Conspiracy of Large Corporations against the People

Money, money, money....

This little thing that we call money is what rules over the lives of people in society.
With enough of it, you can have great social status and enjoy a relative life of ease and comfort.

With to little, you are always scrambling about trying to make ends meet...and one day you die. Talk about life purpose. Working past 60 to pay off a mortgage on a house that will not die, being in debt until your only hope of escape is to move to some remote location in the Amazon...wait, world is shrinking, you cant escape.

This thread is going to revolve around one topic from this "issue" I presented, which is housing. After all, it is the one thing that a man/woman wants, which gives them a sense of purpose, belonging, or rather a sense of stability.

Kind of like in "Isnt it a Wonderful life", the main character says something like "People work day and night, is it not worthy to allow them to own their own place to feel comfortable in, where they can say, 'this is mine', in the few short years of their life."

O.k. not exact quote, but see the one thing that could make you feel independent and actually as if you own something, is not yours. Its the banks, up until when you die.
And further, if you dont pay property tax, it will leave you even if its payed off. (not where I live in Hungary, but Im sure that will change)

Also in America, I remember asking one of the housing communities what would happen if you decided not to pay the $300 per year for watering the one bush you have out front. Well, your house can be taken from you. YOu have to pay these fees to the developers of the housing communities. Just one more way to take your money.

What sparked this little thread?
Well I was watching on National Geographic today, in Hungarian of course, about tornadoes in America. Now Im American, so I understand whats happening, but a lot of the Europeans are stunned to see and hear about Tornadoes and hurricanes blowing away houses...until they take a closer look or I tell them what the houses are built out of.

Now here is a conspiracy in itself.
Here in Europe, house are not built of straw. (Wood and sheetrock). They are built of various items, depending on country...but for the most part brick, stone, even "mud" type houses, which are far stronger than the typical american house.

My wifes grandmothers house was made of a "mud" type mixture...walls over 2ft thick.
It keeps the heat in when heated, and cool in the summer.

Other relatives have brick houses, my wife and I have a brick house of almost 2 ft thick of brick. (I remember my Uncle used to punch holes in the wall of his parents house as a kid...Im talking older wood planks. And my butt, when rolling on the bed once put a hole in my parents wall, and I was a skinny thing. Try to put a hole in my wall with your fist...you will be in the hospital.)

Now in all fairness, America has superb detail when it comes to decoration and final touches on houses. (Im talking once you get past the 500k point in the houses of the suburbs of Atlanta. And over $900k closer to Buckhead of Atlanta)
But still...they are as weak as the rest. In fact, we looked at some houses just a couple years after they were built, and the guys kids wreaked havock on the house.)

Im trying to clarify that America has strong points in housing as well as Europe, and they both have weak points.

However, in America, it seems people really get "messed over" with the pricing.
How is it that people pay $500k and up easily in Atlanta for what a European would call a paper house? Whey do they not just make them of 2 feet thick brick like my house?
Building cost? It would be more expensive? Why is this? America is bigger, more resources...

Come one, a poorer country like Hungary can afford to manufacture and import bricks from Austria and build houses for way under $100k, yet America cant?
I know, I know...America has more trees, and Europe has less.

Very true, all the more reason the wood/sheetrock houses should be cheaper.
But most peoples pride goes in a house that can fall down with a punch in the wall or a strong gust of wind. Its not the peoples fault...what choice do they have.
My point is to say look at the large corporations who make their money off of people thnking that things have to be a certain way, and things have to cost a certain price.

The funny thing, sad actually, is now the American style house is coming to Europe, and even Hungary. People I know are interested in it, and they had the hardest time getting it through there heads, until plenty of picutres were showen, etc. that the walls are not even an inch thick. (Well depending on the hollow space between sheetrock I suppose. )
They see on t.v. all the houses from shows like 7th heaven and see the great detail Americans have, and dont click that the walls and roof are virutally paper. :-)

And the prices...the same as a normal house here, though more and more builders are starting to incorporate more and more of the American style. It wont be long until building a with bricks here is as cost prohibitive as it is in America...and why should it be?

The one thing that should be granted to each person in life...and as the world shrinks, it gets made of worse material, and they make t.v. shows, like on national geographic, where people are trying to figure out how to make "crappy" material "better".
Lets just go back to the basics. Ever notice that there are Roman ruins, etc?
Good material...doubt in 2k years anyone will find a building from us around...

