Middle Nation Content Talks | Democratization of Corporate Power

Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum, my brothers and sisters. Hope everyone's having a good weekend, inshallah. Today is gonna be a heavy topic, so I would recommend you to prepare your coffee, your tea, your Red Bulls, your monsters, and your energy drink. Then as usual, we will play the video that is related to this topic.

There were many videos regarding this topic because it's a topic that interests brother Shahid. And this is his major you know, the way how to perform change in today's geopolitical landscape. So that's why there's this emphasis on this topic specifically. Try to listen carefully, Insha'Allah, because we will try to go into detail about all the things that are being said in the video. So it will Insha'Allah help you give some background to what we will be discussing.

Yeah. Enjoy.

Well, I think there's a lot you can do. I think that there's once you can establish first, have to try to establish or you have to try to cultivate in the population, in the public, the the the feeling or the understanding that they have a right to expect their dollars, their consumer dollars, to buy for them, to purchase for them, to secure for them more than simply the item that they're buying. See, this is the this is the the trick that they've got everyone fooled about. They they've made you think that when you spend your money on this shirt or that jacket or that handbag, whatever product it is, that whenever you spent your money on that, then you've got your money's worth. But you haven't.

You haven't at all because the profit margin for that product, you don't even know what the profit margin is. That product may have been made for pennies overseas. That product may have been made for pennies in a sweatshop. It may have been made for pennies in a factory in Vietnam or in Indonesia or in Bangladesh or where where have and the company that's selling to that product is making a huge profit margin. You understand?

So the actual value of the item that you're buying is considerably less than what you're paying for. So what are you what else are you getting for your money? That's the question. What else are you getting for your money? And a better question is, what are they using your money for?

What are they getting out of that excess profit? What are they doing with that? You have to understand, like I've said time and time again, companies, corporations, multinational corporations are political entities, and they have political power. And they have considerable power over the daily lives of the common people. They have considerable power over the economy and the decisions made in the economy and how to manage the economy.

And they have considerable power over even legislation and policies that don't even directly have anything to do with them sometimes. They have paid lobbyists, sometimes multiple paid lobbyists and PR firms and so on to get what they want in Washington DC or in London or in Paris or in Berlin or wherever else. Let's just say, for example, you buy something from them and the actual cost of production for that product, the actual cost of production for the item that you're buying is maybe a third of the actual price. The actual the cost for producing the item is maybe a third of what you actually pay that company in order to buy it. You understand?

So the price is marked up by two thirds. Well, what what are you getting by giving them that money? Because you need to be getting something more than the handbag. You need to be getting something more than the jacket. You need to be getting something more than the shirt.

You know? You need to be getting something more than whatever the product is that you're buying because you're paying considerably more for it than it's worth. So you need to start getting your money's worth. You need to start demanding that you get your money's worth because they're getting your money and they're using it for something. What they're using it for is power.

They're using it to increase their own power, their own economic power, and their own political power, but they're not using that power for your benefit. They're not using it with your interest in mind. And you have every right to expect just like if you went to a if you went to a a dinner. Right? A dinner for a political candidate.

We all know about these. Right? That it's a, say, $200 a plate. Well, we all know that the meal isn't worth $200. The meal is maybe worth $15.

Maximum, maybe $20.25 dollars. But you're paying 200 to attend that dinner because everybody understands what you're doing is making a political donation. You're making a campaign contribution to that party or to that politician. Well, that's the same thing. When you buy a product that's worth $15 to make, but it costs $200, or it costs $250, or it costs $70, but it's only actually worth 5 or 11 or 12.

So there's a markup. Two thirds of what you are giving to that company is a donation. One third of it is the price of the product, you know, roughly. One third of it is the price of the item that you're buying. So now you need to ask, you need to demand from those companies.

I should have a say in what you do with the other two thirds because I know that you're using that two thirds to further your own interests, and then and they're not supporting my interests necessarily. They may even be counter to my interests and the interest of my community, the interest of the target demographic that you are marketing to. You think that we should just be satisfied with this handbag or this wallet or this necktie or this jacket or this hoodie or this sweatshirt or what have you. We're supposed to be satisfied, and we're not supposed to ask what you do with the rest of the money. So what are you doing with the rest of that money?

