Nice article!!
In my last article, I identified what I see as the 5 most blatantly corrupt industries on the planet, and offered solutions to the disharmony they create. In the words of Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, however, “there are none more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” In most circles it has become well accepted that Banking and Energy are profoundly corrupt industries, but by many, they are seen as isolated infections in an otherwise forthright world economy. The purpose of this article is to address that assumption- to outline 5 of the most glorified, revered industries in the world, and display how they frequently are, in fact, just as corrupt as the Monsanto’s and Exxon Mobil’s of the world. Enjoy
1. Values Investing-
Most people assume that the credit crisis we’ve been facing for the last 4 years is entirely the result of foul play by the big banks and wall-street. While they are, of course, the ones who triggered the ‘recession,’ they were far from the only ones who enabled it. Let’s consider a couple data points:
- The US money supply (M2) is currently valued at just over 9.8 trillion USD [1].
- The US Total Debt (Individuals+Firms+Banks+Government) is currently estimated at 57.6 Trillion USD [2].
When an individual has a net worth of less than zero, their options are either a) work like a slave, or b) declare bankruptcy. This is the reality of our economic system- we are slaves to it. Thanks to movies like Zeitgeist: Addendum, many people have come to realize the fraudulent nature of the US dollar (aka Federal Reserve Note). Incorrectly, however, most assume that it is entirely the result of fiat mechanics and fractional reserve banking.
While those are, far and away, the greatest determining factors, it is important to understand that they are not the only ones. The very concept of interest-based lending creates the same inherent schism. This includes credit unions, venture capital, and even lending your friend five bucks with interest.
Consider this: when you loan your friend five dollars, the money supply of our economy does not change. It remains exactly the same. The Total Debt, however, increases by the amount of interest being charged on that loan. Any form of interest-based lending, therefore, widens the differential between M2 and Total Debt. This makes us (as a collective) more enslaved to our economic system, and more vulnerable to engineered credit crises such as we’ve recently experienced.
The Solution: invest in getting off the grid.
Because money only comes into circulation through interest-based loans, there is no way for us all to become rich together and beat this game. It literally has nothing to do with how hard we collectively work. The only way to overcome “money” is to make it obsolete. Invest in things like growing your own food at home, installing solar panels- things that empower you to survive without the monetary system.
Today, the few can manipulate the masses because we are dependent upon their system for our survival (no money no food, right?). So use what money you have to today to make yourself (and eventually others as well) independent from the globalist system. When you have all the food and energy you need in your own back yard, you will not be manipulable.That is real activism.That is what’s worth investing in.
2. Software-
companies
like Apple, Google, and Microsoft are often held up as noble examples
of progress through capitalism. Rarely, however, are they recognized as
organizations whose model for business is predicated on making the
consumer more dependent upon our fraudulent monetary system. Let me
explain:Products released by these companies are written with proprietary coding, meaning that the only people who actually have access to the script for this software are people who work for that company. Anyone who were to freely disseminate that information would be violating intellectual copyright agreements. Because the software industry is currently dominated by proprietary codes, most people are faced with the dichotomy of, buy software from one of the big guys, or don’t use a computer. As noted above, this makes the population dependent upon a phoney economy for technological progress. But is that really how it has to be?
The Solution: open-source software.
Effectively
the opposite of proprietary coding, open-source software allows anyone
and everyone to learn from and improve upon the the codes used for any
given product. In other words, it allows technology to progress, whether
money is involved or not. Open Source alternatives include Ubuntu
(Linux) as an operating system, Mozilla Firefox as a web browser,
LibreOffice for document processing, WordPress for blogging, and many
others for almost every application you could think of. They are almost
all free to download, and, in my experience, are just as good as the big
company’s products. They weigh lighter on your computer’s processing
power, as well as on your soul Try them out for yourself.3. Social Media-
Similar to with software, companies like GMail, Facebook and Twitter are revered as the “best of capitalism,” bringing people together free of charge. As anyone who’s looked into the matter knows, however, that’s not exactly where the story ends. Because all your information is saved for you on “cloud storage,” none of it is really your information. Every “like,” every” tweet,” and every private message you have ever sent (including email), are saved on a hard drive hundreds of miles away, even after you “delete” them. The way these companies turn a profit is by selling your “private” information to marketing organizations, so that companies can cater advertisements specifically to your demographic.
Contrary to popular opinion, we are not the customers of social media companies. Just think about it- you never pay them a dime. The customers are the advertisers. You are the product.
To most, this seems harmless if a bit unsettling. That is before one realizes the end game that is planned for these social networks. In the last year, 3 bills have been proposed to authorize more military intelligence involvement in social media. If one of them passes, it will effectively give the NSA and/or CIA the power to silence dissident free speech based on what it subjectively considers to be a “threat to domestic security.” Their hope is that the world will become dependent on social media like Facebook for all our communications, so that it becomes something that they can control from a centralized structure, with the push of a button.
