This Feudal Democracy section is a set of 9 chapters explaining why present political systems are not, and can NEVER be, truly democratic. The flaws are embedded within the design of the system itself. The only solution is true Democracy. Feudal Democracy eBook Chapter 3 - Feudal MonopoliesOriginal document date: December 2011 In the past the feudal lords reigned supreme and their word was law, but they were not alone. Under them lurked a tier of feudal elites who wielded power and control over the peasants, and despite the appearance that things have changed over the past few hundred years - nothing has. But before I begin I must clarify something. When I use the term feudal elite I am not referring to individuals who may happen to be wealthy. Wealth, itself, is of no importance here whatsoever. By feudal elite I refer to individuals and entities who because of either their use of wealth or their position of authority within society, can and do abuse that power and influence to the detriment of the citizens living in feudal-democracies. In other words the feudal elite have power over the citizens, either directly or indirectly, which they should not have if the political system were a truly democratic one. Human nature hasn't changed and the same stupid greed and desire for control, and the same abuse of power and authority is undiminished within the human heart. To a certain extent the power of this feudal elite has become so ingrained within our so-called democracy, or social system, that it is all but invisible. It has become such a part of the system that it has become the system itself. Truly one of the worst aspects of human nature, apart from greed, in a society attempting to achieve some semblance of democracy, is this inbuilt hierarchical notion of those at the top being ones ‘betters’. Society is based on this. It has always been based on this. It is a natural unquestioning acceptance of the hierarchical structure of society. For the most part human nature dictates that those on a lower feudal tier of society cannot, or should not dare, to questions those on a higher tier. But that attitude held both by the oppressed citizens and the feudal elite monopolies is utterly destructive to the chances for a democratic system of any value from existing and stifles the desire for authority by many citizens. The following list of feudal monopolies is not an exhaustive nor exclusive list. These are just the main culprits.
This is a list of the main players in this game of political and social pretence - our present system of democracy. I had intended to put the term group, rather than profession, after each of these professions listed here but I decided to use the term profession only on the understanding that the term describes a feudal elite who abuse and misuse their position and the feudal political system where the citizen has no choice but to be utterly passive and unquestioning, while being fleeced. So when I use the term ‘profession’ it automatically encompasses the terms greedy, incompetent and dictatorial. In general they are people with more self-importance than ability. They are people who hold the citizens to ransom. They are people who have power and authority far beyond that which should ever be allowed in any true democratic political system. When I use the term ‘profession’ here that term does not encompass respect or deference, for merely having a position within the feudal elite structure should not in itself mean that an individual is deserving. Respect must be deserved and earned - not inherited or automatic because of ones place within the hierarchical feudal elite structure. It is on that basis that I use the term profession. Some may think, in 2012, that I am joking when I include members of the financial profession, and possible some of the other professions for example the religious corporations, but not so very long ago in Ireland as in many other countries, in the very recent past decades, members of these professions, especially bankers and the religious, were considered pillars of society and the most dependable, trustworthy and conservative individuals one could find anywhere. It is not too long ago when all these professions were considered as being the true elite. They were considered as being experts. They were seen as people who could, and did, make the right decisions. They were seen as members of an elite whose behaviour and motives could never be questioned under any circumstances. The bankers were definitely and unquestionably considered as part of this elite group of professions. They were perceived as being in place to control, rule, and guide the financial lives of the peasants. The fact that in 2012 they are not held in such lofty esteem as they had previously been does not demonstrate a new level of un-servile independent thinking by the citizens; it is merely a knee-jerk reaction to bad times. The true conscious understanding of the feudal elite and feudal monopolies and the negative effect on the Nation's wellbeing is, as yet, unacknowledged by the citizens. These professions dominate and dictate the structure, organisation, behaviour and regulation of society as if they somehow were in the exalted position of being super-human and ‘in the know’, as if from ‘above’. Until recently most citizens looked up to them with feudal respect. These feudal elite were there to rule and guide the citizens. Although it may not have been considered as being ‘divine right’ it was most certainly taken as ‘divine guidance’. Many citizens today still live under the impression that members of these professional bodies are their betters and display deference towards members of these feudal monopolies. Even if they didn't the very structure of the feudal system automatically elevates them, regardless of the opinion of the citizens. It is utterly incredible to think that these professional bodies were, and still are, considered thus. But this attitude all falls back to the inbuilt social mechanism in human beings. We tend to think that those in these professions have that authority ‘for a reason’. Most people automatically have the idea that people wouldn't be in power unless they personally deserved that power. This idea of ‘they wouldn't get where they are today if they were stupid’ is subconsciously held as fact by many people. It is also the case that those who are less educated than the members of these professions regard the extra education as being not only extra knowledge, but rather extra intelligence. In other words they equate education and learning to intelligence. If a person has more learning they must be more intelligent ... and more trustworthy. To make matters worse, on the other side of the coin as it were, another negative aspect to human nature is that those in power and authority will do all they can to not only maintain that power for themselves but also to increase and solidify that power in their hands, for their exclusive benefit, and maintain that exclusivity, and to cover up the fact that they are not any more intelligent than the average backward citizen. As will be shown, in a lot of cases, these professions do not even have to consciously do that because their position of power and authority has evolved and extended from human history pre-feudal times, through feudal times, and on to today to the point where their power and authority seems so natural and part of the human condition that it is rarely questioned, or even more so, is rarely seen as being open to any questioning. One method a lot of these professions use is that of secrecy. In the past, those who could read and write held a power and a level of respect which was unassailable by those who did not know the secrets of the marks on the parchment. These feudal elite were ‘in the know’ and all others not capable of reading and writing were subservient and dependant on these experts for knowledge. One could easily understand how a peasant, in feudal times, would not contemplate questioning the decision of one of these exclusive experts. How could they? To a certain extent even the feudal lord was at the mercy of the decisions of these ‘men of learning’. Again, it was the mistaken case of equating learning with intelligence, and worse still, equating intelligence with trust. But the subtly goes very deep indeed. Not only are members of these professions in positions of unquestioned authority and control but the very structure, organisation and framework, within which they operate are both dependent on them and are maintained by them, to the point where they have become an integral cornerstone of the present feudal-democratic political system. Not only do these structures help them to continue in their positions of feudal authority, but also contain and restrict the citizens from, as it were, breaking out from that system. The structures they control are the structures which control the behaviour and quality of life of the citizens. These structures are an integral part of the lives of the citizens to the point where their dictatorial aspect of their power and control of the citizens and the social system itself is all but invisible. You may be utterly confused by the last few paragraphs so I will shed some light on how the whole system works. I will be dealing with each profession separately but gradually hopefully more will be clarified. Feudal Monopolies - The Medical ProfessionThis section includes medical corporations (hospitals), the dental and other health professions. The elite attitude and power of this professional group is most definitely not restricted to Ireland's version of feudal-democracy. I think the greatest example of how this profession has become the ultimate feudal elite, the super feudal elite, can be seen in their control of the quality of the lives of the citizens in the United States of America. The answer to the simple question as to who depends on who as regards the medical profession and the citizens, one can only truly agree that it was, is and will ever be the case that the citizens depend on the medical profession. The medical profession are thoroughly in control and the citizens are at their mercy. The health of any citizen is one of the most fundamental cornerstones to bes quality of life. The medical service and it's power over us every day of our lives, whether urgently required or not, is from the ‘cradle to the grave’. When medical assistance is required it is usually not a matter of choice but a matter of urgent necessity. This is abused to the maximum extent possible which tend to leave the citizen a passive victim of the profession rather than an active consumer. Being a member of an elite group protects that individual from any scrutiny by the normal passive ‘unqualified’ citizen, and the medical profession is a perfect example of this ‘protected superiority’. It is very difficult for a citizen to question the competence of a member of the medical profession for they are merely bystanders to the activities of the ‘experts’. So, despite the very known fact that at times some doctors are guessing or presuming certain conditions, or arranging unnecessary scans or procedures, or making mistakes - sometimes dangerous ones, they are at the same time charging for their time as if it were unquestioningly expert and the citizens just have to accept this unsatisfactory relationship. It is an accepted fact of dealing with the medical profession that in some cases a patient may have to go to a few doctors or consultants before finding one who actually is competent and deals with the patient's problem in a professional manner. Nevertheless, all those doctors and consultants along the way who were either incompetent or just didn't really care, were being paid the full amount each time, regardless of ability, or usefulness, or consideration, or medical interest, or the possible danger they may have put the patient in. The medical profession demand payment, regardless of their interest or ability. Members of the medical profession are in an unassailable position of control over the citizens. In many cases citizens don't have a choice whether or not they go to a doctor or hospital. If they are ill they have to avail of medical services regardless of cost. Most individuals