This goes on and on, and has been like this from the get go in America, though not limited to just America...its global...just more noticeable in America first.
Think of the campaign against Hemp by the newspaper owners who wanted to keep cutting down trees...housing is just one issue...really as this last paragraph hinted at.

Why should society be put on a leash to serve large corporations?
Can a society exist in which people work for the common good and not "control".
Control suffacates, and one day the fuel (the people) will cease to exist as the fire (those that control) will have burn them out, and in the process bring about their own ruin.

Again, this is not an anti Amrerican thread vs. Europe, etc.
This is a thread about people...forget the nationalism...period. Its about living, breathing human beings controlled by "Money". Lets move on to the next evolution on the earth...peace

dAlen

Nice read I've thought about this also. And everything has to be built to certain codes. Forget about building your own house with whatever materials/designs you want. I can see points for needing certain building codes for safety reasons, ie public buildings, but I feel I should be able to build my own house however I see fit.

Originally posted by mooonhoxe
Nice read

I've thought about this also. And everything has to be built to certain codes. Forget about building your own house with whatever materials/designs you want. I can see points for needing certain building codes for safety reasons, ie public buildings, but I feel I should be able to build my own house however I see fit.

Im just happy if I was able to do some justice to the topic as its a pretty heavy one.

Funny thing about building codes.
When I lived in Pensacola years back, my uncle worked on building houses. (yeah the same one who liked to punch holes in his parents as a kid. )
He told me about Hurricane clips.

I was like, "Oh cool, now your house can at least stay together as its blown out into the ocean.

I understand codes on one level. As bad as it sounds, it could be worse.
Without codes, you could really be taken advantage of and have a even crappier house.

Now on the other hand, if you know what your doing, and you are building it yourself...well thats a whole different can of worms isnt it. Still doesnt take away from the fact that we cant buy, what should be affordable material, to build a decent, strong house. Especially in places that do have hurricanes and tornadoes.

In all honesty, it sounds like a huge insurance scam.
What would insurance do if your house wouldnt burn down (yes brick houses can be devestated, but not to the extent of a wood one...the latter, well its just gone)
and also, no hurricane protection needed as the walls are 2ft thick brick and the wind cant pick it up. Yes some window damage, suppose they would make windows cost 100k each to make up for the difference.

Anyway...interesting indeed.

Peace

dAlen

Paper houses ! LOL. Appropriate description !

Here in Sydney, Australia, we live in a paper townhouse. It's part of a large, new, residential complex a few miles from the CBD.

Our paper house was built by a commercial arm of the State government, who touted this private estate as a flag-ship in its urban renewal agenda.

To our surprise, we discovered the State government had flaunted many of its own building rules, such as situating elec. power-points within less than half a metre from both shower-head and bathroom sink. Another of its genius design features was to provide a tiny space for refrigeration, necessitating disposal of our large two-door refrigerator in favour of an insufficiently sized fridge. Right next to the fridge-space is located our energy IN-efficient electric wall oven. Naturally, when the oven is used, the fridge is also heated up, resulting in semi-defrost of frozen items. Forces the fridge to work overtime ---- hence, more revenue for the electricity company.

Our hot water system is unnecessarily giant sized and is located in an exposed outdoor postion. In winter, the electric hot-water system works overtime, even when we're not at home, keeping water hot against cold outdoor temperatures. Further, we have to run the hot tap for several minutes in the upstairs bathrooms, to allow hot water to make the journey from downstairs-outdoors. Again --- increased revenue for the electricity company.

Our bench-top cooking area, by contrast, is gas-powered. Our dishwasher is electric. The State government, in deference to it's energy-supply buddies, installed SOME gas-powered appliances and SOME electric-powered ones. That way, they were able to gain subsidies from both the gas and electricity suppliers -- the same gas and electricity suppliers who will be able to keep milking the occupants of this dwelling for as long as it stands. Multiply the profits by the several hundred individual dwellings within this State government developed private estate.

Yet the SAME State government gave itself a PRIZE for the design of this estate -- touting it as ' The Way of the Future ' !!!!!

