Economic Totalitarianism

[OROBTC]

...

m-t

Truly there ARE huge sums of wealth being extracted by various sleazy means, your examples above are "straight out of the textbook".

I read "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" and I found Perkins to be totally believable.  Bribing the elites to gain resources of poor countries.

I had not read of the Reynolds sleaze, but all the cigarette companies knew for ages that their products were very toxic, and nothing they did to make a buck would surprise me.

All three of the mafias (Colombian, Italian and Russian) were all bad.  Last I heard the Colombians are becoming less relevant every year as the Mexicans (and even the Peruvians) displace some of their business.

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[STT]

Hi, OROBTC

You are after all the  gold reserve. What do you want to do with that old world gold reserve ? The new financial system with new economic standard will replace gold in to digital codes and numbers. This will devalue the gold price as people will buy the digital currency instead of gold. Gold from the vault could be pull out and make ornaments to beautify the ladies. There is no need to store economic value in gold anymore. I think we can introduce a new system, a new thing where people will store their economic value in it. Like goat or potato. I have created a Tomato Standard. The gold maniac will have to sell their gold to buy my Tomato Standard to store their financial asset into it. It is a 'Trust Less Trust' with digital currency. Would you like to collaborate with me and discuss about the future of gold reserve ?

That whole scenario already happened.  We deviated far and wide from the gold standard and much wealth and value was redirected elsewhere by dollar holdings in the years since 1971.  Dollars are effectively a digital currency with most value virtual not handled in cash or transacted openly.  Large amounts are exchanged internally between government departments never seen or proved of worth in the wider economy by national populations only their governments often undemocratic completing the unproven circle.  
I think the only clue to uncover disparity in the modern system is for an exercise in clarity to scrap all modern dollar pricing when you look at any system and just set every price at the fix it was in 1971 then see where it will fail most likely.
  Its likely the stated dollar market price for gold is also incorrect and extremely uneven and lumpy around the world as again its not openly traded or exchanged for value in an economy.   The Chinese do not declare their gold holdings properly and no where is it commonly a backing for trade or capital, only loosely handled in India or various places at rough value like Chinese builders used to swap raw copper in deals to buy land.

Bitcoin has its uses but Im not sure its going to prove more accurate then gold long term in determining value.  Dollar is obviously going to fail integrity as its become so biased to certain parties that do not create wealth in an economy.  Money is like anything it has to be of use or it will be replaced for a better product, one theory I heard is fiat Dollar will be replaced by fiat IMF notes or SDR.  I guess thats the best half way cynical solution

[minor-transgression]

"Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton.

Human thought follows particular paths, so when confronted by an unknown, people try
to visualise it via the familiar.  I have referred to my quarry as "The Creature".
There are other similar names, Danny Casolaro refers to "The Octopus" in his
investigation. Here, Joël van der Reijden prefers "La Nebuleuse".[1]

quote/
"Subject: Criminal organization (Russian mafia and related)"

"To comprehend this nebula, it is necessary to abandon traditional financial or political logic; this is not merely a question of nation, political party, or of ordinary economics... Our conclusion would be that at least over the last twenty years, the economic powers, some of which mafia types, have allied themselves with political forces and organized criminal structures, and reached the 4th stage of money laundering, namely, Absolute Power. It has been specified to us that at the present moment these characters control 50% of the world economy."
     
Introduction of a Belgian gendarmerie report to a number of senior officials, District of Liege, November 21, 1994. (emphasis from report)
/unquote

In earlier posts I set out the dimensions of The Creature: Immunity from prosecution;
Information asymmetry, especially hidden wealth; Centralized control via specialized
computer systems; Private paramilitary forces; and Weaponized financial instruments.

The 1994 Belgian report suggests a different order within the known world. That there
exists an estate entirely separated from normal life, and one that can kill with impunity.

Of necessity, I've been selective in the information presented thus far, and concentrated
on how the financial sector has grown. It's difficult to read many of the stories attached
to the outworkings of these systems, as for example, that shown in the work of Joël van der
Reijden. It is clear that action without consequence or conscience is corrosive. Nassim
Taleb's "And don't give up on logic, intellect and education, because a tight but higher
order logical reasoning would show that the logic of advocating regime changes implies
also advocating slavery." [2] comes nowhere close to exposing the horrors that unrestrained
deviant behaviour brings in this report. [1] A separate world exists with different mores,
different standards of behaviour.

