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Knocking on the Corporate Door PDF Print E-mail
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by Jan Lundberg   
17 July 2010
They don't have to answer
If they do not you're shut out in the cold
They have almost all the food inside
They open slots to feed those outside
You have some information, some truth, to share
The people outside need it more than the corporados
But the corporados control the loudspeaker
And they don't answer the door for truth.
So where do you go? Undermine the walls?
One by one, speak to those waiting for the feed slots to open?
Something's rotten inside
When it's bad enough the corporados will come out looking for food
They will find truth to eat

When we don't understand or face the real structure of society and its methods, delusions reign. It's more comforting that way, for a time. Everyone who can afford it can still consume a sumptuous feast, but the calories are getting emptier and there's the taint of petroleum oil.

I wrote the above poem July 15 after an unusual diet of television news and the Washington Post for two months, after being spared for years. The BP oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico has sharpened the distinction between the dominating corporate news-feed and the wilderness beyond -- that of imagination and reflection.

Lately I've had "new" thoughts about attempts to reform a system rotten to the core that may have no consciousness of where it is headed (i.e., toward inescapable collapse).

Much of a modern person's activity is obsolete, but in our high-energy, high-population interdependence we continue to feed off one another however unsatisfactorily.

It must be foolish to devise reforms that depend upon including the participation and approval of the rulers and masters of wealth -- when a whole vision of a better society isn't even articulated. The occasional outrage allowed to slip through, usually served up by a progressive internet news source, does not critique the system so as to advocate abolishing it and replacing it with something functional and lasting.

Many reasonable proposals for policy change, or innovations to raise awareness, would have to be approved by the powers that be. And they can ignore anything. Freedom does not come from asking for it from the oppressors. But the oppressed can try to go on pretending they are hardly oppressed.

People seem to have to fool themselves that there can be reform. (Change, Hope, and other vague election promises.) They can barely see or admit that the powers that be cannot grant freedom; freedom must be taken. It can only be with freedom and equality that ideas for true reform or a vision can come to pass.

Up against the corporate monolith, with the governmental mouthpiece speaking quasi relevance down to us, change can only come from the bottom up. This is not the late 18th century or the early 20th century, when upheaval rocked societies that resisted reasonable change. Vast change will surely come, but if we can manage one form of preparation before being hit by falling chunks of the corporate state, it would be to start facing the right direction and prepare for an unauthorized future.

* * * * *

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Standing in line at the coffee shop there's a well dressed fellow with an open wallet. The wallet is full of cards and made of alligator. Gold, silver, blue. He pays for his coffee with the blue one.
He's a slave to his cards. They make him get up early and go to his corporate job where he does bad things. He lies about his product and his competition. He cheats on expense reports and talks about his whores during rounds of golf with other corporate types.
They're slaves to things and little more than lackeys to masters in ivory towers they've never seen.
They're the walking dead, mouths agape, eyes fixed in trance like states of lust, power and greed.
They're our community leaders in the growth economy. Good Christian's all with offspring destined to be just like them because children are products of their environment. It's not the genes; it's the parents.
They'll learn to love Jesus and support violence. Violence in the name of profit and economic well being, but at the expense of all life.
But in twenty-five years the children of the damned won't be standing in the coffee shop in Gucci shoes with wallets full of cards. The shop will be gone, hopefully replaced by weeds and rodents or maybe even a garden because the cheap black goo will be gone, and the growth economy will be over but life will flourish.
And that, dear friends, is now and then.
Beau Peyton
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Neither the doorbell nor the telephone rang.
The "people" did nothing heroic.
The handful inside enjoyed what they had hoarded, and what they could persuade the others to bring them.
It lasted for a surprising number of generations as the population dwindled.
Eventually the ecosystem found stasis and very very slowly began to heal itself without anyone's help, not that anyone in a position to help had ever tried.
Many many generations later, no one really remembered what had happened so long ago as it just wasn't important enough to make it into the history books.
Billions died, they were not heroic, they were just apes, and they had lost in the dominance-submission ritual.
There was never a chance that they would do anything other than precisely what they did.
There were some amongst them who desperately wanted, needed to believe that something could and would be done.
Didn't happen.
They were just apes, and neither good nor bad.
And they were most certainly not heroic.
bugjackblue
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WE NEED a 3rd Party OF, BY and FOR the PEOPLE, NOT the CORPORATIONS


I think we have become a little less apt to vote on party lines because Grandpa's dad and his son and all the uncles, etc. voted ALWAYS for the Democrats or Republican parties no matter who, what or when To break "family" traditions has been difficult. Independent thinking was unheard of, you do what "everyone" ALWAYS does, vote THIS way. How to change tradition is the old fashion way, EDUCATION. Tell the people the truth over and over until they get the idea that CHANGE is needed and wanted AND THEY CAN do something about it. EDUCATING the masses is what the political machines of the 2 parties are good at, they own most of the media outlets. But EDUCATION is not propaganda!
But now you look at your bank account and hours worked and realize a pattern of more going out and less coming in and you see others making more money a month than you do in a year or more and you must start thinking about the WHY? Thats what these articles are about, EDUCATING the masses. Why isn't America or the World getting better instead of worse. Why is my life seem to be getting worse than better? WHY? AND, what can I do to CHANGE the way I see/feel about my situation and others?

