I maintain, to this day, that members of 1% talk to each other and coordinate their actions...

[Junkdrawer]

I know that makes me a tinfoil idiot to many here. So be it.

I would call our predicament a class war if both sides fought. Right now, it looks to me like a class massacre.

[LiberalLoner]

1. I think there is some of that going on, especially with the Koch brothers,

but I'm almost scared to admit that because I'm worried it will be seen as conspiracy theory stuff.

I do think the billionaires like the Koch brothers hire various think tanks to come up with ways to push conservatism (and defend their greed) and that probably ends up looking like a big conspiracy because the right-wingers are very much into taking marching orders and hammering on the message of the day.

[Fumesucker]

2. Nah, their staff does that shit..

My people will call your people..

The big wheels set policy, the serfs execute that policy or else..

[librechik]

3. Not at all. It's not a conspiracy. It's a movement.

It continues over generations, it has a structured dogma that everyone in it knows about and sticks to despite challenges, and it has influence far beyond the qualities of the members. And the reason they all know about the dogma is they get the same education, they read the same books, and they all talk to each other at the many group meetings they attend together, including Republican get-togethers.

They are a movement and sometimes a cult. They operate proudly openly in public becasue they know they are in power. They don't have to hide their crimes. It's clear they won't be prosecuted for them.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Active, live, day-to-day coordination. And the more we pretend it isn't happening...

the bloodier the pulp we are being beaten to.

[Romulox]

4. Careful, or you'll have people calling for your banning... nt

[HiPointDem]

5. of course they do. they live in the same neighborhoods, go to the same schools, marry each

other, corporate boards are interlocked, etc.

the "ruling class" of a small town talks to each other & coordinates its actions. not a stretch to think the national ruling class does the same, & the international ruling class.

[RadiationTherapy]

6. Maintaining hegemony is nowhere near as blatant or bold as seizing power to begin with.

In other words, their talking and coordinating is to be expected because they have defined the status quo and need only maintain tack. Establishing that power to begin with is where the really crazy conspiracies were played out.

[white_wolf]

8. You aren't being paranoid, many people have commented on this.

Even the patron Saint of Capitalism (who is likely rolling over in his grave right now):

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public"

[leveymg]

9. Of course they do. What else do they scheme about during golf, in the boardroom, or over cocktails?

Songs for World Dominance and Class Domination

"Everybody wants to rule the world":

"The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway":

"Us and Them":

[Ganja Ninja]

10. One word: Libor

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/10/federal-reserve-of-new-york-libor-scandal_n_1661268.html

[Junkdrawer]

11. Just a peek under one bandaid. Wait until the whole festering wound is exposed.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002920720

[kestrel91316]

12. Isn't that basically what that whole Bilderburger conference is about? 1%ers yukking it up

and plotting strategy?

[Junkdrawer]

13. A one-a-year confab doesn't describe what I see.

The old explanation of interlocking corporate boards explains more than the Bilderburger.

That said, I don't doubt Strategy is discussed at key meetings.

[kctim]

14. So what actions are they coordinating?

[Junkdrawer]

15. Anything and everything to their benefit: Laws, trade policy, market manipulations....

the EXTREME concentration of news media of all sorts...

Getting hard to find areas they choose to leave alone.

[kctim]

21. First of all, thank you for a thought out response

I don't believe they all meet to plot the take over of the world, Legion of Doom style, but it's really not that hard to know that a few get together here and there to try and promote their own success. But is that really any different than any other special interest group? No.

Do you believe all of them are meeting in order to somehow enslave the people and take over the country? Or are you saying shady type dealings in order to make more money?

[Junkdrawer]

24. See post 19.

I'd cut and paste, but....

[JackRiddler]

39. The Legion of Doom also has a big table in a boardroom, no?

They meet to maintain their power and influence over everything within their reach. Enslaving people is just a means. Taking over the country is hardly necessary when your class has always owned it.

[kctim]

40. Yes

A big table in a boardroom in a fantasy world created by people with over active imaginations. Makes for a good cartoon, but not reality.
Sorry, but there is not some "Bilderberg" group that owns and controls the country.

[JackRiddler]

46. I never said anything of the sort, so no need to apologize to me.

It's yourself you are selling short, if anything, by adopting such doctrinaire and simplistic positions.

[Zalatix]

18. LOBBYING. n/t

[KG]

16. fuck yes they do.

[TheKentuckian]

17. It is essentially impossible for such not to be the case

They all serve on each other's boards for starters. The overlap is considerable, certainly little past the second degree of separation at high levels.

They then spend considerable time in the same circles for things like the Chamber of Commerce, alumni associations, events, charity boards, and it goes on and on.

They went to the same schools and their kids go to the same schools.

They live among each other.

They have common circles and influences.

And yes...some of them actually overtly work on agendas. People act like shit like Freedomworks and Heritage happen by accident.

[Junkdrawer]

19. And when the inevitable Imperial contractions occured (Empires always kill their native economies)

They naturally banded together to insure that THEIR standard of living would be maintained. And as they see it as a Zero-Sum game, they naturally cast an envious eye on what they preceived as the underserved weath of the lower and middle classes - further hastening the Imperial collapse.