It is, however, seemingly acceptable for Treasury Secretary Paulson to "dry heave" on
learning that UK Chancellor Darling refused Barclay's purchase of Lehman Brothers thus
avoiding adding ~$200Bn to the UK ~$50Bn taxpayer black hole of 2008. No such concerns were
evident in the fictional WWIII of Dr Strangelove, and I doubt that President Trump
reached for the wastepaper basket before ordering 60 cruise missiles to strike Syria,
despite the risks of a direct conflict with Russia. Such concerns, or lack thereof, give
some insight to the inner savoir-faire of The Creature. George Carlin's "It's a big Club,
and You ain't in it" resonates.     

In trying to gather these threads together, there seems to be no centre, no guiding
principle, except an overwhelming desire for secrecy and to preserve the status quo.
Quoting Joël van der Reijden, ""Nebula" leader Felix Przedborski lived next-door to
Yeltsin-era oligarchs Boris Berezovsky and business partner Badri Patarkatsishvili.
Both were Zionists, long-time patrons of Putin, and linked to the Chechen mafia.
For details, go here. Almost certainly it was Mossad Colonel Yair Klein who protected
Przedborski."[2} Danny Casolaro and Cheri Seymour's investigations lead to individuals
at the US Department of Justice, specific companies in the MIC, and to the CIA.[3]
Eric DeCarbonnel exposes the Treasury's, Wall Street's,and the CIA's complicity in a series
of events relating to what at first sight seems to be the criminal financing of abusive
behaviour. Sterling and Peggy Seagrave add Japan's War Criminals to the list of people acting
above and outside the Law.[4] Kay Griggs reveals assassinations were carried out by serving
and by retired US servicemen, on the instructions of some higher authority. [5]

Perhaps unrelated to this, except for a shared suffering, is the weaponization of Refugees:
"Our team takes a peek behind the curtain to find the root causes for why and how millions
of people are migrating from war torn countries, and who benefits. We also examine the
history and context of synthetically-created refugee crises since 1951." [6]

It is impossible to calculate how differently things might have gone if the US Government
had come clean on its handling of the looted WWII treasure. It's interesting to compare the
secret manipulation of material matters in what is supposedly a Capitalist Economy, with
the anxious concern to track every bitcoin transaction, when State Secrets may be doing
so much damage by the misallocation if resources?

[1] https://isgp-studies.com/belgium-la-nebuleuse-atlas-dossier-and-dutroux-x-files
[2] http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-23/taleb-trashes-interventionistas-their-mental-defects
[3] "The Last Circle" Cheri Seymour
[4] "Gold Warriors" Sterling and Peggy Seagrave
[5] http://www.hugequestions.com/Eric/DesperateWives/Desperate-Wives-1_transcript.html
[6] https://www.newsbud.com/2016/10/14/the-generators-agent-provocateurs-opportunists-of-the-refugee-crisis/

[minor-transgression]

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment or diversion, but the
conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
Adam Smith - "The Wealth of Nations"

Please, direct your thoughts toward Complexity, and in particular to the role of the agent
in emergence. Agents are entities with a simple ruleset, eg "stay hidden"; or
"maximise profit", or "keep up with the Joneses". What matters in regard to the
possibility of Emergence is the number and distribution of Agents and in particular their
inter-connectivity. I'll move on to more vertical management structures later, but for now
forego any thoughts of any of the traditional management structures. Truly, all participants
within Emergence are created equal. They are born with or acquire the same drives, mores,
savoir-faire, skills and knowledge. They will respond in near-identical ways to threats
or opportunities. Their goals are set and their orders are received from their social
interaction with their equals. And their equals are their equal in every way. It's a big club.

How big? Who knows? As a starting point, choose the owners of 50% of the World's wealth, and
that's 70 million people. Social and related factors could reduce that number by two orders
of magnitude, to 700,000. Of that eligible number, the need for secrecy will impose a
reduction of another 1-2 orders of magnitude, giving 7,000 to 70,000, as the likely size of
the Club. If each agent is closely coupled with six others then every club member is separated
at a maximum of 5-6 removes. Thus a threat to one is quickly perceived as a threat to all,
and similarly for opportunities. The Creature cannot grow in numbers but it can seek more
control over its environment, at the expense of the remaining 99.99% of the rest of the World.

