Black Rock. Vanguard. Raytheon.

(08-15-2023 03:01 AM)TripleA Wrote:  Black Rock. Vanguard. Raytheon.

What part of 97% of the wealth is controlled by 3% of the population do people not grasp? When I was a young man the Pri in Mexico had the same ratio within their country. They are worse off now than ever because of it. The Western World is under attack by the overlords beckoning the poor masses to finish off the only group which has ever held the super wealthy in check, the educated middle class. The poor can't get organized enough to fight the technology and money of the wealthy who would only deny them jobs and destroy them with no hope to escape poverty. But for that to happen, the middle class must be destroyed. Only then will the 3% impose a tyranny upon the poor masses the likes of which has not been seen in history.

Can you say plutarchy...

Yes, mutual funds are a thing. The rest of us have known this for a while.

Vanguard is owned by its funds. The funds are owned by millions of people in their 401k and taxable investment accounts.

It's those same 3 entities who are buying up real estate by the droves. Home ownership, such as it is, has always been an illusion and is becoming a thing of the past. These companies buy up distressed properties, rehab them and then rent them out or they buy up whole unfinished planned neighborhoods to finish them and...you guessed it, rent them out.

"You will own nothing and be happy".

Hell, our entire world is ruled by a minute fraction of a percentage of the population in whose possession resides the bulk of the worlds wealth.

(08-15-2023 05:34 AM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  Can you say plutarchy...

At the end of the Roman Empire, the wealthy bid on becoming Emperor and the Senate allowed it because they used the bid to help pay to keep the government functioning. I knew we were in deep pooh when states rushed to the lottery to raise funds a nickel a ticket. The rise of lotto decimated key stoned point of purchase items which once made up a good percentage of 7-11 store purchases. People bought fewer soft drinks, snacks and chips and beer so they could buy lotto tickets, or scratch games. The state can't tax the lotto ticket, just the winnings, but the stores only made a nickel for each ticket sold. Yeah, they could get a nice % if the jackpot was purchased in their store but the odds? The items people quit buying were double your money purchases which help the stores sell gas which they paid a lot for and made little on, but the state taxed the hell out of that!

The next thing you know 7-11 stores are cutting staff. They simply weren't making enough as lotto short circuited their profit margins.

This is how the Feds think when they just print more money. They drive down the value of the dollar and encourage inflation. Well now that most of the nation lives paycheck to paycheck there is no elasticity in budgets to allow for an emergency expenditure which accounts for most divorces, and most poor credit ratings. Washington doesn't care, they've killed the goose which laid the golden egg of employment when they drove mom and pop out of business by selling perks and favors to Chains who keep the hours down, so they don't have to pay benefits.

Perks and favors for the super wealthy are destroying upward mobility and hope in this nation.

(08-15-2023 05:35 AM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  Yes, mutual funds are a thing. The rest of us have known this for a while.

Vanguard is owned by its funds. The funds are owned by millions of people in their 401k and taxable investment accounts.

How many owners of the mutual funds vote with the shares they own? Point being mutual fund owners pretty much cede their voting to the companies providing the funds and thus give a few people way too much power.

(08-15-2023 05:35 AM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  Yes, mutual funds are a thing. The rest of us have known this for a while.

Vanguard is owned by its funds. The funds are owned by millions of people in their 401k and taxable investment accounts.

My gosh you're naïve.

(08-15-2023 05:22 AM)JRsec Wrote:  What part of 97% of the wealth is controlled by 3% of the population do people not grasp? When I was a young man the Pri in Mexico had the same ratio within their country. They are worse off now than ever because of it. The Western World is under attack by the overlords beckoning the poor masses to finish off the only group which has ever held the super wealthy in check, the educated middle class. The poor can't get organized enough to fight the technology and money of the wealthy who would only deny them jobs and destroy them with no hope to escape poverty. But for that to happen, the middle class must be destroyed. Only then will the 3% impose a tyranny upon the poor masses the likes of which has not been seen in history.

