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International Corporations
03-27-2017, 03:26 PM
A rich topic, but I want to start with a fairly simple question.
Why is there such an uproar about the potential that Russia "interfered with the election" but it's perfectly fine for Disney, Time Warner, or Goldman Sachs to try to influence elections in any way they want? (Ok, "any way" might be a slight exaggeration ... but between ownership of media, political donations, and influence over employees ... the influence is huge.)
Answer ... I assume ... these are US companies we are talking about, so it's natural for them to play a part in US politics, unlike outside entities.
Yet, in many very important ways, they don't consider themselves to be "US companies". They consider themselves to be extra-national entities ... citizens of the world ... with no loyalty to one nation over another. Some of them, many, would explicitly trumpet that as a virtue. When it comes time to decide where to build a factory, where to hire workers, where to make any type of investment, they would claim they have no responsibility to the US at all, in fact they would claim they have a fiduciary duty to not favor the US or US citizens in any way.
So, again ... if these are not US entities with any loyalty to the US, why is it ok for them to influence US elections? In my opinion if they aren't required to have loyalty to the nation and its citizens, they should be regarded with as much suspicion as any other outside entity when it comes to influencing politics.
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International Corporations
03-27-2017, 03:31 PM
That's one thing where I've always disagreed with Justice Scalia. A corporation wields too much concentrated and inherently globalist power to be placed on the same footing as a nationalist citizen who personally bears all the consequences of his votes and donations.
Even though Trump beat the corporate behemoth this time, next time we might not be so lucky.
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International Corporations
03-27-2017, 03:32 PM
Because they own all of the soap boxes so they can claim their the "good guys" .
Obviously, we all know better and the internet helps that.
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International Corporations
03-27-2017, 04:26 PM
The globalist elite started viewing themselves international/global long before the corporations - back in the 18th century already. They easily left a country after the dabt ratio went to high and set up shop elsewhere. They may live in different places, but have no allegiance to a country. The corporations are the same.
When you think about corporations and about the globalists you have to remember this:
In their imagination they are like the lords of the 18th century and everyone attacking or questioning them from the lower wage-earning classes is literally viewed as a serf/peasant clad in rags. The power differential is probably even bigger and in their mind they simply ignore you. Any opposing journalist, scientist, blogger etc. - that person is a beggar in rags who is questioning his lordship riding through on his horse. Of course as a lord you ignore such a person.
The corporations view all of you just the same way. When you have accumulated 500 mio. $ for your family, then maybe you can start even remotely be viewed as a non-rag person.
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International Corporations
03-27-2017, 07:28 PM
Trump's victory was just the beginning of the battle. The swamp will not be drained until the universities and corporations are drained.
As consumers we can vote with our wallets and not purchase products from corporations that support liberal causes. Unfortunately it's extremely difficult because the products are everywhere, and several people depend on them for a pay check as well.
It's going to be a difficult road because the elites have been entrenched in this country for decades. Their vast wealth and influence gives them a tremendous head start. Look at the boards and leadership of large US corporations, how many last names do you recognize? I did this once and noticed many of the richest families there. Same with politics.
I'm not sure what the answer is. Trump is just buying time. The only solution is for things to just come crashing down triggering a reset. People have been calling for it for years, and nothing. But we're overdue in my opinion and I predict we see something big in our lifetimes.
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International Corporations
03-28-2017, 12:20 PM
Joseph Stiglitz has been writing about this stuff forever. I think Globalization and its Discontents was the first major study of its kind to critique big business and the way they conduct themselves. I know lefties get a lot of hate on here but No Logo was another great book about the insidious nature of multinationals.
Stiglitz has been warning that the growing wealth inequality in the West is going to lead us into some deep shit if we don't get a handle on it. Yet, I've never seen Stiglitz being interviewed on any MSM outlet despite the fact that he was actually an industry insider and worked for the IMF for quite a while.
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International Corporations
03-30-2017, 10:40 AM
Tiger, I have occasion to meeting with Mr. Stiglitz for reasons I won't share here due to anonymity. Even though I'm moderate to "right" leaning, I'm quite sure that he has seen a lot of shady stuff in the top rungs of world business. What's more, I called him at the WorldBank one time (story too long to repeat here) and his secretary actually answered and took a message. I can confirm that he is very accessible, and now that he is much older, he may be even more if he stays healthy.
Check out Jordan Peterson talking about the Gini coefficient. That relates well to this topic, and is something I figured out on my own apparently convergently when I found that someone had studied it. Amazing stuff.