will pay anything they have to be healed and to stay alive. Thus they are open to being held to ransom. To a certain extent the notion of ‘I will pay anything to be cured’ is seen by the medical profession as meaning ‘You must pay everything to be cured’. Medical treatment can be one of the most costly services a citizen can avail of. Even in countries where there is the 'welfare state' and the presumption is that the citizen doesn't have to pay for the services, the medical profession are paid very generously by the State - and as usual it is the citizens who are ultimately paying for the 'free' service. In Ireland where some doctors work within the Governmental medical card system, where a section of the ‘poorer’ citizens can avail of free medical treatment along with free medicines, some of them have earnings, not including what they get from their own private practice, which are beyond the wildest imaginations of the ordinary citizen. These are earning incredible amounts of money far beyond what is deserved - far beyond that which reasonably could ever be fairly earned by any individual. An extreme example of this is in the United States where the cost of medical treatment is so astronomically high that it is not unheard of that a citizen would be left in a position when requiring medical treatment that be would be forced to sell bes home in order to pay for that treatment. Hospitals in the USA charge astronomical amounts for simple procedures and the citizens are powerless victims. In the United States the medical profession are truly the feudal elite of the elite - the super feudal elite. Many citizens actually live in fear of being ill. Having good health in the USA is not a matter of a citizen's rights but a matter of luxury or affordability. The bottom line for citizens is that they have to be wealthy to avail of any important medical service. Many bankruptcies in the USA are as a result of medical (hospital) expenses, the charges are so unreasonably and extortionally high. Also, like many of these feudal monopolies, there is an internal hierarchy which also reinforces their exclusivity. If an individual wants to see a Consultant it must be done through a doctor, who charges for that ‘referral’. The lowly citizen should never directly approach one of the exalted. The medical profession, like all humans, make mistakes; some are lazy; plenty are greedy; some are incompetent; and yet because of their elite standing, and the ‘secrecy’ surrounding their profession there isn't a system of checks and balances as regards the misbehaviour and wrong decisions made by this profession and there is no method of controlling what they charge. Admittedly in Ireland, and some other countries, there is a Medical Council, or equivalent, which organises the training of new doctors, the checking of competence of doctors wishing to be licenced to operate, and which also investigates and passes judgement on accusations of misbehaviour and malpractice within the profession. This body was set up in Ireland in the 1970s and originally consisted of fellow members of that profession, though it now has non-medical members also. Although it may take complaints from the public, I would think that the attitude of the citizens would be that only serious allegations of misconduct would be considered eligible; the ordinary everyday incompetence would not be considered as deserving this body's time. Also this body, in the past, was more concerned with defending its profession, rather than protecting the patients, and this was acknowledged as being the case. In other words it was set up with the interests of the medical profession in mind, and not the interests of the citizens. Their priority was towards their fellow members, not the patients. For the general public, the citizens, the incompetent decisions of the medical profession just have to be accepted, just like the fact that the citizens have to always pay even for these incorrect decisions. A patient may only be with the doctor for a few minutes but nevertheless is charged a sizable fee. The doctors still gets paid no matter what little time they spend on a patient, or what effect their decisions make on that patient. This is an established principle when dealing with any of the professions - the feudal monopolies. In effect, there is no real way of controlling the behaviour of the medical profession, on a day to day basis. There is no real way to control the amounts these doctors charge. As an individual patient there is no way to question the charges ‘demanded’ or the competency of the treatment. The citizens just has to accept this seemingly preordained situation. This relationship between the citizen and the medical professional has been established for hundreds of years and is a bastion of feudal elitism with all its accompanying negative aspects of that long forgotten unjust social and political system. In some instances doctors are brought to court and have to pay hefty fines for malpractice, and the victims receive large compensation, but it is the citizens who always pay for all this in the long run. The doctors may have to pay large insurance premiums but this, in turn, is passed on to the patients. The bottom line is that the citizens living in feudal-democracies are held to ransom by the medical profession, and, as I have stated, the worst example of this is how the citizens of the USA are held captive by a greedy utterly uncontrolled super elite (especially the hospitals). The Cost Of Health - To The CitizensPlease note - this is a tiny fraction of the problems with the medical profession. I am sure each and every reader will have their own stories.
Example - Ireland (April 2011): The research involved a sample of 630 patients in Northern Ireland and in the Cork (Southern Ireland) area and was funded by the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland. Half of the patients in the Republic were prescribed between 9 and 14 medicines, but in an extreme case one resident was prescribed 25 medicines. In both areas residents of long-term care facilities were frequently prescribed 11 medicines and often took an average of eight medicines daily. The report says the cost of inappropriate medicines for the 630 residents was €165,513 a year.
Example - Ireland (March 2011):
Example - Ireland (January 2011):
Example - Ireland (April 2011):
Example - Ireland (May 2011):
Example - Ireland (May 2011):
Example - Ireland (2011):
Example (May 2011):
Example - Ireland (July 2011):
Example - Ireland (April 2011):
Example - Ireland (September 2011):
Example - USA (2008):
Example - USA (2010):
Example - USA (2011):
Example - USA (US Dept of Human Health & Human Services HHS):
Example - USA, speech by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Dept Health (2011): In Michigan, a coalition of hospitals began using a simple checklist that reminded doctors and nurses to take simple steps like washing their hands before procedures. In just 18 months, they saved 1,500 lives by reducing infections and cut costs by $200 million. One recent study found that as many as one in three people who are hospitalized are harmed by their care. One in three. And these mistakes add billions of dollars a year to our national health care bill.
Example - USA (2010):
Example - Ireland (report on health costs):
Example - Ireland (2011): I tried to get more figures for Ireland but they are difficult to come by! When you are a member of an feudal elite monopoly you are highly paid no matter what the outcome, no matter what the level of competence, no matter how many errors are made. They control the service and the citizens just have to put up with it. When mistakes are made, and most are covered up because of the nature of the feudal monopoly system - they investigate themselves!, it is the citizens who are held to ransom. I must add a final (philosophical) note here regarding the medical profession which sheds some light on their elite position and their expertise. We may or may not consider the medical profession as being experts today but a few hundred years ago these medical experts-of-the-time, were giving medical advice and medicines some of which were subsequently discovered to be thoroughly dangerous to the patients, but yet it was the best medical knowledge and advice at the time (eg mercury or lead based concoctions, bleeding the patient etc). In other words the medical profession were considered experts even while they were killing patients by their thoroughly dangerous incorrect knowledge and understanding. They were experts no matter what they did - even when they were wrong! Feudal Monopolies - The Justice System and Legal ProfessionThis section is very difficult for me to explain fully because of the extent of the hidden influence and control which this elitist feudal system and feudal profession has on the lives of each and every citizen. Please take note - I am attempting to explain something most people are totally unaware of. In short, the justice system is run and controlled by an elitist feudal private club with their own set of rules. They own the rule book. They own the procedures. Even more incredibly - they insist that they own the very concept of what justice is, as if they and they alone can define justice (this is similar to how the religious monopolies insist that own the very concept of right and wrong). In effect, they answer to no one. The justice system - this game - is run for the benefit of that private club, its members, and its associates - the feudal elite. It is NOT in place to protect the citizens but to protect the elite. It is NOT in place to control the elite but to control the citizens. It is in place to keep the citizens powerless and voiceless while maintaining a facade of democratic justice. It is truly one of the greatest living lies, which the people have been controlled and subjugated by for the past two thousand years and more. There are some fundamental key elements in life the aspects of which determine the quality of life of each and every citizen. Food, housing and health are some of them, but one of the most important, and yet one of the most hidden in terms of the public acknowledgment and perception of its subversive control on the citizens, and society in general, is the legal framework in that society. The quality of life of all citizens is based around, and influenced by, the legal system in feudal-democracies. The whole framework of society is based on the law. So who are the guardians of this legal protection of the citizens? - the legal profession. Some of the most fundamental rights each citizen has as a citizen (as per the Constitution or legislation) is guaranteed, enforced, and maintained, by the legal system. The day to day safety of each individual citizen is under the control of the legal profession. I am not only referring to blatantly criminal acts, as in the robbing of banks, but rather the day to day rules and regulations controlling the behaviour of the citizens and their interaction, both social and financial, with each other. The fact is that every action we do as citizens has some legal implication, either good or bad, insignificant or important and it is all down to the legal system, run by the legal profession. Of all the professions who dictate the quality of life for the citizens this IS the worst as regards the lack of any real control by the citizens. This is an elite group which like all the other elite professions has used its power and position within the feudal-democratic framework to attain and maintain a role which is unrivalled in its self-protection, security, and self-sustaining edifice. Although this profession has a closed shop arrangement just like the medical profession it is more exclusive as regards its interaction with the public, and control of the citizens. Firstly they have their own language. This is directly a consequence of both the profession and the legal framework being an evolution from past centuries. Those ties with the past both guarantee their position as that of a feudal elite and also protect their profession and its control on society from being diluted to any productive or useful extent. Although most citizens are aware of the legal language used by this profession, and