[randome]

20. Then how do you explain Romney?

[Junkdrawer]

22. A useful idiot like Bush II.

and, as has been pointed out many, many times, the 1% seems to be doing nicely with the current WH resident. Whether the 1% thinks that's good enough will be seen in the fall when the Selection results are tabulated.

[randome]

23. Why run a 'useful idiot' when you can run someone who knows the difference between 'up' and 'down'?

I'm sure Republicans talk to one another. They even plan strategy.

But I think it's pretty clear they are running out of steam when they put up the likes of Sarah Palin and now Mitt Romney.

[Junkdrawer]

28. Back in 2008, I watched the early Democratic debates....

you know, the debates where the candidates USUALLY try to appeal to their base.

And what I saw looked the world to me like politicians (except what *some* here called the comic relief) auditioning to represent the interests of the 1% before the masses.

Many here were shocked and surprised in 2009 when Obama named his cabinet and the tone of his administration became clear. I was not.

[Evasporque]

25. They are CEO's that sit on the boards of other corporations....

They vote each other huge bonuses and raises....

of course they are in it together....duh!

[Javaman]

26. I completely agree and have an example from history...

prior to the 1929 stock market crash, inside trading was allowed.

And as such, the rich used to coordinate pump and dump schemes.

They would get together all their rich buddies to pump a stock then sell it to all the gullible margin buyers, then dump it.

More over what of the conspiracy to over throw FDR? The one Gen. Smedly Butler blew the whistle on?

The only difference today is, they aren't obvious about it anymore. they burned their hands on the stove and now use other means by which they coordinate their schemes.

[Warren Stupidity]

27. There is some of that, but to a larger extent the system runs itself.

See for example Chmosky's Manufacturing Consent. Congruences of self interest create overlapping sets of global capitalist entitites that do not have to explicitly coordinate actions to push 'the system' in certain directions.

Oh and frequently this results in idiocy. For example american corporations would be financially better off and globally more competitive if they could offload a lot of their domestic worker costs by implementing single payer healthcare financed by payroll taxes to replace the large corporation standard health insurance benefit, but they dont and they dont because the system is not explicitly controlled.

The Koch Bros. attempt to manage 'the system' is of interest as that would be, if it is successful, and actual overt explicit effort to take control of the beast.

[Populist_Prole]

29. Well of course they do. Why would you doubt it?

It's NOT a conspiracy theory, there's nothing secretive about their words and actions and as we can clearly see, they're not the least bit bashful about the low regard they hold us in. Sure they'll throw flowery dog whistle language around like "freedom" and such to make the simpletons less apprehensive, but they've always done that.

Look at it this way: Outfits like the Chamber of Commerce or think tanks like Cato etc are pretty much de-facto "unions" for corporate interests. They band together, give mutual aid, and focus on and perfect a unified meme to further their own interests.

[PETRUS]

30. You would probably appreciate Domhoff's work.

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/

He's done a tremendous amount of research on that.

[Junkdrawer]

33. That actually looks very interesting....

Thanks

[PETRUS]

41. You bet!

Many hours of reading, if you take on all of it. I've gone over most of what's there and felt it was worth my time.

[Egalitarian Thug]

31. You're absolutely right. Their's is a very small, very insulated world and the

only people in it are each other. Of course they work together, unlike the schmucks out here, they understand that collusion is way better than competition. They help each other out while we drag each other down. They're (mostly) not stupid, they're just evil.

[closeupready]

32. There is likely that subset that does just that.

It's actually kind of how cartels operate. I guess many liberals/progressives think of the Bilderberg meetings in that light.

Organization (generally) aids arbitrage and efficiency of operations, i.e., profit, better than anarchy.

[Junkdrawer]

37. Remember Saul Alinsky (Rules for Radicals)?

Organize, Organize, Organize

[closeupready]

38. Failure to organize is part of why OWS didn't do as well as it could have, IMO.

It's fun, as youngsters, to think of protest as more of a party or even an orgy than collective vocalized objection, but in fact, without organization, most all human organizations fail, long-term.

[TBF]

34. It's called capitalism - it's not just a few conversations.

It's a whole system designed to have a few lord over the rest of us. The captains of industry are rewarded for their greed and monopolistic behavior. There is nothing secretive about it.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

35. They always have and they always will.

Unfortunately wingnuts like Alex Jones and his Infowars serve only to perpetuate the stereotype of tinfoil-hatters. Too bad that there is so little independent and investigative journalism out there, but then again I think many choose to be willfully ignorant and cling to the belief that they are just 1 lottery win away from joining the 1% club.

[Avalux]

36. Yes, and the media is their mouthpiece.

They give the marching orders and the media complies.

[NCTraveler]

42. That is what people of like circumstances do.

Wealthy or not.

[Mister Ed]

43. Sure. It's a good ol' boys club. That's not tinfoil-hat territory at all.

They move in the same circles. They do each other favors, just the way I might do for my buddies, and my buddies' buddies. It's just that their power is such that the favors they do each other can harm millions of the little people at a time.

[Canuckistanian]

44. What do you think that shindig in the Hamptons was about?

They sure as Hell weren't talking about raising the minimum wage or employment equity.

Topic #1 was talking about how not just how to preserve their wealth, but increase it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. Nope not tinfoil.

Realistic