That's the theory. What does practice look like?
"We find that transnational corporations form a giant bow-tie structure and that a large
portion of control flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions. This core
can be seen as an economic "super-entity" that raises new important issues for both
researchers and policy makers." [1] Structurally, the graph looks like a bow-tie.

The researchers comment 'We conjecture that it may be present in other types of networks where
"rich-get-richer" mechanisms are at work. So, ever more centralized control, the very antithesis
of the theory stated earlier.' [1]

I'd stated earlier that it's Bankers vs WarLords vs Mathematics. To understand the dynamics
of this system, look at the expected stimulus-response-reversion-to-the-mean when an outlier
is seen by the system. I suggest the 911 Event, as defined by various News and Senate reports,
and these references: [2][3][4]. Judgement, I leave to others.

Two things follow from this:

First, the core 911 Event itself cost less than $1 million, but the costs run into many $ billions.
"Catherine Austin Fitts: 9/11 was extraordinarily profitable for Wall Street, they of course
got a kind of "Get Out of Jail Free card" as I've just described. In addition, the largest
broker of government bonds, Cantor Fitzgerald, was destroyed, and there was a great deal of
money missing from the federal government in the prior four or five years."

Second, the reversion-to-the-mean has not yet happened. What seems to have happened is a movement
from one stable state to another, different, stable state. Just how stable the new state is,
for now, indeterminate.

The referenced video suggests that Systemically Important Banks, including their records, assets,
and employees are beyond the reach of national laws, including the US Justice System. [5]

Stable is not a word I would choose to describe this current state of affairs. Exactly how
all this plays out, and by the way, the size and opacity of the Creature is an order of magnitude
greater than the summary given above. All the incentives promote a massive and truly
catastrophic failure. It may not happen, but that's what I see.

I have, maybe, one more post for this thread, looking at what might be gleaned from history.     

[1] https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354-500-revealed-the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world/
[2] CIA agent 2013 -  Former CIA Asset Exposes 911 Cover Up
Book "Extreme Prejudice" by Susan Lindauer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAawF22QUMs
"We're going to keep them calm" -  Details of events prior to 911 and their aftermath.
[3] http://www.wanttoknow.info/911/Collateral-Damage-911-black_eagle_fund_trust.pdf
[4] http://www.larsschall.com/2013/09/11/911-insider-trading-revisited/
[5]All the plenary's men
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gK3s5j7PgA
"You see, prosecutors working on the HSBC case were actually going to indict the bank, but they got overruled,
and HSBC and its team of criminals skated. The story of how exactly that reversal came about reveals,
if not the King himself, then certainly many of the King's top men."

     

[minor-transgression]

"... go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor ..."
Matthew 19:21

Throughout history, with perhaps the exception of the Byzantine Empire,
civilisations have drawn wealth and power to their centre. There is a
bargain between the centre and the citizens. Prestige and protection
in exchange for inequality, and community in exchange for freedom. 

The process of civilisation, unfortunately, tends to scale well. When
the structure becomes very large, there are more layers, more inequality,
and less freedom. Stability provides both corruption and instability.

Magna Carta may be cited as a treaty to curtail the power of a tyrannical king,
but it was more of an aftershock to relieve the tensions of a conquest 150
years earlier. History records a series of revolts against the centralisation
of power and wealth.

The economic systems extant today usurp power and corruption to an extent
greater than anything hitherto seen. It is a system that is unlikely to end
well. The historical precedents are for more oppression, more inflation,
more poverty, and collapse.

The Elite may already know this, but the question is whether the system is
past the point of collapse. Do they try to fix the system, or try to put
something in place to preserve some essentials and hope to recover later?

As I pointed out earlier, the greater the inequality, or concavity, the
easier it is to gain by raiding the system. Today's WannaCry attacks are
just another symptom. Just another leak in a badly designed dam, which,
if not rebuilt from the ground up, will fail.

I think that concludes my work on this thread. Just one final thought:
If you own everything, who will you sell to? :-)
 

[OROBTC]

...

Excellent pair of thought provoking pieces, m-t, thanks for posting them.

I am less suspicious of an Elite Plan for world control.  I wrote a piece at my blog (now defunct) in which I proposed that The Elite is broken up into many factions, many/most at odds with at least one other faction.  Of course they do cooperate, my conjecture is that they do not have as much control as is widely feared.  Of course "control" needs to be defined...

There are spiritual reasons to give a lot (or all) to the poor.  But, most people are not spiritual.