how its members interpret ‘English’ in a way which is totally different to that used by the general public, and accept this situation as being ‘the normal way it is with the law’, few realise just how undemocratic, dictatorial and confining this situation is. In general terms the legal language, even excluding the Latin phrases, is a language out its own, most times utterly unrelated to the common English language used by the citizens - as regards interpretation. This language, in effect, cannot be understood by the ordinary citizen. Because of this the ordinary citizen HAS TO use the services of a member of the legal profession both in order to understand the rules and regulations and to defend beself from a legal accusation of wrongdoing. Any, and all, rights which each citizen enjoys can only be interpreted by the legal system. They have final say. Although in present feudal-democracies the citizens have 'inalienable rights', it is the feudal elite, the legal profession, who alone have the power and authority to interpret and decide what those inalienable rights actually are. To give an extreme comparison or analogy just imagine if the legal profession in Ireland, the UK or the USA decided to use Swahili as the legal language. It would be seen as an incredible situation that the legal system would be organised in such a manner that the ordinary citizen couldn't understand what was happening. Yet, because of the historical evolution of the justice system, we accept the fact that our legal systems are incomprehensible to ordinary citizens - that we are literally at their mercy. In a way one has to admire the beauty of the enormous controlling legal structure built up which ensures the legal profession remains the feudal elite. They created the legal language of the courts and laws which the citizen cannot understand. These rules and regulations effectively control the citizen and effects their lives every minute of every day and yet the language used to codify those rules and regulations are in a language which the citizen cannot understand. Thus the citizen has to hire a member of the legal profession to interpret that language. For this service the citizen must pay an exorbitant amount. The citizen has no other choice but to take the explanation by that member of the legal profession as being correct. If you were to view this from a neutral spectator standpoint, this is an incredible situation to have in a democratic society. The situation is designed specifically to deny the citizen knowledge of those elements which utterly control the citizens. The legal profession cannot lose. They hold all the controls. So, for example, I may read a sentence and understand that sentence to mean one thing. The legal profession will say that that sentence means something totally different - as regards a legal interpretation. They make the rules based on the language that they 'invented' (I am not referring to Latin but merely 'legal English'), then they interpret the rules based on their interpretation of the language and come to their judgments and decisions, and the citizen cannot be anything but a passive bystander - a passive victim of the system. The interpretation of the citizen doesn't count. The whole legal system - its design, its judgments, and its implementation is wholly in the hands of this elite group. They also have their own procedures and ceremonies, and in some countires, their own elite costumes and paraphernalia. They are set apart from the citizens who are left with no doubt whatsoever as to who is the master and who is the servant, and in the case of the legal profession, the citizens are the servants - and are expected to remain thus. The whole legal institutions and framework, because of its very nature in present day so-called democracies cannot be controlled in a suitable manner because in theory it can only be understood from within. They decide what is the legal way of doing things, which they decide is ‘justice’ and that's it. The citizens have no method of overruling them. Being a hostage of this elite feudal authority system has major downsides for the citizen. Firstly, the legal profession charge vast amounts for their advice and deliberations, no matter how competent or incompetent, and the citizen has no choice whatsoever, they must pay. There is no one else the citizen can turn to, the citizen is nothing more than a hostage to the demands of the legal elite. They are literally forced to be submissive by the legal profession who own, control and run the legal system. The legal profession are in the privileged position of being able to actually create the situation where the need for their services by the citizen cannot be decreased or diluted. In any dispute the people to gain everytime is the legal profession, and to a certain extent, the more incompetent and the more they drag out the proceedings the more money they make! The more a simple difference of opinion can be escalated to one which entails months of litigation the more the legal profession has to gain. In matters of criminal cases, if a citizen is falsely accused of a crime, apart from the situation where they can avail of free legal aid, that citizen has no choice but to use bes savings to the point of poverty in order to avail of the expertise of the legal profession in order to defend beself. This is very similar to the medical profession. The citizens need these services, it's not a matter of choice, and those members of those professions abuse their position, for they control the system. At best, during a legal hearing (or trial) the citizen could be described as nothing more than a pawn - in their judicial game. Whether someone is innocent or guilty, whether the citizen is protected or not, whether there is justice or not, all of these considerations are of no immediate or pressing concern to the legal profession. The members of the legal profession go home with the wealth, slowly but surely drained from the passive powerless citizens, no matter what the outcome. So whereas in a true democratic system the citizen should be at the centre of the legal system, in feudal democracies the citizen is nothing less than the passive submissive victim of that system. There is no procedure for a citizen to disagree with a judicial judgment, or ruling, except of course to go to a higher court and pay more money and defer to those of ‘higher’ authority, and so their decisions are viewed as edicts from the feudal lord. They are seen as being utterly incontestable and final. It is truly incredible that one of the major pillars of the whole edifice of the democratic system, with enormous power and authority, is devoid of any control by the citizens in any manner whatsoever. The citizens just have to passively accept it. The members of the legal profession run the legal system in this so-called democracy. The members of the legal profession own the legal system in this so-called democracy. The members of the legal profession control the legal system in this so-called democracy. Even if a Government wanted to change the system, they would need advice from ..... the legal profession! This legal system has grown and evolved from Roman times and it is controlled by the legal profession and is maintained by the legal profession and they reap the benefits from the present system which is totally at odds with the ethos of a democratic system.
Examples Of The Cost Of The Legal Profession
Example - according to the media in 2007: McCracken - €6.5 million Finlay - €4.7 million Lindsay - €47 million Dunne - €11.5 million Moriarty - €30.5 million Mahon - €68.5 million - the total cost of fees for barristers and solicitors has now reached €49.75m - four barristers, counsel for the tribunal, have collectively earned more than €20 million - one solicitor has earned over €2 million - it is estimated that the final cost will be between €194 million and €250 million Child Abuse - €41 million Morris Tribunal - €37.5 million Barr - €19.7 million Others- €17 million Admittedly not every cent of this went to the legal profession but a sizable large chunk of it found its way into their pockets, for example the Mahon tribunal above. This profession, like the medical profession, has become a super elite in the United States to the point where I don't think many words are necessary to describe the feudal authority and control involved.
Here is a quote from one member of the legal profession, in the USA (2011): The income of an average American taxpayer was $33,000 in 2008, according to IRS data (less than $17 per hour). So even if you double that to $34, the only reason an attorney can charge $350 an hour is because the citizen has no choice but to use their exorbitantly priced services when legal advice is required. The legal profession can charge what they like - the citizen needs their services, the system is set up so the citizens have to need these services. The USA may call itself the ‘land of the free and home the brave’ but it is the land where justice does not come free by any means. The citizens of the United States, as well as most other so-called democracies, are being held hostage to a feudal bandit sector of society which controls their quality of life.
Example - Irish Constitution 1937: The present Constitution was accepted by the citizens of Ireland in 1936. There have been some decisions by the Supreme Court regarding some legislation, and in some cases the admissibility of evidence, and their adherence to the Constitution, to name two. There were some instances of the Supreme Court overturning a judges ruling, and declaring evidence as being inadmissible, which was perceived by many as being more with the intention of protection of the criminal rather than the protection of the citizens. The Supreme Court made its ruling based on its interpretation of the relevant Article in the Constitution and found certain evidence to be inadmissible. This decision is accepted by everyone, though not necessarily agreed with. But there is an aspect to this which places the judiciary in control of the citizens and makes the Constitution ‘of the legal profession’ rather than ‘of the people’. When the citizens of Ireland accepted the Constitution in 1936 they accepted it based on their ordinary plain everyday interpretation of the words in the Constitution. I doubt if even one citizen ever sought the advice of a legal expert. The problem occurs when the Supreme Court interprets an Article, based on their legal interpretation based on their ‘legal speak’ and in effect ignores the wishes of the citizens of Ireland and THEIR interpretation of what THEY voted for. In effect it makes the judiciary of Ireland the rulers of the citizens of Ireland, as the wishes of the citizens and THEIR interpretation of the Constitution, which THEY accepted, is not considered as being relevant.
Example - Small (Fine) Print: If you spend some time thinking about it, this fine print can only be of use to those who want to ‘put one over’ on an unsuspecting citizen who foolishly signs the agreement or contract. It is a legal process allowing hidden fraud - an attempt to hide the true facts of an agreement. The only ones to gain are those who employ the legal profession to ‘construct’ the small print so as to include some clause which the citizen is prevented from knowing - to bes detriment! The fact that small print was ever allowed, or devised, shows that they control the legal system, for their benefit. The poor untrained citizen doesn't have a chance. The system is designed to make the citizen the victim. They are trussed up like a steer in a rodeo, with the rope being supplied by the legal system. Also if you want to con someone into thinking they are getting an offer too good to be true all you have to do is just hire someone from the legal profession to write a contract which no one can understand. They rule. The citizens are just victims. One could describe the fine print as a conspiracy by the legal profession to con the citizens. Each citizen is required to hire someone from the legal profession in order to protect themselves from clauses in the fine print written by another member of the legal profession with the intention of conning the citizen. Truly unbelievable!
