5 Things Corporations Are Trying to Hide From You (and more!)

source:
www.alternet.org...


Ok, so we all know that corporations will do anything for profit, including decreasing the number of employees while increasing the work hours for the remaining employees. Corporations have also been known to "cook the books" effectively undermining our (fake) economy. Large corporations are popular for their brand-name products as well as for their large monetary contributions to politicians and lobbyists. They create new laws making it easier for them to sell their products and services wherever and to whomever they choose, however they choose to do it, while dismantling established laws that were put into place to prevent such corporations from taking advantage of the public.

Let us also not forget that MONOPOLIES are illegal. Despite this well-known fact, we have our nifty free market system that allows the rich few as 'public shareholders' to practically own all of the major companies and corporations that we are now forced to patron to fulfill our basic daily needs because it is now near impossible for the average American citizen to afford to own or shop at small businesses. Now that the corporations have us in their figurative palms, they need to employ whatever means necessary to keep us there. This is where the corruption of the higher echelons of any kind of social structure comes in.

They maximize the profits to the nth degree. This means they lower standards for their employees and their customers. They use any and all tax laws they can to their advantage. They inflate prices. People find out about these things happening and they say so. Then the coroporations gather their scientists, their lawyers, their lobbyists and their scape goats who collectively act as their publicists and lauch some sort of campaign that will put the public's minds at ease (because people really are afraid of change- they've been taught to strive for the status-quo). It works for the most part. I would like to believe that if you are reading this, it hasn't worked on you. That is hope to me.

I found this article on alter-net. I find alter-net a little conservative-bashing and left-leaning at times, but sometimes you find real gems, like this one. To summarize the 5 main secrets of the article:

1) Oil companies fought hard so they don't have to tell you about the toxic chemicals the pump into the ground 24/7

2) The meat industry doesn't have to tell you where your meat comes from

3) Monsanto has used the US Federal government to protect him from disclosing which foods are GM. Why?

4) The cosmetic industry has state and federal protection from being forbidden from using toxic substances in make-up and they don't have to tell you anything

5) The tobacco industry can now decide what to put on the side of their cigarette boxes when it comes to health effects of smoking. What warnings will they add? What warnings will they remove?


I would also like to add something I heard about Pepsi modifying a certain ingredient in its drink so they would not be required by law to put a cancer warning label on the bottle.

So, ATS? What are your thoughts?

It was actually pepsi and coke (actually any company that used the caramel coloring additive).


Heres my big one: DEAD PEASANT POLICIES

It would be ok if a co has life ins on its employees, its another when they willingly try to kill them (SC Johnson, Tyco, P&G, ETC)

reply to post by couldbeanyone


i was wondering where this thread went. good info i also heard that mtn dew has flame retardant in it. its a wonderful world isnt it. full of lies

Lets not forget about cancer alley.


www.pollutionissues.com...

In 1987 some residents in the tiny community of St. Gabriel, Louisiana, called Jacobs Drive, the street on which they lived, "cancer alley" because there were fifteen cancer victims in a two-block stretch. Half a mile away, there were seven cancer victims living on one block. The eighty-five-mile stretch of the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans was formerly referred to as the "petrochemical corridor" but after reports of numerous cases of cancer occurring in the small rural communities on both sides of the river, the entire area became known as cancer alley.

Industrial accidents and accidental releases are common occurrences in cancer alley. For instance, in 1994 Condea Vista (Conoco) located in Lake Charles reported thirty-nine chemical accidents that released 129,500 pounds of chemicals. The following year, Condea Vista reported ninety accidental chemical releases. In 1997 the company was charged with contaminating local groundwater supplies by discharging between 19 to 47 million pounds of ethylene dichloride (EDC), a suspected human carcinogen, into a local stream. In 1999 hundreds of unskilled laborers filed suit against Condea Vista, claiming they were exposed to EDC while cleaning up a spill from a leaking underground pipeline.