Then we get to the design. Well, it's sited North/South. No windows on either East or West. So the place is dark through the winter, requiring us (and many hundreds of residents) to turn on the lights during winter. Again ---- PROFIT FOR BIG BUSINESS ENERGY SUPPLIERS.

Remember -- the State government touted this as The Way of the Future.

Then we come to insulation ----- or rather, lack of it. We can hear the next door neighbours break wind. Literally. Requiring us (and hundreds of other residents I guess) to keep a tv or radio on day and night. More energy consumption.

There are NO eaves or other projections to shield the internal of the dwellings from sun and rain and cold. Nothing. Just a flat-faced exterior, both upstairs and down. Necessitating air-conditioning and heating. MORE energy consumption.

The 'sound-proofing' in this State government developed estate is based on ------------- wait for it ----------- immediate Post-WW2 emergency housing in London UK, in the aftermath of the Blitz.

London was bombed extensively. Emergency housing was required, in a hurry. Yet the UK coffers were bare after the protracted war. So they scimped and used what-ever they had, just to put a roof over peoples' heads in the short term.

And THIS is the 'Standard' officially selected by the New South Wales State government for its *Flag-ship* 'Way of the Future' up-market, residential housing in 2001 (when our place was 'built') !!!!!

Our townhouse cost us approx. $500,000 in 2001. It was brand new. It would be expected to remain for a minumum of 75 years, during which time it will be home to people who will pay increasingly large sums in order to live in it, thanks to its proximity to the Sydney CBD, whose population is increasing at ridiculous rate, thanks to insupportable numbers of migrants being brought into the city by the bought-and-paid-for State and Federal governments.

Yet the walls of our place are SO thin, we can hear our neighbours break wind and cough and sigh. An investigation of the connecting walls reveals a criss-cross of thin metal supporting lattice, with one layer of brick on either side. STUCK to the brick is stick-on plaster-board of approx. 5mm thickness. The result is an accoustical nightmare. We live inside a drum, basically. Half a million dollars to live in a thin drum-skin which has as its standards the post-WW2 'sound-proofing' of cheap, emergency housing in a cash-strapped London, 1945 !

The other night, I was using a small, hand-held, manual stapler to staple fabric onto a pine-frame. It was approx. 8.30 at night. Insane neighbour commenced screaming over the fence: " What are you bastards doing in there, making that noise at this time of night !! " Wow. Luxury lifestyle in this State government built luxury residential complex for which we paid half a million.

We are forced to pay over $100 dollars per week to the corrupt residents' committee. That's right --- ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS PLUS PER WEEK !

What for? Oh, for the bunch of weeds sitting in the middle of the pathway and the other non-existent maintenance of the complex.

Know how much that one hundred plus per week amounts to, when mulitplied by over a thousand residents? LOTS. And where's it going?
NO IDEA ! (Well, we all have ideas of course, but it's litigious, were I to state my opinions here).

Suffice to say, a State government employee dominates the residents committee. She's only a very minor public servant. But she has buddies within the State government department which pays her (pays her with public money wrenched from the tax payers). So there is NO investigation into this multi-year scandal involving several millions of dollars. I've taken the evidence to the State Ombudsman AND to the supposed ' Independent Commission Against Corruption' (the latter being a private company which is paid BY the State Government to 'investigate' complaints ABOUT the State government -- which invariably results in the ICAC finding the State government to be 'innocent'. Again, all paid for by the poor taxpayer.

It's called Bleeding the Stones dry, Sydney style.

Recent international body announced that Australian housing is AT LEAST 50% too expensive !

Soon as we can escape this hell, we're Europe bound

Dock 6...wow, what can I say, what a post!

Your story really hits the nail on the head concerning the housing issue, and goes a lot further than my post in pointing out the whole housing "scam".

By all means, your welcome to Europe, but as mentioned, we follow eventually our American bretheren...and as I speak, a school and houses in my city are being built kind of "half"/half".

