Top 10 Cartels of 2005
Sure, we all know that OPEC is a cartel. A consortium of diverse self-serving nations, OPEC frustrates those angry at the Saudis, venezolanos and their oil-rich allies who have the nerve to set production levels and agree to policies that serve their self-interests.
Beyond OPEC, here are the TOP TEN shadiest cartels of the past year, with details and leads about the loyalties and conflicts of interest that grease the policymaking and decisions of the kingpins – from NOLA to the White House.
Wherever cash and politics mingle.
- Politics Co-Editor, chad ‘chillun’ jones.
Two items to note:
- theyrule.net: for an interactive visual diagram
- multinationalmonitor.org: for the details.
And the winners are…
1. Halliburton, KBR, the DoD and the White House
That said, I’ll give you one URL: halliburtonwatch.org.
2. the financial industry – and its many derivatives.
- redlining OR [http://www.public-gis.org/reports/red1.html]… check.
- check-cashing … check.
- predatory lending…. check.
Don’t be fooled. Despite its external appearances, that raggedy check-cashing storefront at your local mini-mall isn’t some struggling mom & pop shop. Rather it’s profits flow directly to the bottom lines of the banks and financial powerhouses at the top of Wall Street.
* Fighting Back: a community project combating the bankers. See the Inner City Press’ Citigroup Watch project
3. two industries behind the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza
i. Big pharma.
ii. Agribusiness.
At a wholesale price of $61.28 for a ten-pack of Tamiflu, look for drugmaker Roche to make a killing. As this is the drug of choice promoted by the Bush administration. And that WhiteHouse knows a thing or two about boosting corporate quarterly earnings, as evidenced by the 2003 sky-rocketing sales of duct tape. That duct tape episode was a scheme pushed by recently promoted FEMA director R. David Paulison.
For more info, review the (poorly-named) blog, www.buytamiflu.org. Despite the suggestive name, it offers analysis of the nexus of sick chickens, drug pushing and what could make for effective public policy.
4. telecoms – Profiteers of the 1996 Telecom Act.
Many of those who profited a decade ago — such as The Nation’s Big 10 media conglomerates — are on the verge of striking again with the 2006 Act, which will bring change that neither you nor your congressional representative can fathom.
* Digging Deeper: Lawrence Lessig is a well-read radical who appreciates the unknown innovations of the future more than amassing power in the present.
* Digging Deeper: You should also see the People’s Guide to the Telecom Act of 2006 compiled by the folks at the Alliance for Community Media.
* Fighting Back: Read up on the DIY concepts of pirate radio into community broadband.
5. Exxon, Mobil, Chevron & BP.
- gouging at the pump
- Valdez and other spills …
* Digging Deeper: Some of the findings of the Center for Tax Justice including tax breaks to the oil industry.
6. the auto industry & the gas companies.
Read how the
Union of Concerned Scientists assert that even WITHOUT hybrids, fuel efficiency standards could rise to 40 miles per gallon (mpg)
* Digging Deeper: UCS report, Life in the Slow Lane: Tracking Decades of Automaker Roadblocks to Fuel Economy
Meanwhile, President Negligent sought to place culpability for the national petro-dependency onto individuals and households. In August, another lousy Bush official – Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta – proposed raising standards to by less than 3 gallons to 24 mpg by 2011, which doesn’t even meet the 1987 peak of 26 mpg. And he did so by driving up in an SUV!
7. the RIAA and Bertelsmann, Disney
You heard how Eyes on the Prize cannot broadcast MLK’s Happy Birthday song, since the birthday song has been copyrighted!
* Fighting Back: Learn more about the e-civil disobedience from the folks at Downhill Battle.
8. From techies to tekkies – the programmers hacking the Global War on Terror
… as in the Tek-9s that the predominantly working-class troops carry.
The U.S. Armed Forces aren’t just chasing high school seniors to fill their ranks. They’re also spending lavishly — see ‘Microsoft Eyeing $12B in Defense Industry Contracts’ — on the countless hackers, programmers and Computer Science majors developing the weaponry of tomorrow’s wars.
While other hackers figure out the draconian technology of identification cards, as required by the anti-immigrant REAL ID.
9. Snapple, Dr. Pepper & New York City government
In Gotham, Snapple rules. So long as the Dr. Pepper line of fructose heavy drinks flows in the public schools and government offices, can Mayor Bloomberg ever be sincere about combating obesity?
10. FEMA, NOLA Mayor Ray Nagin & ‘Bring Back New Orleans’ Commission
Nevermind the many errors of FEMA and the Red Cross.
Now NOLA Mayor Ray Nagin has compiled a group to make – or remake — the New New Orleans. bursting with business interests.
But what is the problem with a mayoral committee driven by industry, you ask? Considering that the business world is run predominantly by white males, then this comment from the Sept 8, 2005 Wall Street Journal should pose some concerns
(mirror at negrophile.com):
The power elite of New Orleans — whether they are still in the city or have moved temporarily to enclaves such as Destin, Fla., and Vail, Colo. — insist the remade city won’t simply restore the old order. New Orleans before the flood was burdened by a teeming underclass, substandard schools and a high crime rate. The city has few corporate headquarters.
The new city must be something very different, Mr. Reiss says, with better services and fewer poor people. “Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way: demographically, geographically and politically,” he says. “I’m not just speaking for myself here. The way we’ve been living is not going to happen again, or we’re out.”
Not every white business leader or prominent family supports that view. Some black leaders and their allies in New Orleans fear that it boils down to preventing large numbers of blacks from returning to the city and eliminating the African-American voting majority.
How is that for the New Year? A NOLA less African-American, less poor.
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Finally, get a decent Hollywood story of cartels and a 90 minute lesson in self-interests: Syriana, at a theatre near you.