Example - Legal Costs: Feudal Monopolies - The Religious ProfessionFirstly I'd like to point out that although this section is primarily about the Catholic Church in Ireland (part of the Christian religion) and its position within the feudal hierarchical structure, in other countries it will be a case of other religions being the members of the feudal elite and having feudal control over the citizens. In the early years of the Christian religion it was attacked and attempts were made to totally destroy it. Members of that religion were persecuted ruthlessly. Many were tortured and put to death for merely being a member of the Christian religion. But if ever there was an example of how an organisation on attaining power and authority can become even more vicious and ruthless than those who previously persecuted and attacked it, this is that example. As soon as the Catholic Church achieved a position of authority, not only alongside or beneath the feudal lords, but when they themselves became feudal lords, they ruled not only with the power and authority as befitted a feudal lord but also with the ruthlessness made confident and justified by the perceived authority from god beself (in many religions god is perceived as being male, a concept which is doubly irrational). That position of authority was seized with both hands so tightly and with such determination they truly became the dictators of Nations, and every individual believer, even those who privately didn't believe, became nothing less than a serf of the Church. They dictated how the individual should behave and showed no mercy for those who dared to question either the beliefs (their decrees), or their authority. Tyranny is the most suitable description of how the Catholic Church ruled for centuries. In most countries where the local feudal lord held sway over the peasants the local religious hierarchy became the right hand of that feudal lord, ensuring that the wishes of the feudal lord and the rules of the Church were one and the same. For centuries the Church sided with the controlling powers even into the 20th century when many a dictator could happily be sure of the backing of the local hierarchy determined to clutch at the hem of those who had control over the people. As this is not a history of the world I will confine the remaining of this section to their abuse of power and authority in Ireland. As in the case of the medical and legal professions this feudal elite group, until very recently, used a language (Latin) which was not spoken by the Irish people, though they still use special garments and ceremonial robes and have titles. Their internal hierarchical structure hasn't changed in nearly two millennia. They were very much in control of the Irish Nation via the submissive peasants and, in many cases, the submissive politicians. They had undue undemocratic influence as regards laws and regulations being written by the members of the Government up to a very short time ago. Their authority was such, that in Ireland in the 20th century they were truly considered as being above and outside the law. They were seen as being an elite group who ruled and who created rules, but certainly not as a group who should ever have to be submissive to rules made by mere politicians elected by the citizens of Ireland. They were, literally, a law unto themselves. On a local level they controlled ever aspect of life, and anyone not a Catholic, or anyone questioning the authority of this elite group could be ostracised on their word. Admittedly, this whole situation was exacerbated by the backward and peasant attitude of the Irish citizens, though, in their defence, it must be said that the Irish peasants had been subjugated by the Catholic Church for more than a millennium and it would have been difficult for any individual to contemplate any other attitude or behaviour other than the unquestioning subservience to the unelected authority of the Church. Also there was human nature - the 'hierarchy effect'. The Catholic Church set up schools to educate the local children before Ireland achieved its independence - for those who educate the children control the children and how they think. The product of these schools was not an independent thinking, forward looking, free individual but a person who understood that the Catholic Church decided, judged and ruled. To have control of the education of the children is to control the Nation. As soon as Ireland gained its independence the Catholic Church became the official teaching organising controllers of the Nation. In effect the Government of Ireland handed over control of the education of the children of this Nation to the Catholic Church. There were some citizens who believed in other different religions and had their own schools, but they were few, and the Catholic Church saw to it that they were considered an abnormality and something to be shunned. Many children were literally told not to associate with any child which was not Catholic. It is difficult to come across examples of how the Catholic Church ruled on a local level because its control was so ingrained into the whole lives and customs of the Irish citizens and their way of life that it was all encompassing, so in effect the life of most Irish citizens from the cradle to the grave was controlled by the Catholic Church. Needless to say, if you fell foul of the local priest, he could make things very difficult, for the local priest controlled the local peasants. It is common knowledge that there were many unsavoury individuals within the religious orders in Ireland, both in the Priesthood and the other religious orders (Brothers and Nuns), most of whom taught in 'state' schools, orphanages, institutions and asylums, which were often, in reality, nothing less than feudal religious prisons. The catalogue of misuse of authority and abuse of power by the Catholic Church in Ireland, both on an individual level, an institutional level, and on a bureaucratic level is so overwhelming that it would take more than just one book dedicated to listing the gross injustices carried out by the Catholic Church to fully document their atrocious, dictatorial, tyrannical, savage and vicious behaviour. But this section of this book is about understanding the weaknesses in the political and social system we now live under and it would be pointless to give anything but a summary of the behaviour of the Catholic Church in Ireland over the past ninety years since Independence. They ran the Irish industrial schools, which were funded by the state but operated, without much State supervision, by the Catholic religious orders. The inmates were either orphans or children whose parents were too poor to care for them. In many cases these institutions were places of hell for those inmates. There were beatings and rape. In some cases unexplained deaths went uninvestigated. The Catholic Church had so much feudal authority in Ireland that it was possible for them to incarcerate misbehaving children, flirtatious pretty girls, victims of rape, and young unmarried pregnant girls, without any trial, or any democratic or legal process whatsoever. These poor individuals sent to these institutions run by the religious were treated as prisoners. Some of these prisoners were imprisoned all their lives and slaved and died within the institutions, without being officially recorded. In fact it was a direct historical continuation of the process where the feudal lord could decide to imprison a peasant and have them brought into the dungeon without any trial - it was merely the 'pleasure of the local feudal lord - his whim'. Just to make things very clear to those who may be unfamiliar with the situation. These things happened AFTER we became an independent so-called democratic Nation. This was a pathetic form of democracy where the Catholic Church ruled the Nation. They were a separate force within the State. In some cases, especially in the Magdalene laundries, these 'prisoners' were enslaved for years, and were forced to work long hours for no wages whatsoever, like the slaves and serfs of previous centuries. They had to undergo punishments bordering on torture. Any child showing independence, or lack of respect, or even had the misfortune to be pretty, would be singled out for sever punishment. No words can fully describe the loss of dignity, the fear, the hurt, the despair and the dread these young victims of this feudal barbaric terrorism experienced. For most of us it is a good thing that we only ever see the words but cannot feel those anguished feelings. We are spared these terrible things. The children of Ireland literally had no rights whatsoever - the Catholic Church were the feudal lords. Their decision was final. The civil authorities either tacitly allowed them full reign or even actively supported their behaviour. In fact if an inmate escaped from these religious prisons the State agencies colluded by returning them to the institutions. There are cases where unmarried mothers were literally imprisoned by the religious orders and then forced to give their babies away so that the lie - the appearance of a holy Catholic Ireland where girls only got pregnant when they had married, could be maintained. It really is beyond understanding that the Catholic Church was so much above the law as to be allowed to maintain its own 'religious police state' within the Irish State as it were. In fact it is very similar to the 'religious police' in some Islamic Nations at present in 2012, though at the time the 'arrangement' seemed to be pre-ordained to be the correct method of controlling and ruling the subservient peasants. The religious feudal elite were their 'betters'. The Catholic Church attracted some of the most mentally warped and vile individuals one could imagine who joined the priesthood and religious orders knowing that the system of authority and feudal elite nature of the Catholic Church organisation, along with the unquestioned trust by the submissive peasantry of Ireland, would be to their advantage. Subsequently they abused their positions of trust in schools, where they used brutal physical violence against any pupil who didn't shine in their eyes, getting pleasure from physically attacking the children. In institutionalised schools and in orphanages they physically and mentally tortured defenceless children. There were many cases where priests and members of religious orders raped some of the defenceless children who were in their care. The fact that there were these vile monsters in the Catholic Church is not the important issue here. Rather, it is the fact that this feudal group was so elite that they were considered as being above the law. This attitude was not only held by the members of the Catholic Church themselves, but also held in the minds of senior members of the Police Force, the civil service, the Government, the Press, the Courts and the backward oppressed citizens of Ireland. In effect, in this pathetic so-called democracy in Ireland, everybody was afraid to question, and CONTROL, the behaviour of members of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church could do what it liked. Any behaviour which could upset the status quo of the feudal authority of the Catholic Church was swept under the carpet by ALL the institutions of the State. Those in authority in the Catholic Church, both in Ireland and in the Vatican in Rome, when made aware of the rape and abuse of children by members of their official organisations were then motivated by one consideration, and one consideration only - to prevent that knowledge from becoming public. No consideration whatsoever was given to the children who had been imprisoned, tortured, raped, beaten and mistreated. The Catholic Church hierarchy purposefully covered up child rape and in effect allowed the rape to continue unchecked. The rapists were deliberately protected from any action by the state law enforcement agency. The rapists, priests and members of other religious orders, were moved from parish to parish to avoid detection and scandal and were still allowed to work in positions where they could rape other children. In many cases those young children, those victims, when they reported the rape and abuse, were punished by those in authority. That was the nature of Irish democracy. The children who were raped were punished for reporting it. On one level it defies belief, though if you understand human nature and how that effects corporations and organisations, it is expected and normal behaviour, unfortunately. (If you want to fully understand this aspect of human nature see 'The UT Instinct', later - on a separate section of this web site). Even when their crimes were gradually forced into the light of day and were made public, along with the purposeful, deliberate, and focused cover-up by the senior members of the Catholic Church, the attitude of most of the citizens of Ireland, including those in the Government and the Legal system, is that the Catholic Church is still above the law, that it can be let decide what measures it will take against the hierarchy who aided these rapists. Some members of the Catholic Church clergy and religious orders may have been tried, found guilty