Category: Perceptions

How to Succeed in Taking on Big Business or Big Government

Did you get a chance to watch Thrive? If not, I recommend it. Did you watch Cancer: The Forbidden Cures?
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It seems almost everyone is upset with the way things are being done and run these days – BIG Governement, BIG Business, BIG Pharma, BIG Banking, BIG Agra… There’s a lot of stress, energy and vocals, but very little effective action, it seems.

The Occupy Wall Street movement seems, to me, like a dismal failure. Why? My observation is that ranting and raving and getting attention is usually not very effective. It works for hungry 2-year-olds or even a 5-year-old with a cut or a bump, but that’s usually because someone who really cares is within hearing distance.

The reason that movements like Occupy Wall Street and others fail is what? – no one cares? the system is too entrenched? the BIGs are in control?

The Occupy Wall Street movements seemed to quickly devolve from a noble quest to just another scene for repressed anger and immaturity to run amok for individual acting out or to be co-opted by more focused anti-social elements. I didn’t see anything that I would characterize as effective action.

Imagine that every person that attended a Occupy Wall Street protest, or every person that found themselves on the wrong side of the mortgage melt-down, or every person that has been hurt by the economic down turn did something simple like take their money out of the Big 3 banks that are controlled by three large and powerful families and started using a local credit union or community bank. Imagine if everyone of those people help convince 5 other people to do the same.

In detective shows and novels they say – follow the money. Hit them where it hurts is another well-known phrase. Some make the case that our individual accounts are just peanuts to the big banks, so take the peanuts away. Doing something other than just bitching and complaining is a step.

Many feel cynical and fatalistic about changing the political system with its current entrenched emphasis on “political divide.” Voting for or against a particular Presidential candidate does seem very effective. Should we Throw Them All Out? Probably, it seems it may be the only way to get the message across that our representatives are elected to serve the country and not themselves… Did you see the 60 Minutes segment?

Here again, we probably need to first deal in peanuts and then work our way up. Local community and state governments as well as Congress.

The challenge is that it takes effort and commitment for the long haul, because change will not happen over night. Many of us are challenged in those areas. We want it now and thought it doesn’t change, we manage to eke out a little emotional discharge by sounding off or acting out in ways that support the positions of the “powers that be.”

I have or am in the process of closing down all my known ties with the big 3 banks. Chase Bank keeps sending me offers, telling how they want to serve my needs. This in spite of the fact that two years ago they, canceled to credit accounts because I wasn’t their type of customer. A recent incident with Chase Bank helped to reinforce my stance.

The reason I took the time to write this post is that I have several friends dying from cancer and it seemed too obvious that the way the AMA and Big Pharma are in business to keep cancer treatment alive and well as opposed to actually finding a cure is the same as the way the financial mess is being handled to support Big Banks at the expense of the consumer.

My money and my vote is moving away from BIG…