It was weird seeing a brick "apartment house" being built and one of the rooms on the edge was made of wood beams and I suppose sheetrock. (So one room is crappy, while the rest is better...anyway)

Now if you wanted to come to Hungary (doubt anyone from the west could make it outside of Budapest), you can build a top notch house still for 75k (if you design it and get the material. (Pre-made houses, as I mentioned are already getting the weird treatment. Some things are actually better, but overall, they are not utilizing the actual wall materials which are better)

Which country would you go to? U.K.?

sorry for hearing your story...but it is really the norm...
My point, is why should it be. I only wish that more people understood what was happening. Some may say why, its depressing if you pop out of the illusion, then what do you have? Perhaps a change would come about for the better...thats what we would have. Truth, or conscious choice, is better than illusion that you are "forced into"

Peace

dAlen

Thanks, dAlen :-)

People in Australia have managed to construct mud-brick and other 'alternative' style housing, although I'm not sure if it would be possible in the regional towns and cities, where corruption is the norm. I've read of owner-built mud-brick mansions in isolated rural areas though, and they're impressive and affordable for those able to fight the red-tape and spend the time building them.

What we haven't touched on so far is the unhealthiness of modern, jerry-built housing. For example, in mass-produced housing, the electric wiring is stuck inside the walls with no regard to the mental and physical health of the occupants. People are living and sleeping with electric wires just inches from their heads. Even babies are exposed to this. For those concerned enough to decline this trend, alternative wiring solutions are made expensive.

Another problem is that increasingly, the building industry is being made 'self-regulating'; certainly its the case in Sydney. So whereas once there were building inspectors ---- now there are none. Electricians, plumbers, builders generally are officially required to 'inspect' their own work ! Wow! That's a recipe for success and competence, isn't it?

People have to BUY and PAY for and LIVE in dwellings constructed by those who 'inspected' their own shoddy work and " found it GOOOOOD " ! LOL.

Well, if it's ok for the building industry -------- why not introduce the same procedures within education and road safety for example?

Why not allow students to grade their own tests and assignments? Why not allow learner drivers and drivers generally to judge their own competence on the roads?

Why not allow anyone who chooses to declare themselves fit to fly commercial planes or to work as explosives experts or politicians, as well ??

Does any of this make sense to ANYONE, apart from the sleeze-balls who determine all the costly and critical elements within our lives and those of our families?

For example, in our alleged 'State of the Art', 'Luxury', 'Environmentally Sustainable', 'Way of the Future', 'Flagship', drum-skin townhouse built by the New South Wales State Government ------- our ridiculously massive gas hot-water system made a sound like a hot-air baloon firing up. And it sounded that way from the moment we paid our money and took possession of the drum-skin. After several months of this apocolyptic sound, 24/7, we called in the experts and said: ' Is this normal?'. Because we were worried.

The expert (just an ordinary hot-water guy sent by the system's manufacturer) turned pale when he saw the situation. He informed us that the baffle had been installed BACK TO FRONT ! As a consequence, the baffle was half burnt away and blacked like a piece of toast. Like lightning, he dragged it out. And SAVED it, to show his bosses. Then he installed a new one, right way up.

Then he told us the hot-water system could have caught fire at any time since installation. Gas and flame -- picture it.

We asked ' Why the hell .... ?'

And he told us that IN THEIR ALMIGHTY WISDOM, the developers (State government) had sub-contracted the whole shebang. So, lowest tender got the installation contract for all the hot water systems. Lowest tender. That's the criteria. And the lowest tenderer didn't WANT to pay the hot water system's manufacturers to install the systems. No. Wanted to save money. So they'd employed non-English speaking, straight off the boat migrants to install these combinations of gas and flame. Ergo -- the massive hot water systems, located beneath bedrooms, had been jammed together by those without a clue. Then Stones for the Milking had bought the places and had lived in ignorance above something that could have caught fire at any time.

And why? Because installation of potentially fatal items is now SELF REGULATING. The installers took a look --- decided: ' She looks oK to me' ... and that was the totality of the 'inspection'.

Same went for the fan-forced electric oven, which --- according to the manufacturers written instruction booklet -- could be set to turn itself off and on while the owner left the house for 3 or 23 hours. Oh yeah -- except the State government developers of the project AGAIN entrusted installation to sub-contractors who'd submitted the LOWEST TENDER and who of course were given unlimited latitude under the SELF REGULATING legislation --------- and who installed the electric wall ovens (capable of attaining high temperatures and encased in units made of glue, wood chips, laminate and other highly combustible materials) back to front, inside out, with fans in backwards, etc.

These places are death traps. BUT --- if the Stones (aka suckers who buy these dumps) take out home-insurance, then they can rest easy as the places burn to the ground, possibly killing several family members ---- and can then shoot themselves through the head when the insurance companies refuse (under some pretext or other) to pay out.