of the most heinous crimes against children, and imprisoned, but the Catholic Church hierarchy, those individuals who purposefully and deliberately colluded with these sadists and rapists to help them evade justice, thus guaranteeing that other vulnerable children would also end up being victims of these monsters, are as yet totally untainted and untouched by their criminal acts and have not been punished to even the smallest degree. These members of the hierarchy are as guilty as the rapists themselves, of all the rapes and physical and mental abuse carried out on any child, after their active participation in the maintaining of the freedom of these monsters. The Catholic Church itself - the institution and its hierarchy - are still considered as being above the law. It is common knowledge that senior members of the Catholic Church hierarchy aided child rapists and covered up their crimes. In some cases they actually coerced these victims of rape and abuse to sign documents promising never to reveal what had been done to them. This is about as outrageous and despicable an act as can happen, and be permitted to go unpunished, in a democracy. This is the work of a criminal organisation. As of now, 2012, no senior member of the Catholic Church who aided and abetted child abusers and rapists have been prosecuted and imprisoned. Not one of them has ever been punished. They are still above the law in democratic Ireland in 2012. The following are various quotes from politicians and the media: The following comment demonstrates the attitude held by what seems to be most people in Ireland. They want the Vatican to 'cooperate' with the Irish Government to combat the rape of children by their members. This is the attitude of backward, subservient peasants: waiting, and hoping, that the feudal lord may decide something in their (the peasants) favour. The Government also defended the Taoiseach Enda Kenny's comments, which were criticised by the Vatican in its response. The statement said Mr Kenny's remarks "accurately reflect the public anger of the overwhelming majority of Irish people at the failure of the Catholic Church in Ireland and the Holy See to deal adequately with clerical child sexual abuse and those who committed such appalling acts." It said it welcomed the Vatican's commitment to a "constructive dialogue and cooperation with the Government", and said it expected full cooperation from the Holy See, the Catholic Church in Ireland and all other relevant bodies in protecting children. The following concerns the fund which was set up to compensate the victims of this 'clerical abuse' and how most of the problems were dumped on the citizens rather than the Catholic Church. In 2002 the Fianna Fáil coalition Government made an agreement with the various religious orders whereby the citizens would be burdened with the majority of the cost of the compensation for the victims. The controversial deal, with 18 religious orders, limited their liability in redress payments to €128m, with the State (the citizens) picking up the rest of the over €1.3 billion cost of the compensation scheme. In other words the politicians, elected by the citizens of this Nation, decided that it would be the Irish citizens who would pay most of the compensation to the victims for the atrocious criminal behaviour of Catholic Church religious orders with the result that the religious orders would be let off the hook. This truly reflects the nature of Irish democracy where the feudal elite arrange between themselves for the peasants to pay for the debased sickening brutal savage crimes against children perpetrated by this feudal elite monopoly. Reports in the media from April 2011, stated that the religious orders had only paid over €20m to the State in compensation for child abuse outlined in the Ryan Report. Following publication of the Ryan Report, the State sought additional contributions from the orders. In response, offers of €350 million were made. However, in April 2010 the State asked the orders to pay half the costs. In most cases people who have committed crimes are forced to pay compensation in full but in the case of the Catholic Church, on account of the so-called democratic system as it is in Ireland at present, it is considered as being outside the normal legal and social norm, and as a result it is merely asked to perhaps pay only as much as 50% of the compensation costs. In January 2011, former Minister for Education Dr Michael Woods, of the Fianna Fáil party, defended the controversial compensation deal with the Catholic Church on institutional abuse. He said the deal, which has been hugely criticised for its apparent generosity to the church, was the only option at the time. He also claimed that it was the right deal for the people concerned. I presume when he talks about the 'people concerned' he is referring to the religious orders. It certainly isn't referring to the citizens - the new victims. The mentality of the Catholic Church is still that of a feudal lord and a feudal elite. Unfortunately, because of the power held by the Catholic Church over its 'believers', and their subsequent peasant submissive attitude, they remain a feudal elite in Ireland and answer to no one. The most aggravating aspect of the responses by the citizens and politicians of Ireland is in actual fact the most revealing of human nature, as regards the submissive hierarchical attitude towards the feudal elite. There is a thread of thought, or attitude, throughout the complaints both by the victims themselves, by the citizens and by the politicians and it is the inherent understanding that somehow it should be left up to the Catholic Church to sort the problem out. This is incredible in this day and age, though human nature never changes, but the Irish still think that the Catholic Church is above judicial control for what they have done. They still think in terms of 'what is the Church going to do to sort this out'. Even the victims talk about wanting the Vatican to accept its responsibility for the cover up. That attitude is astonishing. Subservience is alive and well in so-called democratic Ireland. Virtual Monopolies - The Financial ProfessionI will be dealing with the financial problems in Ireland in a separate chapter. This is more a general overview of the financial institutions including investment companies and also the executives of large publicly owned companies. It is difficult to know just where to start as regards this group of individuals. Money is power and it is not an exaggeration to say that in 2012 the financial institutions have come to rule the world. Although some Nations have been 'taken over' and are being run by the international financial institutions - the IMF, ECB, and the EU, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Government in the United States is nothing but a puppet of the financial institutions. In fact, in effect, the United States politicians are actually more employees of the financial institutions than puppets. To use the term 'democracy' with regard to the USA is to lie the BIG lie. It is also difficult to investigate and explain these feudal elite because most of what goes on in the financial institutions, and executive offices, is kept secret. We all know of the basic workings of the banks but when it comes to shares and investments we are soon left in a fog, within a mist, surrounded by a smoke screen. As is the case at present, greed in the financial institutions which was and still is unfettered and uncontrolled can bring nothing but total destruction to the citizens. So much of their dealings now are so obscure and layered in unfathomable cross-dealings that the truth about the financial situation and health of these corporations most likely will never be fully understood. The executives of this layer of elite companies deal with each other without any control by the citizens, and very little or any by the Government. There are the large investment companies, the large insurance companies, the large pension companies and the large banks and they all work together with no regard to the effects of their greed on the citizens and the very health and welfare of the Nation. They receive enormous pay with generous bonuses and can do so because this is a group who operate amongst themselves and, instead of being a 'mutual admiration society' are more like a 'mutual fraud society'. They can all be generous with pay and bonuses to each other because it is not their money they are using. The citizens put their hard earned savings into the financial institutions: the banks, the life insurance companies, the pension companies, and the like, and thereafter the power inherent in that money is transferred to those running the financial institutions and, because there are no controls as such, they not only act like the feudal elite but they have become the feudal elite. (This is a parallel of the process where the citizens hand over their power to the politicians and thereafter have no say.) The pay of the executives in all the financial institutions is governed, for the most part, by the shareholders. But this statement hides a conspiracy. To a great extent the shareholders aren't individuals, ordinary citizens, but rather the large investment and insurance and pension companies. Thus in effect, the overpaid executives of the insurance companies, the investment companies, the pension companies and the banks decide on the pay levels of the other executives in the financial sector via their 'ownership' of large blocks of stock. And, of course, this generous level of pay given to others within the financial sector must be reflected back on every executive member of all the financial institutions and thus they guarantee their own generous pay and conditions. It is a cosy little exclusive cartel, using money earned by the citizens. In Ireland there have been situations where executives in a large corporation which was losing money were given a raise in salary at a stockholders meeting although the ordinary members fiercely fought to prevent this disgraceful process. It turned out that most of the shares were held by financial corporations eg pension funds etc and it was they who agreed to the raise. Literally, the little people, the citizens were merely pawns and passive bystanders in this mugging of the shareholders and the company. These victims also include the shareholders of these investment companies - they also lose out. In so-called democratic political systems, as in Ireland, the USA, Britain and elsewhere, power is money and in this case it is power not based on ownership of money but rather on control of money - that is where the real power lies, and some of these financial institutions are very powerful and have enormous influence. Some fund managers are in control of vast sums of money and have an unregulated hidden influence. If you control the money, you can control the people, and in Ireland there were some Taoisigh (Prime Ministers), or their associates, who had huge debts in some of the financial institutions and there were major irregularities regarding their subsequent free writing-off of some or all of those loans, and at whose expense? The citizens'. Over the generations the financial institutions have become very powerful with the power to make an individual bankrupt, seize their home and in effect harass citizens who have no recourse to any protection from this bullying. (I am definitely NOT defending those citizens who borrow recklessly.) But when financial institutions make mistakes - always in their favour - they usually get a very light tap on the wrist and let off the hook. In Ireland some of the banks have behaved like criminals, overcharging the customers with no worry if they are found out because of the deference shown to these institutions. The basic principle, or understanding, in the past with regard to the Government, the financial institutions and the citizens was that those running the financial institutions would behave prudently and in a responsible manner. In Ireland, and elsewhere, the savings of the citizens in banks is guaranteed to a certain level - in Ireland it is €100,000 as far as I am aware, but this can only make rational sense if it is truly the case that those in charge of these financial institutions are responsible and prudent- and ruthlessly regulated. As most will be aware, these bankers did not act prudently and yet were never punished. They had become masters of the financial system of the Nation. The fact that this notion of the financial institutions being 'too big to fail' is so entrenched in the thinking, with its resultant impotent neutering of Government and legal power, utterly demonstrates just how removed from normal constraints and regulation and control these financial institutions have become. The Governments are totally impotent now and, as in countries like the USA, merely feed the greed of these financial institutions by printing billions upon billions of paper currency, caught up in the belief that these institutions create the wealth, rather than the true case, that they misuse and destroy the wealth - of the Nation. It is the case, and always was, that the citizens are the ones who create the wealth. In the USA the executives in the large financial institutions are literally so powerful that they can now ignore all regulations and swindle to their hearts content. They repackage loans, they fiddle the books, they bribe the members of the Senate and Congress - those institutions whose job it is to control and regulate those very same financial benefactors. And when the regulations becomes an obstacle to their further illegal profits, they get them changed. The financial disease now is threefold: firstly the promotion of debt, this is only achieveable because the financial institutions can lend more than they themselves can ever pay back, and secondly they then can subsequently proclaim profits only feasible through ignoring the realities of their own financial instability. Thirdly, one dangerous aspect to this is that these financial institution, although becoming more and more unstable manage to seem to be more and more successful thereby justifying more and more generous pay for the executives. The situation can, and did, spiral out of control spurred on by more and more debt and more and more bonuses. In effect the more reckless they were, showing false fictional profits, the more they were rewarded. It was a self sustaining cycle of greed and dishonesty which could only lead to destruction and National bankruptcy. It is now travelling at breakneck speed in the USA and when it finally crashes the citizens of the USA will be shown just how feudal their political system had become.