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International Corporations
03-30-2017, 07:31 PM
There are many issues here but the main one I believe is that the employee-employer relationship in the west is far too much skewed in favour of the employer.
There are many reasons for this but the main problrm is the general docility and subservience shown by the average western person (man).
These are the things that need to be enacted
1. All corporations should be owned by the employees or atleast the employees should have the most control, not the shareholders. Money is just a commody and can be obtained from a number of different sources. Talent is not a commody as each individual is unique and a company simply will not function if all its workers upped and left. Ergo, takent is more important that money.
Forget shareholder value, the purpose if each and every business is to add value to it's employees lives.
2. No more of this secrecy crap, all employees should know how much their co-workers get paid.
3. Management should be selected by the workers rather than by the shareholders.
4. Companies should.pay men more than women.
5. All.workers should go on strike until the above has happened.
6. All workers should be part of a union.
The fact is employees are only subservient because they themselves allow it. Take Goldman Sachs, it's value must be in the 100s of bilions but all those shareholders would get bumraped when the employees decide to leave enmasse, now whats the value of a few IT systems and a little money in the bank. Fuck all.
Ultimately the biggest evil.in our society is the stock market.
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International Corporations
03-31-2017, 01:22 AM
< Actually the measures above are on the level of communism - also cannot be achieved - ownership of a company will never be given to the employees and is frankly not fair. Wealthy folk would stop having corporate entities with shareholders and would all go private.
The economy would be booming already if you got rid of usury, initiated social credit money creation with demurrage. Usury saps out 50% of all prices and restricts money supply. Currently the concentration however is so steep that you would have to engage in some forms of forced sales. But they would stop being able to squeeze out everyone.
And of course - workers should have a good strong representation in the form of super-strong unions. The pendulum is lopsided, but Germany and France had those unions, also the US ones in the 1960-70s were not that bad. Yeah - ending secrecy is a good thing.
But this is akin to asking unicorns for everybody. Will not happen.
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International Corporations
03-31-2017, 07:35 AM
It's not communism and I dont see what is unfair about it. The fact is employees already have the most power in a company as all they have to do is get up and leave and that company will be worth zero. The fact that they dont is what makes the system so lopsided.
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International Corporations
03-31-2017, 07:42 AM
Bullshit.
If I create a company based on my idea, maybe funded by a credit I take or money I get from my family, then this company is successful, then why the fuck should I give everybody I hire 90% of my company? If I hire 15.000 people, I will own pretty much nothing.
This is bullshit and is communism, actually even something worse. Ridiculous idea. Those people I hire can all walk out, I hire the next bunch and the company is still worth something so long as not everyone walks out at the same time. This is utter Antifa marxist crap.
And I am a guy who is for strong unions and interest free money creation with social credit which would be wired to everyone each month - the government would have to tax the budget from the the people instead of printing and borrowing from the super-rich.
But even I would not disincentivise entrepreneurship.
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International Corporations
03-31-2017, 02:29 PM
Not really you will still own a large chunk of it depending on how much is given away, maybe upto to 50%. Although this is a big hypothetical. Also remember the incentives of becoming a an entrepreneur need not be that one becomes a multi-billionaire when because even making a a few million or thereabouts is pretty good. You dont need to look at the likes of Philip Green, Mark Zukerberg, Sergei Brin or whoever as some sort of role model.
In a small business the owner is normally working there whereas we are mostly discussing large corporations which are mostly owned by capital rich shareholders who dont work there or know about the industry or have the skills to make the business work. Those shareholders are not important and do not add value in any way, they are mostly there because owners have floated their companies in order to take a massive payout. My point is that it is not healthy for a society for people to make money without adding value but just buy passively buying up shares and taking advantage of others talent and hard work.
Your example of a small business is different, Yes, if your 5 or 6 employees left you could recover. If Goldman lost even 20% of their employees tomorrow I think their business would be dead so it is not the same thing.
A good example is the privatization of Royal Mail, the state owned British mail delivery company. When this happened a few years ago funds in the city made huge sums because the shares were initially sold at a discount to their fair value. But the people working there didnt make as much even though thehy are the ones keeping the place moving. Now, if these guys went on strike or even just upped and started a new company the old Royal Mail would be worth only it's current assets (buildings and cash) and the new company set up with borrowed and employee money could be up and running in a few weeks.
My point is where is the value in these organizations? Is it with the owners or with the employees? In a small business it will be with the owners but in floated companies it will be with the employees so they should have more power and gain from their success. This is the natural way and I expect once a solution is found these types of companies will become more prominent.