The Problem

Follow the Money

Investigate any major sector of human activity and you will discover the same people are in control, benefitting financially, literally making out like bandits.

Foster Gamble

Jun 16, 2012 • 31 min read

Investigate any major sector of human activity and you will discover the same people are in control, benefitting financially, literally making out like bandits. Check it out for yourself. By getting a clearer picture of the hidden economic incentives that are driving this unseen robbery, we can create more effective solutions to the problems facing humanity.

To learn more about the different levels of the Follow the Money pyramid, click here.

For tips on how to follow the money yourself, click here.

Follow the Money - Arts

The undervaluing and underfunding of the arts is largely a product of our state-school system that was established around the turn of the century by the financial elite including the Rockefellers, Carnegies, Gates, and Vanderbilts. Compulsory state schooling was designed to reward rote behavior and obedience, not to encourage critical thinking and creative artistic expression.

As Rev. Frederick T. Gates, business advisor to John D. Rockefeller, stated in 1913, the goal of the state education system was not to create authors, orators, poets, artists, painters, or musicians, but docile and responsive citizens:

“In our dream we have limitless resources, and the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hand. The present educational conventions fade from our minds; and, unhampered by tradition, we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive rural folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or of science. We are not to raise up among them authors, orators, poets, or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians. Nor will we cherish even the humbler ambition to raise up from among them lawyers, doctors, preachers, statesmen, of whom we now have ample supply."

- Rev. Frederick T. Gates, 1913

During the years when children are most naturally curious and creative, they are forced to sit in highly regimented classrooms and learn standardized curriculum that suppresses their artistic inclinations. Then, if they evidence restlessness, fidgeting, boredom or non-compliance, they are often put on Ritalin or other dangerous psychtropic pharmaceuticals.[1] Most students in the U.S., from elementary to high school, have little access to music, theatre, arts, or drawing classes. If they do, they are considered “extracurricular” and are not given equal weight to other classes. This is no accident. If students were to access their full range of potential, through critical thinking and creative expression, they would be more apt to bond with each other through shared creating instead of compete against one another, which would challenge the dominant power dynamic.

The suppression of art extends beyond the lack of encouragement and funding in the state schooling system. It can also be seen in who does and who does not get funding for their art projects. For example, hip hop and rap artists with positive messages are denied funding from record labels who are owned by major media corporations. These musicians are trying to challenge the mainstream messages of rap and hip hop that often degrade women, promote violence, and reinforce negative stereotypes, but they are rejected by major funders. Wouldn’t these companies want to help support a positive message and change public perception about communities of color? Judging by their funding, apparently not. Their money goes to reinforcing the status quo. Exploiting people of color is very common. Empowering them and their communities does not seem to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGMscl6F9JI

Throughout the last century, the financial elite through their “philanthropic organizations” have funded and pushed the state schooling system in an effort to suppress both critical thinking and artistic expression, and have also denied funding to artists that challenge the status quo in order to maintain their positions of power.

[1] It’s estimated that 20% of American children are being medicated (http://www.sntp.net/ritalin/ritalin.htm), and that 75% of Ritalin prescriptions are for children. (http://ritalinsideeffects.net/ )

Follow the Money - Economics

BANKING HISTORY TIMELINE

Elite banking families – including the Rockefellers, Rothschilds, and Morgans – have gained control of the global economy through the central banking system. They set up the Federal Reserve in the US in 1913 and have been manipulating the market to benefit themselves ever since. This timeline shows the pattern of American Presidents being assassinated after challenging central bankers and their monopoly on money, and the Federal Reserve’s artificial creation of booms and busts that causes people to lose their jobs, homes, and retirements, while the bankers further consolidate wealth and control.

1694 – Bank of England Established

First Central Bank established in the UK. Served as model for most modern central banks.

1744- Mayer Amschel Rothschild, Founder of the Rothschild Banking Empire, is Born in Frankfurt, Germany

Mayer Amschel Rothschild extended his banking empire across Europe by carefully placing his five sons in key positions. They set up banks in Frankfurt, Vienna, London, Naples, and Paris. By the mid 1800’s they dominated the banking industry, lending to governments around the world and people such as the Vanderbilts, Carnegies, and Cecil Rhodes.

1757- Colonial Scrip Issued in US

Debt free, fiat currency was printed in the public interest. As Benjamin Franklin said,

“In the colonies we issue our own money. It is called colonial scrip. We issue it in proper proportion to the demands of trade and industry to make the products pass easily from the producers to the consumers. In this manner, creating for ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power and we have no interest to pay no one.”

1776 – American Independence

1791 – Congress Creates the First US Bank – A Private Company, Partly Owned by Foreigners – to Handle the Financial Needs of the New Central Government

Previously, the 13 states had their own banks, currencies and financial institutions.

1816 – The Privately Owned Second Bank of the US was Chartered – It Served as the Main Depository for Government Revenue, Making it a Highly Profitable Bank

1832 – Andrew Jackson Campaigns Against the 2^nd Bank of the US and Vetoes Bank Charter Renewal

Andrew Jackson was skeptical of the central banking system and believed it gave too few men too much power and caused inflation. He was also a proponent of gold and silver and an outspoken opponent of the 2^nd National Bank. The Charter expired in 1836.

