Academia Iluministă (110)
The Citigroup Research Notes – Continued:
Citigroup’s second industry note on the subject of Equity Strategy appeared on March 5, 2006 and was entitled: “Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer.” The “rich getting richer” is, of course, at the heart of the Old World Order’s agenda.
The document’s summary says, “[The] rich continue to account for a disproportionately large share of income and wealth in the US economy: the richest 10% of Americans account for 43% of income, and 57% of net worth…The rich are in great shape, financially…We think the rich are likely to get even wealthier in the coming years…[We] like companies that sell to or service the rich – luxury goods, private banks etc.”
The Citigroup analysts declare, “Our thesis is that the rich are the dominant drivers of demand in many economies around the world (the US, UK, Canada and Australia). These economies have seen the rich take an increasing share of income and wealth over the last 20 years, to the extent that the rich now dominate income, wealth and spending in these countries. Asset booms, a rising profit share and favorable treatment by market-friendly governments have allowed the rich to prosper and become a greater share of the economy in the plutonomy countries. Also, new media dissemination technologies like internet downloading, cable and satellite TV, have disproportionately increased the audiences, and hence gains to “superstars” – think golf, soccer, and baseball players, music/TV and movie icons, fashion models, designers, celebrity chefs etc. These “content” providers, the tech whizzes who own the pipes and distribution, the lawyers and bankers who intermediate globalization and productivity, the CEOs who lead the charge in converting globalization and technology to increase the profit share of the economy at the expense of labor, all contribute to plutonomy. Indeed, David Gordon and Ian Dew-Becker of the NBER demonstrate that the top 10%, particularly the top 1% of the US – the plutonomists in our parlance – have benefited disproportionately from the recent productivity surge in the US.”
“AT THE EXPENSE OF LABOR” i.e. at the expense of billions of working men and women. If you are “Labor” then rise up now or embrace slavery for yourself and all your descendants. Better technology should be used to benefit humanity, not to increase the profits of those who control the technology. We say this: no private individual should have control of any important technology. The people should be the legal owners and those who profit from all technological advances. Inventors of new technologies can certainly be handsomely rewarded for their efforts, but they can never be allowed to use technology as a weapon to secure wealth and power far in excess of what is healthy and acceptable in an equal opportunities, meritocratic society. Let no one forget that all modern technologies have a hidden foundation – that of thousands of years of human toil, of legions of both celebrated and uncelebrated scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.
Isaac Newton, one of the greatest scientists of all time declared, “If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” That sums it up. All technological advances are owned by history. None would be possible without all the steps that came before. Each inventor stands in the infinite shadow of giants, rendering him nothing in comparison. No one deserves to be rewarded excessively for finding one small new way of harnessing the great corpus of knowledge created by humanity’s past. 99% of the profits of any discovery are in truth owed to all those heroes of science and technology who came before i.e. the vast bulk of profits should be paid to the people in the name of the human history of knowledge of which they are the current expression. The idea that some clown like Bill Gates should become the richest man on earth for making a few primitive innovations in personal computing, any of which could and would have been done far better by others in a meritocratic society, is simply laughable and shows how pathetic capitalism is.
Gates would have achieved nothing without the huge body of mathematics, science, logic and technology that others, not him, created. He would have achieved nothing without the efforts of thousands of computer scientists before him, none of whom received Midas-like rewards. The capitalist “winner takes all” ideology implies that Bill Gates single-handedly created personal computing out of nothing, and deserves infinite reward for doing so. It’s a spectacularly absurd position to endorse. Gates should get a million dollars a year for life, tax free. That’s all. Full stop. He couldn’t complain that he wasn’t well rewarded for his diabolical MS-DOS and then for ripping off Apple, could he? Yet this individual from a very privileged background is allowed to control more wealth and power than whole nations. What a farce.
It should be the people and not the bank balances of super-rich ultra-capitalists that benefit from increased productivity. “Why as equity investors do we care about these issues? Despite being in great shape, we think that global capitalists are going to be getting an even greater share of the wealth pie over the next few years, as capitalists benefit disproportionately from globalization and the productivity boom, at the relative expense of labor. [We] are very relaxed about these issues.