Corruption of the state (present everywhere) and personal corruption (a complex topic) are destroying our world.  State control mechanisms are making the world worse, more corrupt (I am in Peru on a visit, and can toss up all kinds of local examples).

To protect oneself (and family), my suggestion has always been diversification, including Bitcoin holdings of some amount (1% of net wealth, say).  Maybe more giving to the poor and other charitable thinking would improve things.

[minor-transgression]

Thanks for the flowers OROBTC.

You did ask "what we can do about "Economic Totalitarianism""

I'll try to write something shorter for your next query :-)

[CoinCube]

In trying to gather these threads together, there seems to be no centre, no guiding
principle, except an overwhelming desire for secrecy and to preserve the status quo.

The fundamental organizing principle for individuals and for society is almost never given the attention it deserves. Obviously the principle of "preserve the status quo at all costs" is grossly flawed and doomed to increasing inefficiency and eventual failure.

Ultimately the only way to truly avoid economic totalitarianism is to create a society incompatible with totalitarianism. This is a herculean task that can only be achieved incrementally and only if the correct organizing principle is chosen.

In my opinion, all these wars of religions and ideologies will never lead to peace and understanding of each other. This is a time bomb that can destroy the world.

Too much religion isn't the problem. There is no way to get away from religion. The closest we can come to getting away from religion (outside of death) is going to sleep. Otherwise we actively live our religion.
...
Religion is the thing that shows us how to live good lives with each other on earth, and, if one has the correct religion, the way to everlasting life.

For those that like science fiction I recently read the Doom Star Series by Vaughn Hepner. It is interesting social commentary underneath a good story.
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Soldier-Doom-Book-ebook/dp/B003SNJVH4

It envisions a dystopian future where humanity has terraformed and spread throughout the solar system and traditional religion appears to have has died out or been suppressed.

Humanity has splintered into various ideological factions. Earth is under the control of a stifling planet wide socialism. Mars and Venus are under the control of genetically engineered super humans who believe their superiority gives them the right to rule. Jupiter is controlled by philosopher kings who value only logic. Total laissez-faire capitalism dominates the outer planets and on the edges of the solar system a group seeks to create the ultimate controllable soldier by mixing man and machine.

As the story progress the various groups compete for dominance committing ever more horrific acts of evil that are completely justified by their various philosophies. It is quite clear that in this future humanity is in danger of extinction as the self-inflected horrors worsen and billions start to die.

The series is subtle social commentary the reader slowly realizes that while some ideological groups are better then others they are all pretty bad.

It is a vision of a future without God where religion in the form of various ideological and political constructs is very much alive and well.

Religious/ideological wars certainly have the potential to destroy the world. These conflicts are unavoidable. The question is what can save us? I do not pretend to know the answer with any certainty but here is an answer provided earlier by Miscreanity. I have yet to hear a better one.

What is actually the worst possible outcome is to have one strategy, religion, or culture adopted by everyone.

This is the point I disagree with. I think we both agree that the optimal way to increase degrees of freedom for individuals is to allow and enable instead of controlling. A universal strategy is an essential foundation that enables freedom. Without that, we have the situation that is developing now with varying viewpoints where some sets are progressing toward destruction and others are being dragged into declining entropy. Competition can take place when there is room for growth but on a globally saturated scale, nobody wins.

Reproductive strategy is likely to become essentially irrelevant for humanity, possibly within our lifetimes. It seems inevitable that our existing biological bodies will give way to different forms that will carry us off-planet. At that point, allowing and enabling all individuals to thrive in a constructive environment becomes paramount. What then is the protocol that keeps that freedom from becoming destructive? Of course, my thinking is that the protocol is outlined in the Christian bible.

The following two (relatively) short videos may be of interest regarding previous discussion:
The moral argument for God
Why Does God Allow Evil?

[minor-transgression]

"It's Over"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDRRT2AcRUM

What's over? you may well ask. That would be just about everything.

[fifillaw]

I ponder about the common sense of a meshnet when a legislature has an unequivocal restriction on them, I'm ignorant of anything like that in the EU. Be that as it may, regardless of the possibility that advancements here were not accessible to the general population you would in any case likely get arrange enclaves and at any rate high limit USB information stick swapping and maybe even dead-drops of information.

[farharhadi]

I prefer cash that is easier to store than btc and crypto, which one of them will not be announced, and even then can be tracked when used for goods transactions.

[OROBTC]

I prefer cash that is easier to store than btc and crypto, which one of them will not be announced, and even then can be tracked when used for goods transactions.