I know at least some of what you're doing with the rest of that money is paying for political lobbyists. I know at least some of what you're doing with that money is influencing politicians, is influencing legislatures, influencing chambers of commerce, influencing local, state, and federal governments. I know that you're using that money to get your way, but we, as consumers, have a right to expect you to use that power that we're paying for. We have a right to expect that you will use that power in our interests and in ways that reflect our values. We have a right to expect that.

So you have to first, you have to try to establish this mindset, this mental change in the public in the population for people to understand that they have every right to expect that. The same way that if you went to one of those political dinners and you and you spent $200, you know, for a for a hamburger, that is actually just a a political donation, a a campaign contribution. The hamburger is not worth 200, and you know it, they know it, and everyone knows it. And it's all agreed that you're paying that much money so that you can have influence with the politician So that when you call him, he'll answer the phone. So that he will be answerable to you.

So that he will be accountable to you because you funded his campaign. You funded his career. You funded him being able to get into office. So you have every right for some quid pro quo, expect something back. But they've gotten us fooled into thinking that corporations don't owe us anything.

They're overcharging us and they're taking political donations. They're taking campaign contributions. They're taking charity. That's what it is. They're taking charity.

When you overcharge to that extent, that's a that's a donation that you're getting from the consumer because what you're giving them is worth considerably less than that. So we have a right to expect that we should be able to call you and you answer the phone. You can't call Bill Gates and he'll answer the phone. You can't call Elon Musk and he'll answer the phone. You know?

You can't call Larry Fink or BlackRock and expect him to answer the phone. Why? Why is that okay with anyone? Why should that be fine? If you give a campaign contribution of a significant amount and if you're a regular contributor, a regular donor to a politician, you better believe he'll answer the phone when you vote.

He'll answer the phone smiling, happy, asking, what can I do for you today? But you can't do that with these CEOs and these owners of corporations even though you're giving them donations and contributions every day of your life. So I think it's about time that we start to hold them accountable. I'm not saying that you have to lower your prices. I'm not saying that.

Keep your prices as high as you like. But we understand the people have to start to understand that that markup constitutes a political campaign donation. We are funding your political lobby. We're funding your political power. We're funding your economic power.

We're financing that. So you owe us, And you owe us more than a handbag. You owe us more than a hoodie. You owe us more than this little, you know, sweatshirt or or what have you. Just like when you spend $200 for a plate at a campaign dinner, a political dinner, you know and the politician knows and everyone knows that you're not paying for the hamburger.

You're paying for the influence. But we need to understand that that's what we're paying for, and we should start to expect to have that influence that we're paying for. Otherwise, they're just gonna have the influence that you're paying for for them. You're funding their power and expecting nothing back from them. That means to change.

I think it's time for that to change because you should actually have power. You're paying to have influence over a major corporation whether you know it or not. They've just fooled you into thinking that you're not buying influence or that you're not paying for them to have influence, but you are. Because why on earth would you spend that much money for one of their products when the actual cost of that product is a fraction of it? It's a donation.

You're giving charity to these corporations but expecting nothing in return. So once you can establish in the minds of the public that they have every right to expect accountability from multinational corporations, from these huge companies, that they have a right to expect that their brand loyalty and their consumer dollars and their consumer spending, they have every right to expect that that should earn them and that should buy for them, that should purchase for them some influence with what that company does. And I'm talking about what that company does in the society, what that company does in terms of how it uses its political influence. That political influence should be employed to serve the interests of the people who are funding it, which is you and I. We are funding their political influence, but they're only using that political influence for their own ends and for their own interests.

What's more prestigious? To have a luxury brand item that you can walk around and show your friends that you can afford it and you have that item? You you you bought it and you're carrying it around and showing it off to everyone. What's more prestigious? That or actually having power and being from the movers and shakers?

Being someone of influence. But when you call the CEO of that company, he answers the phone and says, how are you today? What can I do for you? Because you have every right to have that power. So there's many things that you could do.

And once you establish this mentality in the population, in the public, then, yes, there's many things you can do. And they're all steps in the right direction, insha'Allah. It's all steps in the right direction. And don't think that any step is useless just because that one step doesn't get you to the finish line. It's a one step at a time.