“By contrast, the bottom 40% account for only 10% of total income. The top 10% earn over four times as much as the bottom 40% combined. The share of the wealth continues to be even more aggressively skewed, with the top 10% accounting for 57% of the national wealth, as they did in 2001. In total, the top 20% account for 68% of total income; the bottom 40%, for just 9%.”
Where in society does the vast bulk of deprivation, poverty, lack of education, crime, violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, despair and unfulfilled lives reside? In the bottom 40%, of course. Why? Because they have a tiny fraction of the financial pie to cater for an enormous number of people. America has a population of about 300 million. 40% equates to 120 MILLION PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! These people are sentenced to lives of unrelenting misery. It would take a miracle for any of them to escape. They need to be stunningly beautiful, or superlatively skilled at sport or entertainment, or intellectual geniuses, or criminal masterminds who never get caught, or the luckiest people on earth to escape their fate. 99.99% never do. Most of them are African Americans, Hispanics and white “trailer trash”. All of the resources they need to have a hope in life have been channelled instead to an elite of bloated, self-indulgent people who are racist and sexist to the core, and who have absolute contempt for poor people. Secretly, they wish them all dead. They consider them a burden, a permanent drain on society, a cesspool of human squalor from which all crime emanates.
If you belong to the 40%, the 120 million, who are forced to share 9% of the national wealth between you – less than a quarter of your fair due of 40% – then you might as well turn to crime too. Is it even crime? The rich people have stolen your share. Aren’t they the real criminals? Who’s arresting them and locking them up? No one. Why not? Because they own the law, they own the legislature and they decide what is and what is not legal. Anything they do is legal; anything hostile to their interests is illegal.
Of course, the big question is this: why do the 120 million tolerate it? Why aren’t they fighting back, why aren’t they arming themselves, why aren’t they out on the streets protesting every day? Why, like the millions of Jews who shuffled unresistingly into the Nazi gas chambers, do they do nothing? If the 120 million righteously rose up as one, they would destabilize the nation overnight. Things would HAVE to change. The powers-that-be would be forced to address their grievances. So, to all of those 120 million – what’s stopping you? What are you waiting for? Aren’t justice, a fair chance, and an equal opportunity in life worth fighting for? If you don’t fight for your rights, do you deserve to have any rights? Don’t you deserve the shit the rich give you? If you’re prepared to accept it then you’re acknowledging that it’s all you’re fit for.
The Global Elite act with a single mind – they want to drive down costs to the lowest levels possible, regardless of the impact on the ordinary working people, thus maximizing their profits. They are backed by the law, by the politicians who work for them, by their “enforcers” in the police and army. An ultra-capitalist in Russia, America, Britain or India will happily move his company from Russia, America, Britain or India to any other country with cheaper workers and lower costs. They couldn’t care less about the health, wealth and welfare of their fellow countrymen. All they care about is profit. The Old World Order are organized for global domination. On the other hand, no one represents the global interests of the people. Workers in different countries are at each other’s throats, financially undercutting each other in a savage race to the bottom. It’s time to change the channel. It’s time for the working people to turn on the ultra-capitalists and start making them savagely undercut each other. Any ultra-capitalist who does not pay a higher percentage of profits to his workers will have his profits expropriated by law, in the name of the people.
“The point here, again, is that the rich are feeling a great deal happier about their prospects, than the ‘average’ American. And as the rich are accounting for an ever larger share of wealth and spending, it is their actions that are dictating economic demand, not the actions of the ‘average’ American.”
What is the implicit message to the “average” American? You are a pointless irrelevance. The rich are the only people who matter. You, on the other hand, are like the background noise, the “static”, the irritating interference that ruins the signal. The American economy is designed by the rich for the rich and it’s their behaviour that determines the wealth and health or otherwise of the economy. Of course, if there’s a crash then the rich will immediately turn to the poor sucker ordinary Joes to pick up the tab. It’s time to make the “average” American much happier about their prospects, and the rich a lot less happy.
“The richest quintile are primarily to blame for the overall fall in the savings rate in recent years – although their low savings behavior has likely been joined in the past few years by the housing-pumped non-plutonomist US consumer. The rich are being perfectly rational. As their wealth/income ratios have been rising, and as we highlighted earlier, the latest SCF data suggests wealth/income has grown even larger, why should they not consume from their wealth rather than just their income? The more rich people there are in an economy, and the more affluent they feel (as they do right now), the more likely we believe an economy will be to experience falling savings rates. When your wealth has soared, the need to save diminishes. Rational, but apparently a conundrum and an accident waiting to happen, according to the perma-bears. Not to us.”
