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"They scoff and speak only
evil;
in their pride they seek to crush others."
- Psalm
73:8
"Corporations and the
executives who fleece the public - along
with the politicians
who've made it
possible - are the worst sort of criminals." - Elke Kolodinski
"When
more than a billion people struggle to survive
on the purchasing power equivalent of less
than a dollar a day
there has to be
serious moral doubt about whether anyone
should be a billionaire."
- Peter Singer
"The
rich need winners and losers in order to
increase their wealth
- they need only bet
on the winning side." - Danila Oder
"There can be no real
freedom or democracy until the men who do the work
in a
business also control its management." -
Bertrand Russell
Adam Smith, in his 1776
classic, The Wealth of Nations, said he was troubled by the fact that
corporations'
owners, shareholders, did not run their own businesses but delegated that task
to professional managers. Adam Smith believed
professional managers could not be trusted to apply
the same "anxious vigilance" to manage "other people's
money" as they would their own and "negligence and profusion therefore
must prevail, more or less, in the management of such
a company."
{From 2002 to 2007 the United States Justice
Department won 1,236 convictions in
corporate fraud
cases.}
The "best interests of
the corporation"
principle, a fixture of
corporate
law, addresses Adam
Smith's concern by compelling corporate decision makers always to act in the best interests of
the corporation
and its shareholders.
The
law forbids any
other motivation for actions, whether
to assist workers, improve the
environment, or help
consumers
save money. Corporate officers can do these things
with their own money, as
private citizens but as
corporate officials, however,
stewards of other people's
money, they have no legal authority to
pursue such goals as ends in themselves - only as means to serve the
corporation's own
interests - to maximize the wealth of
shareholders.
"An economy that is more
entrepreneurial, less managerial, would be less subject to the kind of
distortions that occur when corporate managers’ compensation is tied to
the short-term profit of distant shareholders." - Matthew B.
Crawford
Corporate social
responsibility is illegal.
Corporate social
responsibility is an oxymoron.
A
corporation by
definition of corporate
law is singularly
self-interested.
"Like everything else the bottom line is all that matters
now, whether it is in healthcare, journalism, sports or anything else. I do
remember the time when corporations at least
tried to give the appearance of being socially responsible. It seems we have
lost that." - Bob McLaughlin
"Corporations have no
conscience, and they will
never engage in social justice or environmental responsibility unless
they can make a buck doing it - or unless they are forced to." - Kathy
Barreto
"Corporations are
established for one basic purpose: to make money by converting
nature and labor into profit and more capital.
The corporation was invented to limit
liability and maximize profit. Corporate managers are required to
maximize profit, although they often arrange to give
themselves enormous salaries. Politicians
do not place the interests of workers, the
community or the environment ahead
of corporate profit interests."
- John M. Lambase
"Corporation,
n.
An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without
individual responsibility."
- Ambrose Bierce Devil's Dictionary,
1911
"The
corporate
design contained in hundreds of
corporate
laws across the face of the
Earth is nearly identical . . . the people who
run corporations
have a legal duty to shareholders, and
that duty is to make
money. Failing this
duty can leave directors and officers
open to being sued by shareholders. The law
dedicates the corporation to the
pursuit of its own self-interest -
and equates corporate
self-interest with shareholder
self-interest. No mention is made of
responsibility to the public
interest. Corporate
law thus casts ethical and social
concerns as irrelevant, or as stumbling blocks to the
corporation's
fundamental mandate." -
corporate lawyer
Robert Hinkley
Although
corporate
law has progressed to the point were
corporations have
the same rights as people and are treated as people by those
laws corporations do not have the same
emotive capacity as people which might help to
refrain them from acting in a manner which is harmful to others.
On January 21, 2010
the quest for corporate personhood was completed. that permits Corporations can
now make unlimited, direct political contributions. No more hiding behind
fictional organizations such as independent campaign committees and political
actions committees. Corporations can just give directly - as much as they want
when ever they want - out of their corporate treasury to purchase whatever
regulation or law they want.
"The Supreme Court’s decision in
Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission paves the way for
unlimited corporate and union spending in elections, thus drowning out of the
average citizen’s voice in our public policy debates. In other words, the
court has made a bad situation worse by enhancing the ability of the
deepest-pocketed special interests to influence elections and the US Congress."
- Bob Edgar 01/22/10
"Can we really
expect our elected
representatives to
control the same
corporations whose
campaign contributions got them elected?
Until "corporate
personhood" (which gives a
corporation all
the rights of a living person) is
abolished, don't expect any meaningful
corporate
controls.
Corporations,
through 1st Amendment rights, are allowed to
contribute to election
campaigns. Until the Supreme Court
overturns corporate personhood,
our elected representatives will
be voting for the good of
corporations, not
for the good of people." - Gordon Vanderslice
"The idea
that some areas of society and
life are too precious, vulnerable,
sacred, or important for
the public interest to be subject to
commercial exploitation
seems to be losing its influence.
Indeed, the very notion that there is a public interest, a common
good that transcends our
individual
self-interest, is slipping away.
Increasingly, we are told, commercial potential is the measure of all
value, corporations should be
free to exploit anything and anyone for
profit, and
human beings are creatures of pure
self-interest and
materialistic
desire. These are the
elements of an emerging order that may prove to be
as as any
fundamentalism that
history has produced. For on an
Earth where anything or anyone can be owned,
manipulated, and exploited for profit, everything and everyone will
eventually be."
- Joe Balkan
"When the balance
sheet of a corporation does not capture the true costs and risks of its
business activities you end up with them privatizing their gains and
socializing their losses." - Nandan Nilekani
psychopathology of the
corporation
A corporation, with
self-interest paramount, acts
exactly as a human psychopath would. {Psychopaths exhibit
traits such as superficial charm, an exaggerated sense of self-worth, glibness,
lying, lack of remorse and manipulation of others. People that fall into this
category include: serial killers and politicians. Psychopaths are
psychologically capable of acting free of any concern for social, moral or
legal consequences with absolutely no remorse.
"Ironically, these same
traits (psychopathology) exist in men and women who are drawn to high-profile
and powerful positions in society including political officeholders. While many
political leaders will deny the assessment regarding their similarities with
serial killers and other career criminals, it is part of a psychopathic profile
that may be used in assessing the behaviors of many officials and lawmakers at
all levels of government." - Jim Kouri, vice president of the National
Association of Chiefs of Police}
A
corporation is like a human psychopath
in that:
Corporations are
irresponsible - in an attempt to satisfy the
corporate goal, everything is ‘at
risk'.
Corporations are
manipulative - they manipulate everything, including public
opinion.
Corporations have
delusions of grandeur - "we're number
one", "we're the best."
Corporations have a lack of
empathy and exhibit
antisocial tendencies - no concern
for victims.
Corporations relate to
others
superficially - their whole goal
is to present themselves to the public in a way that is appealing to the public
but may not in fact be representative of the actual
organization.
Corporations
refuse to accept responsibility for their acts and
corporations are unable to feel
remorse.
The corporation, like the psychopathic
personality it resembles, is programmed to exploit nature, small business and people for
profit.
The cost of negotiated
settlements and adjudicated civil suits as well as fines for
illegal activities are seen as just another cost of doing business to the
corporation. When breaking the
law or failing to warn a product
consumer of a potential
is likely to cost less than complying
with the law or warning potential users of defects
a corporation is required by
law to do what is best for its shareholders whether
it is breaking the law or failing to warn of; lead in toys,
pharmaceutical side effects,
endocrine disruption by industrial
chemicals, the harmful effects of chemicalized tobacco, thyroid disruption
by fire retardants, etcetera ... In most cases the fines
and the civil penalties and settlements paid by the
corporation are trivial compared to the
profits generated. (see
General Electric: We bring good things to
life!)
Many people falsely
believe that as the
corporation is run by breathing
thinking compassionate people the
corporation therefore must have the
same traits as a compassionate person.
A
corporation cannot exhibit
compassion unless that exhibition of apparent
compassion increases shareholder wealth.
People are notorious for their ability to
use charm as a mask to hide their
self-obsessed
personalities. For
corporations social responsibile acts
are simply public relations ploys. Corporations can present themselves as
compassionate and concerned about being socially
responsible citizens when, in fact, they lack the ability to care about
anything as compassion requires an
empathtic emotional response which is impossible for a legal
construct.
-adapted from Joel Balkan
"The
recent spate of Supreme Court decisions absolving
corporations of
responsibility for their wrongful or negligent
conduct is not "good for business" - unless you believe that all business owners are scofflaws.
Rather, the decisions should be characterized as bad for consumers and ultimately
bad for justice.
Making it impossible for people injured by corporate acts (or neglect) to be
compensated for their damages essentially sends
a signal that companies need not
consider the public interest, or
indeed the niceties of the law, in their relentless
pursuit of profit.
That is not a pro-business stance; it is an
antisocial stance. Everyone - as a potential
victim of
corporate cost-cutting, incompetence or
outright malfeasance - is significantly worse off as a result." - J.G.
Berinstein
"Corporate boards of
directors meet in closed rooms to plan to how best to maximize profit. If
they knowingly make plans that hurt others, violate laws, undermine ethics, or
show favoritism to friends, they are involved in a conspiracy." - Peter
Phillips
"Here is the most important challenge to
political invention ever offered to the jurist
or the statesman. The human association which in fact produces and distributes
wealth, the association of workmen, managers,
technicians and directors is not an association recognized by
law. The association which the
law does recognize -
the association of shareholders, creditors and
directors - is incapable of producing and distributing and is not expected
to perform these functions. We have to give law to
the real association and withdraw meaningless privilege from the
imaginary one."
- Lord Eustace
Sutherland Campbell Percy, Baron Percy of Newcastle
"In giving
commercial speech constitutional protection, we are not just giving
consumers information about price,
quality, maker, and warranties. We are systematically stimulating the
addictive, irrational impulse to feed a
spiritual emptiness with
more and more "goods." To say that
commercial speech merely allows buyers and sellers to exchange information in a
free market transaction seems utterly naive, if not downright
disingenuous.
The "culture" of television has largely replaced community and
family life,
cultural pursuits, and reading. Coupled with
big corporations'
ability to influence the legal environment of business, corporate "freedom of
speech" encourages a consumer driven
economy, with
consumers perennially in pursuit of
this year's "hottest toy."." - Donald O. Mayer
"A
corporate executive recently confessed to me that his job consisted of lying to
the customer; another that his job consisted of frightening customers into
accepting digital security products that they really didn't need." -
Charles
Eisenstein
"When (normal) human beings fall into a certain state:
the psychopaths, like a virulent pathogen in a body, strike at their
weaknesses, and the entire society is plunged into conditions that lead to
horror and tragedy on a very large scale." - Andrew M.
Lobaczewski
"The logic of
externalization applies on both the level of the individual or
corporation.
Profits accrue
to those who most successfully externalize their costs.
Step One was
to take something away from people (e.g. social capital) and sell it back
again.
Step Two of the eternal formula for business success is to make
someone elsepay at least some of the costs, while you get the profits.
Do the printers of unwanted junk mail have to pay the costs of
disposing it in landfills?
Do the makers or users of pesticides have to
pay the costs of cleaning the groundwater they eventually contaminate?
Do the makers or users of nitrogen fertilizer have to pay the costs of
eutrophication (deoxygenating algae blooms that kill
fish)?
Would the mounds of plastic junk we buy every Christmas
still be so cheap
if they incorporated the medical costs of
toxic petroleum byproducts?
Much of
the destructiveness of our present economic system
is due to the externalization of costs." -
Charles
Eisenstein
"A
corporation tends to be more
profitable to the extent it can make
other people pay the bills for its impact on
society. The corporation is an externalizing
machine, in the same way that a shark is a
killing machine. There isn't any question of
malevolence or of will; the corporation
has within it, and the shark has within it, those characteristics that enable
it to do that for which it was designed. As a result
the corporation is potentially very,
very damaging to society." - Robert
Monks
{Speaking of killing machines
and the ability of a
corporation to damage a social culture it might
shock some people to know just how
some of the major corporations
benefit from war.
The Center for Responsive Politics found
that lawmakers have as much as $196 million invested in
corporations doing business with
the Department of Defense. Many
corporations are
not recognized as defense contractors and yet a substantial amount of their
business comes from supplying the military. Pepsico was paid $286 million; IBM
was paid $291 million; Tyson was paid $335 million; Goodrich was paid $344
million; Procter & Gamble was paid $362 million; Kraft was paid $500
million; Dell was paid $636 million; FedEx was paid $1.3 billion and Exxon was
paid $1.2 billion. Also on the Pentagon's payroll was Disney,
Apple, Oakley, Nestle, Heinz and Hershey.
"In the early 1990s, some
three quarters of the federal government's research money was consumed by the
Pentagon. Half of America's
scientists and engineers were employed by military-related companies. The needs
of the Pentagon skew entire
industries. They cause communities to arise out of nowhere, and as suddenly to
collapse. Economists argue endlessly, and inconclusively, about the impact of
military spending on the American economy as a whole. The effect of military
spending on government budgets is plain enough: investments of one kind
diminish investments of another." - Cullen Murphy
"In
reality, whether we like it or not, whether we
care or not, we're all participating . When we buy Crest toothpaste, Oscar
Mayer hotdogs or a Playstation the fact is we are supporting
an increasingly militarized civilian economy." -
Nick Turse}
"Can an
Ethiopian change the color of his
skin? Can a leopard take away its spots?
Neither
can you start doing good, for you have always done
evil." - Jeremiah 13:23
"The business enterprise is a creature of a society
and an economy, and society or economy can put any business out of existence
overnight. The enterprise exists on sufferance and exists only as long as the
society and the economy believe that it does a necessary, useful, and
productive job." - Peter F. Drucker*
Warren Buffet, the richest man in America, stated in May 2007 that he felt no
imperative to invest in socially responsible
corporations or to press those
corporations in which he invested to be
socially responsible.