1833 – President Jackson Issues Executive Order to Stop Depositing Government Funds Into Bank of US

By September 1833, government funds were being deposited into state chartered banks.

Jan 30, 1835 – Jackson Escapes Assassination

Assassin misfired twice.

1833-1837 – Manufactured “boom” created by central bankers – money supply Increases 84%, Spurred by the 2^nd Bank of the US

The total money supply rose from $150 million to $267 million.[1]

1837-1843 – Terrible Depression

343 of the 850 banks in the US closed entirely as largest banks consolidated wealth and power.[2]

1861 – American Civil War

1862-1863 Lincoln Over Rules Debt-Based Money and Issues Greenbacks to Fund the War

Bankers would only lend the government money under certain conditions and at high interest rates, so Lincoln issued his own currency – “greenbacks” – through the US Treasury, and made them legal tender. His soldiers went on to win the war, followed by great economic expansion.

April 15, 1865 – Lincoln Assassinated

1881- President James Garfield, Staunch Proponent of “Honest Money” Backed by Gold and Silver, was Assassinated

Garfield opposed fiat currency (money that was not backed by any physical object) and was a strong advocate of a bi-metal monetary system. He had the second shortest Presidency in history.

1907- Banking Panic of 1907

The New York Stock Exchange dropped dramatically as everyone tried to get their money out of the banks at the same time across the nation. This banking panic spurred debate for banking reform. JP Morgan and others gathered to create an image of concern and stability in the face of the panic, which eventually led to the formation of the Federal Reserve. The founders of the Federal Reserve pretended like the bankers were opposed to the idea of its formation in order to mislead the public into believing that the Federal Reserve would help to regulate bankers when in fact it really gave even more power to private bankers, but in a less transparent way.

1908 – JP Morgan Associate and Rockefeller Relative Nelson Aldrich Heads New National Monetary Commission

Senate Republican leader, Nelson Aldrich, heads the new National Monetary Commission that was created to study the cause of the banking panic. Aldrich had close ties with J.P. Morgan and his daughter married John D. Rockefeller.

1910 – Bankers Meet Secretly on Jekyll Island to Draft Federal Reserve Banking Legislation

Over the course of a week, some of the nations most powerful bankers met secretly off the coast of Georgia, drafting a proposal for a private Central Banking system. Those in attendance included Nelson Aldrich, A.P. Andrew (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury), Paul Warburg (Kuhn, Loeb, & Co.), Frank Vanderlip (President of National City Bank of New York), Charles D. Norton (president of the Morgan-dominated First National Bank of New York), Henry Davidson (Senior Partner of JP Morgan Co.), and Benjamin Strong (representing JP Morgan).

Dec 23, 1913 – Federal Reserve Act Passed

Two days before Christmas, while many members of Congress were away on vacation, the Federal Reserve Act was passed, creating the Central banking system we have today. It was based on the Aldrich plan drafted on Jekyll Island and gave private bankers supreme authority over the economy. They are now able to create money out of nothing (and loan it out at interest), make decisions without government approval, and control the amount of money in circulation.

1913 – Income tax established -16^th Amendment Ratified

Taxes ensured that citizens would cover the payment of debt due to the Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, which was also created in 1913.The 16^th Amendment stated: “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”

1914 – JP Morgan and Co. Profits from Financing both sides of War and Purchasing Weapons

J.P. Morgan and Co. made a deal with the Bank of England to give them a monopoly on underwriting war bonds for the UK and France. They also invested in the suppliers of war equipment to Britain and France.

November 1914 – Federal Reserve Banks Open

1921-1929 – The “Roaring 20’s” – The Federal Reserve Floods the Economy with Cash and Credit

From 1921 to 1929 the Federal Reserve increased the money supply by $28 billion, almost a 62% increase over an eight-year period.[3] This artificially created another “boom”.

1929 – Federal Reserve Contracts the Money Supply

In 1929, the Federal Reserve began to pull money out of circulation as loans were paid back. They created a “bust” which was inevitable after issuing so much credit in the years before. The Federal Reserve’s actions triggered the banking crisis, which led to the Great Depression.

October 24, 1929 – “Black Thursday”, Stock Market Crash

The most devastating stock market crash in history. Billions of dollars in value were consolidated into the private banker’s hands at the expense of everyone else.

1930- Great Depression Begins

1929-1933- Federal Reserve Reduces Money Supply by 33%

June 4, 1963 – Kennedy Issued an Executive Order (11110) that Authorized the US Treasury to Issue Silver Certificates, Threatening the Federal Reserve’s Monopoly on Money

This government issued currency would bypass the governments need to borrow from bankers at interest.

