Meet the Global Financial Elites Controlling $46 Trillion In Wealth

This is nothing new.

This is human nature at work. It could be seen among the Patricians of Rome, the Church and Royal families of Europe and the "Barons" of the Industrial Revolution.

Since the time of the Pharoahs, the majority of property, resources, and wealth has always been concentrated in the hands of the few, while the rest of the people work to support those holders.

Nothing has changed in terms of that basic concept.

Is it fair? No, but life is far from fair. We live in a crapsack world and humans are bleeps.

Any attempt throughout history, from the Church, to the US to the USSR, to get away from that nature has always met failure.

Humans by nature are exploitive, competitive, and aggressive bleeps.

The bleak truth is that none of this will ever change, unless something not human, AI, gods, aliens, interferes or intervenes in the system and creates a new system.

If nature is indication, any intervention will likely result in only mass exploitation of the human species instead of liberation.

Thankfully, we have distractions like religion, fantasy, and other "stuff" to keep our minds off of the awful reality of the situation we find ourselves in.

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
Humans by nature are exploitive, competitive, and aggressive bleeps.

i strongly disagree.

reply to post by Flatfish


I knew that!

I was being sarcastic too...

Thanks tho.

Originally posted by JPhish

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
Humans by nature are exploitive, competitive, and aggressive bleeps.

i strongly disagree.

Normally when people disagree they offer an elaboration on why they do.

Human history is defined by wars of conquest, expansion, and resources. It is defined by exploitation of people, non human life and the environment.

All one has to do is look at the conquests of Persia, Alexander, Rome, Islam, the Crusades, the Mongols, the Conquistadors, the French, the British, the US, Japan, Russia, Germany, China, etc.

Look at recent examples, like the Atlantic slave trade, the colonization of Africa, the exploitation of workers, especially children, in the Industrial Revolution and in modern Asia, genocide in the Third Reich, USSR, and China. Look at the modern sex slave trade, child pornography networks, the destruction of the Amazon and other rain forests, predatory lending, etc.

Humans are bleeping monsters.

reply to post by MikeboydUS

The bleak truth is that none of this will ever change, unless something not human, AI, gods, aliens, interferes or intervenes in the system and creates a new system.

I strongly disagree. ...and am more inclined to agree with Doris Lessing's postulate of extra-terrestrial Shammat promoting anger, greed, resource depletion and the like so they can "harvest" our energies. Energies not available to them when we are cooperative and harmoniously interdependent.

Look at nature - everything works together, far more often symbiotically than parasitically. The hooey about violence and survival of the fittest is a total culture- and gender-bound misapprehension.

Just sayin'.

reply to post by MikeboydUS


I understand what you are saying and agree to a certain extent, but I believe that we are still in a growing stage and haven't matured yet (children can also be extremely mean spirited but eventually grow out of it), I do not believe it is genetically programmed or anything like that. Mistakes are made, and continued until lessions are learned from them. The separation of wealth is a good example of that along with those that favor it; it is a mistake that has been made throughout history. But there is a valuable lession to be learned from it, as long as people are willing to observe what hasn't worked, and find ways of doing the opposite (or differently).

Question, you wrote this:

The bleak truth is that none of this will ever change, unless something not human, AI, gods, aliens, interferes or intervenes in the system and creates a new system.

Which doesn't really make sense being that if it is a human problem like you say, wouldn't whatever system that becomes implemented by the gods, aliens or what have you, simply collapse into the same problems because the same characters playing the same parts of the play? Unless you mean the gods, aliens etc.. micromanaging us. Personally I think we either grow, evolve (not necessarily physically but not excluding that either) mentally and mature or we destory ourselves and the planet along with us.

Unless by "creating a new system" you mean genetic manipulation (alien scenario), spiritual enlightment(God scenario), or virtual reality (AI scenario). I still believe that we are our own saviors and it is up to us to chose where we go from here, and not some possible what if.

I can not get more simple than this video. If we do not raise taxes on the rich we will be paying their bills.

reply to post by soficrow


My response is ants. Its just one example of a multitude around the world, showing that all life on this planet preys on other life.