reply to post by strangedays


i worked for wal-mart for awhile back in the day, so i was damn surprised to learn they probably had a life insurance policy on me. it wouldn't be so bad really, if they used those policies to help the families instead of lining their pockets.

reply to post by AnoNymousDoN


yeah, it got thrown into the rubbish bin because i quoted so much and didn't add my own opinion. copyright and stuff, you know. so i polished it up a little bit and re-posted because i'm sure there are going to be other things i didn't contemplate. so thanks!

reply to post by Reptius


seems just about everything these corporations got rich off of and are desperately trying to keep on the market cause cancer!

not to mention our food and water.

Well written, my friend.

The carcinogens are found in everything. You eat the GM foods/processed foods ----> You get sick ----> You go to the doctor's & pay a co-pay to see the doctor ----> Doctor gives you a prescription -----> You pay for the prescription -----> Said prescription doesn't heal you, it only makes symptoms more manageable ----> Eventual hospitalization due to chemicals found in EVERYTHING or due to a negative side effect from the prescribed drug.

It's an endless cycle of sickness and death and all it does is line the pockets of the corporations, insurance companies and banks.

It's inevitable to fall ill unless you grow/raise your own food supply, and use your own naturally filtered water. As they are putting these chemicals in everything from the known processed foods that contain fillers such as WOOD, oftentimes, or the foods you believe aren't processed such as ground beef which really contains ammonia soaked cow sphincters, tongues, and lips. Sodas are poison. The air is becoming poison now as we are breathing in trace amounts of metal on a daily basis, aka TMA(trimethylaluminum) which adds up day after day after day. This TMA is what they spray onto us everyday to "filter" the environment. It is also falling into our oceans, which affects our ocean creatures, which eventually affects our seafood. It's caking ontop of our crops, and our land animals which we eat are also breathing it in and it's affecting them. We already pollute by inevitable run off, but some companies just choose to get rid of their toxic waste into the oceans/lakes or even the ground which depletes the nutrients! There's just too much to even think about off of the top of my head.

As I'd said before in a reply somewhere else:

"Hi! Welcome to corporate America. Have a seat, relax, and pick which company and/or bank you'd like to be in debt to! While you're thinking about your choice, look at this sleek, new, technology, this sexy lady, and don't forget to enjoy your bacon milkshake!"

That's probably the most light-hearted thing I can say about any of the things going on in the US.

Great thread

S&F

reply to post by GreenEyedVixen


Thanks & well said! that is pretty much along the lines of my thinking. everything you buy is poison. i'd love to get some land with some kind of water access and grow my own food. I've considered commune living many times, but my partner wants to live in a 'civilized' manner so to speak. so i do my best to eat right and not to watch adult swim. but it's so damn hard.

reply to post by couldbeanyone


Just depends upon your definition of civilized I guess.

I just don't feel very civilized when I'm sitting infront of my TV/computer all of the time eating Mcdonald's and changing the channel/typing with my greasy fingers.

I'd much rather live off of some stream in the woods, pitch a tent, make a fire. Feels more natural to me. The only reason I don't is because NO ONE is willing to join me, and # being alone in the woods like that. I'd lose my mind without social time

Whaddayado

5) Monsanto is the government, the government is Monsanto.

Originally posted by couldbeanyone
reply to post by strangedays

 

i worked for wal-mart for awhile back in the day, so i was damn surprised to learn they probably had a life insurance policy on me. it wouldn't be so bad really, if they used those policies to help the families instead of lining their pockets.

They find people with health ailments and attack that specific problem until they kill them off.

Have cancer (for example) and are frequently dehydrated from the drugs/therapy? They put you to work and when you go to take a break to get water etc they come up with something for you to do that needs immediate attention. When you try to finally get that water something else comes up. And another, and another and another.

Some dont pick up on the pattern and just die.

Their family is never the wiser and big corp gets richer off of each one.

