Joe W wrote: Doug, it is a no-brainer assumption that if a coterie of powerful elites (supposedly accountable elected leaders and corporate bosses) meet exclusively and regularly, going to great lengths to bar public scrutiny, that they are likely up to no good, at least from a proletarian perspective. This is why thousands of leftist activists have protested the G-8 Summits, the World Economic Forum Meetings and so forth.
Your claim that 'we know pretty much how the world works' and your statment that 'Who fucking cares what a bunch of paunchy elites do on retreat' are both ludicrous on their face. As you obviously are aware, umpteen person-hours of brainpower and instutional resources are dedicated to figuring out and debating the abundant mysteries of how the world works and a critical part of that discourse has included careful monitoring of what 'paunchy elites do on retreat'. What Peter Phillips of Project Censored says below about another notoriuos redoubt of 'paunchy elites'; the Bohemian Grove, also pertains to the Bilderberg Group and puts the lie to your claim that these sorts of entities are unimportant (it also reveals an inexplicable unconcern on your part about critiquing institutions that perpetuate class inequality):
"Private men's clubs, like the San Francisco Bohemian Club [Bilderberg Group], have historically represented institutionalized race, gender and class inequality. English gentlemen's clubs emerged during Great Britain's empire building period as an exclusive place free of troublesome women, under-classes, and non-whites. Men's clubs were the place where English elites could co-mingle in homogeneous harmony. Copied in the United States, elite private men's clubs served the same self-celebration purposes as their English counterparts. As metropolitan areas emerged, upper-crust white males created new clubs throughout the Americas. These private men's clubs continued the European traditions of elitism, race superiority and gender exclusion." http://www.sonomacountyfreepress.com/bohos/San_Francisco_Bohemian_Club_Power_Prestige_and_Globalism.html