"The practical business
view is that a fine is an additional cost of doing business. A
prohibited activity is not inhibited by the threat of a fine so long as the anticipated
profits from the activity outweigh the amount of
the fine multiplied by the
probability of being apprehended and
convicted. Considering the amount of the average fine, deterrence is improbable in most cases. The
argument is even more obvious regarding prevention of recidivism. The
corporation, once convicted and
fined, will simply have learned how
to cover its tracks better." - Bruce Welling
"The truly "elite" are the super-rich who have received massive
tax breaks while American jobs are sent
overseas in an effort to convert millionaires into billionaires. This unpatriotic action has turned the proud
post-World War II middle class into a
marginalized segment desperately fending off poverty." - David Ohman
"Since the
1960s the percentage of tax revenue at the federal level that comes from
corporations has declined from around 30 percent to around 8 percent. A
substantial portion of this decline is the consequence of the ability of
companies with global operations to shift income to jurisdictions where tax
collectors cannot find it." - Jack Blum*, an expert on tax evasion and former
counsel for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
While the billionaires just keep getting
richer working Americans are left with the
bill for American aristocracies new found
wealth. It took the federal government 100 years
to amass a debt of
$5.7 trillion. During George W.
Bush's first seven years that
debt was increased by
$3.2 trillion to $8.9 trillion.
The outstanding public debt as of
January 2010 was $ 12.3 trillion and rising at the rate of $3.9 billion per
day! The estimated population of the United States was about 307,700,000 so
each citizen's share of this debt was nearly $40,000.
a billion dollars is a
thousand million dollars = $1,000,000,000
"Maintaining the civic institutions, police forces
and public infrastructure that enable great fortunes to be made and kept costs
money. Wealthy taxpayers should keep that in mind the next time they're
inclined to bellyache about not getting anything from government." - Michael
Hiltzik
"We should not forget even for a moment that
this whole animate world is a
large family in which nature has not assigned
any property to any particular individual. Individual ownership has been
created by selfish
opportunists so that they might take advantage of the defects of this
system in order to grow fatter in a parasitic way. When the whole property of
this universe has been inherited by all creatures, how then can there be any
justification for a system in which someone receives a flow of huge excess,
while others die for lack of a handful of grain?
The aspiration to
become rich by exploiting others is a
mental malady. In fact, if
the eternal hunger of the human soul
does not find the real path leading to mental and spiritual wealth, it
becomes engaged in the work of depriving other of their
rights; it robs them of their material resources." - Shrii Prabhat R.
Sarkar
"Have you ever considered that the fabulously
wealthy have a lifestyle that doesn't resemble ours even closely? They don't do
dishes, laundry, wash the car, water the lawn or shop for food. They don't iron
shirts, dust, straighten the pictures in the living room and they don't
typically eat food laced with additives. They don't need to read the paper or
watch the television for news, they ARE the news and they make the news. They
don't send their children overseas to fight wars and in the rare cases that
they do those kids are well protected from actual warfare. They don't put air
in their tires because they don't even drive and they don't carry cash because
they don't personally buy anything. They don't cook, they don't walk the dog
and guess what? They aren't on Facebook either." - Jeff Prager
"In 1950 US corporations footed 26% of the total US
tax bill. By 1990 they were covering only 9%, contributing to massive budget
deficits and the current $14 trillion US debt. In 2009 corporate leviathans
such as Bank of America, General Electric and Exxon Mobil paid no US federal
taxes. Exxon's net profit for that year was over $45 billion. It utilized
subsidiaries in the British Crown-controlled Bahamas, Bermuda and Cayman
Islands to dodge the IRS." - Dean Henderson
"Accumulated wealth is not a reward for any
tangible contribution to society made by the possessor." - Ferdinand Lundberg
1937
|
|
Net Worth |
Residence |
Specifics |
| Oil, gas & energy |
|
|
|
| Charles De Ganahl Koch |
12 billion |
Wichita, KS |
inheritance
oil, commodities |
| David Hamilton
Koch* |
12 billion |
New York, NY |
inheritance
oil, commodities |
| William Ingraham
Koch* |
1.3 billion |
Palm Beach, FL |
inheritance
oil |
| Robert Muse
Bass |
5.5 billion |
Fort Worth, TX |
inheritance
oil,
investments |
| Lee Marshall
Bass |
3 billion |
Fort Worth, TX |
inheritance
oil,
investments |
| Sid Richardson
Bass |
3 billion |
Fort Worth, TX |
inheritance
oil,
investments |
| Edward Perry
Bass |
2.5 billion |
Fort Worth, TX |
inheritance
oil,
investments |
| Anne Windfohr Marion |
1.3 billion |
Fort Worth, TX |
inheritance,
oil |
| William Alvin Moncrief Jr |
1 billion |
Fort Worth, TX |
inheritance
oil |
| Richard Edward
Rainwater |
2.5 billion |
Fort Worth, TX |
real estate, energy,
insurance |
| Robert
Rowling |
5.2 billion |
Dallas, TX |
inheritance
oil & gas,
investments |
| Ray Lee Hunt |
3.2 billion |
Dallas, TX |
inheritance
oil, real estate |
| T Boone Pickens, Jr |
2.7 billion |
Dallas, TX |
oil & gas,
hedge funds |
| Trevor Rees-Jones |
1.5 billion |
Dallas, TX |
oil |
| Timothy Headington |
1.1 billion |
Dallas, TX |
oil, investments |
| Billy Joe "Red"
McCombs |
1.3 billion |
San Antonio, TX |
radio,
oil, real estate |
| Jeffrey
Hildebrand |
1 billion |
Houston, TX |
oil |
| Tracy W Krohn
|
1.4 billion |
Houston, TX |
oil |
| Dan L
Duncan |
7.5 billion |
Houston, TX |
oil, gas pipelines |
| Richard Kinder |
2.8 billion |
Houston, TX |
gas pipelines |
| George Phydias Mitchell |
2.5 billion |
The Woodlands, TX |
oil |
| David
Rockefeller Sr |
2.6 billion |
New York, NY |
oil, banking |
| Gordon Peter Getty |
2.3 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
oil inheritance |
| George B
Kaiser |
8.5 billion |
Tulsa, OK |
inheritanceoil & gas, banking |
| Aubrey K McClendon |
1.6 billion |
Oklahoma City, OK |
oil |
| Marguerite
Harbert |
1.5 billion |
Birmingham, AL |
oil inheritance |
| Richard Mellon Scaife |
1.2 billion |
Pittsburgh, PA |
inheritance
oil, banking, publishing |
| Philip F
Anschutz* |
7.8 billion |
Denver, CO |
oil, gas, fiber optics |
| Phyllis Miller Taylor |
1.6 billion |
New Orleans, LA |
oil, gas |
| Tom L Ward |
1.6 billion |
Edmond, OK |
gas |
| Robert Earl
Holding |
4.2 billion |
Sun Valley, ID |
energy, resorts, ranching |
| Robert C McNair |
1.5 billion |
Houston, TX |
energy, sports |
| Hedge funds |
|
|
|
| George Soros* |
8.5 billion |
Westchester, NY |
hedge funds |
Edward S
Lampert
(Skull and Crossbones)
Robert Rubin* protege |
4.7 billion |
Greenwich, CT |
consumer
products,hedge funds |
| James H Simons
|
4 billion |
East Setauket, NY |
hedge funds |
| Steven A
Cohen* |
3 billion |
Greenwich, CT |
hedge funds |
| Paul Tudor
Jones II |
2.5 billion |
Greenwich, CT |
hedge funds |
| Bruce Kovner
* |
3 billion |
New York, NY |
hedge funds |
| Stanley Druckenmiller
* |
2 billion |
New York, NY |
hedge funds |
| Israel Englander
* |
1.2 billion |
New York, NY |
hedge funds |
| David E Shaw |
1 billion |
New York, NY |
hedge funds |
| Louis Moore Bacon |
1 billion |
London |
hedge funds |
| Kenneth C
Griffin* |
1.7 billion |
Chicago, IL |
hedge funds |
| David Tepper* |
1.5 billion |
Chatham, NJ |
hedge funds |
| Samuel Wyly* |
1.1 billion |
Dallas, TX |
stock trader,
hedge funds |
| Daniel Morton Ziff* |
1.5 billion |
New York, NY |
publishing
inheritance,
hedge funds |
| Dirk Edward Ziff* |
1.5 billion |
New York, NY |
publishing
inheritance,
hedge funds |
| Robert David Ziff* |
1.5 billion |
New York, NY |
publishing
inheritance,
hedge funds |
Leveraged buyouts
or hostile takeovers |
|
|
|
| Carl Icahn
* |
9.7 billion |
New York, NY |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Ronald Owen Perelman
* |
7 billion |
New York, NY |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Henry R Kravis * |
2.6 billion |
New York, NY |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Leon Black * |
2 billion |
New York, NY |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Thomas Haskell Lee
* |
1.4 billion |
New York, NY |
leveraged
buyouts |
| George R Roberts |
2.6 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Tom T Gores * |
2 billion |
Beverly Hills, CA |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Alec Gores * |
1.2 billion |
Beverly Hills, CA |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Nelson Peltz * |
1.3 billion |
Bedford, NY |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Jerome Spiegel Kohlberg Jr
* |
1.2 billion |
Mt Kisco, NY |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Wilbur L Ross Jr |
1.2 billion |
Palm Beach, FL |
leveraged
buyouts |
| David Howard Murdock
* |
4.2 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Harold Clark
Simmons* |
4.1 billion |
Dallas, TX |
leveraged
buyouts |
Stephen A Schwarzman
*
(Skull and Crossbones) |
3.5 billion |
New York, NY |
leveraged
buyouts |
| J Christopher Flowers |
1.2 billion |
New York, NY |
leveraged
buyouts |
| Michael Robert Milken * |
2.1 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
junk bonds, leveraged buyouts |
| Money
management |
|
|
|
| Fayez Shalaby Sarofim* |
1.5 billion |
Houston, TX |
money managment |
| Michael F Price |
1.4 billion |
Far Hills, NJ |
money managment |
| Robert Addison Day |
1.3 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
money managment
(Superior Oil
inheritence) |
| Kenneth L Fisher* |
1.3 billion |
Woodside, CA |
money managment |
| Julian H Robertson Jr |
1 billion |
New York, NY |
money management, wine |
| Alfred P West Jr |
1.2 billion |
Paoli, PA |
money management |
| Eli Broad* |
5.8 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
mutual
funds |
| Charles H Brandes |
2 billion |
San Diego, CA |
money management |
| Evgeny (Eugene) Markovich Shvidler
(partner Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich*) |
2.2 billion |
London, United Kingdom |
money management |
| Abigail Johnson |
13 billion |
Boston, MA |
mutual
funds |
| Edward Crosby Johnson III |
7.5 billion |
Boston, MA |
money management |
| Charles Bartlett Johnson |
4.3 billion |
San Mateo, CA |
mutual
funds |
| Rupert Harris Johnson Jr |
3.7 billion |
San Mateo, CA |
mutual
funds |
| John P Calamos |
2 billion |
Naperville, IL |
mutual
funds |
| Thomas Bailey |
1.2 billion |
Aspen, CO |
mutual
funds |
| Joseph D Mansueto |
1.2 billion |
Chicago, IL |
mutual
funds |
| Jonathan Lovelace Jr |
1.1 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
mutual
funds |
| Elizabeth S Wiskemann |
1.1 billion |
San Rafael, CA |
mutual
funds |
| Charles R Schwab* |
4.6 billion |
Atherton, CA |
discount stock
brokerage |
| J Joseph Ricketts |
2.3 billion |
Omaha, NE |
discount stock
brokerage |
| William H
Gross |
1.2 billion |
Laguna Beach, CA |
bond broker |
| Peter R Kellogg |
2.5 billion |
Short Hills, NJ |
inheritance, stock
trader |
| Insurance and banking |
|
|
|
| Warren Edward
Buffett |
46 billion |
Omaha, NE |
insurance |
| Franklin Otis Booth Jr |
1.9 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
insurance |
| Charles T
Munger |
1.6 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
insurance |
| Joan H Tisch * |
3.4 billion |
New York, NY |
hotels, insurance, cigarettes,
gas |
| Wilma Stein Tisch* |
1.9 billion |
New York, NY |
hotels, insurance, cigarettes,
gas |
| Maurice Raymond Greenberg* |
2.8 billion |
Ocean Reef, FL |
insurance |
| Ernest S Rady |
2.2 billion |
San Diego, CA |
insurance, banking |
| Ernest E Stempel* |
1.7 billion |
Haton, Bermuda |
insurance |
| Arthur L Williams Jr |
1.7 billion |
Palm Beach, FL |
insurance |
| Sanford Weill * |
1.5 billion |
New York, NY |
insurance,
banking |
| Peter Benjamin Lewis* |
1.4 billion |
Coconut Grove, FL |
insurance |
| William W McGuire |
1.2 billion |
Wayzata, MN |
insurance |
| George Joseph |
1 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
insurance |
| Carl Henry Lindner Jr |
2.3 billion |
Cincinnati, OH |
insurance,
banking |
| Clemmie Dixon Spangler Jr* |
2.5 billion |
Charlotte, NC |
banking |
| John Edward Anderson |
1.9 billion |
Bel Air, CA |
beer, banks, insurance, cars |
| Roland E.