Nov. 22, 1963 - Kennedy Assassinated

December 1963 – Johnson Reverses Kennedy’s Banking Rule and Restores Power to the Federal Reserve

1999 – The Financial Services Modernization Act Allows Banks to Grow Even Larger

Many economists and politicians have recognized that this legislation played a key part in the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007. It repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 and allowed investment banks, commercial banks, securities firms, and insurance companies to merge. Citigroup was a major proponent of this particular bill (it had already merged with Travelers Insurance and needed to find a way to legally keep the corporation together). The government gave Citi officials the opportunity to review and approve drafts before the legislation was introduced and to modify it as they desired. Robert Rubin, Treasury Secretary at the time, helped move the bill forward in early 1999. He then stepped down from the Treasury position in July, joined CitiGroup in October, and the bill was passed in November. The Center for Responsive Politics also found that members of Congress who supported the bill received twice as much money from the banking sector than those who opposed it.[4]

2000-2003 – The Federal Reserve Extends “Easy Credit”, Lowers the Federal Fund Rate from 6.5% to 1%[5] and Sets up Another Financial “Boom”

2004 – Investment Banks and the SEC Cut a Deal

On April 28, 2004, five of the biggest investment banks, including Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs (then run by Henry Paulson, who later became Secretary of the Treasury), met with members of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), urging them to allow voluntary regulation of themselves, so they could determine themselves how much money they could make up out of nothing to loan into circulation. This is known as the banks leverage ratio, or amount of assets to borrowing ratio. Up until 2004, the amount of debt the banks could take on was limited. However, in 2004, the SEC agreed to let banks regulate themselves and take on as much debt as they wanted, therefore unleashing billions of dollars for high-risk investment packages. Under this new voluntary regulation the Bear Stearns ratio, for example, jumped to 33 to 1.[6] Not long after, the economy collapsed and financial wealth and power was again further consolidated into the hands of the private bankers who run the Federal Reserve.

2004-2006 – Federal Reserve Sets Off New “Bust” by Making Loans and Adjustable Rate Mortgages More Expensive, Raising Fed Fund Rates to 5.25%[7], This contracts the market.

2007-2010 – Worst Financial Crisis Since the Great Depression

The financial crisis impacted people around the world – millions lost their homes, jobs, and retirement funds. Many of the smaller banks were absorbed by others, which allowed the biggest banks to further consolidate wealth and eliminate competition. In 2008, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. bought up both Washington Mutual (the biggest bank to “fail” in the history of the United States) and Bear Stearns (the fifth largest investment bank).

2010 – JP Morgan Chase Reports Record Profits

The bank made a record profit of $17.4 Billion in 2010. [8]

[1] http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Panic_of_1837

[2] http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Panic_of_1837

[3] “The Inflationary Factors”: http://mises.org/rothbard/agd/chapter4.asp

[4] “Money and Votes Aligned in Congress’s Last Debate Over Bank Regulation” by Massie Ritsch, September 23, 2008. http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/money-and-votes-aligned-in-con.html

[5] Open Market Operations Archive, The Federal Reserve: http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/openmarket_archive.htm

[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/business/03sec.html?pagewanted=1

[7] http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/openmarket.htm#2006

[8] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12189494

Follow the Money - Education

THE ORIGIN OF COMPULSORY SCHOOLING

- Rev. Frederick T. Gates, Business Advisor to John D. Rockefeller Sr., 1913 [1]

The current American school system took root around the turn of the century. In 1903, John D. Rockefeller founded the General Education Board, which provided major funding for schools across the country and was especially active in promoting the State-controlled public school movement.

Rockefeller Education Board, 1915The General Education Board was not interested in encouraging critical thinking. Rather, its focus was on organizing children and creating reliable, predictable, obedient citizens. As award-winning former teacher John Gatto puts it, “school was looked upon from the first part of the 20^th Century as a branch of industry and a tool of governance.” The Rockefellers, along with other financial elite and their philanthropic organizations (such as the Gates, Carnegies, and Vanderbilts) have been able to mold society by funding and pushing compulsory state schooling for the masses.

Here’s a timeline to show the radical shift in education and the influence of the financial elite.

Pre 1840: Literacy Rates High, Schools Predominantly Private and Locally Controlled

Up until the 1840’s, the American school system was mainly private, decentralized, and home schooling was common. Americans were well educated and literacy rates were high.

1852: Massachusetts Passes First Mandatory Attendance Law

1902: John D. Rockefeller Creates the General Education Board

At the ultimate cost of $129 million, the General Education Board provided major funding for schools across the nation and was very influential in shaping the current school system.

1905: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is Founded

1906: NEA Becomes a Federally Chartered Association

1913: Frederick T. Gates, Director of Charity for the Rockefeller Foundation, Writes “In our dream…the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hand”

Frederick T. Gates wrote in The Country School of Tomorrow, Occasional Papers Number 1:

1914: National Education Association (NEA) Alarmed by the Activity of the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations

At an annual meeting in St. Paul Minnesota, a resolution was passed by the Normal School Section of the NEA. An excerpt stated:

“We view with alarm the activity of the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations—agencies not in any way responsible to the people—in their efforts to control the policies of our State educational institutions, to fashion after their conception and to standardize our courses of study, and to surround the institutions with conditions which menace true academic freedom and defeat the primary purpose of democracy as heretofore preserved inviolate in our common schools, normal schools, and universities.”