What do they not grasp? They're force-fed bitterness and rage for profit, by social media companies using algorithms that design content to make users angry. Frances Haugen laid it all out, Congresspersons nodded their heads and said they'd get right on it, which meant looking down to tweet "AOC is a doodoohead!" and the masses obediently repeated it.

They divert you with "Look! A dude in a dress! And he's reading The Cat in the Hat to a throbbing disco backbeat!"

They divert you with "Save them little babies gettin' 'borted!"

They divert you with "Them imgrants is gon' tekk yer jerb!"

They divert you with "If you cut taxes on the rich, there's more money in the economy! Except during inflation, when if you cut taxes on the rich it lowers inflation because less taxes means less money in the economy."

You're wrong, though, about mobilizing the poor to finish off the middle class. They've mobilized the middle class to destroy its brothers and sisters, and the working class to do the same to theirs.

But at least, in this brave new world, every girls' basketball player will have a ******.

This is what encourages me more than anything with what's going on in this country. This type of thing used to literally only be a topic of the far left wing "Occupy Wallstreet" people, and now arguably just as many if not more people on the right have woken up to this corporate capture of everything in our lives.

(08-15-2023 07:15 AM)58-56 Wrote:  

(08-15-2023 05:22 AM)JRsec Wrote:  What part of 97% of the wealth is controlled by 3% of the population do people not grasp? When I was a young man the Pri in Mexico had the same ratio within their country. They are worse off now than ever because of it. The Western World is under attack by the overlords beckoning the poor masses to finish off the only group which has ever held the super wealthy in check, the educated middle class. The poor can't get organized enough to fight the technology and money of the wealthy who would only deny them jobs and destroy them with no hope to escape poverty. But for that to happen, the middle class must be destroyed. Only then will the 3% impose a tyranny upon the poor masses the likes of which has not been seen in history.

What do they not grasp? They're force-fed bitterness and rage for profit, by social media companies using algorithms that design content to make users angry. Frances Haugen laid it all out, Congresspersons nodded their heads and said they'd get right on it, which meant looking down to tweet "AOC is a doodoohead!" and the masses obediently repeated it.

They divert you with "Look! A dude in a dress! And he's reading The Cat in the Hat to a throbbing disco backbeat to children who shouldn't be exposed to perverted mentally ill people!" Not a diversion, a legitimate concern for any responsible morally upright person.

They divert you with "Save them little babies gettin' 'borted!" Not a diversion, a legitimate concern for any responsible morally upright person.

They divert you with "Them ILLEGAL imgrants is gon' tekk yer jerb!" Not a diversion, a legitimate concern for any responsible morally upright person.

They divert you with "If you cut taxes on the rich, there's more money in the economy! Except during inflation, when if you cut taxes on the rich it lowers inflation because less taxes means less money in the economy." Nonsense

You're wrong, though, about mobilizing the poor to finish off the middle class. They've mobilized the middle class to destroy its brothers and sisters, and the working class to do the same to theirs. Nonsense, there's no difference between the middle class and the working class

But at least, in this brave new world, every girls' basketball player will have a ******. That's the only thing you said that any rational person can agree with.

Unless I am missing some sarcasm somewhere the first 5 points sounds like something a leftist would say. Why? Because conditioning. If I am misunderstanding then I apologize, if I'm not then GTFO.

(08-15-2023 07:19 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  This is what encourages me more than anything with what's going on in this country. This type of thing used to literally only be a topic of the far left wing "Occupy Wallstreet" people, and now arguably just as many if not more people on the right have woken up to this corporate capture of everything in our lives.

I've long said that corporatism, and it's bed partner consumerism, is a far bigger problem than capitalism itself.

So how do you fix this? They own both political parties.

(08-15-2023 06:42 AM)miko33 Wrote:  

(08-15-2023 05:35 AM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  Yes, mutual funds are a thing. The rest of us have known this for a while.

Vanguard is owned by its funds. The funds are owned by millions of people in their 401k and taxable investment accounts.

How many owners of the mutual funds vote with the shares they own? Point being mutual fund owners pretty much cede their voting to the companies providing the funds and thus give a few people way too much power.