There is no doubt that CA$H is one of the best defenses against Economic Totalitarianism.  But it is getting harder to use in trying to protect financial privacy.  It is problematic now to buy airline tickets with cash, or cars, or anything else of high value.  Just try withdrawing $20,000 in cash from a bank, and watch the fun...

We are now seeing Harvard economists like Ken Roggoff (sp?) dump on cash -- he wrote a book on the curse of cash recently.

One problem in maintaining anonymity of BTC are the "entrance and exit ramps".  It is often hard to get BTC anonymously (the BTMs want ID, etc.).  And if you buy anything with BTC (gold from providentmetals for example), they have your address (for shipping it), which means the government (or hackers) could get that info too.

[FanatMonet]

I prefer cash that is easier to store than btc and crypto, which one of them will not be announced, and even then can be tracked when used for goods transactions.

Cash is good, I say it as a numismatist and a bonist . But we should not forget about crypto-currencies, in 5-10 years they should take a special place in payments

[OROBTC]

...

Cross-posted because this is relevant to Economic Totalitarianism:

First, a fun image:



Names of participants ("Behold your Masters"):

CHAIRMAN

Castries, Henri de (FRA), Former Chairman and CEO, AXA; President of Institut Montaigne
 
PARTICIPANTS

Achleitner, Paul M. (DEU), Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG
Adonis, Andrew (GBR), Chair, National Infrastructure Commission
Agius, Marcus (GBR), Chairman, PA Consulting Group
Akyol, Mustafa (TUR), Senior Visiting Fellow, Freedom Project at Wellesley College
Alstadheim, Kjetil B. (NOR), Political Editor, Dagens Næringsliv
Altman, Roger C. (USA), Founder and Senior Chairman, Evercore
Arnaut, José Luis (PRT), Managing Partner, CMS Rui Pena & Arnaut
Barroso, José M. Durão (PRT), Chairman, Goldman Sachs International
Bäte, Oliver (DEU), CEO, Allianz SE
Baumann, Werner (DEU), Chairman, Bayer AG
Baverez, Nicolas (FRA), Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Benko, René (AUT), Founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board, SIGNA Holding GmbH
Berner, Anne-Catherine (FIN), Minister of Transport and Communications
Botín, Ana P. (ESP), Executive Chairman, Banco Santander
Brandtzæg, Svein Richard (NOR), President and CEO, Norsk Hydro ASA
Brennan, John O. (USA), Senior Advisor, Kissinger Associates Inc.
Bsirske, Frank (DEU), Chairman, United Services Union
Buberl, Thomas (FRA), CEO, AXA
Bunn, M. Elaine (USA), Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
Burns, William J. (USA), President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Çakiroglu, Levent (TUR), CEO, Koç Holding A.S.
Çamlibel, Cansu (TUR), Washington DC Bureau Chief, Hürriyet Newspaper
Cebrián, Juan Luis (ESP), Executive Chairman, PRISA and El País
Clemet, Kristin (NOR), CEO, Civita
Cohen, David S. (USA), Former Deputy Director, CIA
Collison, Patrick (USA), CEO, Stripe
Cotton, Tom (USA), Senator
Cui, Tiankai (CHN), Ambassador to the United States
Döpfner, Mathias (DEU), CEO, Axel Springer SE
Elkann, John (ITA), Chairman, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
Enders, Thomas (DEU), CEO, Airbus SE
Federspiel, Ulrik (DNK), Group Executive, Haldor Topsøe Holding A/S
Ferguson, Jr., Roger W. (USA), President and CEO, TIAA
Ferguson, Niall (USA), Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Gianotti, Fabiola (ITA), Director General, CERN
Gozi, Sandro (ITA), State Secretary for European Affairs
Graham, Lindsey (USA), Senator
Greenberg, Evan G. (USA), Chairman and CEO, Chubb Group
Griffin, Kenneth (USA), Founder and CEO, Citadel Investment Group, LLC
Gruber, Lilli (ITA), Editor-in-Chief and Anchor "Otto e mezzo", La7 TV
Guindos, Luis de (ESP), Minister of Economy, Industry and Competiveness
Haines, Avril D. (USA), Former Deputy National Security Advisor
Halberstadt, Victor (NLD), Professor of Economics, Leiden University
Hamers, Ralph (NLD), Chairman, ING Group
Hedegaard, Connie (DNK), Chair, KR Foundation
Hennis-Plasschaert, Jeanine (NLD), Minister of Defence, The Netherlands
Hobson, Mellody (USA), President, Ariel Investments LLC
Hoffman, Reid (USA), Co-Founder, LinkedIn and Partner, Greylock
Houghton, Nicholas (GBR), Former Chief of Defence
Ischinger, Wolfgang (INT), Chairman, Munich Security Conference
Jacobs, Kenneth M. (USA), Chairman and CEO, Lazard
Johnson, James A. (USA), Chairman, Johnson Capital Partners
Jordan, Jr., Vernon E. (USA), Senior Managing Director, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC
Karp, Alex (USA), CEO, Palantir Technologies
Kengeter, Carsten (DEU), CEO, Deutsche Börse AG
Kissinger, Henry A. (USA), Chairman, Kissinger Associates Inc.
Klatten, Susanne (DEU), Managing Director, SKion GmbH