1917: NEA Reorganizes and Moves to Washington DC

The NEA is the largest labor union in the U.S., representing public school teachers and other school faculty and staff. It generally opposes merit pay, school vouchers, accountability reforms, and more.

1918: Every State Requires Students to Complete Elementary School

1932: “Eight Year Study” – Largely funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the General Education Board

This laid the groundwork for education reform and the schooling system we have today.

1946: Rockefeller Foundation grants the General Education Board $7.5 billion

1953: Reece Committee of the US House of Representatives Reveals Agenda of Carnegie Endowment and Rockefeller Foundation on Education

“It seems incredible that the trustees of typically American fortune-created foundations should have permitted them to be used to finance ideas and practices incompatible with the fundamental concepts of our Constitution. Yet there seems evidence that this may have occurred.”

-Norman Dodd, Director of Research, Special Committee to Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations, 1954 [2]

1968: Edith Roosevelt’s Article “The Foundation Machine” Indicts Carnegie Funded Textbooks

Carnegie funded “Programmed Textbooks” were distributed to “culturally deprived areas.” Edith Roosevelt stated that “these young children are being indoctrinated with a pattern of anti-social ideas that will completely and violently alienate them from the mainstream of American middle-class values.”

1979: US Department of Education Created

1986: Carnegie Teaching Panel Charts New Teacher Framework & Provides $900,000 in Grants for Reforms

2003: 14% of American Adults are Illiterate

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) administered tests which revealed 14% of US residents would have extreme difficulty with reading and written comprehension. In 2003, some 30 million American adults had Below Basic prose literacy, 27 million had Below Basic document literacy, and 46 million had Below Basic quantitative literacy.

Follow the Money - Environment

Our food system isn’t working. There’s enough food to feed everyone, and yet one out of every six people are starving. At the same time U.S. agri-business is the second most profitable industry next to Pharmaceuticals, with an annual value of more than $800 billion.[1] Agri-business is dominated by a handful of international corporations – among them Monsanto, Cargill, Bunge and ADM. This is no accident. If you trace back the money behind our flawed agricultural system, you’ll see that it was initiated by Rockefeller funded research and designed to benefit the same financial elite who gain in all other sectors of human endeavor. It is designed to breed dependency on bio-tech and oil companies, both of which are largely influenced and controlled by the Rockefellers.

What’s wrong with our food system?

Conventional farming practices are destroying our environment through the use of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers and GMO’s.

Pesticides: Our food is being sprayed with pesticides that have serious health and environmental consequences.

Oil Dependency: Single crops are planted over vast areas, with no other plants interspersed, known as monoculture. This requires more pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers that are all petroleum based.

GMOs: Our ability to grow and consume healthy food is threatened by genetically modified seeds. This is because GMOs can cross-pollinate and contaminate other seeds with their genes. Some GMO seeds are even made so they can’t reproduce, called “terminator” seeds.

Rockefeller Funding of Green Revolution Agriculture and Biotechnology

1940’s – The Green Revolution - The Green Revolution of the 1940’s introduced the type of farming we have today. It was initiated when the Rockefeller Foundation’s Natural Science Division combined with large agricultural companies. Their plan was to introduce a type of farming that required pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers – all petroleum based – to make money for themselves and centralize even more control. Green Revolution agriculture has added great costs to the consumers in the form of taxpayer subsidies and environmental harm.

1971 –The Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) - The Rockefeller Foundation, World Bank, and Ford Foundation established the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in 1971. Today it operates under the World Bank, with 15 international centers, 64 partners, and spends around $350 million every year. Much of its work has been spreading GMO’s to developing countries.[2]

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) - The ISAAA says it “delivers the benefits of agricultural biotechnology to resource-poor farmers in developing countries.” The Rockefeller Brothers’ Fund contributed financially to the founding of ISAAA [3] and the Rockefeller Foundation remains a major donor.[4] It operates 3 regional centers – in Kenya, the Philippines, and Ithaca, New York. The center in the Philippines – the International Rice Research Institute – was established in 1960 by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation. The ISAAA is a way for the elite to gain control of global food systems and breed our dependency on biotech companies. Other current donors to the ISAAA include Monsanto, USDA, and USAID. [5]

1984-2000 – Rice Biotechnology - During this period the Rockefeller Foundation spent $104.7 million on the International Program on Rice Biotechnology [6]

2006-Present – Bringing the Green Revolution to Africa - The Rockefeller Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are the founding partners and funders of AGRA, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. In 2006, the Rockefeller Foundation put up $50 million of initial funding toward the project and the Gates Foundation put up $150 million. [7] The stated focus of AGRA is to increase crop production, which involves the same harmful farming practices we experience now, including heavy pesticide use, planting of GMO crops, and training of African scientists and farmers to spread this model throughout the continent. AGRA has all the same financial beneficiaries, and human and environmental consequences as the Green Revolution in America.

Government Collusion

On the surface it may not seem like government agencies, officials, or politicians would go for this type of farming, especially when it has proven to be harmful. But when you follow the money and connections between industry and government it begins to make more sense.