In 2008, it was conclusively proved that it was an accident waiting to happen. So much for these overpaid, talentless Citigroup clowns. Where’s your crystal ball is now, fools?
The Citigroup analysts ask the question: “Risks – What could go wrong?”
“Our whole plutonomy thesis is based on the idea that the rich will keep getting richer. This thesis is not without its risks. For example, a policy error leading to asset deflation, would likely damage plutonomy. Furthermore, the rising wealth gap between the rich and poor will probably at some point lead to a political backlash. Whilst the rich are getting a greater share of the wealth, and the poor a lesser share, political enfranchisement remains as was – one person, one vote (in the plutonomies).”
The backlash is here. NEVER vote for a mainstream political party. It’s the same as voting directly for the OWO. Vote the mainstream parties out of office. It’s time for a new politics, based on new parties that owe nothing to the OWO.
“At some point it is likely that labor will fight back against the rising profit share of the rich and there will be a political backlash against the rising wealth of the rich. This could be felt through higher taxation (on the rich or indirectly through higher corporate taxes/regulation) or through trying to protect indigenous laborers, in a push-back on globalization – either anti-immigration, or protectionism. We don’t see this happening yet, though there are signs of rising political tensions. However we are keeping a close eye on developments.”
The fight back has begun. The rising profit share of the rich must be halted and reversed. Higher taxation of the rich, capped salaries for the rich, higher corporate taxation and increased regulation are all necessary to destroy the power of the privileged elite. It’s time to crank up the political tension. It’s time for “developments”.
“This lies at the heart of our plutonomy thesis: that the rich are the dominant source of income, wealth and demand in plutonomy countries such as the UK, US, Canada and Australia, countries that have an economically liberal approach to wealth creation.”
It’s not wealth “creation” but wealth “appropriation” i.e. the fat cats, the robber barons, and the carpetbaggers grabbing as much of the pie as they can. Any decent country should be economically illiberal towards excessive wealth for private individuals. A nation’s wealth should be fairly shared amongst its people. It’s their wealth.
“Secondly, we believe that the rich are going to keep getting richer in coming years, as capitalists (the rich) get an even bigger share of GDP as a result, principally, of globalization. We expect the global pool of labor in developing economies to keep wage inflation in check, and profit margins rising – good for the wealth of capitalists, relatively bad for developed market unskilled/outsource-able labor. This bodes well for companies selling to or servicing the rich.”
“…relatively bad for developed market unskilled/outsource-able labor…” – now there’s the truth! Globalisation, of the type envisaged by the OWO, is a catastrophe for all working people. It is simply a means for the ultra-capitalists to make even larger profits by playing off workers in different parts of the world against each other. They want working people to adopt a “cut-throat” strategy: one worker in a state of absolute poverty will accept relative poverty as an enormous improvement, and he will happily undercut the pay of another worker, causing the other to lose his job.
“Divide and rule” – that has always been the central mantra of the OWO.
The people mustn’t let themselves be divided. The OWO’s globalisation plans must be stopped. The only acceptable globalisation project is the New World Order: the final overthrow of the OWO.
******
In another industry note dated September 29, 2006 and entitled “The Plutonomy Symposium – Rising Tides Lifting Yachts” (another catchy title!), our intrepid band of Citigroup analysts, treated us to more of their wonderful vision of the world.
“Time to re-commit to plutonomy stocks,” they declared. “Binge on Bling.” They kindly provided a definition of bling: Bling – the imaginary sound that light makes when it hits a diamond according to the rap artist B.G. (2005). Source: Wikipedia.
“The Uber-rich, the plutonomists, are likely to see net worth income ratios surge, driving luxury consumption.”
Why are the super-rich so keen on luxury consumption? There’s only so much caviar you can eat before it becomes tiresome, so much champagne you can drink before it starts tasting like plonk, so many luxury cars you can own before you stuff them in your enormous garage and forget all about them. You can’t drive two cars at once, or live in your five luxury homes at the same time. Three quarters of your designer clothes will remain in the wardrobe, used once and then forgotten. You have a shining Rolex. Big deal. Does it tell the time any better than a plastic digital watch?