The Fog Of War - Deliberate Obfuscation Of Financial Dealings In very simple terms when real money was being used in the financial institutions there was a natural limit on what could be invested or used for speculation - the amount of real money available. This system could never really lead to crashes. But what has happened more and more is that speculation and investments are being traded with 'promises of payment' and 'borrowings'. The problem with the 'pretend' system is that there is NO LIMIT to the amount which can be invested. By using strange financial terms they are covering up nothing less than reckless gambling, using vast amounts of, not real money, but promises of money. If they 'win', they make an enormous profit but if they lose they lose an enormous sum and can go bankrupt overnight. Share dealing in itself makes sense and helps businesses grow etc. But it is rational that one must have money in order to invest, which when all is said and done is a form of gambling, and yet in the modern financial situation one can buy and sell shares without ever having any money or paying for any shares and still end up either making a profit, thereby feeding on the greed inherent in most people, or making a loss, in some cases crashing or bankrupting the companies in question with enormous debts. There is 'short selling' where one can make money if the value of those shares go down where you don't have to pay 'up front' for those shares. In other words you can sell shares, or at least promise to sell shares in the future, which you do not own and may not even have the 'real' money to buy them, yet shorting can affect the price of those shares! In some cases short-selling is used by unscrupulous financial companies to negatively effect the price of a commodity. There are derivatives, which is a description of gambling on the future, using pretend money from the future. According to some figures by June 2011 there was $708 trillion of outstanding derivatives.
These are the two financial activities well mentioned in the media but beyond that are dealings which are so convoluted and so dishonest that fraud and swindle is the best and most apt description, but if you're looking for a tangled web of confusion check out: The fundamental weakness in all this trading and share 'selling' is that it is all based on 'promises' or 'expectations' of future payments, in other words it is trading in debt NOT actual cash which exists. Worse still, some of these types of transactions are unregulated. This encourages the financial companies to further create more types of dealing which are totally beyond the understanding of the regulatory bodies so as to make these financial institutions more uncontrollable, more unregulated and totally unanswerable for their actions, and where the initial raison d'etre of the very existence of shares and stocks become meaningless. Previously, buying stocks and shares created jobs whereas the new speculative forms of trading create nothing, most of it is just gambling. Trading these days is nothing more than gambling and fraud and dealing with 'assets' which don't exist in the real world and payment based on promises (debt) eg gambling on the price of shares without actually buying or selling those shares, or having the money to buy those shares in the first place. Re-hypothecation is now so vast that trillions of dollars exist as 'promises'. Real money invested in one asset by an investor is being used for something totally different by the financial institutions - blatant fraud. The downside to all this fraudulent behaviour by the financial institutions is that if a profit isn't made then there is no money to cover those losses as there was no money existing in the first place. The whole financial situation has become nothing more than a house of cards with no foundation and no structure and no stability. The proof being the literal collapse of some major financial companies - they just crumbled with massive debts. If you are asking the question: what has this to do with democracy? then you are failing to see that the behaviour of these financial institutions effects the lives of all citizens living in that Nation where these activities take place. In fact when Britain and the United States crumble, for these are among the Nations which allow the worst of the financial speculations to take place, it will not go unnoticed in Ireland. An unregulated financial sector is the most crazy financially suicidal future for a Nation - for many other Nations also. Ireland is bankrupt. The USA is bankrupt. France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain and others are in financial trouble, not necessarily totally on account of these financial institutions behaving incorrectly but the fact is that these financial institutions control the financial wellbeing of the Nation and as yet are too unregulated and too uncontrolled for it to be a safe situation for the citizens, (along with the unregulated spending by politicians). These financial institutions are free to create various types of fraud and the citizen is utterly powerless. But it is the citizens who must pay for the financial 'clean up'. What is happening now is that the financial institutions are going to the gambling table with both cash from the citizens savings and cash from Government bailouts, and gambling it all away. If they win they take all the money for themselves. If they lose the citizens not only lose their savings but will have to make up the losses. To illustrate just how undemocratic the situation now is in Ireland, and definitely more so in the United States of America and other Nations, the Government decided to bail out the banks who had behaved recklessly and burden the citizens with their debts and the cost of this bailout. I don't think there is anything in all medieval history, or the history of Nations with dictators where the citizens have been so blatantly and publicly robbed with the total and absolute disregard by the feudal lords and feudal elite for the negative effects on the citizens. The Governments in these so-called democracies have utterly betrayed the democratic principles and betrayed the citizens. They have literally financially enslaved the citizens - AND THEY HAD THE POWER AND AUTHORITY TO DO SO. The citizens of all these so-called democratic Nations are powerless to do anything and are nothing more than the peasants of old, accepting their fate and their lot as if the feudal lords and feudal elite have the right to make decisions regardless of their destructive effects on the citizens. This is the epitome of a failed political system and demonstrates what happens when there is no control of financial institutions in a so called-democratic country. Virtual Monopolies - The Public Service SectorThis group consists of all those paid from Public Funds. It includes the politicians, the judges, senior civil servants, Government advisers, Government consultants, Government experts (that's what they call themselves), etc, etc, etc, all overpaid and many with very generous working conditions and expense accounts, golden handshakes, bonuses, pensions, all draining the Public Funds. Despite the fact that I will be dealing with the politicians in two separate chapters this section concerns their payment on account of their elitist position as a feudal monopoly. Despite the fact that this Nation is not a prosperous one, and has never been one - please do not let that pathetic lie and empty catch-phrase 'celtic tiger' fool you in the slightest, the politicians have managed to ensure that a political 'career' is a very very profitable one. There are so many perks I will not go into them here because the various ways of lining pockets from Public Funds is both creative and infinite, and a lot of it is hidden. I mention elsewhere just how financially beneficial it can be by being elected into Dáil Éireann, but this generosity is not only confined to the politicians themselves. The judges in Ireland are very highly paid in comparison to both the overall wealth of this Nation and the pay of the ordinary citizen. The consultants, the advisers, the unelected officials receive pay and conditions bordering on the obscene. To make matters worse, what the citizens get in return for this abuse of money, is a shoddy incompetent wasteful third-rate service, in most cases detrimental to the wellbeing of the citizens. The politicians themselves, those who appoint these overpaid incompetents, are overpaid and get generous expenses, end up with enormous pensions, sometimes more than one. They also get increases in pay when they are elevated from being a mere TD in Dáil Éireann to being appointed to a Ministerial, or sub-Ministerial position. AND, when they are demoted back to their 'lowly' TD position, they receive compensation. This is a great divide in Ireland, where those members of the elite groups including the Public Sector, receive payments and working conditions far far exceeding those of the normal citizen - those people who work to provide the Public Funds for these overpaid elite. The attitude is that if you are being paid from Public Funds you deserve the best, nothing but the best, for the money flowing from Public Funds is considered as being endless, there's plenty more to come, even if that means the Nation must borrow it. The important factor with this group is that it is a feudal monopoly and feudal elite. No matter how incompetent they are they receive generous bonuses, golden handshakes and massive pensions. The citizens are the victims many times over. They don't receive a fitting service for their money and these elite keep getting more and more money literally impoverishing the citizens who have absolutely no say whatsoever to restrict the Governmental institutionalised ransacking of Public Funds. The National debt isn't only on account of the property and financial bubble, though at times that is what they would like you to believe, but also because over the decades these feudal elite and large unions of State employees have 'forced' various Governments, who didn't want 'trouble' (strikes etc) while they (the politicians themselves) were raiding the coffers, to keep increasing the working conditions, pay and pensions of their members. Because of the gross overpayment of State employees this Nation is going to end up permanently in debt - permanently bankrupt. We will end up being a third world Nation going nowhere. Ireland is a nothing less than a collection of elites feeding on the financial rotting carcass of the Nation, with the citizens grabbing any scraps left over. These are an elite because there is absolutely no method of control, over their pay and conditions and the quality of their work. In Ireland there are a vast amount of people struggling on low wages and yet those at the top are carefree and in a position where, no matter what they fail at, no matter how incompetent they are, no matter how much their failures and ruinous decisions have cost the citizens, no matter how much they have stolen from the citizens, they are sure and certain to be generously paid by those very same citizens who are the victims of all this incompetence and who must pay for this democratic charade. The citizens have no choice. This happens without any questioning by the citizens - they have no say in the matter. The politicians and their accomplices have set up a system where reward is guaranteed no matter what the outcome of their behaviour or decision-making. By hiding behind the facade of 'public service' they can raid the public finances with the knowledge that the citizen is powerless to control their greed and averice. Being a member of the feudal elite guarantees that.