Political Contributions - In 2008, the Agribusiness Industry gave more than $65 million to Federal political candidates.[8]

The USDA gets a share of GMO sales - The USDA is supposed to be responsible for assessing the impacts of GMO crops, but a study of over 8,000 GMO field test applications showed the USDA didn’t require a single environmental assessment.[9] This makes sense when you follow the money to discover that the USDA has a contractual agreement to receive nearly 5% of the net sales of any commercial products using Monsanto’s Genetic Use Restriction Technologies such as “traitor” GMO seeds. [10]

Revolving door between government and industry - A number of people have gone back and forth between positions in government agencies and Monsanto, the largest biotech company in the world. Alongside the Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto is largely responsible for spreading the use of GM crops around the world. By infiltrating government agencies, it is able to uphold its own interests.

Clarence Thomas

Monsanto Attorney

Supreme Court Justice

Ann Veneman

Board of Director at Calgene (purchased by Monsanto)

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture 2001-2005

Mickey Kantor

Monsanto Board of Directors

U.S. Secretary of Commerce

Michael R. Taylor

Monsanto’s Vice President for Public Policy

FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy

Donald Rumsfeld

Former President of GD Searle and Co. (subsidiary of Monsanto)

Secretary of Defense

Tom Vilsack

Secretary of Agriculture

Former Governor, Iowa

Major Supporter of Biotech Companies [11]

Linda Fisher

Executive Vice President for Monsanto

EPA Deputy Administrator

Michael Friedman

Senior VP of GD Searle (a division of Monsanto)

Former acting FDA Commissioner

Marcia Hale

Monsanto’s Director of Intergovernmental Affairs

Clinton’s Director of Intergovernmental Affairs

Summary

When we get to the headwaters of the control stream, we find that chemical-dependent farming and biotechnology are financially beneficial to the same elite few. The Rockefeller’s show up again and again – creating the so-called “Green Revolution,” forming major international organizations devoted to manipulating and dominating biotechnology, funding GMO research and development, and currently pushing to bring the same agricultural model to Africa.

Learning to see through the lens of the Global Domination Agenda and understanding the structure and tactics for manipulation can help us resist this destructive dominance and come up with alternative models that truly empower people to grow healthy food around the world. It is an example of where the experience in the West can be shared with people in Africa organizing resistance to this dangerous trend.

“The only thing more powerful than organized money is organized people.” - Amy Goodman

[1] “Seeds of Destruction: the Geopolitics of GM Food” by William Engdahl. March 6, 2005.

[2] William Engdahl, “Seeds of Destruction: the Geopolitics of GM Food”, March 6, 2005.

[3] Devlin Kuyek. "ISAAA in Asia: Promoting Corporate Profits in the Name of the Poor." Grain.org: http://www.grain.org/briefings_files/isaaa-en.pdf

[4] "ISAAA in Asia: Promoting Corporate Profits in the Name of the Poor" Grain.org: http://www.grain.org/briefings_files/isaaa-en.pdf

"The Papaya Biotechnology Network of Southeast Asia: Biosaftety Considerations and Papaya Background Information." ISAAA.org: http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/11/default.html.

[5] http://www.isaaa.org/inbrief/donors/default.asp

[6] These numbers come from the Rockefeller Foundation’s own website: www.rockfound.org/library/01rice_bio.pdf

[7] “2 Foundations Join in Africa Agriculture Push”, Stephanie Strom, New York Times, September 13, 2006.

www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/us/13gates.html?_r=1

[8] Future of Food.

[9] Engdahl, F. William, "Seeds of Destruction."

[10] http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_15573.cfm

[11] In the 2008 election cycle, the Agribusiness Industry contributed a total of $65,591,497 to federal political candidates, with Republicans receiving 62% ($40,413,745) and Democrats 38% ($25,060,699). 61% came from individuals and 39% from PACs. Source: OpenSecrets.org, website of the Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?cycle=2008&ind=A).

Follow the Money - Health

DRUG (RX) MONEY: MAKING A KILLING

The current health care system took root around the turn of the century when the AMA, Rockefeller Foundation, and Carnegie Foundation forged a partnership. They put their money into drug-based research and made that the main focus of “healthcare”. Since then, the Rockefellers and other prominent banking elite have been able to control and profit enormously from the drug industry. The AMA – which is the largest association of physicians in the U.S. – enforces the drug-treatment paradigm by heavily lobbying Congress and publishing one of the most influential journals, JAMA, which is largely funded by pharmaceutical advertisers. It is also engaged in suppressing alternative health treatments, such as the Royal Rife cancer cure.

Here’s a timeline detailing the suppression of alternative cancer cures and the Rockefeller Foundation’s role in shaping the healthcare industry:

1901 – Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research Opens

Based out of New York, this became one of the most “richly endowed” research centers. By 1928, John D. Rockefeller had given it $65 million in endowment funds.[1] This later became Rockefeller University.