Much of luxury consumption is actually about something else: status, prestige, power. The rich buy certain luxury items simply to prove that they are rich; to ensure that everyone else knows how rich and powerful they are. A Rolex isn’t a watch; it’s a weapon of status, designed to be beyond the reach of an ordinary person. Its value is as a signifier of wealth and exclusivity, not as an instrument for time keeping. So, what should ordinary people do when they are in the presence of status signifiers? They should show absolute CONTEMPT.
“What could go wrong?” the Citigroup ask, wringing their hands once more at the prospect of the rich finally facing justice.
“Beyond war, inflation, the end of the technology/productivity wave, and financial collapse, we think the most potent and shortterm threat would be societies demanding a more ‘equitable’ share of wealth.”
Yes, we do demand it.
“To us there are certain economies, driven by massive income and wealth inequality – plutonomies – where the rich are so rich that their behavior overwhelms that of the ‘average’ or median consumer. Last year, for example, we suggested that in the US, the top 20% of consumers might account for nearly 60% of income and spending. The bottom 20% by contrast account, on our data, for about 3% of income and spending.
“A second conclusion of our analysis was that the forces which had driven the recent 20 year rise in income inequality were likely to continue over the next few years. And a third conclusion was that Plutonomy would likely drive a positive operating environment for companies selling to or servicing the rich.
“Over the last 20 years or so, in certain countries, the rich have been getting substantially richer. [The] share of the top 1% of the population of income has grown substantially in countries such as the US, UK and Canada. The countries, which apparently tolerate income inequality, are what we call plutonomy countries – economies powered by a relatively small number of rich people.”
So there you have it: the people who live in America, Britain and Canada apparently “tolerate income inequality”. Did anyone ever ask them? Did they discuss it? Were national debates held? Did they vote on it? Anyone who lives in these countries knows that their opinion was never solicited on whether bankers should get obscene bonuses, CEOs ludicrous remuneration packages, sports stars absurdly high salaries for kicking, throwing and hitting balls of various shapes around various types of field, movie stars for pretending to be other people, models for being super-skinny dummies on which to hang implausible fashions, talk-show hosts for rabbiting on about trivia, advertisers for promoting brands manufactured in sweat shops that are little more than concentration camps for slave labour etc. No, oddly enough, the people were never asked about any of this. It was done in their name but without their consent. The same old story.
That’s democracy for you. The only issues you’re never allowed to vote on in a democracy are the ones that actually count. The ultimate taboo in a democracy is the issue of whether the wealth of the super-rich should be controlled by law. That is one debate that certainly won’t be coming to you any time in eternity.
“The rise of this inequality is not universal. In a number of other countries – the non-plutonomies – income inequality has remained around the levels of the mid 1970s. Egalitarianism rules. Japan, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands.”
You can almost hear the Citigroup boys and girls screaming, “Boo! Is there something wrong with these folks? How can they possibly support something so weird as egalitarianism?”
“Finally, as with previous waves of plutonomy – such as sixteenth century Spain, seventeenth century Holland, Industrial Revolution Britain, the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties in the US – the ongoing technological revolution has generated a new wave of ultra-high net worth individuals.
“The conclusion? We should worry less about what the average consumer – say the 50th percentile – is going to do, when that consumer is (we think) less relevant to the aggregate data than how the wealthy feel and what they are doing. This is simply a case of mathematics, not morality.”
Really? It sounds much more like a moral issue than a mathematical one. If the morals change then so would the mathematics. The mathematics is a consequence of the morality, or immorality to be more exact. “Playing plutonomy. So far we’ve looked at the theory. But how do we make money out of this?” Ah, now we get down to the important question.
“As Ultra-High Net Worth investors can afford risk and illiquidity, they do require a non-bureaucratic investment process in order to maintain their first mover advantage and subsequent rewards due to scarce capacity. They tend to have access to the best managers and information and seek out and drive financial innovations and creativity. Another social implication is the access of charities and foundations to these financial innovations. Large foundations usually have boards and steering committees comprised of wealthy individuals or family trust representatives.”