And once you have that mindset in the population, once you have that mentality in the culture, then it opens all sorts of possibilities and all sorts of people can come up with different tactics and techniques and strategies. I mean, for example, why couldn't you ask? Why couldn't you demand, say, The United States or in The UK or Europe or wherever else, why can't you demand if you can demand honesty in advertising, if you can demand honesty in labeling in terms of ingredients and so forth, if you can demand all of those things, why can't you demand that companies should disclose their profit margin? Why do we have a right to know that? But they're afraid because they're gouging us in terms of the price.

And if we actually know how much more money we're giving them than is the value of the product that they're selling us, then they'll know that we'll expect something from that. We'll expect that money to buy something for us more than the product, that it should buy for us some kind of influence and some kind of a say in the decisions that that company makes with its power. So they don't wanna disclose that, but there's no reason at all that I can think of why they shouldn't be forced to disclose their profit margin. Tell me this is the price, and this is what it cost us to make it. You do the math.

This is the the the profit margin. Is it 10%? Is it 15%? Is it 50%? Is it 75%?

Is it 200%? How much more money are you making off of this item than it cost you to make it? Because that all all of that money that's in that profit margin, that's money that we are using to fund you to have power. So every dollar on top of a reasonable profit margin, a reasonable profit margin, everything above that should buy us influence. I mean, you could arrange you could look at the the demographics.

Say you say you start a website, for example. Start a website to organize and educate consumers. Start a membership where you can get people to sign up for it, understanding what the purpose of this is, to motivate them to sign up for this. And they'll sign it up and when they sign up, they have to fill out a survey that will compile data about each member that you can then correlate with the demographic data that is used by different companies in different sectors to identify their target demographic so that then you could potentially organize. You know, you could separate out.

You could create small groupings within the total pool of consumers that you have in your database. You could have groupings that these this group of people from our consumer database fits the target demographic of such and such company or such and such sector. And then you can mobilize those people in some form of activism for whatever it is that you want that company to use its power for. What sort of legislation you would like that company or that or the companies in that sector to use their power for? What you want them to use their lobbyists for?

We want your support for this or that legislation, for this or that policy. We want you to back that. We want you to use your lobbyists to back that policy. And everyone who is involved in the activism, everyone who is involved in the organizing to appeal to that company will be taken from directly from their core demographic group, their target consumer group. So you organize people along the same lines upon which those companies do their targeted marketing so that you can say you can't dismiss us.

This isn't just a a haphazard random disorganized sort of campaign. These are your customers. This is your target demographic, and they're asking something of you. And they have every right to ask something of you because they're your loyal customers. They have brand loyalty, and now they're expecting something back with that.

They're expecting some kind of reciprocation on the part of your company to represent their interests and to use your power and your influence in ways that adhere to the values of your target demographic consumer group. Why can't you do that? There are so many things that you could do, but the first thing that you have to do is just get this into the mind of the public, that you have every right to expect that. That you have every right to expect that corporations should be held accountable and should be responsive and that they should use their power in the society to represent your interests, and they should exercise the power that they have in society in ways that reflect the values of their consumers.

Okay. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Because it completely gives a different perspective on how to have a say. Right? Usually, we are learned or they teach us that, you know, go vote.

Right? Go to the ballot. You know, you'll make a change. Feel makes yourself feel important. You are part of the decision making process.

But in reality, your wages are what determines what is gonna happen, which policy will be taken. Every dollar you spend, that's basically the vote that you're making. So Okay. So, you know, in today's today's era, right, where we are dominated by these multinational, transnational corporations, this globalization, global capitalism, we still need to discuss how to decolonize. Right?

So it's very relevant. Right? Because it's not just in the context of nations reclaiming somehow their political independence, but also how we as individuals, as societies, how we interact with economic systems, how we interact with cultural systems. Because all of this is really it's just layers and layers of colonization, which are very connected with each other. Right?

And the three areas of Middle Nation that are always emphasized, which is, first of all, economic sovereignty of of course, first and foremost, Muslim countries, political independence of Muslim countries, and lastly, which is, you know, intertwined into these two sections, is this psychological decolonization. Right? Because whenever we speak about decolonization, it's not just the physical colonization, right, how they occupied our lands, But it's about everything, really, the worldview, how it has infiltrated this mindset. Right? And subhanAllah, like, when a person reads of course, this is a bit for Muslim but non Muslims as well, but it's very alluded to in the Quran with the.