Kleinfeld, Klaus (USA), Former Chairman and CEO, Arconic
Knot, Klaas H.W. (NLD), President, De Nederlandsche Bank
Koç, Ömer M. (TUR), Chairman, Koç Holding A.S.
Kotkin, Stephen (USA), Professor in History and International Affairs, Princeton University
Kravis, Henry R. (USA), Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, KKR
Kravis, Marie-Josée (USA), Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Kudelski, André (CHE), Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group
Lagarde, Christine (INT), Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
Lenglet, François (FRA), Chief Economics Commentator, France 2
Leysen, Thomas (BEL), Chairman, KBC Group
Liddell, Christopher (USA), Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Initiatives
Lööf, Annie (SWE), Party Leader, Centre Party
Mathews, Jessica T. (USA), Distinguished Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
McAuliffe, Terence (USA), Governor of Virginia
McKay, David I. (CAN), President and CEO, Royal Bank of Canada
McMaster, H.R. (USA), National Security Advisor
Micklethwait, John (INT), Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg LP
Minton Beddoes, Zanny (INT), Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
Molinari, Maurizio (ITA), Editor-in-Chief, La Stampa
Monaco, Lisa (USA), Former Homeland Security Officer
Morneau, Bill (CAN), Minister of Finance
Mundie, Craig J. (USA), President, Mundie & Associates
Murtagh, Gene M. (IRL), CEO, Kingspan Group plc
Netherlands, H.M. the King of the (NLD)
Noonan, Peggy (USA), Author and Columnist, The Wall Street Journal
O'Leary, Michael (IRL), CEO, Ryanair D.A.C.
Osborne, George (GBR), Editor, London Evening Standard
Papahelas, Alexis (GRC), Executive Editor, Kathimerini Newspaper
Papalexopoulos, Dimitri (GRC), CEO, Titan Cement Co.
Petraeus, David H. (USA), Chairman, KKR Global Institute
Pind, Søren (DNK), Minister for Higher Education and Science
Puga, Benoît (FRA), Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor and Chancellor of the National Order of Merit
Rachman, Gideon (GBR), Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, The Financial Times
Reisman, Heather M. (CAN), Chair and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc.
Rivera Díaz, Albert (ESP), President, Ciudadanos Party
Rosén, Johanna (SWE), Professor in Materials Physics, Linköping University
Ross, Wilbur L. (USA), Secretary of Commerce
Rubenstein, David M. (USA), Co-Founder and Co-CEO, The Carlyle Group
Rubin, Robert E. (USA), Co-Chair, Council on Foreign Relations and Former Treasury Secretary
Ruoff, Susanne (CHE), CEO, Swiss Post
Rutten, Gwendolyn (BEL), Chair, Open VLD
Sabia, Michael (CAN), CEO, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
Sawers, John (GBR), Chairman and Partner, Macro Advisory Partners
Schadlow, Nadia (USA), Deputy Assistant to the President, National Security Council
Schmidt, Eric E. (USA), Executive Chairman, Alphabet Inc.
Schneider-Ammann, Johann N. (CHE), Federal Councillor, Swiss Confederation
Scholten, Rudolf (AUT), President, Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue
Severgnini, Beppe (ITA), Editor-in-Chief, 7-Corriere della Sera
Sikorski, Radoslaw (POL), Senior Fellow, Harvard University
Slat, Boyan (NLD), CEO and Founder, The Ocean Cleanup
Spahn, Jens (DEU), Parliamentary State Secretary and Federal Ministry of Finance
Stephenson, Randall L. (USA), Chairman and CEO, AT&T
Stern, Andrew (USA), President Emeritus, SEIU and Senior Fellow, Economic Security Project
Stoltenberg, Jens (INT), Secretary General, NATO
Summers, Lawrence H. (USA), Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University
Tertrais, Bruno (FRA), Deputy Director, Fondation pour la recherche stratégique
Thiel, Peter (USA), President, Thiel Capital
Topsøe, Jakob Haldor (DNK), Chairman, Haldor Topsøe Holding A/S
Ülgen, Sinan (TUR), Founding and Partner, Istanbul Economics
Vance, J.D. (USA), Author and Partner, Mithril
Wahlroos, Björn (FIN), Chairman, Sampo Group, Nordea Bank, UPM-Kymmene Corporation
Wallenberg, Marcus (SWE), Chairman, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB
Walter, Amy (USA), Editor, The Cook Political Report
Weston, Galen G. (CAN), CEO and Executive Chairman, Loblaw Companies Ltd and George Weston Companies
White, Sharon (GBR), Chief Executive, Ofcom
Wieseltier, Leon (USA), Isaiah Berlin Senior Fellow in Culture and Policy, The Brookings Institution
Wolf, Martin H. (INT), Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times
Wolfensohn, James D. (USA), Chairman and CEO, Wolfensohn & Company
Wunsch, Pierre (BEL), Vice-Governor, National Bank of Belgium
Zeiler, Gerhard (AUT), President, Turner International
Zients, Jeffrey D. (USA), Former Director, National Economic Council
Zoellick, Robert B. (USA), Non-Executive Chairman, AllianceBernstein L.P.