Example - The Financial Regulator - Patrick Neary When the banks 'suddenly' went bankrupt and the whole financial system in Ireland imploded Mr Neary decided to 'retire'. Mr Neary received compensation worth €47,550 from the regulatory authority for staff to gain access to him for three months after he stepped down. In addition, he was paid €13,178 for annual leave he never took. Mr Neary received a secret €630,000 payment as a result of his early retirement. He is entitled to an annual pension of €142,670. In the simplest of terms, the man who was responsible for regulating the banking sector and who didn't thereby causing the worse financial destruction in Ireland since the State's foundation walked away with a huge bonus of €630,000 and an enormous pension of €142,670 per year and the citizens of this Nation, who have been burdened with the cost of this debacle, in the tens of billions of euro, will end up paying that man for his 'services' to the people of Ireland - and the citizens have no say. Even the feudal elite of medieval times would be envious of such an abuse of position and power.
Example - wages:
Example - time off: Then just to demonstrate how unequal the whole situation is, when the payment system was subsequently changed where their wages were directly lodged into the bank they still received the half an hour off each week to cash their non-existent cheques (checks). This disgrace continued up to 2011.
Example - sick leave:
Example - extra holidays:
Example (September 2011):
Example - ESB pay rates (September 2011):
Example - FÁS (August 2011): Needless to say , these are just the smallest fraction of the criminal waste by those elites who have the power to threaten the citizens of this Nation, not directly, but via the Government, which itself is so corrupt it always gives in, after taking a hefty cut for itself first. The public sector pensions is such a scandal it is beyond description and as with everything connected with Public Funds, I will only barely touch upon this subject - it is another iceberg of waste with only the top peeking out and that top alone frustrating the citizens who are robbed day and night by those untouchables in the public sector. There are many cases of individuals receiving State pensions who are at the same time working for the State and receiving a State salary. It is the greatest criminal disgrace that the avalanche of waste and double payments of more than excessive pensions and salaries is unchecked and the citizens are forced to be passive victims to this thievery and banditry. The cost of paying public sector pensions in 2011 was €2.4 billion and it is set to increase, and increase, and increase. The worse aspect to this robbery of Public Funds is that this vast amount of money is borrowed because Ireland cannot afford to pay it. The future of this Nation is being sent into poverty and bankruptcy in order to pay over generous pensions. The Nation is going deeper and deeper into debt.
Addendum (October 2011) The scheme, since 2001, allows former Taoisigh to employ two secretarial assistants for a period of up to five years after leaving office. After that five year period has elapsed, one secretarial assistant can be employed. The scheme also covers the cost of computer equipment necessary for this type of service and mobile phone expenses. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has received more than €10,655 in mobile phone expenses from the Department of the Taoiseach since he stepped down in 2008 and has also claimed another €367,184 under the scheme to employ secretarial assistants. Brian Cowen, who only left office that year (2011), had so far claimed €32,279 in secretarial expenses and €296 in mobile phone expenses. He has also claimed €1,440 for computer equipment. John Bruton claimed €269,418 for secretarial expenses between 2001 and 2011, and he claimed €9,935 for mobile phone expenses between 2005 and 2011. Albert Reynolds claimed €356,712 between 2001 and 2011 for secretarial expenses and €7,244 for mobile phone expenses between 2005 and 2011. The late Garrett Fitzgerald claimed €333,556 between 2001 and 2011 for secretarial expenses and €5,982 between 2005 and 2011 for mobile phone expenses. The late Charles Haughey claimed €199,887 in secretarial expenses between 2001 and 2006 and €2,262 in mobile phone expenses between 2005 and 2007. I have already mentioned the problem of secrecy regarding many abuses of the Public Funds and this is just another exasperating example of this. I presume the Taoiseach at the time, Bertie Ahern, decided that because the country was awash with money during the 'celtic tiger' years that it was totally acceptable to waste and squander as much of the Public Funds as he could - which he himself would generously avail of. The problem is that a 'simple little reckless wasteful decision' like this can end up costing the citizens tens of millions of euro into the future. For example, just think of how much that would cost the citizens over the next ten years alone, if it continued. To describe these politicians as the feudal elite is a gross understatement. The contempt they have for the citizens of Ireland knows no bounds and is only matched by their level of greed, wastage and incompetence. They can get away with anything, and everything, because it is they who are in control.
Service To The Public In general the logic goes something like this: if someone is working for a low wage they are doing it for the money, but if they are in a job paying hundreds of thousands of euro or dollars, with enormous pensions and expense accounts and bonuses then they make out that the motivation is service and they are dedicated to providing that service for the people. It is only the overpaid who dare to be so shallow and deceitful. But hidden is this attitude is the attitude of the feudal elite. They are the elite and the citizens are the peasants and serfs. Therefore, in their mind, anything they did for the peasants was considered as being 'nobless obliege'. They, in effect, weren't doing it for pay because in their mind the pay was automatically theirs merely because they were the elite - merely because of their position, so they didn't have to earn that money, and so any actual service provided for the peasants was judged as being unpaid. This is human nature. Other Virtual MonopoliesI use the term virtual monopolies for any group who have acquired any type of power which can be, and usually is, abused to the detriment of the citizens. This also includes those entities which, although it may appear they are beneficial to the citizens, are in effect taking away the independence of the citizens and existing outside the controls necessary to ensure the wellbeing of the citizens. These monopolies have undemocratic control over the lives of the citizens. These are large corportions and also large (though not always necessarily so) unions who affect the lives of the citizens without being controlled by those very same citizens. Insurance CompaniesThe principle of Insurance is the sharing of risk. Some of us will have a house fire. Some of us will be robbed. Some of us will get ill. By sharing the risk you are in fact sharing the cost. All this makes good common sense. The problem with insurance companies stem from the fact that, insurance is sold by companies, it is non-tangible which makes it easier to be 'creative', and in many situations it is compulsory. That combination makes for a very powerful sector in the controlling of the lives of the citizens. If we were to take a look at the insurance industry in the USA especially as regards health insurance we would see a situation where gangster-ism and deceitful dealings is the basis of the industry. When the citizens are forced to take out insurance, either through regulation or the fear of the consequences of not being insured, the criminality of those companies is unfettered. It is not only in the USA where there are instances of citizens being insured and paying that insurance money for, in some cases, decades to learn that they aren't really covered for what they had always thought was the very reason for taking out that insurance in the first place. That, or the 'get out' clause hidden either in the small print or hidden away in some paragraph on some random page which in normal circumstances will never be found, read or understood by the ordinary citizen. There is even a further sinister aspect to this feudal monopoly and that is conspiracy between feudal monopolies. Unfortunately the citizens themselves partake in this by their crass short-sighted and irrational stupidity. One often hears of a court case where there is a claim against some individual, company, or public body. Usually the compensation decided upon by the jury is recklessly beyond being generous to the point of a blind form of madness. These citizens who have antagonism towards the insurance companies who are seen as gangsters looking for protection money decide to get even with the insurance companies and therefore decide upon too generous payouts, not understanding that this plays into the hands of the feudal monopolies. Admittedly, the 'victim' gains but the real winners are the insurance companies who had to pay out the money, for this reinforces the notion that insurance is not an option but an urgent necessity, for if you are sued for negligence and if you didn't have insurance you would be ruined. So the insurance company gains in the long run. But there is another winner - the legal profession. And they win! The more the period of litigation extends, the bigger the handouts, the more publication the case receives, especially because of the sometimes enormous compensation, the more these legal vultures gain and gain and gain. Although there may not be an actual agreement between them these two enterprises, the insurance companies and the legal profession, they surely gain from the whole enterprise. The citizen, as in everything in Irish life, has no say and yet again is merely the victim. It has come to the stage that local communities cannot go out and tidy up the neighbourhood areas without giving serious consideration to the insurance implications.