Arnall* |
3 billion |
Holmby Hills, CA |
mortgage
banking* |
| Carl Pohlad
|
2.6 billion |
Minneapolis, MN |
banking |
| T Denny Sanford* |
2.5 billion |
Sioux Falls, SD |
banking, credit cards |
| Herbert Anthony Allen Jr* |
2 billion |
New York, NY |
investment banking |
| Bernard Francis Saul II |
1.8 billion |
Chevy Chase, MD |
banking, real estate |
| Gerald J Ford |
1.6 billion |
Dallas, TX |
banking |
| James Cayne |
1.1 billion |
New York, NY |
investment banking |
| Richard S Fuld Jr* |
1 billion |
Greenwich, CT |
investment banking |
| Leslie Alexander |
1.2 billion |
Houston, TX |
student loans |
| Daniel Gilbert |
1.1 billion |
Livonia, MI |
mortgage
banking |
| Kenneth G Langone |
1 billion |
Sands Point, NY |
investment banking, building supplies |
| L John Doerr |
1 billion |
Woodside, CA |
venture capital |
| Publishing
inheritance |
|
|
|
| Donald Edward Newhouse* |
7.3 billion |
Somerset County, NJ |
publishing
inheritance |
| Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr
* |
7.3 billion |
New York, NY |
publishing
inheritance |
| Pauline MacMillan Keinath |
1.6 billion |
St Louis, MO |
publishing
inheritance |
| Cargill MacMillan Jr |
1.6 billion |
Wayzata, MN |
publishing
inheritance |
| W Duncan MacMillan |
1.6 billion |
Wayzata, MN |
publishing
inheritance |
| Whitney MacMillan |
1.6 billion |
Minneapolis, MN |
publishing
inheritance |
| John Hugh MacMillan III |
1.6 billion |
Hillsboro Beach, FL |
publishing
inheritance |
| Marion MacMillan Pictet |
1.6 billion |
Haton, Bermuda |
publishing
inheritance |
| Leonore
Annenberg* |
2 billion |
Wynnewood, PA |
publishing
inheritance |
| Media
conglomerate inheritance |
|
|
|
| Barbara Cox Anthony |
12.6 billion |
Honolulu, HI |
inheritance, media
conglomerate |
| Anne Cox
Chambers |
12.6 billion |
Atlanta, GA |
inheritance, media
conglomerate |
| William
Randolph Hearst III |
2.1 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
inheritance, media
conglomerate |
| Phoebe Hearst Cooke |
2 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
inheritance, media
conglomerate |
| Austin Hearst |
2 billion |
New York, NY |
inheritance, media
conglomerate |
| David Whitmire Hearst Jr |
2 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
inheritance, media
conglomerate |
| George Randolph Hearst Jr |
2 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
inheritance, media
conglomerate |
| Walmart inheritance |
|
|
|
| Alice L
Walton |
15.5 billion |
Fort Worth, TX |
inheritance consumer
products |
| Helen R
Walton |
15.3 billion |
Bentonville, AR |
inheritance consumer
products |
| Jim C Walton
|
15.7 billion |
Bentonville, AR |
inheritance consumer
products |
| S Robson
Walton |
15.6 billion |
Bentonville, AR |
inheritance consumer
products |
| Christy
Walton |
15.6 billion |
Jackson, WY |
inheritance consumer
products |
| Ann Walton
Kroenke |
2.6 billion |
Columbia, MO |
inheritance consumer
products |
| Nancy Walton
Laurie |
2.2 billion |
Columbia, MO |
inheritance consumer
products |
| Mars, Inc.
inheritance |
|
|
|
| Forrest Edward
Mars Jr* |
10.5 billion |
McLean, VA |
inheritance
processed food |
| Jacqueline
Mars* |
10.5 billion |
Bedminster, NJ |
inheritance
processed food |
| John Franklyn
Mars* |
10.5 billion |
Arlington, VA |
inheritance
processed food |
| SC
Johnson & Sons inheritance |
|
|
|
| H Fisk Johnson |
1.6 billion |
Racine, WI |
chemicals
inheritance |
| Imogene Powers Johnson |
1.6 billion |
Racine, WI |
chemicals
inheritance |
| S Curtis Johnson |
1.6 billion |
Racine, WI |
chemicals
inheritance |
| Helen Johnson-Leipold |
1.6 billion |
Racine, WI |
chemicals
inheritance |
| Winnie Johnson-Marquart |
1.6 billion |
Virginia Beach, VA |
chemicals
inheritance |
| Hyatt hotels
inheritance |
|
|
|
| Anthony
Pritzker * |
2 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| Daniel Pritzker
* |
2 billion |
Marin County, CA |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| James Pritzker * |
2 billion |
Chicago, IL |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| Jay Robert (JB) Pritzker
* |
2 billion |
Evanston, IL |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| Jean (Gigi) Pritzker
* |
2 billion |
Chicago, IL |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| John A Pritzker
* |
2 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| Karen Pritzker * |
2 billion |
New Haven, CT |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| Linda Pritzker * |
2 billion |
St Ignatius, MT |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| Nicholas J Pritzker II
* |
1.6 billion |
Chicago, IL |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| Penny Pritzker * |
2.1 billion |
Chicago, IL |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| Thomas J Pritzker
* |
2.3 billion |
Chicago, IL |
inheritance hotels,
investments |
| Estee
Lauder inheritance |
|
|
|
| Leonard Alan Lauder
* |
2.9 billion |
New York, NY |
inheritance consumer
products |
| Ronald Steven Lauder
* |
2.7 billion |
New York, NY |
inheritance consumer
products |
| Campbell
Soup inheritance |
|
|
|
| Mary Alice
Dorrance Malone |
2.2 billion |
Coatesville, PA |
inheritance
processed food |
| Hope Hill Van
Beuren |
1.3 billion |
Middletown, RI |
inheritance
processed food |
| Charlotte Colket
Weber |
1.3 billion |
Ocala, FL |
inheritance
processed food |
| Dorrance Hill
Hamilton |
1.1 billion |
Wayne, PA |
inheritance
processed food |
| Bennett
Dorrance |
2.1 billion |
Paradise Valley, AZ |
inheritance
processed food |
| Casinos |
|
|
|
| Sheldon Adelson
* |
20.5 billion |
Las Vegas, NV |
casinos, hotels |
| Kirk Kerkorian * |
9 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
casinos,
"investments" |
| Stephen A Wynn * |
2.6 billion |
Las Vegas, NV |
casinos, hotels |
| Phillip Ruffin |
1.4 billion |
Wichita, KS |
casinos, real estate |
| William Samuel Boyd |
1.2 billion |
Las Vegas, NV |
casinos, banking |
| William Barron Hilton |
1 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
casinos, hotels |
| Software |
|
|
|
| William
Henry Gates III |
53 billon |
Medina, WA |
software |
| Paul Gardner Allen* |
16 billion |
Seattle, WA |
software,
investments |
| Steven Anthony Ballmer
* |
13.6 billion |
Bellevue, WA |
software |
| Charles Simonyi |
1 billon |
Medina, WA |
software |
| Lawrence Joseph Ellison
* |
19.5 billion |
Redwood City, CA |
software |
| James Goodnight |
4.5 billion |
Cary, NC |
software |
| John Sall |
2,2 billion |
Cary, NC |
software |
| Thomas M Siebel |
1.5 billion |
San Mateo, CA |
software |
| David A Duffield |
1.2 billion |
Incline Village, NV |
software |
| Hardware |
|
|
|
| Michael Dell* |
15.5 million |
Austin, TX |
computers |
| Steven Paul Jobs |
4.9 billion |
Palo Alto, CA |
computers, entertainment |
| Theodore W Waitt |
1.7 billion |
San Diego, CA |
computers |
| Weili Dai |
1 billion |
Los Altos Hills, CA |
semiconductors |
| Gordon Earle Moore |
3.4 billion |
Woodside, CA |
semiconductors |
| Sehat Sutardja |
1 billion |
Los Altos Hills, CA |
semiconductors |
| Henry Thompson Nicholas III |
2 billion |
Laguna Hills, CA |
integrated circuits |
| Henry Samueli |
2 billion |
Newport Beach, CA |
integrated circuits |
| John Hammond Krehbiel Jr |
1 billion |
Lake Forest, IL |
interconnection
products |
| William Morean |
1 billion |
St Petersburg, FL |
circuit boards |
| Scott D Cook |
1.3 billion |
Woodside, CA |
microprocessors |
| James Kim |
1.5 billion |
Bryn Mawr, PA |
microchips |
| Internet |
|
|
|
| Sergey Brin * |
14.1 billion |
Palo Alto, CA |
internet search engine |
| Larry E Page* |
14 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
internet search engine |
| Eric Schmidt* |
5.2 billion |
Atherton, CA |
internet search engine |
| David Filo |
2.5 billion |
Palo Alto, CA |
internet search engine |
| Jerry Yang |
2.2 billion |
Los Altos, CA |
internet search engine |
| Omid Kordestani |
1.9 billion |
Atherton, CA |
internet search engine |
| Kavitark Ram Shriram |
1.5 billion |
Mountain View, CA |
internet search engine |
| Pierre M Omidyar |
7.7 billion |
Henderson, NV |
online auction |
| Margaret C Whitman |
1.2 billion |
Atherton, CA |
online auction |
| Jeffrey P Bezos |
3.6 billion |
Seattle, WA |
online consumer
product sales |
| J Russell DeLeon |
1.8 billion |
Gibraltar |
online 'gaming' |
| Ruth Parasol |
1.8 billion |
Gibraltar |
online 'gaming' |
| Barry Diller * |
1.3 billion |
New York, NY |
internet sales and services |
| John G Sperling |
1.3 billion |
Phoenix, AZ |
online education |
| Peter Sperling |
1.3 billion |
Phoenix, AZ |
online education |
| James H Clark |
1.1 billion |
Palm Beach, FL |
web browser |
| Weapons |
|
|
|
| Lester Crown* |
4.1 billion |
Wilmette, IL |
weaponry |
| Ira L Rennert* |
1 billion |
Suffolk, New York |
junkbonds, mining, armored
vehicles |
| Lawsuits |
|
|
|
| Jerral W Jones |
1.3 billion |
Dallas, TX |
lawsuits,
entertainment |
| Joseph Dahr Jamail Jr |
1.4 billion |
Houston, TX |
lawsuits |
| David Gottesman |
2.5 billion |
Rye, NY |
lawsuits |
| Telecom |
|
|
|
| Gary Magness |
1.1 billion |
Denver, CO |
telecom
inheritance |
| Craig O McCaw |
2.1 billion |
Seattle, WA |
telecom |
| Irwin Mark Jacobs |
1.7 billion |
La Jolla, CA |
wireless telecom |
| John P Morgridge |
1.5 billion |
Portola Valley, CA |
telecom |
| Walter Scott Jr |
1.3 billion |
Omaha, NE |
construction, telecom |
| Robert William Galvin |
1.2 billion |
Marshfield, WI |
telecom products |
| Kenny A Troutt |
1.2 billion |
Dallas, TX |
telecom |
| Mary Anselmo |
1 billion |
Greenwich, CT |
telecom |
| Broadcasting & Entertainment |
|
|
|
| Charles Ergen* |
7.6 billion |
Denver, CO |
broadcasting |
| John Werner Kluge* |
9.1 billion |
Palm Beach, FL |
broadcasting |
| A Jerrold Perenchio |
3 billion |
Bel Air, CA |
broadcasting |
| Mark Cuban
* |
2.3 billion |
Dallas, TX |
broadcasting |
| Todd R Wagner |
1.4 billion |
Dallas, TX |
broadcasting |
| Stanley Stub Hubbard |
1.4 billion |
St Mary's Point, MN |
broadcasting |
| Edmund Newton Ansin |
1.2 billion |
Miami Beach, FL |
broadcasting |
| Keith
Rupert Murdoch |
7.7 billion |
New York, NY |
media
conglomerate |
| Sumner M
Redstone * |
7.5 billion |
Beverly Hills, CA |
media
conglomerate |
| Roy Edward
Disney |
1.2 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
media
conglomerate |
| Haim Saban* |
2.8 billion |
Beverly Hills, CA |
television |
| Amos Barr Hostetter Jr |
2.6 billion |
Boston, MA |
cable television |
| Charles Francis Dolan* |
2.3 billion |
Oyster Bay, NY |
cable television |
| John C Malone |
1.7 billion |
Parker, CO |
cable television |
| Oprah Winfrey
|
1.5 billion |
Chicago, IL |
television |
| Alan Gerry* |
1.4 billion |
Liberty, NY |
cable television |
| Herbert Siegel* |
1.3 billion |
New York, NY |
television |
| Robert L Johnson |
1 billion |
Washington, DC |
television |
| Robert E "Ted" Turner |
1.9 billion |
Lamont, FL |
cable television |
| George L Lindemann* |
1.5 billion |
Palm Beach, FL |
broadcast, telecom, gas |
| Frank Batten Sr |
1.4 billion |
Virginia Beach, VA |
inheritance broadcasting |
| David Geffen * |
4.6 billion |
Malibu, CA |
movies, music |
| George Lucas |
3.6 billion |
Marin County, CA |
movies |
| Steven Allen Spielberg
* |
2.9 billion |
Pacific Palisades, CA |
movies |
| Ray Milton Dolby |
1.7 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
entertainment |
| Amar Gopal Bose |
1.5 billion |
Framingham, MA |
entertainment |
| Robert Allen Naify |
1.2 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
movie theaters |
| Micky Arison* |
5 billion |
Bal Harbour, FL |
leisure |
| Marilyn Carlson Nelson |
2 billion |
Minneapolis, MN |
leisure |
| Barbara Carlson Gage |
2 billion |
Minneapolis, MN |
leisure |
| James C France |
1.5 billion |
Daytona Beach, FL |
auto racing |
| William C France Jr |
1.5 billion |
Daytona Beach, FL |
auto racing |
| Ollen Bruton Smith |
1.4 billion |
Charlotte, NC |
race tracks |
| Jeremy Maurice Jacobs Sr* |
1 billion |
East Aurora, NY |
sports concessions |
| Real
Estate |
|
|
|
| Donald L Bren* |
8.5 billion |
Newport Beach, CA |
real
estate |
| Samuel Zell* |
4.5 billion |
Chicago, IL |
real
estate, private
equity |
| Henry Ross Perot |
4.3 billion |
Dallas, TX |
computer services,
real estate |
| James L Sorenson |
4.3 billion |
Salt Lake City, UT |
medical
devices, real estate |
| Leonard Norman Stern* |
3.7 billion |
New York, NY |
real
estate |
| Paul Milstein* |
3.5 billion |
New York, NY |
real
estate |
| Matthew Bucksbaum* |
3 billion |
Chicago, IL |
real
estate |
| Donald John Trump* |
2.9 billion |
New York, NY |
real
estate |
| Melvin Simon* |
2.6 billion |
Indianapolis, IN |
real
estate |
| Leona Mindy
Rosenthal Helmsley * |
2.5 billion |
New York, NY |
real
estate |
| Stephen M Ross |
2.5 billion |
New York, NY |
real
estate |
| Mortimer
Benjamin Zuckerman*BB/CFR |
2.5 billion |
New York, NY |
real
estate |
| John Albert
Sobrato |