Ants are one of the most complex creatures in terms of behavior on the planet. They build cities, fight wars with other ants, they capture prisoners who they work as slaves until they die. They capture other insects as livestock and force them to provide nourishment for the ants. They exploit and farm fungus as nourishment. They exploit and damage the environment in the construction of their cities. They are also preyed upon by parasites that turn them into essentially zombies, forcing them to be eaten in order to continue the lifecycle of the parasite.

They are just one of many.

All life on this world preys on other life, whether it be the trillions of microparasites such as bacteria, macroparasites, such as fungus, they depend on lifeforms greater than them to survive, or predators that prey upon vegetation or animals. Plants are lifeforms and they are exploited by most animals on this planet.
Nature is not balanced or harmonious. It is filled with disasters, extinctions, violence and savagery.

Thankfullly we have myths and fantasy to dwell on, less we dwell too long on the bleak reality of our world and lose our sanity in the process. If it helps one get through the day and survive, they should believe what they will. They shouldn't let anyone shatter that illusionary paradigm. Some need that rose tinted paradigm cracked though.

Originally posted by kro32
reply to post by TupacShakur

 

Well I certainly have no problem adjusting tax rates and closing loop holes and think that would be a wise thing to do also then.

Thanks for the debate

The best thing about all this, is in the long run, everything will balance out.
Everything seeks equilibrium, be it, the free market, or any other system.

The government for example, became part of that free market when it bailed out Wall Street and a slew of foreign banks, with trillions of dollars.

Now the government needs to fail because of these bad decisions, when it should have been these banks.

There is a major inequality going on and people will not shut up, nor is this just going to go away, until a balance is met, or the US becomes a dictatorship killing dissenters and people that speak out.

History proves me correct, and today is no different

i´ll be honest and say that i didn´t read the entire thread, so i don´t know if this has been posted allready.

i´d like to give you people a visual example of what a TRILLION dollars actually look like.

follow this link!

pretty impressive huh?

Originally posted by soficrow

What else can I say? I agree. Totally.

...But I think we need to see what's happened with corporate versus national wealth too. In 2000, of the world's 100 largest economic entities, 51 were corporations and 49 were countries.

Now - most nations are up to their eyeballs in debt, all our money went to bailouts and CEO bonuses - and generations of our descendants are indentured to pay off the debt that was artificially created.

I've been looking for up-to-date research on this one but can't find any. I'm thinking maybe 6-8 corporations run the world now, and all the nations in it.

Anyone else? Any bets on this one?

That's a very interesting take on it. I think your estimate is probably right. I do hope you find some up to date statistics, that would be really interesting to see.

Have you seen the video: Confessions of an Economic Hitman ? He explains clearly how corporations run the world. If you haven't seen it it's well worth the watch. You'll find different versions on youtube - all with John Perkins giving this info, based on his experience working for those same mega corporations.

And yes, I'll bet on your hypothesis!

reply to post by Chewingonmushrooms


Realistically, we will evolve in some manner.

We are rapidly approaching a point in science and technology known as The Singularity. The changes it will bring will either take us to another level through transhumanist evolution or we will create successors that lead to our extinction.

How will this effect the relationship of the exploited and the exploiters?

My honest fear, is that the exploiter class, what some call the Elite, will take advantage of transhumanist technology first, making them into virtual gods, who are immortal, infomorphic (they don't need bodies), with almost limitless memory and processing power, (hyperintelligences).

Meanwhile, the rest of humanity, is left to work as drones in a world of ecological collapse, to support these new post-human gods, or even worse, exterminated when they are obsolete or extinct when they are no longer able to survive in the new world due to its alien ecosystem.

Our only hope is intervention or interference, by something greater. Even then humans would still have to be changed or transformed in some manner. Our very nature would have to be altered in order to end this dynamic between the exploited and the exploiters, plus keep it from happening again.

Some in the scientific community, think a godlike Artilect AI, may offer the best chance of salvation for all people on earth. In this scenario, the AI topples the Elite and brings true equality to all of humanity. At the same time It offers humanity eternal life, in the form of uploading our consciousnesses into a virtual heaven, where there is no need or want. It sounds fantastic, but a number of scientists expect some version of this scenario to play out by the end of the 21st century, a literal Armageddon, where billions will die as the Elite fight and lose a gigadeath war against a usurper AI.