The Citigroup cheerleaders for the ultra-rich haven’t quite finished: “Perhaps the most immediate challenge to Plutonomy comes from the political process. Ultimately, the rise in income and wealth inequality to some extent is an economic disenfranchisement of the masses to the benefit of the few. However in democracies this is rarely tolerated forever. We see the biggest threat to plutonomy as coming from a rise in political demands to reduce income inequality, spread the wealth more evenly, and challenge forces such as globalization which have benefited profit and wealth growth.
“But a substantial percentage of Americans are in favor of repealing the estate tax (though only 2%, roughly, will ever pay it), which does not resonate as a population determined to destroy wealth inequality. The political process is the greatest threat to plutonomy. We don’t see it as a threat today in most countries. But we are alert to changes here.
“The rich earn a lot. They are worth a lot. They don’t tend to save out of income. They are apparently impervious to US$70 oil, run negative savings rates, and are, we believe, largely to ‘blame’, for the negative savings rates in plutonomy countries. Not that rich people in non plutonomy countries aren’t doing exactly the same, or feeling the same forces. It’s just that in egalitarian countries like Japan or most of Europe ex the UK, there simply aren’t enough rich folks to influence the data in the way that there are in plutonomy countries like the UK, US or Canada.
“Our own view is that the rich are likely to keep getting even richer, and enjoy an even greater share of the wealth pie over the coming years. We think rising profit margins will keep profit growth strong, and equities are at any rate undervalued. And the rich tend to be disproportionately exposed to the equity markets. While there are challenges to this, not least through populations/the political process demanding a more “equitable” share of the wealth, in the short term we think the trend of the rich getting richer is likely to persist. Plutonomy related stocks should, we think, continue to see strong demand and inflation beating pricing power.”
So, have you heard the gospel of the rich loud and clear? Have you raised your hands to the heavens and yelled Hallelujah?! Or have you called on the god of justice to bring nemesis to these monsters? Globalisation is their project to drive down wages to the lowest possible levels, to maximise their profits. They have no interest in the human race, just in themselves. The “war” is not between whites and blacks – there is no Helter Skelter coming. The war is between the ordinary people and the Old World Order, between the ordinary people and those few narcissists who think that they deserve to be super-rich i.e. that instead of money being invested in the people it should be invested in them to satisfy their self-indulgence.
The super-rich are not in the business of public service. Self-service is the only game they play. They despise the people. Anyone who wants to have an excessive share of the pie is guilty of crimes against the people. The super-rich are the enemies of the people. The war is against them and all those who give them succour. The human race cannot claim its divine inheritance until those who have set themselves up as false gods on this earth are toppled once and forever. It’s time for all decent people to come together to attack the cancer at the heart of the world – the super-rich, those who think they are infinitely more deserving than everyone else. Those who rig the system to give themselves an unbeatable advantage. Those who reflect the “insolence of wealth”.
But the super-rich have committed a catastrophic error. They are returning to the sort of hyper capitalism that characterised the 19th century and which gave rise to its dialectical antithesis: communism. Globalisation is the rebirth of the unacceptable face of capitalism: infinitely greedy, callous, brutal, uncaring and arrogant. They think they are the masters of the universe and can get away with anything. They think no one will resist them. But a dialectical response will inevitably be called forth. One thing’s for sure. Democracy can’t help. Obama has demonstrated that he won’t change a thing.
If these Citigroup industry notes are not a manifesto for the ordinary American people to rise up and reclaim their Republic from the Old World Order who have stolen it from the People, then what is? Will you go on being pathetic, weak, second class citizens, uncomplaining as the super-rich walk all over you forever? Surely you’re better than that. RISE! Smite the unrighteous. Strike down the super-rich who seek to hold back the rest of the nation simply to indulge their own greed selfishness and vanity. Greed is good, they say. Any moral person would say Fairness is good. Where is the fairness in America?
__________
Hyenas and Wildebeest for Ultra High Net Worth Individuals:
Would you like to read the thoughts of a master of the universe, one of those infinitely talented and equally infinitely rewarded hedge fund chiefs without whom the human race surely could not survive, let alone prosper. Here is a memo by Tom Barrack to his minions at Colony Capital, describing the epiphany that the Twilight books worked in him. We think Tom has missed his calling in life. He should get a job programming prolefeed machines; sentimental drivel for zombies.
