We were born into a world in the midst of an industrial boom, in which the overall surplus value – at least in the West – grew in step with the increase in production, scientific and technological progress, the new availability of logistics distribution. In that world, the internal market had to be supported in every possible way, because the growing production needed buyers, and the working class, which was fundamental to guarantee this growth, had extraordinary bargaining power. It was a world of citizens, persecuted by two gigantic supranational powers (the United States and the Soviet Union), who decided on foreign peoples without giving them any choice or vote, who made and unmade governments, who tortured and killed critical souls, who brought tanks into the street and sent you to a gulag or a re-education camp in Guantanamo.
Then came 1973, and that world ended – in the East as well as in the West. Gerald Ford replaced first Spiro Agnew and then Richard Nixon, who was swept up in the Watergate scandal. In many weaker nations there were violent regime changes (Chile, DDR, etc.). In Italy, Germany and other European countries, the Years of Lead began, as did the years of Gladio. Trade union representation, for various reasons, entered a crisis. From this crisis a new world was born, that of finance, which creates money from money, regardless of production. People were told that it was lame to be aware, and citizens were turned into consumers. People were told that it was lame to study, get information and take to the streets, and people started hiding in their homes and behind phone calls to Noel Edmonds, and Richard Dimbelby disappeared from TV, replaced by people like Isabel Oakshott.
Then came 2008, the great global banking collapse, and this new world also ended. Consumers have become precarious, displaced, migrants, beggars, forced labourers, chronically unemployed, truncated and illiterate. The value of the electoral vote has been wiped out. Religion has become fundamentalism, among Christians, Muslims and Jews alike. People continued to believe in money, just when the real message was: no more production, the earth can’t take it anymore. No more financial speculation, the periodic collapses leave behind a trail of victims with no defence.
This is the world we live in today. Neither industries, nor banks, nor parties, nor trade unions count anymore. Only tanks count. And there is nowhere safe to hide. This website exists to explain this world: in its immense complexity and terrifying simplicity.
Established in 2004, Info Brokers International are one of the leading business intelligence companies with the greatest range of activities. IBI is made out of independent researchers from Italy, Germany, Russia and Switzerland. Our senior analysts come with over 40 years of experience in the fields of investigative journalism, international banking and accountancy. Our customers are banks, leading industrial conglomerates, insurance companies, but also public authorities and lawyers. We can count on an impressive network of sources in all areas: finance, justice and politics. We work mainly in Europe, Africa, and Asia, but our main area of focus are investigations into offshore jurisdictions.
