A disturbing Image...For you to comment on.

reply to post by dr_strangecraft


Damn! I almost choked reading your reply! On a serious note what happens when there is only one left? Kinda puts chills down your spine just thinking about it.

reply to post by rcanem


None of the graphs here should come as a real surprise. It's a natural (well, as 'natural' as anything gets in the business world) progression of events. Successful companies get bigger, less successful companies either die off, get bought out by larger companies, or find a steady niche market. Look at the number of US automobile manufacturers, or aerospace companies, or railroads...for that matter, fast food chains...and you'll see a similar progression.

We could argue for a long while over whether or not this trend is a good thing, a bad thing, or a thing that changes from bad to good (or vice-versa). I'm not passing a moral or ethical judgement on the trend illustrated, just pointing out that it's not, in itself, evidence of conspiracy, or even nefarious motives.

reply to post by Brother Stormhammer


I don't think anyone is implying a conspiracy or nefarious cause, yet it cannot be denied that the people profiting from this trend will always disagree with this trend being bad for a country. It happens everywhere and I totally agree it's rather natural, but a government should also see the bad implications and protects 'us' from it by simply not allowing it to happen. They are not; in fact, they are fully complying with the federal reserve scheme. If so many members on or off ATS can figure out on their own that the Federal Reserve is a very damaging factor for any economy, then if a government can't figure that out or are not willing to do anything about it, they should be abolished for incompetence by us, the people, and we have every right to do so!

That is disturbing!! Is that baby REALLY smoking that cigar???

problem - 1/3 of all Americans do there banking through credit unions meaning the number of customers left for traditional banks has dried up allowing bigger banks to buy out smaller ones.

The only comment that fits is this;

"Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it."

Everything we are seeing today we have seen before and every time we have a recession/depression of any magnitude the big banks eat the little ones.. The only difference today is that we have new ways of doing it and more importantly new terms to apply to it. Case in point, the Glass-Steagall Act.

Glass Steagall Act

Before the passage of the Glass Steagall Act there were problems with investment banks and savings banks being one in the same. After the passage of Glass Steagall things pretty much ran smoothly, until the Clinton Administration when the Milton Friedman school of Free Markets finally held sway and repealed the Glass Steagall Act.

Milton Friedman

Once the controls that separated these two type of institutions were removed, the problems they had eliminated started to return. And now, once again the Depression has come to call. However, most people do not see that we are running over the same familiar track yet again, because the "Public Education System" long ago removed the understanding of cause and effect from history and reduced it to the memorization of dates, names, and places. If a student does desire to understand the cause and effect aspects of history he is forced to wait until after the school career is over since there is no time to do so during his "education". Instead he must move on to the next set of dates, names and places to be memorized. After spending over a decade and a half performing this memory ritual, whose pace is set so fast that retention of even those dates, names, and places learned is nearly impossible, most students don't have the stomach for history at all. Those who do have the desire to understand this missing causality must learn it for himself and on his own. The system that has been set up today can take the odd bird understanding without too much damage, as long as the vast majority don't.

As for terms we have rolled out a whole new set of names for everything. Soup kitchens and bread lines have become EBT cards. (Food Stamps for those who do not know; look ma no lines!) The "jobless index" refers now to those applying and receiving unemployment benefits, almost never are those considered who have run out of benefits but remain unemployed. In the same way we have dressed up investments with no intrinsic value and called them "Derivatives" and "Toxic Assets" to hide what they really are and do from the majority of the public. The funny thing with this is that most people who understand what they are today are those who have suffered great loss (their homes and lifestyles), and therefore are now dis-empowered by the very injustice and poverty they suffer.

In the days of the Great Depression we had no T.V. to distract us or inform us, and yet everyone was aware of the problems. People were riding the rails, lining up outside businesses which were hiring at a greatly reduced rate, lining up outside soup kitchens and bread lines. The Depression was there for all to see.

Today we have the T.V. to distract and inform us, but does it inform us? Those of us who are old enough to remember the Nixon days remember when it did and most of us realize that it no longer does this. Why? Because all our Media is now owned by six corporations. Twenty years ago the media was in the hands of approximately 100 different companies/persons, last year it was only five corporations who owned all the media outlets. The end result, all news is reduced to manageable and short sound bite segments - sound bites, another new term - and when the tent cities or protestors are shown, they are shown in a bad light and to further some corporate agenda.