Right? You see how even when they are in the desert and they left the slave system of the pharaoh, the one who was enslaving them, they still have this psychological colonization in their minds. Right? They still remember the food from Egypt. They still remember the gods that they worshiped in Egypt.

Right? There is still this effect that even though you are Khalas, you know, outside of the land, outside of the control of this colonizer, you still are mentally subjugated somehow. Right? So we need to target this one, and the best way we can target this, we did it already in some of our previous content talks. We have spoken about all of these types of misconceptions, right, about the economic system, about the prosperity that they have, about the democracy.

We have addressed this blame shifting mechanics. Right? The rules of their thinking from this survival mentality. Right? Their approach to life, their baseless value, their worldviews, everything, you know, about this society, this western civilization, quote, unquote, we have somehow addressed.

Right? And then we started to discuss the consequences of this approach to life. Right? And this is mostly manifested through this approach of their policy. Right?

And the so called democracy that they present so much. Right? And going through this, we have seen how it's basically all influenced by corporates. Right? How it's really just business.

Right? There is no democracy. The all of the policies that they think that's corporate policies. Right? And we spoke about this in the, you know, facade of the democracy videos and the content talks related to that or the funneling of money from APAC and different, you know, groups and so.

So we, you know, ended up with this understanding of corporatization of democracy. Right? The democracy is has been corporatized. But now we will try to shift to a practical re reversal, right, which is democratization of corporations. Right?

If we cannot influence or if it makes no sense to try to target the democratic parties, again, quote, unquote. Right? Whenever I say democracy, I couldn't just imagine that I'm, you know, using my two fingers to make a quote. But we understand that all of that we can influence is these corporations. And because then the corporations influence the policy, so our best shot is to try to somehow target these corporations, try to influence their decision making processes.

So we must begin to understand somehow in today's talk, in how, you know, consumer habits, consumer spending, what is their impact on corporate power. Right? Because as brother Rashid said in the video, you know, our choices have really huge potential to somehow reshape the economic landscape. And through that, of course, the political landscape. Right?

So, again, this you know, it's a part of decolonization. Right? It's not just about trying to influence policies, but it's also trying to get rid of this whole western cultural like, it's a whole movement. Right? You know, it has different players, different aspects to it.

Of course, in the video, it was mostly speaking about this influence on policy. Right? How to make the most use of the money that you are spending. But there are also different you know, especially nowadays with respect to what is happening in Palestine and so on, people try to move not just because they are financing a genocide, but it's also, you know, rejecting this Western culture, Western logos, Western brands trying to, you know, focus on our companies, companies that are built by people from our homes, trying to support them, you know, support local businesses. And this can then help them, of course, inshallah, to become some influential stakeholders in national policies, right, to, you know, be some sort of challenge to the external influence, right, the external multinational corporations.

Like, if we start diverting these finances from these huge, enormous corporations that are, you know, ruling every country, we can try to support our own businesses and make them have a say in this. So, you know, all of these three Middle Nation objectives, as I said, are very connected. So we have to approach the current reality for what it is. Right? We need to be objective.

Okay? This is always the point that we are talking about. It's all about objectivity and trying, you know, mentality. Right? Middle nation mentality.

So the power lies with corporations, and we have to shift our attention from the political sphere onto the corporate sphere. Right? As I said, and, you know, based on what brother Shahid has been saying, each dollar we spend is a valid vote we cast. So understanding the in this fight, each act of the resistance, you know, no matter how small it might be or how minuscule you might feel it, it does chip away at these entrenched structures of exploitation. Right?

And they try to it's one by one opens up the possibility of a different system. Right? A system that is built on some bigger justice. Right? Some equality, equity, and even the positively impact of the society that these corporates are working in.

So I would like to ask my fellow speakers, my beloved speakers, inshallah. You know, sorry. Just before I start, we will try I will try to inshallah manage this discussion in four different parts. The first of all, we'll try to understand this need for corporate democratization. Right?

But we will try to really see the bridge between the consumer influence and the political power. Then, of course, I'll try to somehow look at different strategies. Of course, all of this is based on what brother Shahid has suggested in his videos and what he has been speaking about. Okay. You know?

