| Battambang,
April 4 2005
Dear reader,
Finance, Function and Family.
The Theory of the
Three F's
determines who belongs to
the top-elite.
Finance. He (and occasionally a female) has vast
amounts of capital at his disposal that he can shift to the place
and on the time he finds appropriate.
Function. He has a prominent position in which he can
contribute directly to the decision-making process.
Family. He has a vast network of Family Members who are in
comparable positions.
It is clear that Bush, Kennedy, Roosevelt or Rockefeller
belong to the powerelite while Eisenhower, Clinton or Carter
are less important. Pressure on these stooges is hardly effective.
Sharon controls the financial power of Israel and has a good
position but he has no Family on high places in other countries.
This puppet is hardly important in the quest for a solution of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Gates has also no high-placed Family-members but is important
in his branch because of his huge private financial possibilities.
Colin Powell had only a high position but no Finance nor
Family. His words were not interesting. He did not have any
influence on American policy.
The powerelite uses the elitist democracy to warn newcomers to stay
in line. Martha Stewart, investment banker Quattrone, QWest CEO
Joseph Nacchio and Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas
are
pressurized through the judicial system.
Bernard Ebbers, founder of Worldcom, started as milkman. Before
the concern crumbled away when the telecom-bubble busted he was
regarded as a savvy entrepreneur and maverick, cementing his
reputation in 1988 with the $40 billion purchase of MCI, the largest
acquisition in corporate history at that time. The 63-years-old was
sentenced to 25 years in prison and to surrender most (?) of his
personal assets, including $5m in cash. It seems a light sentence in
view of the 20,000 workers that lost their jobs and the many shareholders
that
lost about $180bn when the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
Ebbers advanced to the top without the backing of a powerful Family
and he did not abide by the unwritten laws of the powerelite. He was
punished as a warning to other upstarts.
These people seem powerful but do not belong to the powerelite.
The
top of the world is organised as the Mafia. Only when the highest
top is put under control the Organisation will start to fade away.
Elimination of lower Mafia members does not weaken the Organisation.
They are replaceable.
The power of the powerelite will never wither away when only lower
echelons are put under pressure. Then activists just throw away
their precious time and political energy. Nothing will change when
people like Powell or Kofi Annan are attacked or when is being
thought that these puppets will lead the world in the right
direction.
The real power lies elsewhere.
See also
The Elite isolates itself and
The elite is very old.
Yours truly, Joost van Steenis
|