:42:00
So governments have
become powerless
:42:03
compared to what
they were before.
:42:06
Capitalism today commands
the towering heights
:42:10
and has displaced
politics and politicians
:42:13
as the new high priests
:42:14
and reigning
oligarchs of our system.
:42:17
So capitalism and its principle
protagonists and players
:42:21
corporate CEOs
:42:23
have been accorded unusual
power and access.
:42:27
This is not to deny the
significance of government
:42:29
and politicians
:42:31
but these are
the new high priests.
:42:36
I was invited to
Washington D. C. to attend
:42:38
this meeting that
was being put together
:42:41
by the National
Security Agency called
:42:43
the Critical
Thinking Consortium.
:42:46
I remember standing
there in this room
:42:48
and looking over
on one side of the room
:42:51
and we had
the C IA N S A D IA FB I
:42:55
Customs Secret Service
:42:59
and then on the other
side of the room we had
:43:01
Coca Cola Mobile Oil
GTE and Kodak.
:43:06
And I remember thinking
:43:08
I am in the epicentre
:43:10
of the intelligence
industry right now.
:43:12
I mean the line
is not just blurring
:43:14
it just not
there any more.
:43:18
And tome it
:43:19
it spoke volumes
as to how
:43:21
industry and government were
consulting with each other
:43:26
and working
with each other.
:43:41
As 34 nations of the western
hemisphere gathered
:43:43
to draft a far reaching
trade agreement
:43:45
one that would lay
the groundwork
:43:47
to privatize every resource
and service imaginable
:43:50
thousands of people
:43:51
from hundreds
of grassroots organizations
:43:53
joined to oppose it.
:43:56
Canadas top
business lobbyists
:43:58
and its chief trade
representative