[OROBTC]

...

"Final Results" from my Peru trip:



Each of the above are Peruvian "Una Libra" coins, their clone of the British Sovereign, minted on-and-off from 1898 - 1969.  They contain 0.235 toz AGW.

Along with Bitcoin, a fine defense against Economic Totalitarianism!

[justtired]

He is a member of the Liberal Party and says he is there to pursue “radical reforms,” which include throwing out the national curriculum in schools, for they are indeed pointless, and reimposing a debt ceiling. He also wants to get rid of the “official” talking points used by politicians and embrace what he calls respect for the voters’ intelligence by speaking plainly.

[Wilout]

...generalize, username, TPTBWhen the matter get so O/T and is entire of obscure terms that only philosophy majors know, I just let my eyes to cloud more than whilst studying them, and let my head drift.Form of a inexpensive way to get a tiny rest all around below. 

[Conevesses1976]

...Philosophy of morality (and just morality by yourself, or philosophy by yourself) are massive matters.  Re downloading music illegally, effectively, when I want to hear to songs, I possibly switch the radio on, put on a CD or go to Youtube.  I never download music, but that's just me.Would be listening to music on Youtube rely as immoral?  Not heading there.  Example: does unlawful downloading "combat the gentleman"?  Arguing philosophy is earlier mentioned my paygrade.  A deep, deep established of rabbit holes.  I have even bigger fish I am attempting to fry: protecting my worthwhile assets in the perilous moments to occur.

[OROBTC]

...Philosophy of morality (and just morality by yourself, or philosophy by yourself) are massive matters.  Re downloading music illegally, effectively, when I want to hear to songs, I possibly switch the radio on, put on a CD or go to Youtube.  I never download music, but that's just me.Would be listening to music on Youtube rely as immoral?  Not heading there.  Example: does unlawful downloading "combat the gentleman"?  Arguing philosophy is earlier mentioned my paygrade.  A deep, deep established of rabbit holes.  I have even bigger fish I am attempting to fry: protecting my worthwhile assets in the perilous moments to occur.

I started this thread with exactly the same thinking: protect my assets.  Not to steal music or other's intellectual property, etc.

I try to stay away from morality arguments, as I am quite imperfect.

[ConfusedThief]

...Philosophy of morality (and merely morality on your own, or viewpoint on your own) are huge topics.  Re installing music illegally, well, when I wish to listen to songs, I possibly change the radio on, placed on a Compact disc or go to Youtube.  I don't obtain music, but that is just me.Would be listening to songs on Youtube count as immoral?  Not heading there.  Example: does illegal installing Inchbattle the man"?  Arguing viewpoint is over my paygrade.  A heavy, heavy group of rabbit holes.  I have larger fish I am attempting to cook: protecting my worthwhile property in the perilous times in the future.