Why Never Trust A Billionaire
What Indian History teaches us about Monopolies
India is a prime example of how a monopoly can ruin a country and deplete it’s resources.
It happened in August 24, 1608 when the East Indian Company landed in Surat which would embark to nearly 300 years of British rule in India.
They settled down to trade spices, cotton and silk piece goods, indigo and goods in India but eventually became increasingly involved with Daily nitty-gritty of Politics of Kings and Kingdoms across India. Slowly and gradually draining the country of it’s immense resources and wealth.
Why Monopolies are a problem ?
Monopolies are smart, the best ones try to integrate themselves into our daily lives with things and products that you won’t pay attention as to who owns them. They don’t want you to know that they own your life.
Most monopolies in India are run by Families including the Birlas, Adani, Tatas, Ambani, etc. In India, nearly 40% of the wealth is controlled by Top 1% of the people.
For example, when drinking coffee at Starbucks in India you will forget that it is operated by Tata Consumer Products (part of Tata Group).
Visit any mall, go to Van Heusen, Pantaloons or Peter England — Every other store is owned by Aditya Birla Group. Same goes for Reliance Fashion, Reliance Retail and Reliance Jewellery all owned by Mukesh Ambani.
The funny part is nearly 90% of the mall will be owned by Big Business houses, only a percentage few are run by Individual Business owners. Then there will be people who complain why their business never succeeds, the reason is they are competing with mammoths.
Monopolies in India and the world are a big problem because Big money power equates to Increased Inequality because those in power will never want to give up that power. It is the duty of country’s Government to prevent such a misuse of power when it sees it, avoid forming monopolies and prevent anti-competitive practices through correct policies & laws.
Never assume that Billionaires have the best in mind for their country and the economy. Their only goal is profit and profit at any cost, most will go to any lengths to maintain their profitability at the expense of working class
There are millionaires and billionaires in Germany today who are afraid to be seen in public and avoid getting attention from the media. Reason that following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, industries like the cement industry profited massively from state-run construction projects. Same was for other industries where Jews and Prisoners of War were used as forced laborers across various plants. Examples of such companies include Heidelberg Cement (listed on NSE, part of DAX corporation in Germany), Associated Press (News), Adler (cars and motorcycle), Allianz (Insurance), Audi (car), Bayer, BMW, Chase National Bank, Carl Zeiss AG, Continental, Deutsche Bank, Lufthansa, Ford, GM, etc. You can find the whole list of companies that benefited from Nazi rule here.
Like in the case of Elon Musk, he might be smart and intelligent & able to build great companies but it is wrong for people to assume that those things translate to understanding the social fabric of a country and working diligently for the working class. He will have his own self-interest in mind.
You have to remember that all the great revolutions around the world happened because those in Power were exploiting the Working class with High taxation & High Inflation while they lived their own lives in peace and luxury.
Do you know who owns the Media?
The things that most people won’t be aware of is that most Indian and US news channels around the world are owned by Rich people. But why do rich people feel the need to control the Media Industry.
The Media Industry has the worst ROI (Return on Investment) because profits are rare and most media houses running around the country are in losses for example: see TV18 Network, NDTV, Zee Network, etc.
In an industry from which any sane business mind will try to stay away from, why do we have Billionaires trying to control every channel that people watch.
The reason is simple “The one who controls the Media, controls the mind”.
While claims of being No. 1 News channel are frequent, you have to understand what they are really selling is fake news in the name of journalism and avoid showing the truth.
Biggest problem with the News today is that it tells you what to think.
Billionaires know that once they control the medium of Information, they can manipulate and divert people’s attention from the real issues like unemployment, inflation, bad Infrastructure and unaffordable education.
They now control the Agenda!
“Goal of News Channels today is to make people angry” so that they don’t see the scams being done under their noses.
It’s a Repeat of the British Raj way of Ruling
During the British Raj, Britishers knew how to set a narrative and did a lot of Event management.
They presented themselves as saviors of the New World Order as they looted Billions in taxes while millions of Indians died of famines.
The thing is wealth in hands of few is never a good thing. When people are driven by the greed of acquiring more, they can never relate to doing something for the working class. Examples can be found in the French Revolution, French King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette had lost touch with the peasants & working class and had to pay with their heads in Guillotine.
With changing World Order and power struggle between China and US, these clashes are bound to rise.
While India boasts to the world about being placed 5th in terms of GDP rank, the GDP per capita numbers ($2800) paint a grim picture with a rank of 141st. These rankings drop to levels of Sub-African countries when Indian Billionaires are removed from GDP per capita calculation.
Some businesses Owned by Billionaires you won’t be aware about:
- Mukesh Ambani — Firstpost, Moneycontrol, MTV, Nickelodeon, History channel, Disney Hotstar, Jio Cinema, Jio Fiancials, BookMyShow, Forbes, VH1, etc.
- Gautam Adani — NDTV, ACC cement, Ambuja Cement, Adani Power, Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports & SEZ, Adani Defense and Aerospace, Adani Wilmar Ltd, etc.
- Aditya Birla Group — Vodafone India, Grasim Industries (Birla Opus, Ultratech cement & Aditya Birla Capital), Hindalco, Aditya Birla Fashion (Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England, Aurelia, W for Women and others), etc.
- Tata Group — TCS, Tata Power, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Motors, Tata Communications, Indian Hotels (Taj Hotels), Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Titan, Tata AIG, etc.
Now you may say that some of these companies like Tata Group are doing a lot of good for the country, then let me tell you this:
“No Company in this world works for their Country, Employees, or Working class, they ultimately work for their own self-interests, namely Shareholders and Board of Directors — if you think otherwise then my friend you are mistaken”