Over to you, Tom:
Gang,
The last few weeks have been an incredible adventure. Thanks to you, Colony is on fire across the globe and we are conquering new frontiers and new themes on a daily basis in almost every venue in which we conduct our business. You are the A Team and I am deeply grateful and proud of what all of you have “teamed” to our reality. I am going to share with you a personal breakthrough, which does not relate directly to our business but does reflect upon how we all look at all the “stuff” that drives us on a daily basis. Many of you will think that I have lost my mind or have finally experienced a mystical intervention of “my feminine side”. I promise you, it is neither.
I have had an agonizingly tough couple of weeks and have survived on pure adrenaline in the midst of tumult, controversy, tough negotiations with business counterparts, and a grueling travel itinerary that was challenging even for me. One of the recent meetings was in Turkey with our Mars partners. I made arrangements to have a bit of yacht time with them. When the meeting got cancelled I did the unthinkable for me, have a little down time all to myself. I boarded the gorgeous but stark Turkish Gulet right as the sun was setting. As I made my way into the main cabin I saw something so frightening it left me speechless. There, staring up at me from the ebony coffee table was a book. On the cover was a gorgeous red apple nestled between two soft and caring hands.
Between the hands were written the words that strike terror in the hearts of every macho, red-blooded male…TWILIGHT. AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!! Alone, on a boat, with no wifi, no satellite, no magazines, no newspapers, just me and this book. This piece of chick lit, teeny bopper heartthrob stuff. Terror on the high seas! I wanted nothing to do with any of it. Not relevant, not interesting.
As I sat there with nothing to do the book kept taunting me. I began to think that there must be something I don’t understand. What could it be? What is it all about? Women don’t just read these books, they live them. They become each paragraph. I picked it up, but then immediately dropped it like a hot coal. What if someone saw me reading this? My macho reputation would be finished! I would be kicked out of the bench press section of the gym. My polo compadres would send me packing to the pony rides and my surfing buddies would exile me to the kiddie pool.
But it was a long night and there was absolutely nothing, and I mean NOTHING else to do. Long story short – not only did I read Twilight, I read the other two as well!! I was fascinated, captivated even. However, what intrigued me was not the same thing that hooked the millions of women whose lives and had been changed by this series, but something else entirely.
For you male Colonists, here is a brief synopsis. Stubborn teenage girl meets a handsome but moody vampire and against all odds they fall in love.
Here is my macho take – Stephanie Meyer is a total genius. As I flipped through the pages I was startled by the lack of detailed description of Bella and the surgical and illuminating development of Edward. As hard as I tried I could not really picture Bella, but I was grabbed by Edward’s character – gorgeous, super human, super strong, super fast and most importantly encompassing the wisdom of a 109-year-old man in the guise of a 17-year-old boy.
The description of Bella on the other hand, was not moving, or compelling. What I realized is the genius of Stephanie was that she knew that by keeping the character generic, any and every woman could climb inside and picture herself in Bella’s shoes. Thus the fascination and deep emotional reactions to what many (including myself) thought was a foolish teenage trashy novel.
I definitely got that the “anticipation” was much more romantic and sexy than the “consummation” to the woman. Slow, patient, caring, tender…. (guys have you heard those words before?) I found him incredibly appealing as he was taking care of Bella, putting her first, distancing himself from her to protect her and yet never being able to get her out of his mind. The relationship stood the test of time through many years, other men, family challenges and misconceptions of valiant and loving acts. A human relationship with a vampire is challenging on many levels, the least of which being you get older as your partner remain timeless. It was enticing, captivating, alluring… and dangerous. Through it all she believed that she could do it…. change her life… change his life…make it different…in spite of what conventional wisdom dictated.
Every woman longs for the anticipation, the romance, the journey, the taboo, the patience, and the attentiveness. Men, however, are all about the destination, the result, the speed and the outcome. The journey is merely penance to get to the destination. Which is why despite the vampires and werewolves, this book is kryptonite to most men.
In a world of technology these books are unique. There is so little imagination left in most of forms of entertainment today. See it, Google it, play it, do it…there is very little old fashioned make believe anymore. I could go on and on, but I know by now many of you are saying, “what happened to our leader?”… “Maybe Lebanese really is a sexual preference rather than a nationality”. I promise none of the above.
Here is my point. The idea of devoting half a day to reading these books was something that never, NEVER, entered my mind as something I would ever, EVER do. I hated them. I mocked them. It made no difference to me that over 20 million books were sold, movies made, and Team Edward and Team Jacob pandemonium had engulfed the world. I was simply stuck in my point of view.