2.4 billion |
Atherton, CA |
real
estate |
| E Stanley Kroenke* |
2.1 billion |
Columbia, MO |
sports, real
estate |
| Malcolm Glazer* |
2 billion |
Palm Beach, FL |
sports, real
estate |
| Tamir Sapir |
2 billion |
New York, NY |
real
estate |
| Edward P Roski Jr* |
1.8 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
real
estate |
| Sheldon Henry Solow* |
1.7 billion |
New York, NY |
real
estate |
| Neil Gary Bluhm* |
1.6 billion |
Chicago, IL |
real
estate |
| George Leon Argyros |
1.6 billion |
Newport Beach, CA |
real
estate investments, land lord |
| Igor Olenicoff
|
1.6 billion |
Newport Beach, CA |
real
estate |
| Theodore N Lerner* |
1.5 billion |
Washington, DC |
real
estate |
| Norma Lerner* |
1.5 billion |
Cleveland, OH |
real
estate inheritance |
| Nancy Lerner* |
1.5 billion |
Cleveland, OH |
real
estate inheritance |
| Randolph D Lerner* |
1.5 billion |
Cleveland, OH |
real
estate inheritance |
| Alan I Casden |
1.5 billion |
Beverly Hills, CA |
real
estate |
| Steven Roth* |
1.4 billion |
New York, NY |
real
estate |
| A Alfred Taubman* |
1.4 billion |
Bloomfield Hills, MI |
real
estate |
| Thomas John Flatley |
1.3 billion |
Milton, MA |
real
estate |
| Carl Edwin Berg |
1.2 billion |
Atherton, CA |
real
estate |
| Timothy
Blixseth* |
1.2 billion |
Rancho Mirage, CA |
timberland, real estate |
| Herbert Simon* |
1.2 billion |
Indianapolis, IN |
real
estate |
| Marvin J Herb* |
1.1 billion |
Chicago, IL |
soft-drink bottling,
real estate |
| John P Manning |
1.1 billion |
Boston, MA |
real
estate |
| Alexander Gus Spanos |
1.1 billion |
Stockton, CA |
real
estate |
| Thomas J Barrack |
1 billion |
Santa Barbara, CA |
real
estate |
| Stephen R Karp |
1 billion |
Weston, MA |
real
estate |
| Leonard Litwin |
1 billion |
Great Neck, NY |
real
estate |
| Richard Edwin Marriott |
1.8 billion |
Potomac, MD |
hotels |
| Jorge M Perez |
1.8 billion |
Miami, FL |
condos |
| John Willard Marriott Jr |
1.7 billion |
Potomac, MD |
hotels |
| Edward John Debartolo Jr |
1.5 billion |
Tampa, FL |
shopping centers |
| Outsourcing |
|
|
|
| Blase Thomas Golisano |
1.7 billion |
Victor, NY |
outsourcing |
| Stephen J Bisciotti |
1.1 billion |
Millersville, MD |
outsourcing |
| Gary L West |
1.1 billion |
Omaha, NE |
outsourcing |
| Mary E West |
1.1 billion |
Omaha, NE |
outsourcing |
| Drugs |
|
|
|
| Patrick Soon-Shiong |
3.4 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
generic drugs |
| Edgar M
Bronfman Sr * |
3.2 billion |
New York, NY |
liquor |
| Barbara Piasecka Johnson |
2.8 billion |
Monte Carlo, Monaco |
pharmaceutical inheritance |
| Jess Stonestreet Jackson |
2.2 billion |
Healdsburg, CA |
wine |
| Brad M Kelley
|
1.5 billion |
Nashville, TN |
tobacco |
| Stewart Rahr |
1.5 billion |
New York, NY |
pharmaceuticals |
| Phillip Frost |
1.4 billion |
Miami, FL |
pharmaceuticals |
| Ernest Gallo
|
1.3 billion |
Modesto, CA |
wine |
| Michael Jaharis |
1.2 billion |
New York, NY |
pharmaceuticals |
| Howard S Schultz |
1.1 billion |
Seattle, WA |
coffee |
| Consumer
products |
|
|
|
| Philip H
Knight |
7.9 billion |
Beaverton, OR |
shoes |
| Ralph Lauren |
3.9 billion |
New York, NY |
fashion |
| Mitchell P Rales* |
2.6 billion |
Washington, DC |
industrial and
consumer products |
| Steven M Rales* |
2.5 billion |
Washington, DC |
industrial and
consumer products |
| H Ty Warner |
4.5 billion |
Chicago, IL |
toys |
| Richard M Schulze |
3.6 billion |
Edina, MN |
electronics |
| Leslie Herbert Wexner* |
3.1 billion |
Columbus, OH |
clothing |
| Clayton Lee Mathile |
2 billion |
Dayton, OH |
pet food |
| Jim Davis |
2 billion |
Newton, MA |
shoes |
| William Wrigley Jr |
1.6 billion |
Lake Forest, IL |
chewing gum |
| Michael Krasny* |
1.6 billion |
Highland Park, IL |
computer and software sales |
| David Green |
1.5 billion |
Oklahoma City, OK |
hobby |
| Manny Mashouf |
1.5 billion |
Brisbane, CA |
clothing |
| Robert
E Rich Jr |
1.5 billion |
Islamorada, FL |
nondairy creamer |
| James Jannard |
1.4 billion |
San Juan Islands, WA |
sunglasses |
| John J Fisher* |
1.3 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
clothing
inheritance |
| William S Kellogg |
1.3 billion |
Menomonee Falls, WI |
department stores |
| Robert Kraft |
1.3 billion |
Brookline, MA |
paper, packaging, sports teams |
| Robert J Fisher* |
1.2 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
clothing |
| William Sydney Fisher* |
1.2 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
clothing |
| Paul Barry Fireman |
1 billion |
Brookline, MA |
shoes |
| Donald Joyce Hall |
1.6 billion |
Mission Hills, KS |
consumer
products, broadcasting |
| James Martin
Moran |
2.4 billion |
Deerfield Beach, FL |
car sales |
| Roger S Penske |
2.2 billion |
Birmingham, MI |
car sales |
| Thomas Friedkin |
1.2 billion |
Houston, TX |
car sales |
| Medical products |
|
|
|
| William Alfred Cook |
3.2 billion |
Bloomington, IN |
medical
devices |
| John E Abele |
2.2 billion |
Boston, MA |
medical
devices |
| Ronda E Stryker |
2 billion |
Kalamazoo, MI |
medical products |
| Peter M Nicholas |
1.9 billion |
Boston, MA |
medical
devices |
| Thomas F Frist Jr |
1.8 billion |
Nashville, TN |
health care facilities |
| Jon Lloyd Stryker |
1.7 billion |
Kalamazoo, MI |
medical products |
| Gary Karlin Michelson |
1.4 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
medical patents |
| Pat A Stryker |
1.4 billion |
Larimer, CO |
medical products |
| John W Brown |
1 billion |
Kalamazoo, MI |
medical products |
| Food |
|
|
|
| John Richard Simplot |
3.2 billion |
Boise, ID |
potatoes, microchips |
| Ronald
Burkle* |
2.5 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
supermarkets,
investments |
| Charles C Butt |
2.2 billion |
San Antonio, TX |
supermarkets |
| S Daniel Abraham* |
1.9 billion |
Palm Beach, FL |
processed food |
| Peter Buck |
1.5 billion |
Danbury, CT |
fast processed food |
| Fred DeLuca |
1.5 billion |
Fort Lauderdale, FL |
fast processed food |
| Michael Ilitch |
1.5 billion |
Detroit, MI |
pizza |
| James Leprino |
1.5 billion |
Denver, CO |
cheese |
| Christopher Goldsbury* |
1.4 billion |
San Antonio, TX |
inheritance, salsa |
| S Truett Cathy |
1.2 billion |
Atlanta, GA |
fast processed food |
| Joyce Raley Teel |
1.1 billion |
Sacramento, CA |
supermarkets |
| Industry |
|
|
|
| Leonard Blavatnik* |
7 billion |
New York, NY |
industrialist |
| Henry Lea Hillman* |
3 billion |
Pittsburgh, PA |
industrialist |
| Jerry Zucker* |
1.1 billion |
Charleston, SC |
industrialist |
| Robert M Friedland* |
1 billion |
Singapore |
mining |
| Michael E Heisley Sr |
1 billion |
Jupiter Island, FL |
manufacturing |
| Jon Meade Huntsman |
1.5 billion |
Salt Lake City, UT |
chemicals |
| Archie Aldis "Red" Emmerson |
1.6 billion |
Anderson, CA |
timberland, lumber |
| Commodities |
|
|
|
| Marc David Rich* |
1.5 billion |
Meggen, Switzerland |
commodities |
| Pincus Green* |
1.2 billion |
Meggen, Switzerland |
commodities |
| Shipping |
|
|
|
| Martha Robinson Rivers Ingram |
2.9 billion |
Nashville, TN |
shipping and distribution |
| Frederick Wallace Smith |
2.2 billion |
Memphis, TN |
shipping |
| Victor Fung |
1.6 billion |
Hong Kong |
distribution |
| Leslie L Gonda* |
1.3 billion |
Beverly Hills, CA |
transportation |
| Donald J Schneider* |
1.3 billion |
Green Bay, WI |
trucking |
| Robert Drayton McLane Jr |
1.2 billion |
Temple, TX |
consumer
products logistics |
| William E Connor II |
1.2 billion |
Hong Kong |
supply-chain services |
| Rentals |
|
|
|
| Jack Crawford Taylor |
13.9 billion |
St Louis, MO |
car rentals |
| Bradley Wayne Hughes |
4.1 billion |
Malibu, CA |
storage facilities |
| Steven Udvar-Hazy* |
3.1 billion |
Beverly Hills, CA |
aircraft leasing |
| Louis L Gonda* |
1.6 billion |
Beverly Hills, CA |
aircraft leasing |
| Richard T
Farmer |
1.3 billion |
Cincinnati, OH |
uniform rentals and sales |
| Information |
|
|
|
| Michael Rubens Bloomberg* |
5.3 billion |
New York, NY |
information services |
| Patrick Joseph McGovern |
3 billion |
Hollis, NH |
publishing |
| Richard J Egan* |
1.3 billion |
Hopkinton, MA |
information management |
| Dwight D Opperman* |
1 billion |
Dellwood, MN |
publishing |
| Construction |
|
|
|
| John R Menard Jr |
5.2 billion |
Eau Claire, WI |
building supplies |
| Herbert V Kohler |
4.5 billion |
Kohler, WI |
inheritance, plumbing fixtures |
| William Morse Davidson* |
4 billion |
Bloomfield Hills, MI |
glass |
| Dennis Washington |
2.8 billion |
Missoula, MT |
construction, mining, shipping |
| Riley P
Bechtel* |
2.7 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
engineering, construction |
| Stephen Davison
Bechtel Jr* |
2.7 billion |
San Francisco, CA |
engineering, construction |
| Kenneth Hendricks |
2.6 billion |
Beloit, WI |
building supplies |
| Margaret Hardy Magerko |
2 billion |
Belle Vernon, PA |
inheritance, building supplies |
| Bernard Marcus* |
1.9 billion |
Atlanta, GA |
building supplies |
| Arthur M Blank* |
1.3 billion |
Atlanta, GA |
building supplies |
| William J Pulte |
1.2 billion |
Bloomfield Hills, MI |
home building |
| Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
| Richard M
DeVos |
3.5 billion |
Ada, MI |
multi-level
marketing |
| Glen Taylor |
2.3 billion |
Mankato, MN |
printing |
| Min H Kao |
2.2 billion |
Mission Hills, KS |
navigation equipment |
| Alfred E. Mann* |
2.2 billion |
Los Angeles, CA |
inventor, entrepreneur |
| H Wayne Huizenga |
2.1 billion |
Fort Lauderdale, FL |
garbage, entertainment, car
sales |
| Albert Lee Ueltschi* |
1.6 billion |
Vero Beach, FL |
pilot education |
| Gary L Burrell |
1.5 billion |
Stilwell, KS |
navigation equipment |
| Dean V White |
1.4 billion |
Crown Point, IN |
billboards, hotels |
| John Orin Edson |
1.1 billion |
Seattle, WA |
leisure craft |
| Arturo Moreno |
1.1 billion |
Phoenix, AZ |
billboards |
The Cox family, the DeVos family, the Dorrance family, the
Gallo family, the Harbert family, the Koch family, the Mars family, the Sobrato
family, the Walton family and several other families have relied on their
fortunes, the resources of their companies and their business connections to
marshal a massive anti-estate tax juggernaut
that has reported nearly a half-billion dollars in
lobbying expenditures ($490.3 million) since
1998. They stand
to save $1 trillion.
"Why should men leave great fortunes to their
children? If this is done from affection, is it not misguided affection?
Observation teaches that, generally speaking, it is not well for the children
that they should be so burdened. Neither is it well for the
state. Beyond providing for the wife and
daughters moderate sources of income, and very moderate allowances indeed, if
any, for the sons, men may well hesitate, for it is no longer questionable that
great sums bequeathed oftener work more for the injury than for the
good of the recipients. Wise men will soon conclude that, for the best
interests of the members of their families and
of the state, such bequests are an improper
use of their means. ... the thoughtful man must shortly
say, "would as soon leave to my son a curse as the almighty dollar," and admit
to himself that it is not the welfare of the children but
family pride which inspires these enormous
legacies. ... The growing disposition to tax more and more heavily large
estates left at death is a cheering indication of the growth of a salutary
change in public opinion. ... Men who continue
hoarding great sums all their lives, the proper use of which for public ends
would work good to the community, should be made
to feel that the community, in the form of the state, cannot thus be deprived of its proper
share. By taxing estates heavily at death the state marks its
condemnation of the
selfish billionaire's unworthy life."
- Andrew Carnegie
77 billionaires, about 1 in 4, started out with
huge inheritances.
"If you are born at the right time, with some
access to family fortune, and you have a special talent for whipping up other
people's hatred and sense of deprivation, you can arrange to kill large numbers
of unsuspecting people. With enough money, you can accomplish this from far
away, and you can sit back safely and watch in satisfaction." - Martha
Stout
a short list of
American companies settling charges or paying
fines due to illegal conduct
"Their hands are on what is
evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask
for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil
desire of his soul;
thus they weave it together." - Micah 7:3Ameriquest settles charges of
preditory lending practices with Justice
Department for $4 million in 1996. Ameriquest settles class-action lawsuit
charging it had defrauded
borrowers in four states in 2004 for $50 million. (Controlled by billionaire
Roland E. Arnall through ACC Capital Holdings.
Roland E. Arnall was appointed United States ambassador
to the Netherlands by George W. Bush.)