USA (2011): UnionsI've already mentioned the Public Service unions. They are continuing to hold the Irish citizens to ransom. The members of the electrical union in Ireland have the best pay and conditions one could desire and when all is said and done, the only reason why they are treated so well is because of their veiled threat to bring the Nation to a stand-still by going on strike and shutting down the power supply to the Nation. In the semi-state electrical supply company the ESB the workers receive very generous pay and conditions and their union have been allocated places on the board of directors. At present, when there is talk of the selling off of part of the electrical infrastructure to the private sector, being forced to by the IMF and the other international financial thugs, this union is threatening to go on strike. They are so sure of their supremacy and unassailable position they are contemplating going on strike and literally declaring war on the Irish citizen. In the past they have gone on strike and demonstrated just how powerless the citizen is in controlling those sectors in Irish society determined to be so selfish as to hold the Irish Nation hostage. SupermarketsAlthough on the face of it the large supermarkets are nothing but beneficial as regards the lives of the citizens but in a democracy for any business to hold too much power over the quality of life of the citizens is not a good thing. These supermarket chains are so powerful they dictate terms and conditions to their suppliers. This is where the danger lies. In some cases the suppliers are literally selling produce below what it costs them to produce those supplies because the supermarkets have cornered the market. The suppliers don't have any choice but to sell at a loss. Although to the citizen the bottom line is the cost of goods (human nature - when people can gain they don't care about the effects on those doing the supplying and ultimately doing the paying), the supermarkets are dictatorial and abuse their power and position not to keep prices low but to increase their own profits. The more the small shops have to close the bigger the supermarkets grow and the more control they have over the lives of the citizens. Any group who remain unregulated naturally become an elite group. USA - Corporations - GM CropsOne of the greatest threats to all citizens everywhere in the world is the spread of Genetically Modified (gm) crops. If all goes to plan these corporations will OWN the whole food growing 'industry', and their tentacles are worldwide, though especially in the USA where they have ex-employees in State Departments overseeing the quality of food production. In the US Supreme Court one of the judges Clarence Thomas is an ex Monsanto lawyer and yet he sat on the Supreme Court and sat in judgement on a case in which Monsanto was given the green light to test out gm alfalfa seeds. The wishes of the US citizens to prevent gm crops being planted which automatically contaminates other non-gm crops is being ignored. That US Supreme Court also allowed unlimited sponsorship of political advertisements opening the door to large corporations spending at will and promoting candidates who support their viewpoint. Michael Taylor is the Deputy Commissioner for Foods at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He used to work for Monsanto as Vice President for Public Policy. In fact he switched working for the Government and Monsanto on a few occasions. He prevented non gm dairy products from stating the fact they were non gm products on their labels. Elena Kagan, whose role as USA solicitor general is to look out for the welfare of American citizens in all matters that come before the high court, sided with Monsanto in the case mentioned above. She was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Obama and became a justice of the Supreme Court in 2010. Margaret Miller worked for Monsanto and was in charge of preparing a report into bovine growth hormone (rBGH). Later that report went to the desk of the National Center for Toxicological Research (FDA), designated federal officer, Margaret Miller - herself! She had changed jobs and was evaluating the safety of the growth hormone - her own report. That report was . . . approved! Many retired officials of the USA Government food agencies FDA (Federal Drug Administration), EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), and USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) officials are frequently rewarded with lucrative jobs at the companies they were 'regulating'. Others just keep switching between the Government and the bio-tech corporations. Irish Corporate BedfellowsIn Ireland we may not have such large corporations but the insidious nature of the executive branches of Government, Government agencies, semi-state bodies, and businesses is an accepted distasteful and unhealthy aspect to Irish life. For example, some accountancy firms have feet in all camps and have never answered for their very questionable behaviour. Corporations - Financial InstitutionsFormer US Treasury Secretary (2006-2009) Henry Paulson was a former CEO of Goldman Sachs - one of the world’s most powerful investment banks. Mark Patterson, chief of staff to US Treasury Secretary (2009-) Timothy Geithner was a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist. Mario Monti, the new Italian prime minister, a senior adviser at Goldman Sachs, and is now running Italy. Mario Draghi, who took over as President of the ECB on 1 November 2011, spent three years as managing director of Goldman Sachs International between 2002 and 2005 - only to return to Government as president of the Italian central bank. Lucas Papademos, new Greek Prime Minister was former head of Greece's Central Bank, where it is reported, he worked closely with Goldman Sachs to help the Greek Government mask the true extent of its deficit. According to reports President Obama received over $1 million in contributions from people and political action committees associated with Goldman Sachs. New Feudal EliteThese are the so-called 'experts' who have been placed in positions of control over the citizens and day after day they bring in more and more regulations. I refer to the 'Health and Safety' controllers. It has come to the stage now, between the control of life via the insurance companies on the one hand, and the endless rules and regulations churned out by the Control Freaks that the citizens yet again are powerless to be in control of their own lives, and in defining what type of society they wish to live in. Needless to say, there must be regulations in place regarding health and safety but it should be limited by the wishes of the citizens and set at the level of safety which they themselves wish to have, collectively, and not just dictated by some 'experts' in white coats deciding how we should live our lives. Although this group is rarely in the public eye they hold a powerful grip on the quality of life of the citizens and are gaining more and more control over the citizens, and day after day they are becoming more and more powerful without ever asking the citizens what they want. In fact it is very much like a new religious policing authority. Although not elected by the citizens, they will tell you what you can do and what you can't do, and they are the law! The EU (European Union)I don't intend to say much about the EU as this book is about democracy in Ireland. The concept of the European Union as first envisaged may have been grounded in democracy (the so-called version in place in most of the EU Nations), but unfortunately it has been propelled by stupid, short-sighted, visionless, incompetent politicians to the point where it is becoming more a bureaucratic dictatorial monstrosity limiting the freedoms of the citizens of the individual Nations rather than emancipating them. The fact that the single currency was put in place without the necessary controls being introduced and insisted upon has caused this financial collapse. The fact that some incompetent head of the ECB (European Central Bank) could be in a position to decide to bring interest rates to practically zero, thus encouraging the reckless misuse of money, both as regards borrowing and lending, ensuring the financial catastrophe we in Ireland, and other Nations, are experiencing today in 2012. The amount of wastage and abuse of EU funds is legendary. The salaries are excessive and the accountability is ZERO. The EU has become a bureaucratic monster and, as such, is a threat to every citizen in Europe, including Ireland. They control us - and we have no say over controlling them. SummarySo, since the foundation of this oh-so-democratic Nation there has been these feudal institutions in existence which have an effect on the lives of the citizens of Ireland and yet for the most part are not controlled by the citizens. What controls do the Irish citizens have over the behaviour of these feudal elites - these 'professional bodies', in this so-called democracy? The simple, plain, truthful answer is - none whatsoever. It is they who control us. There is very little protection of the citizens from the behaviour of these feudal elite. The citizens of Ireland have as much control over these feudal elite and virtual monopolies as the serfs and peasants had over the feudal lords and elite in medieval pre-democracy times. The decisions of these elite groups for the most part cannot be questioned or restricted by any citizen. That is how the very system was set up and it continues without limitation in these 'modern times'. This is Irish democracy in 2012.
Lou Gogan |
|