Doesn't anyone understand the Michael Milken's testing the grounds to which high government can allow trillions of "fake" dollars to dictate the economy in an extremely SHORT period of time.
Fake appraisals and lots and lots of "loot" going into only a small certain percentage of skillful money managers pockets. It happened AGAIN, and much worse. Millions of homes magically worth 1-4 times their true value and cashed in. Those TRILLIONS of dollars went into someones pocket and it wasn't the "dumb" homeowner who "cashed in". They SPENT it as fast as they could and the "funnel' it went into was very small. Corporate greed can turn a switch, change QUICKLY an interest rate or two and sing consumer confidence, etc. But did all those trillions of dollars go BACK into the economy or into select pockets i.e. Petroleum, Banking and Insurance. Check out the top 10 richest companies in the world. 60% of them don't even PRODUCE a product, they are the middle man or SERVICE. Service your debts, charge fee's for access to your own money, charge high premiums and pay small claims.
I just saw the BP oil STILL made something like $47 BILLION (including subsidiarys) profit including the OIL disaster in the Gulf. They will actually attempt and succeed, to their acceptable levels, to bankrupt a few subsidiaries and get some sympathy (poor me syndrome) from the public, and avoid further financial responsibility for the costs that have been incurred AND WILL be incurred. Can you imagine all the money that has been thrown at that catastrophe and they made 4 times that in PROFIT. But all the public hears about is about their financial woes, right? The abilities of corporations to add and drop subsidiaries like a bad apple are synonymous with their ability to NOT take responsibility for their negative actions. The corporate octopus can lose a limb, still have most of it's "whole" intact and then grow it back! Most people think that BP OIL is in bad trouble, nearly broke. Think twice! That is what they want you to think. Still #10 in the world! Take a look; 6 banking, 3 OIL, and one, G.E.,being a "conglomerate". See next Part for list.
David Cardin
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10 Richest Corporations in the World, BP ranks 10th.

FORBES
The Global 2000
04.21.10, 06:00 PM EDT

RANKCOMPANYCOUNTRYINDUSTRYSALES ($BIL)PROFITS ($BIL)ASSETS ($BIL)MARKET VALUE ($BIL)
1JPMorgan ChaseUnited StatesBanking115.6311.652,031.99166.19
2General ElectricUnited StatesConglomerates156.7811.03781.82169.65
3Bank of AmericaUnited StatesBanking150.456.282,223.30167.63
4ExxonMobilUnited StatesOil & Gas Operations275.5619.28233.32308.77
5ICBCChinaBanking71.8616.271,428.46242.23
6Banco SantanderSpainBanking109.5712.341,438.68107.12
7Wells FargoUnited StatesBanking98.6412.281,243.65141.69
8HSBC HoldingsUnited KingdomBanking103.745.832,355.83178.27
9Royal Dutch ShellNetherlandsOil & Gas Operations278.1912.52287.64168.63
10BPUnited KingdomOil & Gas Operations239.2716.58235.45167.13

