These Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy And Watch

This chart shows that most products we buy are controlled by just a few companies. It’s called “The Illusion of Choice.”

Despite a wide array of brands to choose from, it all comes back to the big guys.

Also read The Large Families that rule the world - It looks at the world’s largest banks, to see who the shareholders are making the decisions.

Ten mega corporations control the output of almost everything you buy; from household products to pet food to jeans.

According to this chart via Reddit, called “The Illusion of Choice,” these corporations create a chain that begins at one of 10 super companies. You’ve heard of the biggest names, but it’s amazing to see what these giants own or influence.

(Note: The chart shows a mix of networks. Parent companies may own, own shares of, or may simply partner with their branch networks. For example, Coca-Cola does not own Monster, but distributes the energy drink. Another note: We are not sure how up-to-date the chart is. For example, it has not been updated to reflect P&G’s sale of Pringles to Kellogg’s in February.)

Here are just a few examples: Yum Brands owns KFC and Taco Bell. The company was a spin-off of Pepsi. All Yum Brands restaurants sell only Pepsi products because of a special partnership with the soda-maker.

$84 billion-company Proctor & Gamble — the largest advertiser in the U.S. — is paired with a number of diverse brands that produce everything from medicine to toothpaste to high-end fashion. All tallied, P&G reportedly serves a whopping 4.8 billion people around the world through this network.

$200 billion-corporation Nestle — famous for chocolate, but which is the biggest food company in the world — owns nearly 8,000 different brands worldwide, and takes stake in or is partnered with a swath of others. Included in this network is shampoo company L’Oreal, baby food giant Gerber, clothing brand Diesel, and pet food makers Purina and Friskies.

Unilever, of soap fame, reportedly serves 2 billion people around the world, controlling a network that produces everything from Q-tips to Skippy peanut butter.

And it’s not just the products you buy and consume, either. In recent decades, the very news and information that you get has bundled together: 90% of the media is now controlled by just six companies, down from 50 in 1983, according to a Frugal Dad infographic from last year.

It gets even more macro, too: 37 banks have merged to become just four — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and CitiGroup in a little over two decades, according to this Federal Reserve map.

The nation’s 10 largest financial institutions hold 54% of our total financial assets; in 1990, they held 20%. As MotherJones reports, the number of banks has dropped from more than 12,500 to about 8,000.

The numbers are stark, and the charts visualize the mind-bending reality. This is the world we live in.

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Nine Of The World’s Biggest Corporations Just Vowed To Go Green!

A bunch of the planet's biggest companies have finally promised to go green, setting a great example for others to follow

Last week, nine corporate giants set a precedent by promising to commit to 100% renewable energy. Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Goldman Sachs, Nike, Starbucks, Salesforce, Steelcase, Voya Financial and Walmart announced at the annual Climate Week in New York that they have joined the global campaign RE100, which encourages businesses to source green energy.

While all these corporations plan to make a full transition to using renewable electricity, timescales differ: Nike has said it will do this before 2025, while Goldman Sachs was a little more optimistic with a 2020 date.  In total, 36 companies have now joined RE100 since its launch in 2014.

Meanwhile, the UN has launched Carbon Neutral Now, a new initiative to encourage more businesses to offset their carbon emissions. Another trend, the idea of divesting from fossil fuels, is the new big thing in celebrity circles- Leonardo DiCaprio just announced he will divest his millions, but Bill Gates has yet to put his money where his mouth is…

Watch the video by Momentforaction.org to find out why tackling climate change is so important for our generation. This short film is endorsed by DiCaprio, whose foundation is doing crucial work all over the world saving wild animals and their habitats.

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Brazil Bans Corporate Donations in Elections, Meanwhile U.S. Elections Drown in Corporate Cash

By Jay Syrmopoulos

Taking an approach to the issue of corporate donations in election campaigns almost completely opposite that of the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v FEC, the Brazilian Supreme Court has banned corporate donations in elections.

Last week, the court ruled 8 to 3 that campaign donations from corporations were unconstitutional.

The Brazilian ban on corporate donations comes amid an extensive corruption scandal that has reached all the way to the Brazilian presidency, with citizens calling for President Dilma Rousseff to be impeached.

During the Brazilian elections last year, close to 76% of the total $760 million donated to the campaigns for congress and the presidency, came directly from corporate sources, according to The Guardian.

Taking virtually the opposite position of the Brazilian Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008, in the case of Citizens United v FEC, ruled to allow virtually unlimited giving to political campaigns by corporations in the United States

While in the U.S. corporations are technically limited in how much they may donate to a candidate or party, the use of 501 (c) 4 organizations, commonly referred to as a “super PAC” allow corporations to give limitlessly.

According to the Sunlight Foundation:

Traditional political action committees are bound by a $5,000 annual limit on the size of contributions they can accept from individuals and are prohibited from accepting contributions from corporations and labor unions.

A super PAC is freed from these restrictions under two conditions: The PAC must neither 1) give money directly to a candidate or other political committees that give directly to candidates, nor 2) coordinate how it spends its money with a federal candidate. As long as those two conditions are met, a super PAC may accept donations directly from corporate or union treasuries and in amounts that are limited only by the size of donors’ bank accounts.

Arguing that big money in politics had created a game that was rigged from the start, thus undermining the legitimacy of government as a whole, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Rosa Weber said,

“The influence of economic power has ended up transforming the electoral process into a rigged political game, a despicable pantomime which makes the voter a puppet, simultaneously undermining citizenship, democracy and popular sovereignty.”

One potential loophole that could be exploited is a provision in the ruling, which allows for donations by individuals, of up to 10% of their annual income. One of the main concerns is that this allows for the potential exploitation of the rules by companies channeling their money through “bundles” of individual voters.

In America, super PACs currently operate as de facto campaigns, which although legally prohibited from coordinating with the legitimate campaign, often work in concert with the official campaign. Super PACs have already collected over $300 million in donations to be spent on the 2016 election cycle.

Although banning things, or creating legal prohibitions rarely result in the desired results, it seems common sense to keep corporations from bringing such undue influence to bear in a political arena that dictates nearly all aspects of the lives of individuals.

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