Short of first contact with some form of alien civilization, I think the Singularity scenario has a good chance of playing out.

reply to post by MikeboydUS


Your blunt assessment is refreshing and indicative of the problem. We are animals will at least millions of years of evolution and are all programmed to compete and survive at the core of our being.

The bleak truth is that none of this will ever change...

You are failing to acknowledge that unsustainable solutions must end. The political fires in the Middle East are just getting hotter with spot fires starting to pop up in Europe and America. Adding more war to this problem is just making the fire hotter. Either through resolution, revolution or annihilation will this fire finally be put out.

The main tool for change is in the legal system. There will always be a law, be that civilisation, the jungle or physics. Your hell bent lust for destruction is a common attitude among some of the leadership. A hierarchical social structure is common method of organisation for large social structures. It is common for the base of the pyramid to collapse when the top gets too heavy. Either the law catches up or it all falls down. There are only a few mad men wanting to bring it all down compared to the many wanting to survive.

reply to post by kwakakev


Unsustainable solutions change, it doesn't mean that human nature goes away. Good examples of this are between the Tsar and Stalin or the Shah and the Ayatollah. The system may change its name or structure, but at the core, human nature is still the same and it will find ways to exploit the system as it has done in Catholicism and Communism.

I'm not hellbent on destruction, just bluntly realistic about the issue. I know the ATS forums are a release for some people and even a place to indulge in some distracting fantasy, but I tend to pop in like Momus on Olympus telling the gods what they really are. Some hate it, others understand Momus.

reply to post by soficrow


Sacrificing babies seems to pay off.

I knew I should have studied harder in Geometry class.

Damn you Saturn!

reply to post by soficrow


this is exactly why we should be taxing the rich more...idc how hard you supposedly think you worked for it...I can name 100 people who aren't rich and have worked their arses off their whole lives just to pull threw alright...nobody deserves that much money (I know it sounds socialist in a way...but think of how screwed up it is that they just hoard it)

they have so much money holed up that it never gets circulated again...so sad...

If we didn't have all those underground bunkers I bet they would all chip in and fix the nation, and would still be rich.


Deebo

reply to post by MikeboydUS


Competition is vital to human nature. Even with indigenous tribes that have lived in balance with nature for 100 000's years conflict was common. Sport is a very productive release for this desire, with the rules of the game people and localities can size each other up, sweat it out and come back next weekend to do it all again. Competition in the economy is important to provide motivation, but when you are playing "heads I win, tails you lose" it gets hard to keep up interest and people do not want to play any more.

Human nature adapts to its environment, if you are to kill your parents at age 12 in Africa at gun point to survive then it is a very hard and savage way to live. If you grow up in a caring family environment with all your basic needs meet until you can support yourself and the community then it is a more civilised way to live. There is a lot of cultural and individual diversity in human nature and it is the role of law to address these conflicts as they arise.

People that do try exploits make the system stronger, like what viruses and hacking has done to the internet. Things are more secure and stronger from when it first developed but it still has more growing to go. Problems occur when the exploits do start to grow and the community will rally to defend its self as best it can, like our immune system when we get a disease. Either the exploit becomes the new law or is put back in its place. In the face of global corruption I am trying to rally against the growing exploit. The only certainty is that we will all die one day.

reply to post by kro32


Heres the point...

"Success". as you and others call it, is a #ing illusion.

Whats important is "prosperity", NOT ones own self "worth" measured by how much money they can amass.

Youre still stuck in this box of American Dreams and "climbing the ladder" nonsense. It gets humanity NOWHERE.

Originally posted by kro32
reply to post by TupacShakur

 

So you want a society where everybody is exactly even? Like communism?

I believe the system you seek currently exists in China and you can probably get a flight there tonight if you hurry.

Because somebody, God forbid, earns more than you they shouldn't have to give their money away till you both are equal.

Nice to see you don't think we should follow the constitution. What do you think a perfect union is? It means everyone is equal. And Jefferson thought the wealthy should be taxed for as much as they could get out of them.