1910 – Flexner Report Published, Establishes New Standards For Medical Education

This highly influential report, sponsored by the Rockefeller’s and Carnegie Foundation, evaluated medical schools and restructured American medical education. It set up a new standard so that schools could only be accredited if they showed an emphasis in drug based research and treatment. Homeopathy and other alternative approaches to medicine were no longer recognized. Abraham Flexner, author of the report, was on the staff of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. In 1910, 161 medical schools existed. By 1919, there were only 81 left.[2]

1913 – Rockefeller Foundation Establishes the International Health Commission

This laid the foundation for how health and science research and development were to be conducted. Many of today’s health institutions were modeled on this commission’s practices, policies, and research processes such as the UN’s World Health Organization, the U.S. Government’s National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Health.

1918 – Public Health Becomes Rockefeller Foundation’s Top Priority

“The Foundation identifies public health education as one of its principal areas of interest, and builds and endows the first school of public health at Johns Hopkins University.”

1921 – Rockefeller Foundation Contributes $357 million [3] to Medical Schools Around the World

This spreads the drug-based approach to the most prominent schools around the world.

1922 – Dr. Royal Raymond Rife Begins Cancer Research

In the 1920s, Dr. Rife – a brilliant bacteriologist and former student of John Hopkins University – began researching and developing an alternative cancer cure.

1924 – Morris Fishbein Becomes Primary Editor of JAMA

JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, is one of the most influential medical journals in the world. As head of JAMA, Morris Fishbein, became one of most powerful, prominent men in medicine during the time. He transformed the industry into a money-making machine and used negative campaigns to squash competitors. He was one of the key figures to suppress Dr. Royal Rife’s cancer cure.

1924 – Harry Hoxsey Founds First Cancer Clinic in Taylorville, Illinois

Harry Hoxsey offers a natural herbal formula to cure cancer that thousands claim to have worked. This is the first of 17 clinics to eventually open.

1926 – JAMA Publishes First Tirade Against Hoxsey

The article scares doctors and researchers from being associated with Hoxsey.

1927 – John D. Rockefeller Jr. Gave the First of his Annual $60,000 Contribution to Memorial (Sloan-Kettering) Cancer Center

1932 – Dr. Rife Develops Cancer Cure

Dr. Rife developed a machine that could neutralize disease-causing micro-organisms, including cancer cells, with the use of frequencies.

1932 - Director of Rockefeller Institute, Dr. Thomas Rivers, Denies Success of Rife Cancer Treatment

In 1932, Dr. Arthur Kendall, director of Medical Research at Northwestern University, spoke before the Association of American Physicians at Johns Hopkins University about the preliminary successes with Rife's methods and treatments of cancer. Dr. Thomas Rivers, virologist and bacteriologist, director of the Rockefeller Institute (a primary source of funding for medical research) and Dr. Hans Zinsser, called Kendall a liar to his face in front of the assembled crowd.[4]

1934 - Rife’s Treatment Cures 16 Terminally Ill Cancer Patients
In 1934 at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, Southern California, Rife conducted clinical trials on 16 terminally ill cancer patients, and successfully cured all of them. A team of medical specialists – including Dr. Milbank Johnson, Chairman of the Special Medical Research Committee of USC; George Fischer of the NY Children’s Hospital; and Dr. Wayland Morrison, the chief medical officer of the Santa Fe Railway – confirmed the findings.

1938 – The AMA Indicts Rife for Fraudulent Medical Practices

1939 – Philip Hoyland Files Suit Against Royal Rife’s Company, the Beam Ray Corporation

Philip Hoyland admitted to accepting a $10,000 bribe from Hahn Realty Group (AMA Agents) to sue the Beam Ray Corporation.

1939 – New Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Opens – John D. Rockefeller donated the land and provided $3 million of funding

1940s – Rife’s Work Is Destroyed & Continues to be Suppressed

1949 – Hoxsey Sues JAMA and Editors for Libel and Slander – Hoxsey Wins

1949 – Morris Fishbein is Ousted from AMA

1956 – FDA Issues Public Warning About Hoxsey Cancer Treatment

1960 – Hoxsey Method Banned in U.S. by the FDA

1960 – Laurance Rockefeller Serves as Chairman of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York from 1960-1982

This center is one of the most influential cancer centers in the world. During WWII it performed some of the first experiments applying chemical warfare weapons to the “treatment of cancer”, which evolved into chemotherapy.

1963 – Bio-Medical (Hoxsey) Center Opens in Tijuana, Mexico

It continues to operate and claims an 80% success rate.

1971 – President Nixon Declares a “War on Cancer”

Signs $1.6 billion law.

1977 – Sloan-Kettering Rejects Laetrile (derived from Apricot Kernels) as Effective Cancer Treatment

This is despite positive results from Sloan-Kettering’s own famous researcher, Kanematsu Suguira. In November of 1977 Dr. Ralph Moss, Assistant Director of public affairs at Sloan-Kettering, held a press-conference about the success and potential of laetrile, despite the centers desire to cover it up. Ralph Moss was fired the next day for “failing to carry out the most basic job responsibilities.”

1991 – Rockefeller Foundation Helps Start Children’s Vaccine Initiative

The Foundation joins with the United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank to form the Children’s Vaccine Initiative (CVI).