And so, yeah, we will try to look at different strategies of how to democratize this corporate accountability, right, how to promote some bigger transparency. Then we will try to look at different examples, especially in relation to what has been happening the last year and a half, two years with respect, of course, to Palestine and so on and so with Starbucks, McDonald's, and there is also some issue with the Balenciaga and many different, know, strategies from around the world inshallah. And, lastly, we'll try to take into consideration some ethical considerations, right, because there might be some people that are harmed in this process. So there is some balance that needs to be maintained inshallah. So this is just an overview of how we will conduct this talk.

I mean so first of all, you know, why is it necessary to discuss this democratization of power? Right? Why is it even like why should it be part of a debate? Right? When, you know, traditionally in public debate and political activism, it's usually everything about the politics, which party you vote for, which, you know is it the Democrats?

Is it the Republicans? Is it the Greens? Is it the right? Is it the left? Right?

Always these kind of talks we never hear about. Are you voting for black or are you voting for, you know, State Street? Right? It's always, like, diverting the attention. Right?

So why do you think that it's necessary to talk about this topic that we are discussing? And, of course, resulting from that, how has this shift of, you know, power dynamics changed this landscape? Right? Because, okay, maybe three hundred years ago, four hundred years ago. I'm not sure with the, you know, Dutch East India company and so on.

I think these were just the predecessors of BlackRock, etcetera. So it's almost always, you know, the decision in the economic sector. Right? But how have the last, you know, 20 influenced this change? Yeah.

So please feel free. I feel I've been speaking for too long, and I I don't wanna take time off, you know, my colleagues. So please, whoever, you know, feels you can address why this is important and why it's necessary to discuss this rather than political debates, feel free to speak up,

everybody. So I think the reason why it's important that we discuss, you know, influence and how our influence or how we can influence corporates as well as them then in turn influencing, you know, policies where government label is concerned. It's it's important because, firstly, when it comes to voting within a democracy, by the time you voted, the decisions have been already made for you in any case. You are just deciding which actor is going to be there in front that you're going to speak to. So it the the it's already decided what it is that they are going to do on your behalf.

You are not making a decision, by voting for a change within policies. You are voting just for a face, basically, you know, an actor, so to say. So that is why it's important that we the ones that are spending money every single day put our money by organizations or with or behind corporates that will actually make a change or that will influence government and policies and that type of thing on our behalf, that work for us as opposed to for themselves and for the government. That is why it's important that we have these type of discussions right now. So even those companies and those corporations that seem to not be interested in politics, you know, that it's it's such a dirty word for a lot of people.

It it it brings all these types of emotions. We, you know, it's even part of the company policy. We can't even discuss politics. You know, it's a dirty word like I said. So even those companies that don't seem to want to get involved in government, but have the values or that represent the values that we, the layman, want to see within our government.

If we can even encourage those operations to actually, because they already have the finance, because we are already spending our money with them, to actually take it further and to do or influence the way that we want to see the influence. So I think it's important that it goes both ways, not just us as a collective, ensuring that we do, finance the right businesses, but also those same, corporations that they take it further, not just, you know, sit with our money and just work towards profits. And at that but this point in time, I also wanna make a difference or make make the decision or or the decision between the difference between corporate democratization as well as against corporate social investment. You know, you do have companies that have all these nonprofit organizations or all these good causes that they fund, and then they write a little article, put it on the website, write press releases. That's all relationship management.

But we're not talking about that. We're talking about those companies that will actually go forward, go and do or go to government and influence therefore the of the country of for people in general.

Thank you very much, sister. Exactly. Like, we, you know, we have to understand that these entities are no longer just commercial entities. Right? But they are really significant political actors.

Right? We and they have this immense influence over economies, over legislation, and thus, of course, over our daily lives. Right? Yeah. Please, brother Omar.

Okay. Thank you so much, brother Karim. So one one answer to the question of why we should be paying attention to, corporates in the past twenty years is that, I think that throughout human history, this is the most, consumeristic era of humans ever. So not in any time has consumerism prevailed the world over, in the rate that it has prevailed, in this time and day. And, this was in part enacted by the corporates because they wanted to increase their profits.

So so, in in in drastic, numbers and in in so doing, there had to be political decisions that had to be made. So wherever there was no need for a market, a market had to be created and, methods were employed. Some of them were extremely brutal in many cases. These methods had to be employed to create markets. So, it would be a great mistake to underestimate the role of these corporates and the role of their market creations in many parts of the world just for the sake of profit generations and for the sake of satisfying their shareholders.