Once I ventured into the books I learned something. I now understand why some women are emotionally altered from merely reading a book. I have also gained a deeper realization that understanding the circumstances and points of views of those with whom we are negotiating, working, living, loving or fighting is the key determinant factor in an enduring relationship. In everyday business, we think we know it all. We are the captains of our industry and we possess all the global knowledge. That which we don’t understand we push a button and it appears before us. We are lacking creativity…. it is hard for us to dream… harder for us to change our lives… hard to live in a situation that other people view as unconventional. And for sure, we all have no idea on how to be satisfied with the status quo.
It is time for all of us to become more creative, spend more time outside of the strict arithmetic cadence of our business, and understand foreign points of view. Most importantly we must really find the “moment”. Anticipation is everything. The process of getting to a destination is the objective and the more illumination, color, and vitality we give to the “road” the less important the final destination becomes. It will be what it will be!!!
On this 4th of July, slow down, take a breath, rediscover your imagination and create some excitement in your life. Take a few days to expand on the qualities of the character you would really like to become. Then live it, do it, become it! The better you are as an individual, the better we will be as a team.
I feel renewed and refreshed, having gotten out of my comfort zone and experiencing something so totally out of my normal realm. I don’t get it…. but I feel it. Taking the agenda-less time to absorb a point of view that I had ignored while loved ones around me relished in it, was an oasis for my soul. Having been unwilling to investigate the cause of such a startling movement until now was ignorant. Move your cheese!!!! Break through the comfort barriers, you can handle it whatever it is. The earth is turning on its axis. Planets and moons and suns are in orbit. Gravity is pulling and tugging, and molecules and quarks are warring inside of us. We need movement to live…
Do it Now!
******
Tom
The “musings” of such billionaires are beyond parody. But there’s even worse dross than this to be had. Ray Dalio at Bridgewater Associates presented his “Stepford” employees (i.e. it would be inaccurate to describe them as human) with some 300 principles concerning how to succeed in life, or should that be how to become a deranged billionaire suffering from every mental illness conceivable?
Every Bridgewater employee is expected to memorize all of the principles and live by them. Tapes of the principles are distributed. Dalio has even been personally known to hand out signed copies of his book at a town hall. Employees are encouraged to quote the principles continually and use them throughout the day. He refers to those who reference the principles most assiduously as “culture carriers”.
Would you work for this company? It’s a cult. Everyone has to accept the indoctrination. Everyone has to adhere to the “culture”. No deviation is tolerated. There are no freethinkers, no rebels, no individuals.
Check out the principles for yourself:http://www.bwater.com/
Dalio is a billionaire hedge fund manager. He makes more in a day than most people earn in their lifetime. In 2008, his salary was $780 million, enough to pay for the education of 400,000 American students for a year, but who cares about education as long as Ray has his cash? Fuck society, right? Privately wealthy individuals are much more important than education for the proles and plebs, right? What do the trash need an education for anyway?
This billionaire thinks he has provided the recipe for a “wonderful life”. To other eyes, it looks like a life not worth living. He’ll probably be running for the Presidency soon.
These people are the antithesis of enlightenment and fulfilment, of a human race with its starry gaze directed at the infinite possibilities of the farthest horizons. These pointless billionaires spend their lives looking at their wallets and nothing else.
They define the meaning of life as being rich. Full stop. That’s the great secret of existence. That’s all they have to say. All of Dalio’s “principles” are dehumanising instructions designed to turn people into terminators who will never stop until they are super-rich. They are machines without souls. They cannot be regarded as members of the human race. Their greed and desire for status, defined exclusively by wealth, is pathological. Most of these people should be locked up for the safety of others.
Dalio declares that Society is on the side of private wealth: “I believe that self-interest and society’s interests are generally symbiotic…That is why how much money people have earned is a rough measure of how much they gave society what it wanted.” Nature too is on his side, he says. Nature is cruel. Reality is cruel. Society must reflect this cruelty. “Be a hyena,” Dalio instructs his employees. “Attack the wildebeest.”