As to Europe, sure, I can believe the same scammers are moving office to there, just as they're coaxing newly affluent Chinese to abandon their eminently practical courtyard style housing clusters and selling to developers of future apartment blocks. The Chinese are then being persuaded to purchase jerry-built 'western' housing, in the belief that the West knows Best. After which, of course, they begin contracting various cancers from the poisons within the Western building materials and from the wiring threaded through the walls next to their heads, etc.

This is THEIR motto: ' First we create demand, then we supply to it '.

They create demand by ruthless advertising and false promises and by implying we (or the Chinese or Europeans or whomever) will BE and FEEL 'better' if we live in a cardboard shoe-box, just like everyone else.

AND they're insuring there's not much choice open to us.

They want to bleed us dry AND send us crazy AND infect us with physical and psychological dis-ease.

We'd be much better off living in caves again, lol.

international corporations rule the worlds governments now,unfortunately.the people are merely the slaves feeding this ravenous beast.lord save us.

Originally posted by Xfile
international corporations rule the worlds governments now,unfortunately.the people are merely the slaves feeding this ravenous beast.lord save us.

Lord save us, my sentiments exactly.
Something would appear to need to save us, and Im sure thats why many people dont bother to really look into this as they feel helpless.

But I do believe, that things kind of work like a neuro network.
See, if I spark alone, so to speak, I influence my world alone...(which one can only hope they even do that.). But if I start sparking with other neurons I will create a network...and it gets bigger and more influential.

Thats how this works really.
Big corporations, etc. are the neuronetwork of this society today.
Just like its "hard to change old patterns of thinking" due to chemical addicition of certain peptides in the brain and the longevity of the neuro net, it none the less can change as they stop "sparking together" and can recreate new net works.

This happens through mass consciousness. People get tired, and they start to face their life, and their helplessness...not necessarily understanding, especially the way out...but they start to watch and observe.

With this starts to create a new wake, a new movement in society, that may take off if given enough people tap in. And typically it comes in waves when a new idea pops up.
So the best we can do is to be consciouss of ourselves and have peace inside...with that we bring something more effective than the tools of the world, and when you use your own tools, and not the ones already in place...you can make change. True change starts within.

Sure this sounds like spirituality mixed with politics, and a dash of science.
But in reality, if we observe nature, etc. we can start to see how things work.

Is what Im saying all that crazy? All we have to do is see the entrenched cycle that we are all caught up in. You mentioned it, others see it...the question is why, and then what to do....hence the mentioning of things like the change starts within.

Doesnt sound nice, or rather like something we want to do. The mind dimisses it as cheesy, to hard, etc., and makes it look to unrealistic and impossible. Because if we were to actually do this...this something different, then the mind knows its done with, and a new "neuro net" would exist.

Kind of like the stories of the Gods.
Uranus is overthrown by the newer Cronus, then by Zeus, etc.
Each old thought and system wants to live forever and keep going, like a cancer it collects until its just not good anymore, and like the story of Urnaus, it will cause basically "self destruction.".

The system does have change to make it survive, but its really only a re-hash of the same thing. A need to control. But control what? A story...it wants to konw that it can feel safe in something that will not change, though change always happens. (kind of ironic.) But the fact is, even now, you and I could change our thoughts and opinions about anything at the drop of a hat.

Society would want to "label" (form of control through fear) that and call it multiple personality disorder, etc. As long as your stuck...your normal...what? So as long as we do 9-5, (actually longer 8-9 ) and dont see our wife, kids, etc. and get into debt up to our eyeballs and then die and rot, then your o.k. for societies way of thining.

Isnt there more to life? Dont we want to get something more than a pat on the back from a boss? come on, its one time...whats up? some people are content in the so-called matrix. Its like the matrix points out...some people may not want to wake up, and we must honor that. But those that do...embrace change, smile at adversity, and have a hope in your heart that no one can take, and watch the world change around you.

Peace I give, said Jesus, not at the world gives...
Basically dont look for the world to ever be a fitting Utopia, but look for that Utopia within yourself, as it is there...and always will be. Not the answer we seek, but do know this....what you make real to yourself, will manifest itself in this reality one way or another.

Peace

dAlen