Originally posted by GreenEyedVixen
reply to post by couldbeanyone

 

Just depends upon your definition of civilized I guess.

I just don't feel very civilized when I'm sitting infront of my TV/computer all of the time eating Mcdonald's and changing the channel/typing with my greasy fingers.

I'd much rather live off of some stream in the woods, pitch a tent, make a fire. Feels more natural to me. The only reason I don't is because NO ONE is willing to join me, and # being alone in the woods like that. I'd lose my mind without social time

Whaddayado

Don't give up! ever! There's plenty of like-minded people out there who'll gladly join you in the woods, they are just much harder to find, well since some of them are already in the woods

Great thread and ideas, S+F

reply to post by Aliquandro


That's right. I too would go in a heartbeat, if I had the resources to properly equip myself. There are so many of us.

reply to post by shutdownormeltdown


Haha, well it is nice to know there are some like-minded fellows out there.

Just rather unfortunate I don't know anyone with such minds around me. :/

And the reason why they can do and get away with all this? Because corporations have the status of people; which allows them to lobby the Federal government and it politicians to get their way. The average person or coalition does not have millions in their budgets to throw at them to side with them. The corporations do; they have lobby funds set aside in their budgets specifically meant only for lobbying. Corporations should not have ever had people status nor should they continue to have it.

Originally posted by strangedays
It was actually pepsi and coke (actually any company that used the caramel coloring additive).


Heres my big one: DEAD PEASANT POLICIES

It would be ok if a co has life ins on its employees, its another when they willingly try to kill them (SC Johnson, Tyco, P&G, ETC)

Just curious, what is it that TYCO does to their employees? Haven't heard anything....

Originally posted by amongus

Originally posted by strangedays
It was actually pepsi and coke (actually any company that used the caramel coloring additive).


Heres my big one: DEAD PEASANT POLICIES

It would be ok if a co has life ins on its employees, its another when they willingly try to kill them (SC Johnson, Tyco, P&G, ETC)

Just curious, what is it that TYCO does to their employees? Haven't heard anything....

Depends on what you are looking at. Strangely enough the Michael Moore movie "Capitalism: A Love Story" mentions them. Maybe that can give you some more info.

You do know Tyco owns like everything right?

Originally posted by strangedays

Originally posted by amongus

Originally posted by strangedays
It was actually pepsi and coke (actually any company that used the caramel coloring additive).


Heres my big one: DEAD PEASANT POLICIES

It would be ok if a co has life ins on its employees, its another when they willingly try to kill them (SC Johnson, Tyco, P&G, ETC)

Just curious, what is it that TYCO does to their employees? Haven't heard anything....

Depends on what you are looking at. Strangely enough the Michael Moore movie "Capitalism: A Love Story" mentions them. Maybe that can give you some more info.

You do know Tyco owns like everything right?

Thank you....and yep, I know they do (wink). I had a reason for asking, I just had not heard anything in the news.

Originally posted by amongus

Originally posted by strangedays

Originally posted by amongus

Originally posted by strangedays
It was actually pepsi and coke (actually any company that used the caramel coloring additive).


Heres my big one: DEAD PEASANT POLICIES

It would be ok if a co has life ins on its employees, its another when they willingly try to kill them (SC Johnson, Tyco, P&G, ETC)

Just curious, what is it that TYCO does to their employees? Haven't heard anything....

Depends on what you are looking at. Strangely enough the Michael Moore movie "Capitalism: A Love Story" mentions them. Maybe that can give you some more info.

You do know Tyco owns like everything right?

Thank you....and yep, I know they do (wink). I had a reason for asking, I just had not heard anything in the news.

Yea man it sucks. But I got this feeling they and the other "Big 4" are going to change severely in the next year with all the economic mess going on. Not in the old traditional way where they dissolve one co and just start another one to take its place under the umbrella, I think there will be MAJOR change coming up.