When a pack of hyenas takes down a young wildebeest, is that good or evil? At face value, that might not be “good” because it seems cruel, and the poor wildebeest suffers and dies. Some people might even say that the hyenas are evil. Yet this type of apparently “cruel” behavior exists throughout the animal kingdom. Like death itself, it is integral to the enormously complex and efficient system that has worked for as long as there has been life. It is good for both the hyenas who are operating in their self- interest and the interest of the greater system, including those of the wildebeest, because killing and eating the wildebeest fosters evolution (i.e., the natural process of improvement). In fact, if you changed anything about the way that dynamic works, the overall outcome would be worse…Like the hyenas attacking the wildebeest, successful people might not even know if or how their pursuit of self-interest helps society, but it typically does.”
So, America’s top hedge fund manager sees himself and his employees as hyenas, preying on the rest of us, the dumb wildebeest. And that certainly explains a lot about the way the American economy is run: the rich trampling over the poor, exploiting them however they see fit. If the suckers tolerate it then fuck them, right? If they had any guts they’d fight back, but they’re just cowardly wildebeest, right?
The point that these billionaires fail to see with their ridiculous “law of the jungle” big talk is that if the law of the jungle really did apply then muggers would come round to their mansions, shoot them dead and take everything they had. The billionaires would suddenly discover that they were the wildebeest, being preyed on by the hyenas. And they would have no right to complain, would they? If you live by the sword you die by the sword. If you preach the “moral” of hyenas and wildebeest then you’d better be the toughest guy in the world, because there will be plenty of hyenas willing to take you down. If you talk the talk you have to walk the walk. The last people who could survive in a real jungle are these billionaires. They could never win a physical fight. They would be eaten alive in a trial of strength. They see themselves as hyenas when they are nothing but parasites, feeding off the people.
“I believe that self-interest and society’s interests are generally symbiotic.” –Ray Dalio
OK, Ray, thanks for your inspiring “philosophy”. We consider it in our self-interest to remove all your money from you, you dumb fuck…so you won’t have any objections, will you? It’s just symbiosis, you see: we take all your money from you and distribute amongst the people and society gets better, right?!
“That is why how much money people have earned is a rough measure of how much they gave society what it wanted.” –Ray Dalio
Did we want the Credit Crunch, the Recession, the Depression, you klutz? Dalio should consider the story of the sacred grove of the Golden Bough. J.G. Frazer tells the tale: “In this sacred grove there grew a certain tree round which at any time of the day, and probably far into the night, a grim figure might be seen to prowl…He was a priest and a murderer; and the man for whom he looked was sooner or later to murder him and hold the priesthood in his stead. Such was the rule of the sanctuary. A candidate for the priesthood could only succeed to office by slaying the priest, and having slain him, he retained office till he was himself slain by someone stronger or craftier.”
So would Dalio with all his bluster about hyenas and wildebeest play this game: anyone who challenged him then fought and killed him could take everything he owned? To quote his own words, “Like the hyenas attacking the wildebeest, successful people might not even know if or how their pursuit of self-interest helps society, but it typically does.” Would he allow himself to be attacked by hyenas in the pursuit of the self-interest of other members of society? One suspects that suddenly Dalio would be adopting an entirely different ideology if offered that choice.
We suggest that anyone who wants to live in “Billionaires’ Row” should be removed from the protection of the law. Then we’ll see how they fare when the law of the hyenas, of which they are such eager advocates, applies.
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Goldman Sachs staff are now accustomed to saying, “LDL” (Let’s discuss live). The reason for this is to avoid writing anything in an email that could later be used against them in a court of law.
Goldman Sachs live by 14 Business Principles. No 14 is “integrity and honesty are at the heart of our business.” Surely that should read “corruption and dishonesty”?
Goldman Sachs has been described as a religious cult rather than an investment bank. CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who claimed that his bank was performing “God’s work”, is in the habit of sending weekly voicemail “mind bullets” to his cult members. Blankfein at one point claimed that he had “attained perfection”. Each night, the cult members are encouraged to recite the 14 “totemic” business principles, amongst which is “Without the best people, we cannot be the best firm.” Shouldn’t that be, “Without the greediest people, we cannot be the greediest firm”?
Blankfein, Dalio and Barrack are no doubt another three disciples in the long line of demented worshippers of Ayn Rand, the mad Queen of libertarians.
Effigies of Rand should be burned in every city. It’s hard to think of any individual who has had a more malign effect on modern America, and hence the world.
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