Archer
Daniels Midland violated the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 by fixing the price
of three commodities - lysine, citric acid, high-fructose corn syrup - in the
late 1980's and early 1990's.
Lysine makes chickens fat, dumb, and
happy.
Ajinimoto and Kyowa Hakko Kogyo of Japan, and Sewon Corporation
and Cheil Jedung of Korea with Archer Daniels Midland formed a cartel to
restrict production of lysine to boost the market price.
In 1996 Archer
Daniels Midland paid $100 million in fines for the lysine price-fixing case and
several executives were imprisoned.
In 2004 Archer Daniels Midland Co
agreed to pay $400 million to settle civil class-action lawsuit accusing
company of fixing prices of high-fructose corn syrup. 1995 class-action suit
was filed on behalf of several thousand food companies including PepsiCo Inc.
and Coca-Cola Co. which estimated they suffered $1.4 billion in
damages.
In 2004 Archer Daniels Midland was fined $48.3 million by the
European Commission for fixing citric acid prices. Archer Daniels was one of
five companies fined by the European Commission in December 2001 for operating
a worldwide cartel for citric acid, used as a food preservative, from 1991 to
1995.
In 1998 BankAmerica Corp. paid $187.5 million to settle charges
that it illegally kept unclaimed bond proceeds from the state of California and
more than 1,000 cities, counties and public agencies statewide.
In 2000
Wyeth Laboratories paid a $30 million fine for failing to comply with good
manufacturing practices.
In May 2002 Schering-Plough Corp., the maker of
Claritin®, was fined $500 million by the FDA for quality-control problems
at four of its factories.
In 2004 Bristol-Myers Squibb was ordered by
the Securities and Exchange Commission to pay $150 million to settle charges of
inflating its revenue by $1.5 billion in 2000 and 2001.
In March 2005 British
Petroleum West Coast Products agreed to fines, health programs and
improvements totaling a $81 million for thousands of pollution violations over
the past decade at its Carson, California oil refinery. South Coast Air Quality
Management District residents suffered dizziness, headaches and respiratory
ailments. The hydrogen sulfide
pollution affected 21 public
schools between 1991 and 2001, forcing three
public schools to close.
Accounting
firm KPMG agreed to pay $456 million to the federal
government in August 2005 for
creating bogus tax shelters for the wealthy.
In January, 2006 AT&T agreed to
pay $25 million for failing to properly maintain a network of underground
storage tanks throughout California.
Boeing settles charges of contract
rigging with Justice Department for $615 million in May 2006.
Walmart fined over $135
thousand for allowing children to operate
heavy machinery in 2005.
Walmart also settles charges by paying
fine of $11 million for hiring illegal aliens to clean stores in
2005.
In 2007 Walmart settled
charges that it failed to pay overtime agreeing to pay it's
workers $33 million it had shortchanged
them. As a sweetheart of the Labor
Department Walmart did not have to
pay any fines or penalties for it's illegal and unethical behavior.
In August 2006 Prudential Financial Inc. admitted
criminal wrongdoing and agreed to pay
a fine of $600 million for improper mutual fund
trades.
Cintas
Corporation lost a ruling in October
2006 that it could not be sued in a class action for failing to adhere to Los
Angeles's living wage law by failing
to pay the minimum wage.
In December 2006 Chase Bank and Trilegiant
agreed to pay $14.5 million for tricking customers with ‘free' membership
in discount programs. A check was sent for $10, which when cashed enrolled the
mark in the discount program. After the initial ‘free' period members were
charged a fee of $99 for annual membership in the discount programs. Trilegiant
used Chase Bank customer's lists.
In December 2006 Fidelity Investments
agreed to reimburse $42 million to it's mutual funds to cover
losses by it's stock traders caused by
steering business to brokerages that provided kickbacks.
Prudential Insurance agreed to pay $19 million in
restitution and penalties for bid rigging, price fixing and broker kickbacks in
December 2006. As part of the settlement Prudential agreed to disclose broker
compensation. From 1999 to 2005 Prudential paid $60 in ‘contingent fees'
to brokers on $18 billion worth of life, disability and long term care
insurance.
Farmers Insurance settled charges of replacing parts in
vehicles damaged in collisions with substandard parts for $17 million to the
lawyers and $20 to $40 to each plantiff in a class action suit in December
2006.
Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. fined $37 million for dumping oil
waste and sludge in the ocean in December
2006.
In January 2007 Bayer settles with 30 states
for $8 million for failing to adequately warn
consumers of the risks associated
with the use of the cholesteral reducing drug Baycol® which was sold from
1998 to August 2001 when it was withdrawn from the
market. (In 1898, Bayer
launched the best selling branded drug
of all time, Heroin®.)
Pfizer settled charges in March 2007 paying $35
million for offering kickbacks along with the illegal promotion of the human
growth hormone product Genotropin®.
"Since May 2004, Pfizer, Eli
Lilly & Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and four other drug companies have
paid a total of $7 billion in fines and penalties. In September 2007, New
York-based Bristol-Myers paid $515 million - without admitting or denying
wrongdoing - to federal and state governments in a civil lawsuit brought by the
Justice Department. The six other companies plead guilty in criminal cases." -
David Evans
Eight former traders at Fidelity Investments agreed to pay
over $1 million to settle federal regulatory claims that they had accepted
gifts from brokers seeking business with the fund company. Fidelity paid $8
million in March 2008 to settle SEC claims that its employees had received over
$1.6 million in gifts for routing transactions through brokers bearing gifts.
On February 1, 2007 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to
accept a fine of $950,000 from Infineum for using a new chemical in its auto
products before the chemical had undergone a required 90-day review. Infineum
is a joint venture between the ExxonMobil Chemical Company (a division of
ExxonMobil Corporation), the Shell Petroleum Company Limited and the Shell Oil
Company.
On April 9, 2007 the Environmental Protection Agency fined The
Clorox Company $177,300 for the American distribution of unregistered and
mislabeled disinfectant bleach intended only for Asian export.
On May
17, 2007 the largest American manufacturer of hospital disinfectants, Lonza
Inc., was fined $202,500 for making the false claim that its disinfectant
products Formula 158 Lemon Disinfectant®, Fresh and Clean® and REV®
actually worked. Formula 158 Lemon Disinfectant® and Fresh and Clean®
did not kill Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, and REV® did not kill either
the Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Staphylococcus aureus, as claimed
on the labels. Lonza Inc. is the American subsidiary of the Lonza Group a Swiss
chemicals and biotechnology company, headquartered in
Basel,
Switzerland.
In September of 2008, Cephalon settled an off-label
marketing case in which the company was paid a fine of $375,000,000 for
marketing the narcotic lollipop Actiq® ("fentanyl citrate") as well as
Gabitril® (an epilepsy medication) and Provigil® (a narcolepsy
medication).
To be endlessly updated ....
"Does anyone really believe that GE "brings good
things to life?"" - Charles Eisenstein John
Francis "Jack" Welch, Jr. was Chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. In 1980,
the year before Jack Welch became CEO, GE recorded revenues of roughly $26.8
billion; in 2000, the year before he left, revenues were nearly $130 billion.
When Jack Welch left GE the company had gone from a
market value of $14 billion to one of more
than $410 billion at the end of 2004, making it the most valuable and largest
company on Earth. Jack Welch had a record salary
of $94 million a year, followed by his record retirement plan of $8 million a
year not including perks such as the use of the company
jet.
March 27, 1990: Wilmington, North
Carolina: GE fined $20,000 for discrimination against employees who reported
safety violations.
July 27, 1990: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: GE fined
$30 million for defrauding government in
defense contracts.
October 11,1990: Waterford, New York: GE fined
$176,000 for pollution at silicone
products plant.
May 20,1991:
Washington, D.C.: GE ordered to pay $1 million in damages over improperly
tested aircraft parts for air force and navy.
February 27, 1992:
Allentown, Pennsylvania: GE ordered to pay $80 million in damages for
design flaws in nuclear plants.
March 4,1992:
Orange County, California: GE fined $11,000 for violating
worker safety rules on handling
PCBs.
March 13, 1992: Wilmington,
North Carolina: GE fined $20,000 for safety violations at nuclear fuel plant.
May 22, 1992: Illinois: GE ordered to pay $65 million in damages for
design flaws in nuclear plants.
July 22,1992:
Washington, D.C.: GE fined $70 million for money laundering and fraud related
to the illegal sale of fighter jets to
Israel.
September
13, 1992: Chicago, Illinois: GE ordered to pay $1.8 million in damages for
airplane crash.
October 12, 1992: Nashville, Tennessee: GE ordered to
pay $165,000 in damages for deceptive advertising of
light bulbs.
October 27, 1992:
Washington, D.C.: GE ordered to pay $576,215 in damages for overcharging on
defense contracts.
May 12, 1992: Washington, D.C.: GE ordered to pay
$13.4 million in damages to whistleblower on illegal sale of
fighter jets to Israel.
March 2, 1993: Riverside, California: GE and
others ordered to pay $96 million in damages
for contamination from dumping of chemicals.
September 16, 1993:
New York: GE ordered to compensate commercial fisherman $7 million
for PCB contamination of the
Hudson River.
October 11, 1993: San
Francisco, California: GE ordered to offer $3.25 million in rebates to
consumers after deceptive
light bulb
advertising.
February
2,1994: Perry, Ohio: GE settles with utility companies on defective Perry
Nuclear Plant.
March 14, 1994: Fort Edward, New York: GE ordered to
clean up contamination of sediment in the Hudson
River.
September 14.. 1994: Washington, D.C.: GE fined $20 million
for overcharges on defense contracts.
September 2,1995: Waterford, New
York: GE fined $1.5 million for air pollution and contamination of
Hudson River.
September 15, 1995:
Brandon, Florida: GE fined $137,000 for groundwater contamination.
September 9,
1996: Waterford, New York: GE fined $60,000 for Clean Air Act violations.
October 7, 1996: Hendersonville, North Carolina: GE ordered to clean up
contaminated soil and groundwater.
October 8, 1996: Cook County, Illinois: GE ordered to pay $15 million
as settlement for airline crash in Sioux City, Iowa.
February 22, 1997:
Somersworth, New Hampshire: GE and others
ordered to clean up contamination of groundwater and public
water supply.
February 1998:
Waterford, New York: GE fined $234,000 for
pollution violations.
April
20, 1998: Waterford,New York: GE fined $204,000 for
pollution violations.
October 1998: United Kingdom: GE ordered to pay £2 billion for
asbestos cleanup and related pollution claims.
January
24,1999: Chicago, Illinois: GE ordered to reimburse consumers $147 million for
unfair debt collection
practices.
September 17, 1999: Moreau, New York: GE ordered to build
drinking water
system after
PCB contamination of
water supply.
October 9,1999:
Pittsfield, Massachusetts: GE ordered to clean up
PCB pollution in Housatonic River.
October 18,2000: New
York, New York: GE and others ordered to
clean up contamination of soil.
January 2001: New York: GE and
others ordered to refund $4 million in
overcharges on mortgage insurance.
In 2005 23 United States Senators and 79 United
States Represenatives owned stock in General
Electric.
This is the main reason that the corporate
plutocracy continues to complain about
those 'activist judges'. Without those 'activist judges'
General Electric would have far less fines to
pay and would have had at least $2,529,553,215 more profit between 1990 and 2001 as well as smaller
lawyer bills. (Some fines may have been or may be reduced or
overturned on appeal.)
"General Electric profited handsomely from
Bolshevism, Roosevelt's New Deal socialism and national socialism in Germany."
- Anthony C. Sutton
crisis
management"Every crisis
has three Vs: the victim, the villain and
the vindicator. We want to know who to like,
who to believe and who to
hate. That's how the
media tells its stories
related to crises. A crisis is resolved when
you muddy the rigid roles of these three types of characters or when you
reverse the roles. So the goal of PR person is to enact that switch." -
Eric Dezenhall
Eric Dezenhall believes that the best strategy is to rarely, if
ever, admit guilt and to meet each
accusation with a counter attack. In the middle of a public relations crisis,
companies pay consultants anywhere from $50,000 and up, depending on how long
and how many people are deployed. A pre-crisis preparation session costs at
least $25,000. Still, says Eric Dezenhall, who has
represented such companies as Procter & Gamble,
ExxonMobil, Eli Lilly and GE, "the amount of
money spent on crisis management is a drop
in the bucket compared to what you might lose."
Under the
law, corporate executives are guilty of securities fraud if they misrepresent
the truth about their corporation's financial
condition. (typical CEO crisis management!)
The founder and
portfolio manager of two Bear Stearns
hedge funds has been charged with
making false statements in the final months of the funds' demise. The CEO
declared "Our liquidity and balance sheet are strong" just 36 hours before
seeking emergency funding.
AIG's
Joseph Cassano said he was "highly confident that we will have no realized
losses" on the company's credit default swaps portfolios less than three months
before they posted more than $11 billion in losses.
Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld Jr. assured
investors that the company had $42 billion in liquidity just five days before
the company filed for bankruptcy.
"How does $42 billion vanish in five
days and did Lehman officers know then of
any harbingers of doom that they weren't sharing?" - Roger Parloff
The
former CEOs of Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, who made reassuring statements
about their companies' capitalization levels two months before it turned out
they were $75 billion short.
tax fraud, bribery and price
fixingMerck,
the pharmaceutical manufacturer, agreed to pay $2.3 billion to the Internal
Revenue Service on February 14, 2007. The tax
dispute stemmed from income attributed to a partnership set up in Bermuda in
1993 to avoid taxes.
Merck acquired Medico and gave two patents, for
Zocor and Mevacor, to it's Bermuda subsidiary. Merck then paid it's subsidiary royalties on the
two drugs - in effect deducting income it had paid itself.
In February
2008 Merck agreed to pay $671 million for
overcharging the government for four popular Medicaid drugs and for bribing
doctors to prescribe Vioxx, Zocor, Mevacor and
Pepcid. The investigation was triggered in 2000 by a former
Merck salesman with an itchy
conscience who became a
whistleblower.
In July
2008 Joseph Roth*, an account
manager for Israel based
United Mizrahi Bank, and Rabbi Moshe Zigelman*, admitted to their parts in a tax
fraud scheme in which people made bogus tax-exempt donations to charitable
organizations related to Spinka, an Orthodox Jewish sect. Rabbi Moshe Zigelman
admitted to soliciting donations by promising to refund 80% to 95% of the sum.
