He sold him a horse but delivered a mule.
-Tevvya, Fiddler On The Roof

Why ask why?
—National beer commercial

Honesty is such a lonely word; everyone is so untrue.
—Billy Joel, Songwriter and Recording Artist

The problem is as old as civilization: caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. "Sharp" business practices have always endangered buyers' wealth, health and even their lives. In the last 50 years, however, breakthroughs in a thousand different technologies have created even greater opportunities for the unscrupulous to defraud the unsuspecting—often with disastrous results.

While such tragedies were once isolated to a few individuals, families or communities, today's mass communication enables large advertisers to influence markets around the world. Transnational corporations with no allegiance to any government now wield more power to enhance–or destroy—lives than our grandparents could have imagined.

Recent advances in knowledge of the mind heighten the effects of corrupted technology and advertising. Psychology, originally studied to free human beings from their psychic barriers and personal demons, has been largely corrupted, at least since Pavlov, by those would further enslave us. Books such as The Hidden Persuaders (Vance Packard) and Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind document the strategies of Madison Avenue to push our emotional buttons, often producing unthinking reactions. "Legal" but unethical subtleties in advertising go far beyond sexual images hidden in liquor-ad ice cubes and the cartoon ads targeting children by tobacco companies.

News and entertainment—print as well as electronic—are two other key industries that exploit the new technology of mind manipulation. Top executives at CBS, NBC and ABC belong to the same good-old-boy clubs that have pulled Washington's strings for the last 50 years. Members of the Council on Foreign Relations and The Trilateral Commission, the heads of top U.S. newspapers along side the presidents and cabinet officials of countries worldwide, validate the characterization of the media as the fourth branch of government. The powerful effects of violence on television have been long known but uncurbed. What do YOU think?

As part of their "business as usual" procedures, most banks routinely betray the trust of their customers. One former real-estate agent told U.S. News and World Report that she left the banking industry when she began questioning the federal system. "The banks were loaning thin air. I couldn't in good conscience convince somebody to buy a house."

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What can you do about it? The Time Is Now Institute is part of the solution. We invite you to a Consultation to develop a personal solution. Be sure to read all 12 Good Reasons.

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