follow the money

Put on your tinfoil hats ladies and gentlemen.

Look back in history and you’ll find no shortage of individuals willing to sacrifice the interest of the greater good in the pursuit of money. We all know that crime pays; that much is obvious. There would be no crime if it wasn’t lucrative!

I’d like to discuss a more pernicious variety of crime. These are the actions that aren’t technically “illegal” but nevertheless measurably harm the health and wellness of the public while a small group of powerful insiders profit. Make no mistake, if you were not suffering, these insiders would not be profiting. These individuals are sophisticated (which is different from morality) and are perfectly aware they are engaging in sanctioned crimes against humanity.

Here are some examples of ways that you suffer, while someone else is profiting:

• The processed food industry poisons your food supply
• The pharmaceutical industry benefits from a culture that focuses on “treating symptoms”, rather than promote a healthy lifestyle that would prevent people from becoming unhealthy in the first place
• Insurance companies provide a public good and yet have a financial incentive to provide as little of that public good as possible

Just to name a few…

So how does this relate to cell phones? I’m getting there!

You ever heard of a company called Apple? Did you know it’s the largest publicly traded company in the world by market capitalization? Not the 2^nd largest, not the 3^rd. THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD. It’s 7% weight in the S&P 500 means if Apple stock goes up, the rest of the market goes up. If Apple stock goes down, the rest of the market goes down.

Are the alarm bells ringing yet?

The largest manufacturer of smart phones in the world is also the largest publicly traded company in the world, and heavily influences the movement of the global stock market. This means if you have a financial interest in the success of the economy, you have an interest in keeping Apple stock healthy. To protect your investments, you need to protect Apple.

When Trump announced his tariffs, part of his plan was a heavy tariff on imported goods from China. The next day, Tim Cook got on the line with Trump. We’ll never know what they discussed, but we can speculate that Tim reminded Trump that Apple relies on China and Apple is too big to fail. If Apple stock crashes, the market crashes. The next day Trump excluded smart phones from the China tariff.

The following is an incomplete list of entities that make up the Apple cabal. Their financial success is directly correlated with your smart phone addiction.

• Telecommunication industry
• Social media industry
• E-commerce industry and payment service providers
• Entities that buy, sell, collect, and process your personal data (like Google)
• Manufacturers of electronics and their suppliers of raw materials
• Entities that use smart phones to sell a product or service
• The advertising industry and entities that rely on ad revenue

If you’re ever curious why things are the way they are, a good question to ask is who is profiting? People lie, but money does not.

Follow the money. You will have your answer.