Joseph Roth admitted he established secret overseas bank accounts and bogus
loans to facilitate the transfer of funds and charged fees to repatriate the
money.
creative accounting
"The current accounting standards give those
preparing financial statements great latitude and the tremendous use of
judgement in coming up with numbers. That
latitude and judgement can be used very
handily to misrepresent the information provided to investors." - Lynn Turner,
former chief accountant Securities and Exchange Commission
09/17/07CEO Al Dunlap,"Chainsaw Al", was hired to resurrect
Sunbeam Corporation. Charged with arranging a "massive financial fraud", Al
Dunlap agreed to pay a $500,000 SEC civil fine and be barred from serving as an
officer or director of a public company.
Martin Grass, CEO of Rite Aid Corp. was sentenced to 8
years in prison for his role in a massive accounting fraud at the drugstore
chain his father co-founded. His sentence also included a $500,000 fine and
three years' probation. Five other executives were also found
guilty.
Enron Corporation
CEO Jeffrey K. Skilling was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months in prison for
conspiracy, insider trading, making false statements to auditors and securities
fraud. .
Adelphia CEO John J. Rigas was convicted of bank, wire and
securities fraud and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. Timothy J.
Rigas and Michael J. Rigas, his sons, as well as Peter Venetis, his son-in-law,
and Michael Mulcahey were also charged. They concealed $2.3 billion in
liabilities from corporate investors and the three Rigases had taken $3.1
billion in loans that were not recorded on the books.
Scott D. Sullivan,
an American Certified Public Accountant and the former CFO, Treasurer,
and Secretary of WorldCom, engineered WorldCom's $11-billion accounting fraud.
Scott Sullivan was sentenced to five years in prison and agreed testify against
WorldCom Incorporated CEO Bernard J. Ebbers who received 25 years for his role
in the $l1-billion accounting fraud and subsequent $180 billion dollar
loss to investors.
L. Dennis Kozlowski
of Tyco International Ltd.
received a sentence of eight and one-third to 25 years in prison for
misappropriation of Tyco's corporate funds, grand larceny for $150 million in
unauthorized bonuses and fraud against the company shareholders for an amount
of more than $400 million.
Sanjay Kumar Chairman and CEO of Computer
Associates International was
sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $8 million after pleading
guilty to leading a $2.2 billion
accounting fraud at the software company.
HealthSouth CEO Richard M.
Scrushy was formely charged with fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and
making false statements in a $2.7 billion accounting fraud. In 2005, after 21
days of deliberation, he was acquitted.
"I sat in that courtroom for six months, and I did everything possible
to advocate for his cause. Scrushy promised me a lot more than what I got." -
Audrey Lewis reporter for The Birmingham Times, a black-owned weekly in
Birmingham, Alabama. Audrey Lewis received $10,000 from Richard M. Scrushy
through the Lewis Group, a public relations firm, and another $1,000 to help
buy a computer.
Richard M. Scrushy was later found
guilty of bribery, conspiracy and
mail fraud in a conspiracy trial with co-defendent Alabama Govenor Don
Siegelman in a different case.
In 2007 Richard M. Scrushy settled other
charges with the SEC over the $2.7 billion accounting fraud. Although Richard
M. Scrushy did no wrong he agreed to pay the SEC $81 million. Richard M.
Scrushy new trade is as a television preacher in Birmingham,
Alabama.
Walter A. Forbes, CEO of CUC
International which merged with
HFC Incorporated to form Cendant, was convicted of securities fraud and
two counts of making false statements. Walter A. Forbes was sentenced to 12
years 7 months and must pay $3.275 billion in restitution.
Joseph
Nacchio, CEO of Qwest Communications International Inc., was sentenced to
6 years in prison for insider trading based on knowledge of improper accounting
practices. The stock of Qwest Communications
International Inc. plunged from
$60 per share to $2 per share when accounting irregularities came to
light.
"Publicly held companies, whether they make
turbines or tiramisu, are programmed to maximize efficiency and increase sales
every quarter - no matter what. Inevitably this leads to cutting corners." -
Daniel Gross
manipulation of stock option
grant dates
Nearly 1,400 corporate board members have
profited from the manipulation of stock option
grant dates over a 10 year period from 1996 to 2005. Nearly 29,000 grants were
studied. When corporate board members
were granted options at a time different than
corporate
executives 71% of the option grants
involved date manipulation. Grant dates tended to be on
days when stocks were at their lowest value
thus increasing the gain to optionees.
Acording to a survey conducted by Rothstein Kass in
the fall of 2007 61% of hedge fund
managers stated that a recission in
America was very likely in 2008. 66% of
hedge fund managers said that a recission would bring investment
oppurtunities. Only 17% of hedge fund
managers viewed an economic downturn as a bad news.
"Hedge
fund riches helped inflate the price of everything from modern art to
Manhattan real estate. Top managers raked in billions of
dollars a year, and managing a
fund became the running
dream on Wall
Street." - Louise Story 10/22/08Julian Robertson's Tiger
Management failed despite raising $6 billion in assets. Julian Robertson's
strategy involved buying what he believed to be
the most promising stocks in the markets
and short selling what he viewed as the
worst stocks. This strategy hit a brick wall during the bull market in
technology and the fund suffered massive losses.
Aman Capital was set up in 2003
by top derivatives traders at UBS. Leveraged trades in credit derivatives
resulted in an estimated loss of hundreds of
millions of dollars. Dissolved June 2005.
Bailey Coates Cromwell Fund
involving poor decision making of leveraged trades chopped 20% off of a
$1.3-billion portfolio in a matter of months. Dissolved June 20, 2005.
Marin Capital a California-based hedge fund attracted $1.7 billion in
capital and put it to work using credit arbitrage and convertible arbitrage to
make a large bet on General Motors. General Motors' bonds were downgraded to
junk status, the fund was crushed. Dissolved on June 16, 2005.
Ospraie
Management LLC closed a $250 million hedge fund specializing in commodity
trading. The Ospraie Point Fund lost 29 percent in the five months.
Losses stemmed from a combination of bad bets
in commodities that fell sharply. Dissolved June 08, 2006.
Amaranth Advisors, a hedge fund manager, lost $6 billion in
wrong-way bets on natural gas derivatives in September, 2006. Amaranth Advisors
net asset value declined by 65% to 70%. Amaranth Advisors controlled 40% or
more of natural gas contracts in 2006 and in one month controlled 70%. In May
of 2007 Amaranth Advisors agreed to pay $717,000 to settle SEC charges of
violating securities rules. Senate investigators concluded in June of 2007 that
Amaranth Advisors trading actions drove up the price of natural gas for the
entire natural gas market.
The
Bear Stearns hedge funds Enhanced Leverage
Fund and High-Grade Fund together borrowed $20 billion to invest in sub-prime
mortgage backed bonds. Investors were told in July 2007 that their investment
of $1.5 billion was gone.
Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage
Association, was originally founded by government decree as a government agency in
1938 as part of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt's New Deal (an extension of Herbert Hoover's New
Deal), in order to provide liquidity to
the mortgage market.
In 1968, to help balance the federal budget,
Fannie Mae was converted into a
private
corporation.
Fannie Mae at one time was the
ninth-largest business in the world according to
Forbes.
From 1938 to 1968, the secondary mortgage market in the United
States was monopolized by Fannie Mae. To
provide competition in the secondary mortgage market, and to prevent
Fannie Mae from continuing to have a
monopoly, Congress
chartered - created by
government decree -
Freddie Mac as a
private
corporation to
compete in this same market.
(Freddie Mac paid Newt Gingrich $300,000
in 2006 to push for increased deregulation.)
In 2005 Freddie
Mac hired the lobbying and PR firm DCI Group for a "stealth lobbying
campaign." DCI did not file lobbying reports on the contract, and
Freddie Mac executives referred to the
lobbying campaign as their "stealth lobbying campaign." In 2006, the
Freddie Mac made "six-figure payments
to 52 outside lobbying firms and political consultants," including former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich ($300,000 in 2006 to push for increased deregulation) and
former Senator Alfonse D'Amato. Freddie
Mac was fined $3.8 million for illegal campaign contributions arranged by
Freddie Mac
lobbyists in April 2006. Also in April 2006
Freddie Mac agreed to settle lawsuits
stemming from a $5 billion profit reduction
restatement of 2003 earnings.
In May 2006
Fannie Mae agreed to pay a fine of $400
million for alleged accounting manipulations and
lying to investors. Earnings were reduced by $6.3 billion.
Sallie Mae, the Student Loan
Marketing Association was originally created in 1972 as a government
sponsored enterprise. The company remains the country's largest originator of
federally insured student loans.
"The dirty little secret of
the guaranteed student loan
market is how concentrated it is: only 32
lenders hold 90% of the loan volume. The Education Department has found that at
about 300 colleges one lender controls 99% of
loan volume - essentially holding a
monopoly on those campuses" - Stephen
Burd
Sallie Mae started it's Opportunity Loan
Program in 2000. A lender hands a college a fixed amount of
private loan money which the
college then lends to students with credit
problems for higher rates with less consumer protection. The college then
promises to make the lender it's exclusive provider of loans backed by
Sallie Mae. In the past this used to be called
monopolizing a captured
market through kickbacks. Sallie Mae denied wrong doing but agreed to pay a $2 million
fine.
Lenders of student loans were specifically
exempted from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act in 1996. The
statues of limitations were removed from student loans in 1999 so
debt is never retired.
Student loans are now never forgiven in bankruptcy. Student seeking loans are not
allowed to shop loans as most institutions have captive lenders. Student loans
may be refinanced only once, so if interest rates drop the borrower will be
stuck with the original rate. Defaults are typically charged 25% of the loan
value. Student loans are also exempt from "truth in lending" regulations and
rules that require lenders to explain fees and interest rates. Student loan
collection rights include the right to garnish wages, tax refunds, Social
Security payments and disability payments. (see
Student Loan
Justice)
Sweatshops trick the uneducated rural poor,
children and adult alike, into starting work without informed consent.
Sweatshops retain workers through
debt bondage and/or
mental and physical duress.
Sweatshops injure workers and the
environment at greater rates as they exist in places without effective or
enforced workplace safety and environmental laws.
"It is an insult to our dignity to live off the
produce of anyone doing demeaning work because she has to in order to survive.
Work done under compulsion is slave work." -
Charles
EisensteinNike's internal pricing
documents, found by Charles Kernaghan in the Dominican
Republic,
purpose was to maximize the amount of
profit that could be wrung out of the girls and
young women who sew garments for Nike in developing world sweatshops.
Production of a shirt, to take one
example, was broken down into twenty-two separate operations: five steps to cut
the material, eleven steps to sew the garment, six steps to attach labels, hang
tags, and put the shirt in a plastic bag, ready to be shipped. A time was
allotted for each task, with units of ten thousandths of a second used for the
breakdown. With all the units added together, the calculations demanded that
each shirt take a maximum of 6.6 minutes to make - 8 cents for labor - for a
shirt Nike sells in the United States for $22.99.
Walmart has roughly
4,400 supplier factories in China. A large proportion of these are sweatshops.
A Business Week investigation found that as late as 1999, Kathie Lee
handbags were being made in a Chinese factory where employees worked
fourteen-hour days, seven
days a week, thirty
days a month, for an average wage of 3 cents
an hour, and were beaten, fined, and fired if they complained about it!!!
In October 2007 child workers, some as young as 10, were found working
in sweatshop slavery to produce beaded
children's blouses with serial numbers that Gap admitted corresponded with its
own Gap Kids inventory. With endorsements from
celebrities including Madonna,
Lenny Kravitz and Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker, Gap has become
one of the most successful and
iconic brands in fashion. In 2004 Gap,
which outsources most garment producing labor, terminated 136 labor suppliers
and admitted that forced labor, child labor, wages below the minimum wage,
physical punishment and
coercion were among
abuses it had found at those sweatshop
factories.
In Liberia workers are not treated any better.
"Each
tapper will draw sap from about 650 rubber trees a day, where they spend
perhaps a couple of minutes at each tree." - Dan Adontis, president Firestone
Natural Rubber Company
That translates into a 21 hour work day. If
employees don't make their quota their daily wage of $3.19 is cut in
half.
" While it shocks Americans to hear it, the central challenge
in the poorest countries is not that sweatshops exploit too many people, but
that they don't exploit enough." - Nicholas D. Kristof (Individuals that judge
living conditions they have never experienced should not be listened to. After
Nicholas D. Kristof has spent a year or two working in a sweatshop then he can
tell the world what a fine lifestyle sweatshops deliver to workers!)
To morally blind
corporate
executives (and Nicholas
D. Kristof) workers are not human
beings so much as human resources. They are tools to generate as much
profit as possible.
"The tool can be treated just like a piece of metal - you use
it if you want, you throw it away if you don't want it. If you can get human
beings to become tools like that, it's more efficient by some measure of
efficiency - a measure which is based on dehumanization. You have to dehumanize
workers. That's part of the
system." -
Noam Chomsky
“Our country needs to insist that our trading
partners enforce their own labor laws and respect international labor
standards.”- Byron L. Dorgan(Christmas tree ornaments sold
at Walmart Stores and other major retailers were made in a Chinese sweatshop
employing workers as young as 12 and others who work more than 100 hours a week
according to Byron L. Dorgan.)
3Com 3M A. Schulman, Inc. Aalfs Manufacturing Aavid Thermal
Technologies Abbott Laboratories ABC-NACO Accenture Access Electronics Accuride
Corporation Accuride
International Acme Packaging Adaptec
ADC Admanco Adobe Air Adobe Systems Admanco
Advanced Energy Industries Aei
Acquisitions Aetna Affiliated Computer Services AFS Technologies A.G. Edwards
Agere Systems Agilent Technologies A.H.
Schreiber Co. American
International Group(AIG) Air Products &
ChemicalsÊ Alamo Rent A Car Albany International Corp. Albertson's Alcoa
Alcoa Fujikura Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corporation Allen
Systems Group Allflex USA Alliance Fiber
Optic Products, Inc. Alliance Semiconductor
Allstate Alpha Thought Global Altek Altria Group Amazon.com Ames True Temper
AMD Americ Disc American Dawn American Express American Fashion American
Greetings American Household American Management Systems American Standard American Tool American
Uniform Company Applied Micro Circuits Corp. Amerigon Incorporated AMETEK AMI
DODUCO Amloid Corporation Amphenol
Corporation Analog Devices Anchor Glass Container
Anchor Hocking ANDA Networks Anderson Electrical Products Andrew Corporation Angelica Corporation Anheuser-Busch Ansell Health Care Ansell
Protective Products Anvil Knitwear AOL A.O.