So they have forced themselves to be part of the equation whether we like it or not and to sit in the corner and convince ourselves that it's merely a political game and that corporates are not political entities because they choose to or because they have to. It doesn't really matter at this point. It would be a great mistake. You would not be con confronting the issue in the right way, and you would not be solving it at all. So that's what I think I wanted to say.

Thank you so much.

Yeah. Exactly. And, Yani, the most important aspect is, like, there are very hierarchical structures of these corporations. Right? It's not like, you know, you will stop buying from the supermarket and BlackRock will go bankrupt.

Right? But if you'd like if you look at some brands, right, like, I don't know, Nestle and so on, then you have, again, above is some conglomerate, right, or Unilever. And, you know, you have these, like, 150, 200 brands below it. Right? It's very and, of course, they watch every part of these brands.

They have their own analysis. What is being sold? What is the demand? What is the, you know, perfect consumer? They tailor all of these ads.

They do all of this research. Right? We have to understand that their only measure their only purpose of existing is profit. Right? So, you know, you have to be able to see their weak points and then try to target those.

Right? So, of course, you know, these boycotts that we saw and so on, they had effects. And inshallah, we'll go into specific examples and look at the consequences, but it needs to be done with some bigger framework, right, and within some bigger framework, within some bigger idea, within some, know, greater approach to how we try to influence public policy through corporates. Right? Brother MG, I haven't heard you yet.

If you wanna add something, please.

Assalamu alaikum, everyone. So I would say that the problem also is that there are there are politics within the management of these companies themselves. And, you know, a lot of us have have worked in companies before. The higher up you go the the corporate ladder, the more political it becomes. And what this essentially means is that if you have views within the company that are anti profit or not anti profit, but more altruistic, you are sidelined.

When you are inside this bubble or inside this domain, you are basically considered a person who whose sole function is to increase the profit and the profit margin of the company. There's no freedom inside the corporation. The only language they understand in this situation is financial freedom and leverage. And within the lens of the corporation, there is only two types of people that are free. So those who have everything, who can buy countries, and those who cannot even afford a bank account.

So anything in between, they are subject to leverage, subject to influence, subject to pressure. The question is, how much power does the consumer have? And also, the competition that is more ethical, how much leverage do they also have? Because you could find yourself in a situation where company a that is supposed to be boycotted or is acting unethically might want to try to buy company b that is having an increase in profit. So there's also the threat of monopoly.

So this is something that we should think about as well, and how to assess and study that further. Thank you.

Thank you, brother. And especially exactly, like, we need to be, you know, as was mentioned, right, objective. And, like, the approach that we are taking, it's not seeking to somehow dismantle corporate power. Right? We are, like, not communist, you know, and give it all to the laborers and so on.

Like, it's not about that. It's just trying to somehow, you know, reorient, right, the interest of these corporations, influence their orientation. Right? So it's not just, you know, for their own benefit, but for the benefit of the societies that they are working in, right, or, you know, whether they are dependent on, basically. Like, this approach tries to somehow ensure that the consumer spending, it actually translates into some political political influence.

Right? And that the corporations become somehow responsible or, you know, accountable to the consumers that they're dependent on. Right? So, again, it's a very, how to say, like, pragmatic, I would say, maybe approach or, you know, practical, really, approach. Right?

Of course, it's a very long process. Right? It's, you know, it's not something that happens day from day one to day two, but it's over a long period, step by step, you know, organization, some collective will. And inshallah, we can create this more balanced system where, you know, the corporations basically benefit the communities and individuals will sustain it. Yeah.

Please, brother Allah.

Yeah. And just a small point to add is that accountability is not only to the customer. It's also to the employees and the and the workers of these companies. We we we need to understand that corporates are just like brother MG said, they are hierarchical institutions, and there are huge disparities within these entities, meaning that the profit like like he said, the higher up you go, the more political it gets, but also the more revenue you put in your pocket, while people at the very bottom are not looked after very well. And I guess I think all of our speakers already know of instances of companies like Amazon and many other companies in the e commerce sector, for example, where workers are where the working conditions for workers are notoriously dangerous and and, you know, it's not a very hospitable environment.

So accountability has to be to the consumers and to the workers and the company as well. Just a quick point. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Please, brother. Angie?