They "phoney-baloney" mortgage payments going to the financial institutions (see above) for non-existent "appraised" values of their homes that doesn't exist. The people who are paying billions of hard earned dollars to the banks for NOTHING but saving their credit ratings, which is also controlled by the financial institutions.
THEY ARE STUCK and not for just a year or two but for the life time of the loan or decades.
Now that will create a few extra "coins" for "SOMEONE" who is raking in interest for zero valued homes. It's like paying for a car that has been totaled, but it at least the car had the TRUE value before it was totaled that you were paying for.
One guy is paying $3000 a month and his new neighbor with the identical house is paying $1350. One guy is a slave to his payments (can't take vacations, etc.) and the other guy is investing the extra $1650 a month place like Playa Roca Beach Hotel in Las Penitas-Leon, Nicaragua for a vacation or anything HE wants. He is not a "slave" to his mortgage payments, he has options. Middle class=discretionary income, and that is supposed to be a normal benefit of working hard. You pay off all the bills and there is something left over. http://www.nicaliving.com/node/17621 Learn Spanish "ON THE BEACH!" $45 Ocean Front Suite to a $6 ocean dorm www.playaroca.com Save more money on vacation than staying at home! http://www.laspenitas.net , david cardin on facebook.
The bank makes money on both people but the one who owns a home not even worth what he is paying for, they make MORE. The Milken scenario worked perfectly in the late 80's. Bankrupted possibly the richest county in America, Orange County. All those old "troopers" who worked their whole lives and their money went to the Mikeal Milkens of the Corporate world that could drive the economy so easily and QUICKLY into oblivion and into THEIR pockets. Not millions but BILLONS gone "POOF" and millions of average Americans lost individual fortunes, QUICKLY!
Older people who can't "make it" again, who ALREADY had made it, POOF, into someones pocket, it did not disappear, it just shifted or "funneled" into just a few of already over flowing "vaults".
What is happening now hasn't come close to finding its bottom. Too many people are STILL paying for "air", equity that was falsely believed in and not only no longer exists, NEVER REALLY DID
What has happened today, the last 3-4 years? Enron didn't scare anyone, it was only the "tip" of the iceberg of the impending disasters that were there, but quietly hidden? BILLIONS being able to be manipulated and how many people benefited and how many were financially ruined.
We throw Billions of dollars around like it's monopoly money, but we are talking Trillions of dollars being funneled to the few that already has "stolen" enough already. Now THEY, Big Corporation/Big Brother, dictates all wealth, therefore ALL of it's inhabitants are "BEHOLDING" to their masters. Finders keepers losers weepers!
At the turn of the 19th century, the corporate steel, railroad, coal, copper industries controlled manpower through corrupt means, forced child labor, obscene working hours and conditions. Money driven interests of a few controlled millions of Americans and robbed them of dignity and human rights. The Rockefellers, Vanderbuilds, Carnegie's and just a few others dictated policy and paid well for their contacts in Washington, the Constitution was put on hold for the machines of wealth to control America and it's people. Distribution of wealth equals the condition of any society, and every great civilization was faced with a similar situation we are in now, not only as Americans but as citizens of the world, and those great civilizations failed their people (greed=power= disproportionate distribution of wealth =money)and eventually collapsed. Those collapses caused incredible suffering for the masses, and not just the poor, elderly and ill.
See next for Part III
David Cardin
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Part III

Our political awareness is SOOOOOOOOO minuscule that "puppeteering" is now a science, whether it be Democrates or Republicans, the "wealth-mobile" controls ALL areas of government, so therefore all public and private policy that we depend on is controlled not of , by or for the People but of, by and FOR the Corporations. Tell Halliburton to get a competitive contract? How was it possible they were even in a position to control trillions of dollars of OUR funds? Sorry, just an example, BP oil will bankrupt a few of their subsideraries to show the public they can't pay all the price of clean-up or damage. The smoke will cloud their nest egg that is larger than anyone could even fathom.
When 10 or less percent (Corporations, private and public) of the population owns 90% or more of the wealth and the 10% is shrinking (smaller fish get eaten, "merged" by the bigger fish) we got trouble beyond our 'sheeps' mentality.
I have not quit, but I have changed. 5 years down here in paradise that is affordable, more so than living in poverty (basically hand to mouth) in the U.S. and being led to slaughter (I felt the tsunami building). I worked so hard and so long to believe I was making a living, and then I could lose it all in such a short time makes me angry. University of Calif. grad and all that "up the ladder shit". It plateaued when someone else decided, not me. Made a lot of investments (all reserves) in a falsely 'growing" economy. POOF, gone, and worked to pay off debt for industries that were being held up by false money promises (buy more machinery, consume, keep the false economy going, spend, spend , spend). Housing market is dead, and there are millions of Americans that need housing, millions that lost homes they already were in. david cardin on facebook.
I have learned to live better with a whole lot less. I was "forced" to, there was NO GROWTH to grow into.
http://www.nicaliving.com/node/17621 Learn Spanish "ON THE BEACH!" $45 Ocean Front Suite to a $6 ocean dorm www.playaroca.com Nicaragua is the "Survivors" choice of destinations and we need more survivors interested in experiencing paradise for dimes on the dollar. Save more money on vacation than staying at home! http://www.laspenitas.net
A party again OF the PEOPLE, BY the PEOPLE, and FOR the PEOPLE, not of, by, and for corporations. The PEOPLE are the masses, not the tiniest percentage that managed to not return an ACCEPTABLE percentage of wealth to those who got them the majority of the worlds present wealth in the first place.
I believe that you measure a normal persons self worth in the working world as if he gives his best he should have his basics of life covered and have a little more left over. That is disposable income, a amount of dollars or "wealth" he generated over and above necessities. That is the ability to put THAT extra money to what ever endeavor he desires. Toys, vacation, investments or to a GROWING bank account.
We do not have that now and will not if we continue with the present system. It does not work for the majority of human beings much less American citizens. OF, BY, and FOR the PEOPLE, that works in the long run.
Won the "BAD" Halloween Costume Contest Bad=Best?

How far have WE really come to have this "costume" being not only funny, but relevant in our daily lives. 20 years ago it would have been taken as a "space outfit" or anything but what it means today. We live in troubled times and "when the going gets tough, the tough better get going"!

If there is a will, there IS a way. Do you have the WILL to SEE and ACT?
david cardin on or Playa Roca Beach Hotel on facebook
David Cardin
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