The Solution: De-centralized social media.
If you haven’t looked into this yet, look into it. The front-runner at the moment seems to be a project called Diaspora, designed by four friends from NYU. The concept is to make a Facebook-like entity with no central hub to store information. Instead, individuals will setup their own “Pods,” which provide cloud info storage to themselves and others. So far this organization has around 40 pods, dispersed randomly around the US, Europe, and South America.
The benefit of this approach, is that there is no bundling of private information to sell to marketing companies. Even if the founders suddenly decided to abandon their values and sell out, the information is distributed across too many pods, which they don’t even own to begin with.
And as for the military intelligence agenda, profiling “cyber threats,” becomes near impossible. Sure, if they had one Julian Assange-type individual they wanted to shut down, they could easily locate which pod he operated from and hack into it. But the centralized control center like with Facebook would not exist.
4. Science-
First of all, let’s not confuse our variables: it is the Science Industry, not the Scientific Method, which I am referring to here. The scientific method is the creative exploration of trial and error. The science industry is largely corporate-funded, scripted research, designed to reinforce a product or practice. Because these two concepts are so commonly associated, many people have an almost religious reverence for science-related businesses, and consider those who question it to be all but blasphemous.
The point being made here is pretty simple: research that promotes corporate interest gets funded. Research that does not promote corporate interest does not get funded. In fact, the British Medical Journal concluded from a recent informational study that, “Systematic bias favours products which are made by the company funding the research [6].” Surprised?
Of course, thanks to techniques like peer review and study replication, published scientific work is not likely to be a complete forgery. That being said, because of the bias in funding, our scientific mainstream still creates a very skewed lens through which we interpret reality.
The Missing Ingredient: Intuition.
To some people this may sound strange, but it is absolutely essential. Consider this: the number of situations that we could research and collect data on is literally infinite. So how do we decide what is worth studying, and what is not?
In today’s world, the answer to that question is money. Whether a study supports a financial interest is largely what determines whether it gets carried out. But should that really be the determining factor?
Intuition is our inner guidance. It tells us which ideas resonate with us, and which are BS. For what it’s worth, I believe that this should be the guiding force for which studies get carried out, and which do not.
Unfortunately, many people have lost touch with their intuitive knowing, and have come to resort instead to finance as their guide. This point alone does much to elucidate the distortion we see in our world today.
5. Education-
rather than belabor my explanation, here are a few statistics
- A recent informational study by NPR found that US medical schools receive up to 16 percent of their funding directly from pharmaceutical companies [3].
- The Harvard Business School’s largest private supporter is Citi Group, providing an undisclosed annual donation somewhere in the six-figures [4]. As was done with Pharma-funding of medical schools, informational studies are needed to elucidate the banking interests reinforced through schools of business and economics.
- Many universities receive the majority of their funding from government programs such as the National Institute of Health. This may seem to address the issue at the surface level, however when we consider the financial lobby involved in government, we realize that special interest bias still exists, if indirectly:
It is generally assumed that corporate donations are altruistic in nature, and that scrutiny of them is out of line. What such thinking fails to realize is that corporate donations and not just donations- they are strategically placed investments.
- According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spent $18.9 million on public lobbying in 2011 alone [5].
- The US Chamber of Commerce spent $66.3 million last year to represent the interests of business and banking [5]
Finally, and beyond all that, the very concept underlying school deserves some consideration as well: you are paying someone so that they will tell you what to read. Does that sound a little crazy to anyone besides me?
The Alternative: Un-Schooling.
While some educational programs are insightful (and not just indoctrinating), it’s a mistake to ever assume that someone else is responsible for your intellectual growth. I personally made the choice to withdraw from University last fall when I finally acknowledged that I (like 99% of students) had been going to school for the wrong reasons. I wasn’t there because I really believed I was learning anything mind-blowing- I was there because I was afraid not to be there. That’s no way to go through life.
The un-schooling approach simply means picking your own curriculum, rather than having it predetermined for you. Since I have started doing this, I’ve learned exponentially more impact-ful concepts than I was dealing with in school. I’ve learned about metabolic pathways in strength and conditioning, raw food nutrition, sustainable design, how fiat economies really work, and the small group of people running our world from behind the scenes- all in the last 9 months- just to name a few.
So am I saying that everyone needs to drop out of school? No, what I’m saying is that whatever you’re doing- school, work, sports, whatever- just make sure it’s for the right reasons.
Sources:
1. http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h6/current/
2. http://www.usdebtclock.org/
3. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4696316
4. http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/giving/corporate-partners/corporate-associate.html
5. http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?showYear=2011&indexType=s
6. http://www.bmj.com/content/326/7400/1167.full
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