Vanguard is transparent about how they vote, they publish on their website. The investment stewardship team has principals of long term growth that they use to drive direction. It’s very transparent, and they act in the best interest of the fund holder.

They actually have a proxy vote pilot program giving people choice,, but with a broad index there are too many underlying stocks for individual vanguard shareholders to keep up with.

If you don’t agree with how they vote you can move to a different fund, or directly own the underlying stocks where you come back to the same issue. Not enough time.

This isn’t the Illuminati conspiracy you guys want to make it, it’s just how mutual funds have always worked.

(08-15-2023 07:34 AM)mlb Wrote:  So how do you fix this? They own both political parties.

Elvis says it doesn't need fixed. He's fine with being ruled.

(08-15-2023 07:42 AM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  

(08-15-2023 07:34 AM)mlb Wrote:  So how do you fix this? They own both political parties.

Elvis says it doesn't need fixed. He's fine with being ruled.

My whole point is that both parties have tried to divide us, make us worry about things like gay rights and abortion while they allowed these few people (companies) take more and more power over our every day lives. So instead of talking about the inherent risks of these corporations/funds we instead talk about things that in the grand scheme of things probably affect almost none of us directly. You see it every day on this site.

(08-15-2023 07:42 AM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  

(08-15-2023 07:34 AM)mlb Wrote:  So how do you fix this? They own both political parties.

Elvis says it doesn't need fixed. He's fine with being ruled.

Not my fault you don’t own investments.

(08-15-2023 07:47 AM)U_of_Elvis Wrote:  

(08-15-2023 07:42 AM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  

(08-15-2023 07:34 AM)mlb Wrote:  So how do you fix this? They own both political parties.

Elvis says it doesn't need fixed. He's fine with being ruled.

Not my fault you don’t own investments.

Not my fault you're ignorant. I have a portfolio that I manage myself. It's MINE, I don't pay anyone to take care of it. Now go get another jab so you'll feel better.

(08-15-2023 07:46 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(08-15-2023 07:42 AM)BartlettTigerFan Wrote:  

(08-15-2023 07:34 AM)mlb Wrote:  So how do you fix this? They own both political parties.

Elvis says it doesn't need fixed. He's fine with being ruled.

My whole point is that both parties have tried to divide us, make us worry about things like gay rights and abortion while they allowed these few people (companies) take more and more power over our every day lives. So instead of talking about the inherent risks of these corporations/funds we instead talk about things that in the grand scheme of things probably affect almost none of us directly. You see it every day on this site.

Even in this thread.

It probably can't be fixed, at least not in the short term, and we are headed for a substantial period of neo-feudalism. They've already won: they don't fly on the same airplanes, live in the same neighborhoods (or even any location you can access without passing a fortified gateway protected by armed security), eat the same food or send their children to the same schools. None of these burning issues have any meaning to them, they are simply soma for the masses.

And we should welcome the rule of our wealthy overlords, because they're much smarter than the rest of us, because they have more money.

But look, there's a dude in a dress, and someone mis-pronouned him. Her. Them. Quick, stop him/her/them with a tax cut.

(08-15-2023 07:32 AM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  

(08-15-2023 07:19 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  This is what encourages me more than anything with what's going on in this country. This type of thing used to literally only be a topic of the far left wing "Occupy Wallstreet" people, and now arguably just as many if not more people on the right have woken up to this corporate capture of everything in our lives.

I've long said that corporatism, and it's bed partner consumerism, is a far bigger problem than capitalism itself.

Capitalism is fine and a good thing as long as you understand it's limitations and don't expect capitalism to achieve things it's not designed to achieve. The fundamental end goal of capitalism is profit maximization. That's a great thing in markets with high competition and low barriers to entry and leads to innovation and growth. Where pure capitalism is not ideal is in areas where profit maximization comes at the expense of things we all agree are basic societal needs. We wouldn't want to have police and fire departments operating on a profit maximization model for example, no one except for the most out there libertarians actually want that.