| Contents Website improvements Recent posts Who owns the world? The Secrets of Silicon Valley: What Big Tech Doesn’t Want You to Know |
Website improvements
We’ve recently made some major improvements to our websites.
- Our WordPress service on BeyondMoney.net has been upgraded to a paid “premium” subscription, so viewers will no longer have to put up with the ads that WordPress inserts into all “free” sites.
- Our Beyond Money Podcast page has been redesigned. We hope visitors will find it much more appealing and user friendly.
- Important case studies in exchange alternatives have long been resident on our other website, ReinventingMoney.com. These pages have been revised and the link has been added to the menu at BeyondMoney.net to give them greater exposure.
_______________________________
Recent posts
New podcast episode with John Attridge
In this episode, we speak with John Attridge, CEO of BBX-UK and Ireland, a reciprocal trade community which is part of the BBX network of trade exchanges that spans 14 countries and together service more than 90,000 customers.
The empire vs. journalism and free speech
John Pilger delivers a warning on behalf of Julian Assange who continues to be persecuted for exposing crimes committed by high government officials: “Speak up now,” Pilger said, or face “the silence of a new kind of tyranny.”
Make America sane again
As in the presidential primary of 2016, The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is again trying to tilt the contest to favor its anointed ones. Likewise, other institutions of the “establishment,” like Google, are imposing obstacles in the way of candidates who are challenging the military-industrial-banking-corporate complex (Tulsi Gabbard, Democratic Presidential Candidate, Sues Google for $50 Million). Now is the time for the American people to stand up and use their power to challenge the political establishment…
_______________________________________
Who owns the world?
When we talk about income and wealth disparities and the concentration of power, people usually want to know, who are the people at the top of the pyramid? This 2017 study by Oxfam International names them: Just 8 men own same wealth as half the world.
Excerpts:
Eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, according to a new report published by Oxfam today [16 January 2017] to mark the annual meeting of political and business leaders in Davos.
Oxfam’s report, ‘An economy for the 99 percent’, shows that the gap between rich and poor is far greater than had been feared. It details how big business and the super-rich are fueling the inequality crisis by dodging taxes, driving down wages and using their power to influence politics. It calls for a fundamental change in the way we manage our economies so that they work for all people, and not just a fortunate few.
New and better data on the distribution of global wealth – particularly in India and China – indicates that the poorest half of the world has less wealth than had been previously thought. Had this new data been available last year, it would have shown that nine billionaires owned the same wealth as the poorest half of the planet, and not 62, as Oxfam calculated at the time. …Continue reading
The full report highlights six false assumptions upon which current political economy is based. I summarize them here:
False assumption #1: The market is always right, and the role of governments should be minimized. In reality, the market has failed to prove itself the best way of organizing and valuing much of our common life or designing our common future.
False assumption #2: Corporations need to maximize profits and returns to shareholders at all costs. Maximizing profits disproportionately boosts the incomes of the already rich while putting unnecessary pressure on workers, farmers, consumers, suppliers, communities and the environment.
False assumption #3: Extreme individual wealth is benign and a sign of success and inequality is not relevant. Instead, the emergence of a new gilded age, with vast amounts of wealth concentrated in too few hands–the majority male–is economically inefficient, politically corrosive, and undermines our collective progress.
False assumption #4: GDP growth should be the primary goal of policy making. Yet as Robert Kennedy said in 1968: ‘GDP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile.’
False assumption #5: Our economic model is gender-neutral. In fact, cuts in public services, job security and labour rights hurt women most.
False assumption #6: Our planet’s resources are limitless. This is not only a false assumption, but one which could lead to catastrophic consequences for our planet.
To complete the picture, I recommend, Giants: the Global Power Elite, by Peter Phillips. This book describes the various groups and organizations in realms like finance, education, and the media that support and maintain the empire. _______________________________________
The Secrets of Silicon Valley: What Big Tech Doesn’t Want You to Know
Once a sleepy farming region, Silicon Valley is now the hub of a global industry that is transforming the economy, shaping our political discourse, and changing the very nature of our society. So what happened? How did this remarkable change take place? Why is this area the epicenter of this transformation? Discover the dark secrets behind the real history of Silicon Valley and the Big Tech giants in this important edition of The Corbett Report.
Transcript and Sources at: https://www.corbettreport.com/siliconvalley/
_______________________________________
As summer fades into fall I look forward to cooler weather and planting my winter garden.
Best wishes,
Thomas
Beyond Money 