In the Great Depression government spending was increased in an attempt to spend our way out of the Depression, it did not work then, it will not work now. But if the people of the US had learned this in school instead of useless memorization and regurgitation we probably wouldn't have gotten to this point. At this point we have finally seen from first hand experience that government spending is not the way out, but rather further in, but wouldn't it be better if we had know that from our own past experience? Notice too that our second Great Depression comes when the only people left who remember the first one from first hand experience are nearly 90 years old, and they were only children at the time so their experience was limited to a child's view understanding. However that is of little consequence because in this country the past is a boor and our grandparents are not here to be listened too.

Monday I'm opening an account at the CA Credit Union.. I'm done with this $heidt

This chart reminds me of a playoff bracket for the NCAA Tournament. Still very disturbing, nonetheless.

here is another distrubing image for you...

the american media has gone from about 50 companies that prvoided what we see and hear on television...

to just FIVE

seems just a few are in control of so many via this media

Originally posted by Djdoubt03

After viewing the above image, what are your thoughts on Big Banking and how there are only a few Mainstream banks left.

edit on 10/7/11 by Djdoubt03 because: emptie post

1. I should have put money on BoA and Wells Fargo a long time ago.
2. Almost as good as a NCAA bracket in march
3. Cyclic. As they grow, they get slow and can't respond to market changes and challanges as quickly - thus there will sprout up "upstarts"...

How do you think we got so many banks to begin with in 1990 of your chart? Most of those last 3 have been around for almost 100 or more... If they could all consolidate - it would have happened way before now.

reply to post by Djdoubt03


I just posted this in another thread, but it's worth repeating.

My step daughter is in 5th grade in a Christian school. Her teacher was talking about how her father mentioned that politicians are thieves because they steal our money. My daughter (whose been hanging around me too much) said, "No, it's not the politicians, it's the world banks"

awesome

Now for the image, it is disturbing. But the reality is that the Federal Reserve and all World Banking systems have been put in place to create a debt based economy. This is not by accident. Mismanagement, yes, but they didn't do anything about it when they had the chance to and I think it was deliberate.

if you look into the formulation of private-public corporations, that's where the evil lies. These corporations have swallowed to remain private while swallowing up the public entities.

Originally posted by Brother Stormhammer
reply to post by rcanem

 

None of the graphs here should come as a real surprise. It's a natural (well, as 'natural' as anything gets in the business world) progression of events. Successful companies get bigger, less successful companies either die off, get bought out by larger companies, or find a steady niche market. Look at the number of US automobile manufacturers, or aerospace companies, or railroads...for that matter, fast food chains...and you'll see a similar progression.

We could argue for a long while over whether or not this trend is a good thing, a bad thing, or a thing that changes from bad to good (or vice-versa). I'm not passing a moral or ethical judgement on the trend illustrated, just pointing out that it's not, in itself, evidence of conspiracy, or even nefarious motives.

Be that as it may, it is still chilling to think that in the end one person/company/entity is going to be completely in control of the entire money market. I haven't passed any judgements either but that thought does make my blood run cold. Remember the proverb, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

reply to post by Djdoubt03


The elites have been consolidating power and resources for awhile now.

The question to be answered is "why?".

reply to post by Djdoubt03

I believe some of the banks are no longer held by Americans also, wasn't the sell and joining of Wells Fargo to Chinese buyers?
Anyway the banks have used our money to get rich and now they are wanting to keep their same huge profits while we have lost jobs and homes by charging us for the things they wanted, like debit cards that keep them from having to process checks and return paperwork.

Originally posted by circuitsports
problem - 1/3 of all Americans do there banking through credit unions meaning the number of customers left for traditional banks has dried up allowing bigger banks to buy out smaller ones.

True I am sure, but the fact is we are losing diversity in all things mainly because of changes in laws like the ones Bush changed so that his friends could get bigger and richer! The laws in our country used to force diversity so that there was competition and choice for us.

Very disturbing indeed... Only a matter of time before there is only one bank running it all... Federal reserve 2.0? Screw it just chip us already and get it over with im tired and ready to go back to sleep. Love being a slave to fiat paper currency that has no backing.

If this one is true, i want to throw up. I mean come on, it should be mandatory to always include the "ultimate owner" beside the subsidiary name. This is just pure deception, when you look at it you have 4 banks in the whole US. Same goes for media stations. Despicable.

IT IS TIME TO STAND UP.

Deception is the way they get you. Not illegal activity, not brutal violence, but seeking your compliance through deception.

Why do people work with the big banks? Mine is local and independent. It has free checking and ATM with no balance requirement. It's a very personable and reasonable bank.

reply to post by Djdoubt03

After viewing the above image, what are your thoughts on Big Banking and how there are only a few Mainstream banks left.

Same thing is happening in the corporate sector...

When all banks have merged into one, and that one bank acquires the last existing corporation, the one world government will then be complete.