Thursday, February 11, 2010

Conspiracy Theorist, Anarchist, Scofflaw, or reasonably sure we've been had from every angle

Recently I watched a documentary about the institution known as the corporation. Certain elements rang of truth, other parts were clearly skewed to elicit a predetermined conclusion. It was amusing to see cameos by Michael Moore in which he had to rant on about rich white men and how they are out of touch with real people and the world because a) they are white b) they are men and c) they are rich. He didn't add the pejorative "fat" this time.

Given that Moore is a rich white man, I am curious what separates him from those he hates? He even stretches the truth about his roots. He's from a small, rather stable town kind of like a Mayberry of the midwest which is not too far from Flint, but not Flint and not of the same situation. Who cares?

Anyway, from my own experience with a couple of corporations, one a giant, I found that they become almost indistinguishable from the government in many ways. They invariably have some political cause that they urge employees to support or fight. Always an obscure bit of legislation which applies specifically to that industry and the right or wrong of it is irrelevant.

I wondered how the culture of business grew to be what it is in the realm of heavily influential companies. Influential in the world of government. It irks me to hear the people who speak for or run such organizations claim the virtues of capitalism and free enterprise when their success and operation is nothing of the sort. Mini fiefdoms operating under protection of the King, using the booty confiscated from the serfs and subjects to further their aims. The set up is not proper.

The way it has gone, the ones hurt are the individual enterprises which are motivated to do a particular thing the best they can, not to use public resources to feed themselves at the expense of others. It is a big mess, actually.

People have been duped into believing that the choice is between unfettered activity by large companies which own other companies and ultimately no one can follow the trail of benefit and interest, or government control, oversight, permission, regulation, etc.

How anyone can assume that a body which praises one of their fallen members as "the King of earmarks" (Murtha---or as I liked to call him, Mothra. may he rest in peace and have no living twins ) is somehow just, altruistic and to be trusted with wealth and resources is beyond me.

The actual corporate structure in a legal sense developed from a very limited structure designed to serve a specified goal to what it is through legal actions which stretched constitutional amendments designed to ensure the free status of a people, post slavery.

Just about everyone knows that there is something wrong with the way the system has developed, but they assume that this is what has provided the standard of living we experience. I think that industry, initiative, free enterprise in a pure sense, and inventiveness provided this. Mass production and all that. Those things are not dependent upon despotic institutions which influence wars taxes, penalties for competition etc.

The only way these things get out of hand is to have full time life long agents in the government to do the dirty work. They have the guns on their side, and exercise increasing control over citizens. I wonder why, as controls have increased, people are less comfortable letting their kids go play outside without being guarded? It has not increased security or safety.

At this time, I have no real solution in mind. I do think the economic structure is screwed up on every level, from the FED to the stock system.

Much of it comes down to the fact that people in this country have totally forgotten that our structure was designed specifically to protect people from inevitable encroachment by government, and from the tyranny of the majority over the minority. That's why everything is not done by a majority vote of the people to implement whatever whim might be popular that day. I have heard many people tell me that the constitution is an old document and has to grow or bend with the times because things and people change. Few of these people have actually read it, or explored any background to see why things were structured as they were.

It was wrong to steal 500 years ago, and it is wrong now. No one has developed a better system for a country this size. It was designed to avoid the diminishing returns and resultant tyranny over centralization brings.

So, because we allowed two parties to dominate and be authorities over our lives we stupidly think we really are choosing between evil corporations or the "voice of the people". You are just choosing between puppets, and that ought to be obvious.

If there were a difference, one of the two would be moving to abolish the irs, the homeland security department, and would be fighting hard to undo various aberrations which allow search and seizure without probable cause, and any other number of laws which favor one group or style of company over another. If everyone is equal under the law, all the things based on condition of birth would be irrelevant.

I remember the phone company in Miami, and how small businesses would call up to have the bill explained and half the people in the company could not explain it. One charge which was usually falsely described as a tax which went to the FCC was, in fact, a charge which went directly to the phone company. They had managed to get a law passed which required them to charge this fee and to call it fcc access. It was supposed to compensate them for their losses when the big Bell was forced to break into smaller Bells--divestiture. I hated that company. It was as Orwellian as anything I've ever seen. But it did prepare me for the double talk of the airlines.

The point is, there is something wrong with the set up. It is the job f corporations to make money for the stockholders, ostensibly. But what happens is that you get the kind of mentality that pervades authoritarian institutions in which a guy may be detaining someone who he knows doesn't deserve it, but he is "just doing my job". It becomes a somewhat sociopathic environment.