Smith Apex Systems Apparel Ventures, Inc.
Apple Applied Materials Applied Micro Circuits Corp. Arimon Technologies, Inc.
Arkansas General Industries Ark-Les
Corporation Arlee Home Fashions Artex
International Art Leather
Manufacturing ArvinMeritor Asbury Carbons Asco Power Technologies Ashland
AstenJohnson Asyst Technologies AT&T;AT&T Wireless Atchison
Products, Inc. A.T. Cross A.T. Kearney
ATMI-Ecosys Corporation Augusta Sportswear
Aurafin-OroAmerica Authentic Fitness Corporation
Automatic Data Processing Avanade Avanex Avaya Avery Dennison Axiohm
Transaction Solutions AXT, Inc. Azima Healthcare Services B.A.G.
Corporation Bakka Ball Corporation Bank of America Bank of New York Bank One
Bard Access Systems Barnes Group Barth &
Dreyfuss of California Bassett Furniture Bassler Electric Company Bausch &
Lomb BBi Enterprises L.P. Beacon Blankets BearingPoint Bear Stearns BEA
Systems Bechtel Becton
Dickinson BellSouth Bemis Manufacturing Co. Bentley
Systems Berdon LLP Berne Apparel Bernhardt
Furniture Besler Electric Company Best Buy Bestt Liebco Corporation Beverly Enterprises Bijur Lubricating
Corp. Birdair, Inc. BISSELL Black & Decker Black Diamond Equipment Blauer
Manufacturing Blue Cast Denim Blyth, Inc. BMC Software Bobs Candies Boeing
Borden Chemical Bose Corporation Bourns Bowater
Braden Manufacturing Brady Corporation Briggs
Industries Brinker
International Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol Tank & Welding Co. Brocade Brooks Automation Brown Wooten Mills
Inc. Buck Forkardt, Inc. Bumble Bee Burle Industries Burlington House Home Fashions
Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway C&D Technologies Cadence
Design Systems Cains Pickles California Cedar
Products Company Camfil Farr Candle
Corporation Capital Mercury Apparel Capital One
Cardinal Brands Cardinal Industries
Carrier Carris Financial Corp. Carter's Caterpillar C-COR.net Cellpoint
Systems Cendant Centis, Inc. Centurion
Wireless Technologies Cerner Corporation
Charles Schwab The Cherry Corporation ChevronTexaco CIBER Ciena Cigna
Circuit City Cirrus Logic Cisco Systems
Citigroup Clear
Pine Mouldings Clorox CNA Coastcast Corp. Coca-Cola Cognizant Technology
Solutions Coherent, Inc. Collins & Aikman Collis, Inc. Columbia House
Columbia Showcase & Cabinet Company Columbus McKinnon Comcast Holdings
Comdial Corporation CompuServe Computer Associates
Computer Horizons Computer Sciences
Corporation Concise Fabricators Conectl Corporation Conseco Consolidated Metro Consolidated
Ventura Continental Airlines Convergys Cooper-Atkins Corporation Cooper Crouse-Hinds Cooper
Industries Cooper Power
Systems Cooper Tire & Rubber Cooper Tools
Cooper Wiring Devices Copperweld Cordis Corporation
Corning Corning Cable Systems Corning
Frequency Control Countrywide Financial COVAD Communications Covansys Cray, Inc. Creo
Americas Crompton Corporation Cross Creek Apparel
Crouzet Corporation Crown Holdings CSX Cummins
Curtis Instruments Cutler-Hammer Cypress Semiconductor Dana
Corporation Daniel Woodhead Dan Post Boot Company
Dan River Data-Ray Corporation Datex-Ohmeda Davis
Wire Corp. Daws Manufacturing Dayton Superior Dearborn Brass DeCrane Aircraft
Delco Remy Dell Computer Del Monte Foods DeLong Sportswear Delphi Delta Air
Lines Delta Apparel Direct TV Discover DJ Orthopedics Document Sciences
Corporation Dometic Corp. Donaldson Company
Dorr-Oliver Eimco USA, Inc. Douglas Furniture of California Dow Chemical
Dresser Dun & Bradstreet DuPont DuPont Beaumont Works Earthlink Eastman
Kodak Eaton Corporation Edco, Inc. Editorial
America Edscha eFunds e-Gain Communications Corp. Egs Electrical Group
Ehlert Tool Company Elbeco Inc. Electroglas Electronic Data
Systems Electronics for Imaging Electro
Technology Eli Lilly Elkins Hardwood
Dimension Elmer's Products E-Loan EMC Emerson
Electric Emerson Power Transmission Emglo Products Endwave Corporation Engel Machinery En Pointe Technologies
Equifax Ernst & Young Essilor of America Ethan Allen Ethicon Evenflo
Evergreen Wholesale Florist Evolving Systems
Evy of California Exabyte Corporation Exfo Gnubi
Products Group Expedia Extrasport
ExxonMobil Fairfield
Manufacturing Fair Isaac Fansteel Inc. Farley's & Sathers Candy Co. Fasco
Industries Fawn
Industries Fayette Cotton Mill FCI USA
Fedders Corporation Federal Mogul Federated
Department Stores Fellowes Fender Musical Instruments Fidelity Investments
Financial Techologies International
Findlay Industries First American Title
Insurance First Data First Index Fisher Controls
Fisher Hamilton Fisher-Rosemount Systems
Flowserve Fluidmaster Fluor FMC Corporation
Fontaine International Ford Motor
Foster Wheeler Franklin Mint Franklin Templeton Freeborders Friedrich Air
Conditioning Co. Frito Lay Friwo-Emc Fruit of the Loom Garan Manufacturing
Gateway GE Capital GE Medical Systems G.E. Packaged Power
Gemtron Corporation General Binding
Corporation General Cable Corp.
General Electric General Mills General Motors
Generation 2 Worldwide Genesco Georgia-Pacific Gerber Childrenswear Gillette
Glacier West Sportswear Global Power Equipment Grp. GlobespanVirata Golden
Northwest Aluminum Goldman Sachs Gold Toe
Brands Goodrich Goodyear Tire & Rubber Google Goss Graphic
Systems Graphic Controls Graphite
Design International Green Bay Packaging
Greenpoint Mortgage Greenwood Mills Grote Industries Grove United States LLC Guardian
Life Insurance Guilford Mills Gulfstream Aerospace
Corp. Haggar Halliburton Hamilton
Beach/Procter-Silex Hamilton Sundstrand Harman
International
Industries Harper-Wyman Company The
Hartford Financial Services Group Hasbro Manufacturing Services Hawk
Corporation Hawker Power
Systems, Inc. Haworth Headstrong HealthAxis
Hedstrom Hein-Werner Corp. Helen of Troy Helsapenn Inc. Hershey Hewitt
Associates Hewlett-Packard Hoffman Enclosures, Inc. Hoffman/New Yorker The
Holmes Group Home Depot The HON Company Honeywell Hooker Furniture
Corporation HSN Hubbell Inc. Hudson Rci Humana
Hunter Sadler Hutchinson Sealing Systems, Inc
HyperTech Solutions IBM iGate Corporation Illinois
Tool Works IMI Cornelius Imi Norgren Imperial Home Decor Group Inamed
Corporation Indiana Knitwear Corp. IndyMac Bancorp
Inflation Systems Infogain
Ingersoll-Rand Innodata
Isogen Innova Solutions Insilco Technologies Intalco Aluminum Corp. Intel
InterMetro Industries
International Garment Processors
International Paper
International Steel Wool Corp.
Interroll Corporation Intesys Technologies Intuit
Invacare Iris Graphics, Inc. Isola Laminate Systems Iteris Holdings, Inc. Itronix
Corporation ITT Educational Services
ITT Industries Jabil Circuit Jacobs Engineering
Jacuzzi Jakel, Inc. JanSport Jantzen Inc. JDS Uniphase Jockey
International John Crane John Deere
Johns Manville Johnson
& Johnson Johnson Controls JPMorgan Chase J.R. Simplot Juniper Networks
Justin Brands K2 Inc. K&S Interconnect KANA Software Kaiser Permanente
Kanbay Kayby Mills of North Carolina Keane Kellogg Kellwood Kelly-Springfield
Tire Co. KEMET KEMET Electronics Kendall Healthcare Kendro Laboratory
Products Kenexa Kentucky Apparel Kerr-McGee
Chemical KeyCorp Key Industries Key Safety
Systems Key Tronic Corp. Kimberly-Clark
KLA-Tencor Knight Textile Corp. Kojo Worldwide Corporation Kraft Foods Kulicke and Soffa
Industries Kwikset LaCrosse Footwear L.A.
Darling Company Lake Village Industries
Lamb Technicon Lancer Partnership Lander Company Lands' End Lau
Industries Lawson Software Layne
Christensen La-Z-Boy Leach International Lear
Corporation Leech Tool & Die Works Legendary
Holdings, Inc. Lehman Brothers Leoni Wiring Systems Levi Strauss Leviton Manufacturing Co.
Lexmark International Lexstar
Technologies Liebert Corporation Lifescan Lillian
Vernon Linksys Linq Industrial Fabrics,
Inc. Lionbridge Technologies Lionel Littelfuse LiveBridge LNP Engineering
Plastics Lockheed Martin Longaberger LOUD Technologies
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation Louisville Ladder
Group LLC Lowe's Lucent Ludlow Building Products Lund International Lyall Alabama Madill
Corporation Magma Design Automation Magnequench Magnetek Maida
Development Co. Maidenform Mallinckrodt, Inc. The Manitowoc Company Manugistics
Marathon Oil Marge Carson, Inc. Marine Accessories Corp. Maritz Marko
Products, Inc. Mars, Inc. Marshall Fields
Master Lock Masterwork Electronics Materials Processing, Inc. Mattell Maxim
Integrated Products Maxi Switch Maxtor
Corporation Maxxim Medical Maytag McDATA
Corporation McKinsey & Company MeadWestvaco
Measurement Specialties, Inc. Mediacopy Medtronic Mellon Bank Mentor Graphics
Corp. Merck Meridian Automotive
Systems Merit Abrasive
Products Merrill Corporation Merrill Lynch Metasolv MetLife Michigan
Magnetics Micro Motion, Inc. Micron Technology Microsoft Midcom Inc. Midwest
Electric Products Milacron MKS Instruments
Modern Plastics Technics Modine Manufacturing Moen Money's Foods Us Inc. Monona
Wire Corp. Monsanto
Moog, Inc. Morgan Stanley Motion Control Industries Motor Coach
Industries
International Motorola Mrs. Allison's
Cookie Co. MTD Southwest MTI Technology Corporation
Mulox Munro & Company My Room, Inc. Nabco Nabisco NACCO
Industries National City
Corporation National Electric Carbon
Products National Life National Semiconductor
National Textiles NCR Corporation neoIT NETGEAR
Network Associates Newbold Corporation Newell
Porcelain Co. Newell Rubbermaid Newell Window Furnishings New
World Pasta New York Life Insurance Nice Ball Bearings
Nike Noble Construction Equipment Nordstrom Northrop
Grumman Northwest Airlines Nu Gro Technologies Nu-kote
International NutraMax
Products Nypro Alabama O'Bryan Brothers Inc.
Ocwen Financial Office Depot Ogden Manufacturing Oglevee, Ltd Ohio Art Ohmite
Manufacturing Co. Old Forge Lamp & Shade The Oligear Company Olympic West
Sportswear Omniglow Corporation O'Neal Steel Inc.
ON Semiconductor Oplink Communications,
Inc. Oracle Orbitz OshKosh B'Gosh O'Sullivan Industries Otis Elevator
Outsource Partners
International Owens-Brigam Medical Co.
Owens Corning Owens-Illinois, Inc. Oxford Automotive Oxford
Industries Pacific Precision Metals
Pak-Mor Manufacturing Palco Labs palmOne Paper Converting Machine Co. Parallax
Power Components Paramount Apparel Parker Hannifin Parks & Wolson Machine
Co. Parsons E&C;Pass & Seymour Legrand Paxar Corporation Pearson Digital Learning Peavey
Electronics Corporation Pendleton Woolen Mills
PeopleSoft PepsiCo Pericom Semiconductor PerkinElmer PerkinElmer Life Sciences,
Inc. Perot Systems Pfaltzgraff
Pfizer Phillips-Van Heusen Photronics Pinnacle
Frames Pinnacle West Capital Corporation Pioneer
Companies Pitney Bowes Plaid Clothing Company Planar
Systems Plexus Pliant Corporation PL Industries Polaroid Polymer Sealing Solutions
Portal Software Portex, Inc. Portola Packaging Port Townsend Paper Corp.
Power-One Inc. Pradco Pratt & Whitney priceline.com Price Pfister
Pridecraft Enterprises Primanex Corporation Prime
Tanning Primus Telecom Procter & Gamble Progress Lighting ProQuest
Providian Financial Prudential Insurance Q.C. Onics
Ventures Quadion Corporation Quaker Oats Quantegy
Quark Quickie Manufacturing Corp. Qwest Communications Radio Flyer Radio Shack
Rainbow Technologies Rawlings Sporting Goods Rayovac Raytheon Aircraft RBX Industries RCG Information Technology Red Kap
Regal-Beloit Corporation Regal Rugs Regal Ware,
Inc. Regence Group Renfro Corp. Respiratory Support Products Rexnord Industries R.G. Barry Corp. Richardson
Brothers Co. Rich Products River Holding Corp.
Robert Manufacturing Robert Mitchell Co. Rochester Button Co. Rockshox Rockwell
Automations Rockwell Collins Rogers Rohm & Haas Ropak Northwest Roper
Industries, Inc. Royce Hosiery RR
Donnelley & Sons Rugged Sportswear Russell Corporation S1 Corporation
S & B Engineers and Constructors Sabre Safeway SAIC Sallie Mae Samsonite Samuel-Whittar, Inc. SanDisk
Corporation Sanford Sanmina-SCI Sapient Sara Lee
Saturn Electronics & Engineering Sauer-Danfoss SBC
Communications Scantibodies Laboratory
Schott Scientific Glass Schumacher Electric Scientific Atlanta The Scott Fetzer
Company Seal Glove Manufacturing Seco Manufacturing Co. SEI Investments SEMCO
(Southeastern Metals Manufacturing) Sequa Corporation Seton Company Sheldahl Inc. Shipping
Systems, Inc. S.H. Leggitt Co. Shugart Corp.
