the early revolutionary war of the United States wherein the rebels, rebelling against the British rule, overthrew these governing bodies and set up their own constitution. The difference however, is that the advisors to these revolutionary factions allow these people to develop their own governing bodies only along certain lines that are compatible with the world design of Communism. This Awareness indicates that the two more powerful forces of the Communism, which is an economic policy, and Capitalism, which is an economic policy or system, these two systems do in fact have greater political clout than the constitution and laws that are paraded before the public. The constitutions and laws of the various nations are in actuality but facades to these two powerful forces. THE FIRST 2 STEPS: RECOGNIZING THE TRUE FORCES This Awareness indicates that wherein entities can recognize the true conflict in regards to the communistic designs and the capitalistic designs as opposed to looking at these sub-concepts of democracy versus dictatorship, the entities have broadened their understanding of what is occurring in the world by one step. This Awareness indicates that to take the second step, and to understand that the two forces (the Corporate Capital; Capitalists, or Corporate Socialists as opposed to the State Socialists or Communism, that these two forces are in working as the right and left hand of the same entity. Though there is a continual conflict between these forces, the ultimate goal and purpose of these forces is a world domination and hierarchy whereby the classes are separated and the elite rule under either name, so that there are the masters and the slaves. This Awareness indicates that the problem which occurs in this effort of the right and left hand of the Dark Force in its manipulating activities is that it becomes serious and intense in its efforts, so much so that it becomes likened unto a schizophrenia, whereby the controlling brain becomes split and the conflict becomes real, though its earlier intention was merely to present a show which would manipulate the masses. This Awareness indicates that in manipulating the masses back and forth so that they maneuvered toward a One World Government; this was the intention, but certain things occurred and the third step in understanding what happens is to recognize that the Beast or the controlling brain behind this activity, having its purpose and goal to maneuver entities into a One World Government whereby all power is held over the resources of all nations, including the people thereof; all power being held by this one brain or one group of entities, a collective society.
It's the Corporate State, Stupid (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Experts Any public good that costs money reduces
the stockholders'
return and is thus necessarily immoral. The
obligations of corporations are consistent with the attitudes of those who
become corporate
Global
Corporate Power and Democracy Concerned Australians should study three books.
The Left Right Paradigm is Over: Its You vs. Corporations For a long time, American politics has been defined by a Left/Right dynamic. It was Liberals versus Conservatives on a variety of issues. Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice, Tax Cuts vs. More Spending, Pro-War vs Peaceniks, Environmental Protections vs. Economic Growth, Pro-Union vs. Union-Free, Gay Marriage vs. Family Values, School Choice vs. Public Schools, Regulation vs. Free Markets. The new dynamic, however, has moved past the old Left Right paradigm. We now live in an era defined by increasing Corporate influence and authority over the individual. These two “interest groups” – I can barely suppress snorting derisively over that phrase – have been on a headlong collision course for decades, which came to a head with the financial collapse and bailouts. Where there is massive concentrations of wealth and influence, there will be abuse of power. The Individual has been supplanted in the political process nearly entirely by corporate money, legislative influence, campaign contributions, even free speech rights. This may not be a brilliant insight, but it is surely an overlooked one. It is now an Individual vs. Corporate debate – and the Humans are losing. Consider: • Many of the regulations that govern energy and banking sector were written by Corporations; • The biggest influence on legislative votes is often Corporate Lobbying; • Corporate ability to extend copyright far beyond what original protections amounts to a taking of public works for private corporate usage; • PAC and campaign finance by Corporations has supplanted individual donations to elections; • The individuals’ right to seek redress in court has been under attack for decades, limiting their options. • DRM and content protection undercuts the individual’s ability to use purchased content as they see fit; • Patent protections are continually weakened. Deep pocketed corporations can usurp inventions almost at will; • The Supreme Court has ruled that Corporations have Free Speech rights equivalent to people; (So much for original intent!)
L.A.
calls for end to 'corporate personhood' At a packed City Council meeting ... Los Angeles lawmakers Tuesday called for more regulations on how much corporations can spend on political campaigns. The vote in support of state and federal legislation that would end so-called "corporate personhood” is largely symbolic. The council resolution includes support for a constitutional amendment that would assert that corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights, and that spending money is not a form of free speech. City Council President Eric Garcetti, the resolution's sponsor, said such actions are necessary because “big special interest money” is behind much of the gridlock in Washington. He blamed a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, which rolled back legal restrictions on corporate spending on the grounds that political speech by a business entity should receive the same 1st Amendment protections that people do. It allows corporations and other groups to spend unlimited money on behalf of candidates. Councilman Richard Alarcon, who also supported the resolution, said corporations are “trying to take over every aspect of our lives.” “Corporations are at the wheel of America,” Alarcon said. “And they are driving us to destruction.” Note: Why was this key decision only reported in a blog and hardly covered by the media elsewhere? To understand how the media controls public debate, as reported by top journalists, click here.
Link http://www.corporations.org/media/ In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S. At the time, Ben Bagdikian was called "alarmist" for pointing this out in his book, The Media Monopoly. In his 4th edition, published in 1992, he wrote "in the U.S., fewer than two dozen of these extraordinary creatures own and operate 90% of the mass media" -- controlling almost all of America's newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, books, records, movies, videos, wire services and photo agencies. He predicted then that eventually this number would fall to about half a dozen companies. This was greeted with skepticism at the time. When the 6th edition of The Media Monopoly was published in 2000, the number had fallen to six. Since then, there have been more mergers and the scope has expanded to include new media like the Internet market.In 2004, Bagdikian's revised and expanded book, The New Media Monopoly, shows that only 5 huge corporations -- Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch's News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) -- now control most of the media industry in the U.S. General Electric's NBC is a close sixth.
Abolish Corporate Personhood |