That fact provides fertile ground for those who hate successful and wealthy people to play victim and demand that government take over. Of course they plan to be on the good end of that. That path just leads to a fascist or communistic type of tyranny and control. It does nothing to help and often makes it worse. Of course if misery loves company, then there is plenty of love before long because standard of living ultimately takes a dive. People get tired of seeing their freedom to choose go down the drain.

If those things work well, why were so many people from such countries scrambling to get to the USA for so long? As our actual freedoms erode, the character of immigration has changed. More and more people come here only to take what they can while despising the place. It is great for criminals and such. Our drug policies have done nothing more than enrich crime families here and abroad, promote violent crime, and distract people from seeing their rights go down the tubes. Terrorism has been used similarly. Citizens harassed while clearly psychotic religious nuts caught red handed murdering or attempting it get the best defense and benefit of the law; things often skimped on with the regular citizen.

Of course, then you get people who can't tell the difference between a terrorist and a restaurant owner who came here from lebanon in the 70's because he saw opportunity and loves freedom.

Got to have someone to hate so rather than really look at what's what, we can hate banks, white people, other people, Christians, Jews, Druids (no one hates druids), and of course, The Rich. It is off the mark. And it leads to people allowing themselves special treatment at the expense of others. Eventually the inequality comes back to bite. That is the cycle that has to be broken--accepting what is not rightfully yours, and allowing control over others which you wouldn't want applied to your own life.


One progression which is interesting seems to be due the need in people to believe in things greater than themselves. That has led to one form of middleman or another between the individual and his soul or creator forever. You could substitute "purpose" or "meaning" for soul, etc. First you get holy men or the most formidable at violence running things and controlling resources and fruits of labor. Usually there was an alliance between the two.

Eventually the governmental types decided they could cut out the religious leaders, except when it served their purpose, so now huge numbers of people look at government as a sort of god. They are clueless where the money and power come from, they just bow to it for crumbs and retribution against "the rich" or heterosexuals or who knows. It's like GOD, maybe vindictive in strange ways but beyond reproach because it is god. Lot of government worship going on.

Then there is the thing of assuming that all enterprise is good and that whatever a corporation does is OK. They become another type of deity, and often they provide a good deal of security, at least it appears so until that gig ends. The degree of loyalty takes faith and suspension of values far too often. People sell out cheap when it comes to right and wrong. It sucks not to have something powerful, that can put gas in the tank and bread on the table, to worship. Got to believe in something. Other manifestations of tribalism are somewhat taboo, particularly to white heterosexual men, so they do like Mike and try to get an honorarium into a tribe that has some teeth by renouncing what they are.

Too bad the tribe of philosophical basis which promotes choice and freedom regardless of irrelevant factors is minimal at best.

The business of victimization is still thriving and still clouding the knife thrown in the backs of those believing they are getting longed for strokes to ease their frustration. Sad.

Not sure how to fix it. Keeping petty greed in check is a start. Don't take that public money for something you know is pretty useless to the population. Taking public money to study bigfoot is less harmful than some tax expenditures but still a scam.

5 comments:

  1. Druids are stupid. Hate 'em. Dumb blue-painted oak-worshippers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So, druids are your enemy of choice? I hear they have some rocking fertility festivals. But then, I heard the same about a certain accounting firm.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another long but meaty entry. Too tired to comment much, but did not see anything that I don't think is very true (as opposed to just true I guess). Love the one liner about living twin...truly inspired.

    DMV wants my ssn. I have asked both my state and federal representatives if this is legal. It sure was NOT legal recently. Obama says we have no 'expectation of privacy' when we use our cell phones.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is typical that the same people who insist on the proliferation of social security numbers for everything, and who want intrusive and extensive cross referencing of all your personal information, are the same ones who feign shock at the rash of identity theft and fraud. And they are the same ones who insist they are the go-to people for the fix. Same old story; create problem, railroad half assed fix which creates new problem, and the loop is endless.

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  5. They wanted my SSN when I applied to be a substitute teacher in Memphis. Actually, they wanted my SS card. My number, OK. IF I'm hired. But they wanted the card. Which I did not have. And I had no intention of getting. Screw 'em.

    ReplyDelete

Can't make comments any easier, I don't think. People are having trouble--google tries to kidnap them. I'll loosen up one more thing and let's see. Please give it a try

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