2010 – More Than Half a Million Americans Die of Cancer

American Cancer Society: The World’s Wealthiest “Nonprofit” Institution by Samuel Epstein, M.D.

Cancer Studies Published in Respected Journals Biased by Medical Industry Money Natural News.

[1] Paul Starr, “The Social Transformation of American Medicine.”

[2] http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Health_Concerns/Pharmageddon/drugs_and_big_money.htm

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Medical_Association

[3] According to the Rockefeller Foundation, this was $357 million in “current dollars”: http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/who-we-are/our-history/1920-1929/

[4] http://educate-yourself.org/cn/rifetimelinemay1998.shtml

Follow the Money - Infrastructure

“The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.”
- Ralph Nader

The Oil Empire & The Suppression of Alternative Energy Sources

We are extremely dependent on oil, which translates into phenomenal profits for energy corporations. The oil industry has enough money and influence to suppress anything that might threaten their monopoly. They commit huge resources to undermine energy alternatives, control global reserves, and maintain high oil prices. This timeline shows the rise of the Rockefeller oil empire and the suppression of alternatives by major energy corporations.

1870: John D. Rockefeller Founds Standard Oil
Rockefeller founds Standard Oil of Ohio with $1 million in capital, the largest corporation in the country. The new company controls 10% of U.S. petroleum refining.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rockefellers/timeline/index.html

September 1873: Stock Exchange Crashes and Standard Oil Takes Advantage of Economic Downturn
On September 18, the stock market crashed, followed by a six year depression. During this time, Standard Oil absorbs refineries in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and Pennsylvania's Oil Region.

1877: Rockefeller controls almost 90% of the oil refined in the United States

1882: Standard Oil Trust is Formed

1890: Congress Passes Sherman Antitrust Act
This is the first Federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies.

1892: JP Morgan Arranges Merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to Form General Electric (GE)

1896: Henry Ford Assembles First Automobile, Demand for Oil Increases

1901: J.P. Morgan Founds U.S. Steel, the First Billion-Dollar Corporation
U.S. Steel is still one of the worlds largest steel producers.

1902: Nikola Tesla Begins Exploring How to Transmit Electricity Without Power Lines; JP Morgan Refuses Further Funding
Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower, initially financed by J.P. Morgan, was designed to transmit electricity without wires. By 1904, J.P. Morgan - who had a monopoly on copper which was used to transmit electricity – refused to provide any more funding.

1908: The U.S. Government Targets Standard Oil in Antitrust Suit

1911: The U.S. Supreme Court Orders Standard Oil to Dissolve. Shootoffs Include ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, and ConocoPhillips.
Standard Oil is split up into 34 different companies. The Rockefellers still hold stock in these oil companies.

1913: Rockefeller Foundation is Founded. John D. Rockefeller gives the Foundation $100 million in First Year.

1919: American Petroleum Institute (API) is Established
API represents the oil and natural gas industry. Today API Represents More than 400 corporate members including Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, GE, Halliburton, and Shell.

1940: Rockefeller Family Owns Nearly $400 Million in Stock of the 200 Largest Non-Financial Corporations
Source: “13 Families” Published by Time Magazine, Oct. 28, 1940

1969: API Moves its Headquarters to Washington DC
By 2011 it represents more than 400 corporate members. In 2010, it spent more than $7 million on lobbying.
Source: http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000031493&year=2010

1982: Inventors Adam Trombly and Joseph Kahn receive an international patent for a zero-point energy device
They called it the “Closed Path Homopolar Machine.”

1983: Trombly was issued a gag order by the U.S. government to stop development of the “Closed Path Homopolar Machine”

Mid 1980’s: Trombly developed another zero-point energy device with David Farnsworth
This device was called the “Piezo Ringing Resonance Generator.”

January, 1989: Former Oil Businessman, George H. W. Bush, Becomes President
Before becoming President of the United States, Bush made a fortune in the oil industry. He founded Zapata Oil Corporation and ran the offshore drilling company for years.

June 1989: Trombly’s Free Energy Demonstrations in New York and Washington D.C. Suppressed
Inventor Adam Trombly was scheduled to demonstrate a small version of his Piezo Ringing Resonance Generator at the UN in New York. At the last minute Trombly was forced to do his demonstration at a church down the street. Afterwards Trombly gave a speech in Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium at the United Nations in front of an international audience. A few days later, Trombly was scheduled to demonstrate the same device at the US Senate Banking and Finance Committee in Washington. Only Senator Carl Levin and a “handful” of staff were in attendance because the Senior Bush Administration called hundreds of Senators, Congressional Representatives and their staff members for an “off-the-cuff” discussion of the Clean Air Act at the exact same time as Trombly’s demonstration. The oil administration successfully diverted attention away from the technology in an effort to censor Trombly. Subsequently his lab was raided by the FBI, millions of dollars of equipment was taken and he was threatened and required “for reasons of national security” to cease his research.

1989: MIT & Harvard Grad, Eugene Mallove, Authors the Book, Fire From Ice, Which Details the Success of a Cold-Fusion Device with “Greater than Unity” Output

1994: Infinite Energy Magazine – “The Magazine of New Energy Science and Technology” – is Founded by Eugene Mallove
The magazine covers both the theoretical and technological developments in the “new energy” field.