Siebel Systems Sierra Atlantic Sights Denim
Systems, Inc. Signage, Inc. Signal
Transformer Signet Armorlite, Inc. Sikorsky Silicon Graphics Silvered
Electronic Mica Company Simmons Juvenile Products Simonds
International Simula Automotive Safety
SITEL Skyworks Solutions SMC Networks SML Labels Snap-on, Inc. SNC
Manufacturing Company SoftBrands Sola Optical USA Solectron Solon Manufacturing
Co. Sonoco Products Co. Southwire Company
Sovereign Bancorp Specialized Bicycle Components Spectrum Control Spicer
Driveshaft Manufacturing Spirit Silkscreens Springs
Industries Springs Window Fashions Sprint
Sprint PCS SPX Corporation Square D SRAM
Corporation Standard Textile Co. Stanley Furniture
Stanley Works Stant Manufacturing Starkist Seafood State Farm
Insurance State Street Steelcase StorageTek Store
Kraft Manufacturing StrategicPoint Investment Advisors Strattec Security Corp.
Strombecker Corp. STS Apparel Corporation
Summitville Tiles Sun Microsystems Sunrise Medical Suntron SunTrust Banks
Superior Uniform Group Supra Telecom Sure Fit SurePrep The Sutherland Group
Swank, Inc. Sweetheart Cup Co. Swift Denim Sykes Enterprises Symbol
Technologies Synopsys Synygy Takata Retraint Systems Target Teccor Electronics Techalloy
Company, Inc. Technotrim Tecumseh Tee Jays Manufacturing Telcordia Telect
Teleflex TeleTech Telex Communications
Tellabs Tenneco Automotive Teradyne Texaco Exploration and Production Texas
Instruments Textron Thermal
Industries Therm-O-Disc, Inc. Thermo
Electron Thomas & Betts Thomas Saginaw Ball Screw Co. Thomasville Furniture
Three G's Manufacturing Co. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Tiffany
Industries Time Warner The Timken Company
Tingley Rubber Corp. TMD Friction Tomlinson Industries The Toro Company Torque-Traction
Mfg. Tech. Tower Automotive Toys "R" Us Trailmobile Trailer Trans-Apparel Group
TransPro, Inc. Trans Union Travelocity Trek Bicycle Corporation Trend Technologies TriMas Corp. Trinity
Industries Triquint Semiconductor
TriVision Partners Tropical Sportswear Trumark Industries TRW Automotive Tumbleweed
Communications Tupperware Tyco Electronics
Tyco International Tyler Refrigeration UCAR
Carbon Company Underwriters Laboratories UniFirst Corporation Union Pacific Railroad Unison
Industries Unisys United Airlines
UnitedHealth Group Inc. United Online United Plastics Group United States
Ceramic Tile United Technologies Universal
Lighting Technologies USAA Valence Technology Valeo Climate Control Valeo
Switches & Detection Systems VA Software
Vaughan Furniture Co. Velvac Veritas Verizon Vertiflex
Products Vestshell Vermont, Inc. VF
Corporation Viasystems Vilter Manufacturing Corp.
Virginia Industries Virginia KMP
Corporation Vishay Intertechnology Vishay Vitramon
Visteon VITAL Sourcing Wabash Alloys, L.L.C. Wabash Technologies Wachovia Bank
Walgreens Walls Industries Warnaco
Washington Group International
Washington Mutual Waterbury Companies Waterloo Industries Weavexx Webb Furniture Enterprises
WebEx Weiser Lock WellChoice Wellman Thermal Systems Werner Co. West Corporation West Point Stevens Wetherill Associates
Weyco Group Weyerhaeuser Whirlpool White Rodgers Williamson-Dickie
Manufacturing Company Winpak Films Wolverine World Wide Woodstock Wire Works
Woodstuff Manufacturing WorldCom World Kitchen Worldtex Wright
Products Wyeth Wyman-Gordon Forgings Xerox
Xpectra Incorporated Xpitax Yahoo! Yarway Corporation York International
Zenith ZettaWorks Zimmerman Sign Company
Lockheed
Martin - paid $24,779,249,050 by federal government 2005
Boeing - paid $19,560,923,434 by
federal government 2005
Northrup
Gruman - paid $15,029,261,873 by federal government 2005
Raytheon - paid $9,669,133,423 by
federal government 2005
Halliburton - paid
$$5,911,648,847 by federal government
2005
United Technologies - paid
$5,050,610,078 by federal government
2005
Computer Sciences - paid
$$4,122,963,949 by federal government
2005
Bechtel - paid $4,007,482,139 by federal
government 2005
ITT Industries -
paid $2,608,346,856 by federal government
2005
Humana - paid $2,220,238,793 by federal
government
2005
Boeing had contracts for the air launched
cruise missile, the MX missile, the Minuteman missile, and adapted its B-52
bombers to use cruise missiles. Boeing is a subcontractor for the Stealth
advanced technology bomber and is a principal contractor for Strategic Defense
Initiative Star Wars.
G.E. operated a plant in Florida that makes
neutron generators for nuclear bombs. They made the reentry vehicle for the
Minuteman missile. They make propulsion systems for nuclear submarines and jet
aircraft engines and are involved in electronic warfare work. They are
developing the engine for the Stealth bomber.
Rockwell
International was the main B-1B bomber
and space shuttle contractor and they work on the MX and Trident missiles.
Rockwell helps operate the Department of Energy facility at Hanford, Washington
that produces plutonium for nuclear weapons, and they manage the Rocky Flats
Colorado facility that produces plutonium triggers for hydrogen
bombs.
United Technologies Chemical Systems Division built rocket motors
for Titan, Minuteman III, Trident, and Tomahawk cruise
missiles.
Northrop Corporation was a lead contractor on the top-secret
Stealth advanced technology bomber. Northrop had contracts for MX missile
guidance systems.
TRW Corporation was a leader in Strategic Defense
Initiative Star Wars contracts. TRW was a MX missile contractor.
Tenneco
Inc. operated the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. and built nuclear
submarines capable of carrying nuclear warhead armed missiles and built Nimitz
class nuclear propelled aircraft carriers.
Westinghouse Electric
Corporation contracts include radar for the B-1B bomber and launch tubes for
the Trident missile.
Hewlett Packard was a contractor on the B-52 bomber
and the Pershing missile.
General Dynamics Corporation was primarily in
the weapons business, building the Trident nuclear missile submarine, cruise
missiles, and FB-111 bombers. In 1982, 88 percent of General Dynamics net sales
were to the United States Government. In 1985, General Dynamics was number two
in Department of Defense contracts with $7,439,914,000 in sales. In 1982 they
were number one with about $5,891,000,000.
Zionist
Ashkenazi(Khazar) - Other notable
Ashkenazi businessmen: Armand
Hammer, Irv Robbins, Jack Abramoff, William Rosenberg,
Charles Hurwitz, Ivan
Boesky, Henry Samueli, Jacob "Kobi" Alexander, Herbert A. Allen, Andrew Grove,
Barry Diller, Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Andrew Grove (Andras Grof),
ad infinitum.
Michael Robert Milken was
indicted on 98 counts of racketeering and securities fraud in 1989. Michael
Robert Milken plead guilty to six felony counts of securities fraud and
conspiracy, payed $600 million in fines was sentenced to ten years in prison
and spent 22 months behind bars.(Michael Robert Milken, the Junk Bond King,
expanded the use of high yield debt in corporate finance increasing mergers and
acquisitions, which in turn fueled the 1980s boom in LBOs, hostile takeovers,
and corporate raids which were responsible for moving untold wealth out of
middle American into the hands of the wealthy. The wealthy venerate Michael
Robert Milken for his bold moves - one of which left a large swath of Northern
California clearcut pushing King Salmon to the brink of
extinction through habitat
destruction.)
Born into an extremely wealthy family with
an uncle, Sid Richardson worth $810 million, Robert, Lee, Ed, and Sid Bass all
attended Yale University. Ed Bass was a classmate and personal friend of George
W. Bush, and the brothers, especially Lee Bass, helped George W. Bush
financially both before and
throughout his political career.
Richard Edward
Rainwater was investment manager for the four Bass brothers from 1970 to
1986.
Robert Rowling has been given the title of
Pioneer for his
contributions to the George W. Bush campaign.
On
September 8, 2007, Ray Lee Hunt signed an oil deal with the Kurdistan Regional
Government of Iraq. Ray Lee Hunt spent most of the Bush administration serving
on the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. The Iraqi Oil minister
has denounced the deal as illegal, though there is no specific law against it,
claiming it undermines the country's negotiations to share profit between the
Kurds, Sunni and Shiites.
T Boone Pickens, Jr and
fellow financier Harold Clark Simmons are
financial supporters of
George W. Bush, having contributed heavily to both his Texas and national
political campaigns. Harold Clark Simmons gave $4 million to Swift Vets and
POWs for Truth to undermine the 2004 presidential election.
Billy Joe "Red" McCombs cofounded radio station empire Clear
Channel Communications with Lowry Mays in 1972.
Jeffrey Hildebrand, a former Exxon geologist, founded
Hilcorp Energy with partner Thomas Hook 1989.
Tracy W
Krohn worked as an engineer and drilling supervisor for Mobil Oil.
Dan Duncan illegally shot and killed a moose and a wild sheep
from a helicopter in 2002.
David Rockefeller Sr
chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan from 1969 to 1980;
Chairman/Honorary Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations (Chairman:
(1970-1985); Founder and Chairman/Honorary Chairman of the Council of the
Americas (1963-); Class A Director of the
Federal Reserve Bank
of New York; Co-founder of the Chairman's Latin American Advisory Council;
Founder of the Emergency Committee for American Trade; Director of the Overseas
Development Council; Vice-Chairman of the Advisory Council for United
States-China Trade.(In 2005 17 United States Senators and 33 United States
Represenatives owned stock in Chase.)
In 1990, George B
Kaiser bought the Bank of Oklahoma, N.A.
from the FDIC.
Richard Mellon Scaife gained
notoriety for making an end-run around weak campaign finance laws to donate $
$990,000 to the 1972 re-election campaign of Richard Nixon. Richard Mellon
Scaife was not charged with a crime, but about $45,000 went to a fund linked to
the Watergate scandal.
Philip F Anschutz is a
Kindom Now sycophant and avid supporter of
George W. Bush's
administration.
Robert Earl Holding - "If you
deal with him long enough, you'll be broke." - Ed Higbie of Western Real Estate
in Cody, Wyoming.
In 2005 Warren Buffet made a $21.8
billion bet that the dollar would fall. - times wire service
Igor Olenicoff plead guilty to filing a false income tax return
and paid $52 million in back taxes in 2007.
Leona
Mindy Rosenthal Helmsley was convicted of federal income tax evasion and other
crimes in 1989 and served 19 months in prison (and two more months under house
arrest), after receiving an initial sentence of 16 years.
Marc David Rich (Marc Reich) On January 20 2001, hours
before leaving office, President Clinton grants Marc Rich a presidential
pardon. In 1983, Marc Rich was indicted by Rudolph Giuliani on charges of tax
evasion and illegal trading with Iran. Marc Rich fled to Switzerland before a
court appearance, and remained on the FBI's, "Most Wanted List," for many
years. Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
National Director Abraham Foxman* received $250,000 in contributions
from Marc Rich. Abraham Foxman assisted
Marc Rich in obtaining a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton.
Pohlad got his start in the banking business by foreclosing
farms during the Great Depression.
A federal
bankruptcy judge ruled on May 12, 2009 that a $375 million loan
Credit Suisse made to the Yellowstone Club,
a Montana resort for the ultrarich, was predatory and should be subordinated to
other debts. Credit Suisse authorized club
owner Timothy Blixseth to use $209 million of the loan for "purposes unrelated"
to the Yellowstone Club including the purchase of private estates in Scotland,
France and Mexico, according to an accountant who testified on behalf of the
Yellowstone Club.
Chewing gum originally was made of
chicle. In the 1960s chicle was replaced by butadiene-based synthetic rubber.
Butadiene is a hydrocarbon.
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This web site is not a commercial web site and
is presented for educational purposes only.
This website defines a new religious
ideology to which its author adheres. The author feels that the falsification
of reality outside personal experience has created a populace unable to discern
propaganda from reality and that this has been done purposefully by an
international corporate cartel through their agents who wish to foist a corrupt
version of reality on the human race. Religious intolerance occurs when any
group refuses to tolerate religious practices, religious beliefs or persons due
to their religious ideology. This web site marks the founding of the religion
aptly named The Truth of the Way of Life - a rational religion based on reason
which requires no leap of faith, accepts no tithes, has no supreme leader, no
church buildings and in which each and every individual is encouraged to
develop a personal relation with God through the pursuit of the knowledge of
reality in the hope of curing the spiritual corruption that has enveloped the
human spirit. The tenets of The Truth of the Way of Life are spelled out in
detail on this web site by the author. Violent acts against individuals due to
their religious beliefs in America is considered a “hate
crime.”
This web site in no way condones violence. To the contrary
the intent here is to reduce the violence that is already occurring due to the
international corporate cartels desire to control the human race. The
international corporate cartel already controls the world central banking
system, mass media worldwide, the industrial military entertainment complex of
America and is responsible for the collapse of morals, the elevation of
self-centered behavior and the destruction of global ecosystems. Civilization
is based on cooperation. Cooperation does not occur at the point of a
gun.
American social mores and values have declined precipitously over
the last century as the corrupt international cartel has garnered more and more
power. This power rests in the ability to deceive the populace in general
through mass media by pressing emotional buttons which have been preprogrammed
into the population through prior mass media psychological operations. The
results have been the destruction of the family and the destruction of social
structures that do not adhere to the corrupt international elites vision of a
perfect world. Through distraction and coercion the direction of thought of the
bulk of the population has been directed toward solutions proposed by the
corrupt international elite that further consolidates their power and which
further their purposes.
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