April 22, 2008

The first Bilderberg Conference was held in 1954 at the Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands. Joseph Retinger, a leader of the European Movement (an early forerunner to the European Union), is credited with being an initiator of the original Bilderberg Conference. The ostensible purpose was to address the tide of growing anti-Americanism in Europe. The declared purpose of the Bilderberg Group was to establish a working relationship between Europe and America, to defend these countries against mutual financial threats that the USSR and Communism might present. Call it an economic cold war, if you will.

An ancient cliche is that “money makes the world go round.” I often pose this question to my associates: if you took five people from every country around the world, with four of them of the same economic class and one person from each country who was a billionaire, do you believe that the people would gather with their own countrymen, or would the billionaires find themselves crossing borders to converse with each other? Every single person I pose this question to agrees that the billionaires would converse mostly among themselves. Quite simply put, the billionaires have much more in common with each other than with their average fellow countrymen. Whether it is the street corner or the barbershop, the workplace or the health club, people tend to gather with those most like themselves. Of course, there’s more to it than that.

 One must realize that with the resources possessed by members and guests of the Bilderberg Group, they could easily pass along secrets, conspiracies and plots to take over the world with no publicity, if they so preferred. Normal discussions for most of these people involve hundreds of millions of dollars and the employment or governance of thousands, if not millions, of people. For myself or others, our discussions might concern the next month’s rent or house payment.

A few common questions which are often asked, usually to cast aspersions on the nefarious nature of – drum roll please – The Bilderberg Group, are as follows:
How come they don’t allow the press to cover the meetings? How come the security is so high? Why is the level of secrecy regarding their discussions so high? Well, let us address those questions one at a time.

As far as not allowing the press to cover their meetings, the answer is quite simple. They don’t want the press around. Maybe the billionaires want a party where they can let their hair down and not worry about some inappropriate comment they may make among friends becoming a front page story. Who knows? Perhaps there is a lot of flirting and inappropriate behavior mixed in with the plotting for world domination. After all, I would think that after an extended life of wealth and influence, even lobster doesn’t taste so sweet anymore. Nor is endless global mastery or plotting the ultimate conspiracy as exciting as it used to be. Having had roughly one meeting every year since 1954, how many conspiracies can they plot? Don’t the elite, with all their money, power and intellectual capital, have the capacity for long term planning?

Perhaps the Bilderberg Conference is more like a prom or a sweet sixteen party for the affluent. No one wants the press around on prom night. These movers and shakers of the world are so closely scrutinized that most of their lives, businesses and ventures are more often in the public domain then not.

Next, we broach the issue of such high security. Why is security so tight? Ranging from non-disclosure agreements to secret locations, much ado is made about how everything regarding Bilderberg is done in a whisper. Furthermore, the security is exceedingly tight. An oft-made complaint is that publicly funded law enforcement is often providing security for the Bilderberg meetings. Is this any different than the police officers you see working overtime at a local concert? Perhaps the biggest difference is that most of the attendees have their own personal security anyway. Because of their elevated financial status or worldly influence, their security detachments are the best that money can buy. Why would a town’s public law enforcement participate in protecting this private conference? The answer is logical and simple. A meeting of so many of this kind of people makes such a gathering a public concern.

The list of members, guests and invitees at the Bilderberg Conference is definitely impressive. They have included Britain’s Prince Charles, royalty from the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Liechtenstein and Denmark, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, Gerald Ford, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Robert McNamara, David Rockefeller, etc. The list seems endless, with the largest representations being from the United States and England.

It really is a potpourri of power with a NATO face. Anybody who is anybody in the context of global power and influence is a participant in Bilderberg.

When declarations of death are made by religious zealots against cartoonists who have drawn something they find offensive, ensuring extreme protection for people whose lives affect the money markets and world wide political stability is not unreasonable. Think of a portable Green Zone that is actually secure.

This brings us to the question of why everyone is so closed-mouthed regarding what is said at the Bilderberg meetings. The answer, I believe, is similar to that of why the press isn’t invited en masse. Regardless of how much these wealthy and influential people may disregard the common mans’ desire for freedom, I am sure they remain zealous of protecting their own. Is that hypocritical? Certainly. But since many of the Bilderberg Group have sacrificed all that they have for wealth and influence, they could  surely use the skills involved in doing so to give them freedom at their annual soiree.

All in all, I don’t find the Bilderberg Conference nearly as interesting as most. The attendees, because of who they are, certainly affect the world and global markets. The ramifications of these decision maker’s plans are felt around the world, and that includes right here on Maui. From war to economics, oil to chemicals, food to pharmaceuticals, the attendees of the Bilderberg Conference have their hands in it all.

I can only imagine the attendees gorging themselves on Beluga caviar, Cognac and Lafitte Rothschild as they light an easily acquired Cuban cigar. In between puffs, they chuckle about the conspiracy theorists. Knowing that they discuss world matters the way regular people talk about the McDonald’s dollar menu must reassure them of their exclusiveness and selectivity.

In between comparing golf scores  they certainly pair up into their own little cliques. They didn’t get where they are by being friends with everybody. Like many of these business meetings, fake hand shakes and smiles would gleam in the light from chandeliers bouncing off of crystal decanters and well-polished wood.

Perhaps their plots and plans have nothing to do with the little people because the little people are too little. This is where the trickle-down effect  touches the masses indirectly because frankly, as an individual, to them you are meaningless. That’s why you didn’t get invited to the Conference. Sorry for the reality check, but take refuge in one thing. For all that the Bilderberg Group or Conference is or isn’t, one thing is for sure; other than the goose down beds, Egyptian cotton and oysters on the half shell, it is probably boring as hell.

I’ll take surf shorts and slippers any day. Plus, you can get a great bag of oysters at Foodland. Just tro’ ‘em on dah grill, brah.

For more on the Bilderberg Group visit the following websites: www.youtube.com, www.newsconfidential.com.

 
Jonas Holmes III is Googling Jonas Holmes III.

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Jonas Holmes III