2004: Eugene Mallove is Mysteriously Murdered Outside Childhood Home

1998-2011: Oil & Gas Industry Spends $1,114,552,107 on Lobbying
Source: Open Secrets: http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=i

2006 – A brief summary of the “History of ‘New Energy” Invention Suppression Cases
Source: http://www.rense.com/general72/oinvent.htm

Follow the Money - Media

“We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective.”

– 1981 internal memo from Michael Eisner, former CEO of the Walt Disney Company

"In March, 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests, the steel, shipbuilding, and powder interest, and their subsidiary organizations, got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control, generally, the policy of the daily press.... They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers. An agreement was reached; the policy of the papers was bought, to be paid for by the month; an editor was furnished for each paper to properly supervise and edit information regarding the questions of preparedness, militarism, financial policies, and other things of national and international nature considered vital to the interests of the purchasers."

– U.S. Congressman Oscar Callaway, 1917

Most media is owned by large corporations that benefit financially from the promotion of a particular message. This inhibits true journalistic inquiry. Stations are largely funded through advertisements, making them less likely to provide content that conflicts with the agenda of the advertisers. This is a big problem for everyone. It means content is censored based on a profit-motive. We don’t always hear the truth, or get the whole picture, because certain stories threaten the moneymaking abilities of corporate owners.

When I followed the money behind the media, I found that it is largely controlled by the same economic elite who dominate all other sectors. The control seems to come from owning stock in the major media companies, and issuing loans to media companies that elite bankers agree with and repealing loans from those that threaten their control. For example, there’s a nationwide movement to abolish the Federal Reserve, but there has been little to no press coverage. By controlling the media, the banking elite can control what information gets out to the public. It’s no wonder most people don’t know how the economy actually works…we’re not supposed to know.

Many of the largest banks own stock in major media companies. Chase Manhattan Bank has accumulated stock of various news outlets over time. In July 1968 the House Banking Subcommittee reported that through Chase Manhattan Bank, Rockefeller owned 5.9% of the stock in CBS. [1] In 1974, a report issued by Congress stated that Chase Manhattan Bank’s stake in CBS went up to 14.1% and NBC to 4.5%. It also held stock in 28 broadcasting firms. I have not been able to find more recent information on media stock ownership, but I imagine Chase and other bankers would not sell their stock given that the industry is growing and remaining profitable.

There is also significant overlap of Board Members in big banks and the biggest media corporations. Directors oversee company activity and have significant authority over management. These Directors often make decisions that support each other’s consolidation of power.

Time Warner Directors include:

Jessica P. Einhorn
Trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Former Managing Director of Finance and Resource Mobilization at the World Bank. Visiting Fellow (1998-1999) at the IMF.

Deborah C. Wright
Chairman and CEO, Carver Bancorp, Inc.

Walt Disney Directors include:

John S. Chen
Director, Wells Fargo

Fred H. Langhammer
Director, Shensei Bank

Monica Lozano
Director, Bank of America

Robert W. Matschullat
Former Director and head of worldwide investment banking, Morgan Stanley

Orin C. Smith
Director, Washington Mutual

Here is a map of other corporate ties to Walt Disney:

Made with NNDB Mapper
Link to interactive Map
Link to large JPEG image

News Corp. Directors include:

Andrew S.B. Knight
Chairman, J. Rothschild Capital Management

Peter Chernin
Director, American Express

Kenneth Cowley
Former Director, Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Rod Eddington
Non-Executive Chairman, Australia and New Zealand JP Morgan

Here is a map of other corporate ties to News Corp.:

Made with NNDB Mapper
Link to Interactive Map
Link to large JPEG image

Political contributions are another way to buy power. In 2008, The TV/Movie/Music Industry gave more than $34 million in total contributions to Congress (75% to Democrats and 25% to Republicans)[2] and Telephone Utility Companies gave more than $7 million (46% to Democrats and 54% to Republicans).[3] AT&T is one of the biggest funders of politicians – it has given more than $39 million since 1989.[4] There are also more than 110 people who have gone back and forth between some of the largest media corporations in the nation and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[5]

I believe that the five major media corporations in the U.S. – Time Warner, The Walt Disney Company, News Corporation, Viacom, and Bertelsmann – are owned and operated by a small group of financial elite whose interest lies in selling certain products and messages that will support their agenda for not only maximizing profit, but also centralizing control of the population. They are not adequately informing the population. Instead they are breeding a culture of inadequately informed people by failing to cover stories that are important in order to protect their own interests.

For more information on media ownership, check out “The Big Six” ownership chart on the Free Press Website.

[1]Thomas D. Schauf, “The Federal Reserve is Privately Owned.”
[2]See Opensecrets.org for details.
[3]Telephone Utilities Top Contributors 2009-2010.
[4]AT&T Contribution Trends, 1990-2010.
[5]FCC Revolving Door from Opensecrets.org. Also see article from Public Integrity on revolving door.

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