Yeah. I mean, with regard to to to the corporate ladder, I mean, I don't I mean, at least that's from my perspective. I don't see that even those that are in the in the higher end of the corporate ladder, I would consider them as financially free. You know? I mean, they are still under they are still under greater level.

They're still under greater leverage and greater influence and greater pressure. Because at the end of the day, it's the owner. It's the owner of that corporation that that has the that that is exercising the leverage and the influence. It's not those who work regardless who's on the corporate ladder. I mean, it's not I mean, obviously, of course, those who are at the lower end of the corporate ladder get paid less.

You can say that they work harder, but also the decisions they make, they don't have the like, how how their decision does not the magnitude of vision does not affect the company as much as those who are high at the higher end of the corporate ladder. So there's a reason why the the payment can be higher the higher up you go. It's just that disparity is crazy sometimes. That's the only problem. But here, when I'm when I'm talking about politics within the corporate ladder, I mean what I mean is that the owner plays a big role and is more politically motivated when selecting the employees in the in the company that are very high in the corporate level.

So that's what I wanted to clarify. Thank you very much.

I actually do understand that I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. It is important that the owner or the board of directors or whoever it is, the decision makers, the real decision makers should have the same values that are aligned with the public. So for the we need to, as consumers, make conscious decisions to only support those businesses who we know the decision makers are transparent in what it is that they do with the company, for the company, as well as for the country within where they're operating. So the video mentioned transparency and that is key. That's the only way we will know if we are working with the right business, if we are supporting the right business.

It is important that they value real transparency, not just say in the mission statement that they're transparent, but be really transparent about who they support, who the political parties are that they're working with, all that type of thing. Those are the important things that we want to know. So, it is about the decision makers and those are the people that are sitting on top. They obviously are the big earners. I wouldn't agree that the people at the bottom work the hardest.

I'm not going to I I I'm I'm just saying that I don't think that is always the case because, you know, people have different roles in life. So but that's not the topic for today. But I wholeheartedly agree that the the the the decision makers on top, they their values need to allow align with our values.

I wanna focus on the the the social societal impact of corporations more than on the internal ethics of any particular company or the internal, you know, degree to which the employees or the executives have principles. My brother pointed out, you know, and I think I pointed out in the video, think we all know corporations are about making profits. That's what they're about. They're about making revenues. They have responsibility to their shareholders to make money.

So the the the point here is to what we have are these mammoth institutions, these mammoth organizations that are authoritarian in their internal structure That that possess enormous wealth and enormous power over the conditions in the the the the cities and towns and states and countries where they operate, which comes down to they have enormous power in controlling and determining the conditions of everyday the everyday lives of people all around the world. But they have no accountability to the people, to the populations, to the countries, to the towns, to the cities to ensure that those conditions are good and in the interest of the population. Because they are these we the the system has created these these monster institutions that by their nature they become incredibly powerful, but also by their nature they are psychopathic in their exclusive pursuit of self interest. So this is an incredibly dysfunctional way of approaching things. Now we can't there's not much we can do about the internal logic of how corporations function.

That's the that's that's the model that they have. So what we have to do like what you what you said earlier, we're not talking about overthrowing corporations or taking corporations apart, although there's certainly an argument to be made about whether or not incorporation itself is a a rational thing to allow. But it is what it is. And this is this is our approach. And as you said, it's it's a a pragmatic strategic approach.

We're not we don't believe in, collapsing or overthrowing any power structure regardless of what form it is. We believe in strategizing to ensure that, whatever power structure we're talking about is responsible to the population and responsive to the population and not exclusively self serving. So that the the onus is upon us to try to figure out how we can utilize whatever the internal logic is of that power structure, that institution. In this case, we're talking about corporations, the most powerful non state actors, political actors in the world. How do we navigate the internal logic of those institutions to include in their logic serving the public or or any way considering and trying to represent better represent and reflect the values of the population and the interest of the population.

That's what is meant by corporate democratization. I think you've outlined it very clearly. We're not necessarily talking about, although it's certainly an aspect of it, we're not focusing now on the internal ethics of any particular company. We're talking about the relationship between these massive, monstrously powerful institutions and the population. Because you you know, America came up with a a really brilliant ingenious way to completely circumvent the democracy that they committed themselves to on paper by saying, okay.