When years of surveys routinely reveal that some 70 percent of the American public believe that the ‘system is rigged’ in favor of a relatively limited few, such data should cause people of all backgrounds and beliefs to lean into to learn more. This headline topical mashup about Jeffrey Epstein and elites’ sexual scandals as “distraction” per attorney Laura Hollis (Part I) plus the video with transcript from Economy Rewind (Part II) have been on the MHProNews radar for about 3 weeks. Why? While each work product of the respective authors/creators could and should be sifted for their respective wheat and chaff, each arguably make useful points impacting all Americans. Perhaps more specifically, what each had to say sheds light on MHVille’s 21^st century plight too. For example. The Economy Rewind video on the late billionaire J.D. Rockefeller makes this potent statement (bold added by MHProNews). “The gasoline you pump, the drugs you buy, the tech platforms you use, the food you eat, the banks you borrow from, every single one uses the Rockefeller playbook. Vertical integration, horizontal consolidation, regulatory capture, tax exempt foundations that shape policy and market dominance so complete that competition becomes impossible. Rockefeller didn’t just build an oil empire. He built the architecture of modern corporate control.” Attorney Hollis’ remarks include this: “Dollars were funneled into NGOs, purportedly for charity but really to implement policy.” Hollis also said (bold added): “As gross as that [Epstein-elites’-sex with underage girls] behavior may have been, the teenage-girl sex stuff was a mere pastime, and fixating on it is a dangerous distraction. The true threats from Epstein and his sycophants lay elsewhere.” There are areas of overlap between two seemingly distinct topics. The notions presented herein will be tested with typically left-leaning third-party artificial intelligence (AI) in Part III. This article will explore what insights and lessons, if any, may be useful for understanding why HUD Code manufactured housing is underperforming in the 21^st century when compared to the pre-HUD Code manufactured housing industry’s record production of mobile homes in the early 1970s and the high achieved by manufactured housing in the mid-to-late 1990s. Facts-evidence-analysis (FEA) of these seemingly unconnected examples will yield arguably useful insights for organic growth without predatory behavior that is of interest to affordable home seekers and sincere advocates, numbers of retail investors, taxpayers, sincere (vs. ‘captured’) public officials, educators and others.

 

 

Note that sources from across the left-right divide are being presented in this article. Part III will provide additional facts, evidence, and industry expert analysis that will reveal how these insights apply to MHVille.

This MHVille facts-evidence-analysis (FEA) is well underway.

 

 

Part I. From the right-leaning WND News Center to MHProNews with permission is the following

NEW WORLD DISORDER

Epstein’s sexual scandals are distractions from the real threat

‘Dollars were funneled into NGOs, purportedly for charity but really to implement policy’

By Laura Hollis

A few weeks ago, commentator Peggy Tierney wrote a Substack piece in which she referenced a long article – a profile piece – written about Jeffrey Epstein in 2014 by well-known author and journalist Michael Wolff. According to Tierney, although the article was intended to polish Epstein’s public image, it was never picked up by any publication but nevertheless somehow ended up in parts of the “Epstein files” that were released earlier this year by the House Oversight Committee.

The countless articles, books and media documentaries about Epstein have fixated on his insatiable sexual appetites and predilection for teenage girls, as well as his willingness to provide the services of those very young females to some of his friends and colleagues. That lens on Epstein’s life – and the nonstop public outrage it has generated – could easily lead one to conclude that the primary purpose of his existence was to serve as a wealthy and somewhat eccentric pimp for the world’s elites.

Wolff’s article, however, reveals otherwise. As gross as that behavior may have been, the teenage-girl sex stuff was a mere pastime, and fixating on it is a dangerous distraction.

The true threats from Epstein and his sycophants lay elsewhere.

Wolff starts out astonished that Epstein’s Florida convictions for sex with minors did not deter the powerful people who sought him out. Wolff writes that Epstein’s meetings with the world’s movers and shakers “somehow stayed private or secret … not out of any formal or stated restrictions, but because, in some sense, it would be very hard to explain just what you’re doing there with a brazen sex offender in a guffaw-inducing home flaunting all moderation. And yet, defying disgrace, and tolerating his tone deafness – or mocking attitude toward the zeitgeist – so many come. Gladly. Willingly. Feeling that his invitation is quite an extraordinary privilege.”

Who were these visitors to Epstein’s salons – his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, his apartment in Paris, his private island in the Caribbean, his lushly appointed private jets?

Heads of state and other political leaders, of course; Wolff mentions former President Bill Clinton, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and a high-ranking member of former President Barack Obama’s administration who asks not to be named.

But also the uber-rich. Bill Gates, Wolff says, was a “frequent visitor” and a “key adviser” to Epstein. Gates was only one of many billionaires who sought Epstein out. Rob Baron (of the billion-dollar Baron Fund) pays homage. PayPal founder Peter Thiel comes for lunch. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin ride to a TED Talk on Epstein’s Boeing 737. Wolff describes a recent dinner as something out of a “conspiracy theorist’s fantasy”: six tech entrepreneurs worth hundreds of billions of dollars between them, sitting around Epstein’s dining room table “trying to figure out how to … shape the world to their liking.”

Epstein was only too happy to help. His expertise, according to Wolff, was “hyper wealth.” Wolff quotes Epstein as saying, “In the past, only governments had this kind of money, money of a reality altering scale. … Now you have legions of people (with) vastly larger fortunes than Rockefeller or Carnegie had at their disposal, or might even have imagined.”

So, Epstein helped them decide how to give to charitable causes?

Au contraire.

Epstein elaborated, “(I)t used to be that the rich, reaching a certain point of philanthropy, merely hoped to help make the world a better place; now they want to change the world.”

And how better to do that than to implement government policy on a global scale?

Interestingly, Brin’s ex-wife and former Democratic Party vice presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan just gave an interview with conservative podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey in which she talks about exactly this. Shanahan describes how she and other wives of the small handful of “tech mafia” billionaires in Silicon Valley (some of whom were almost certainly among the six at the dinner party Wolff described 11 years ago) were duped into thinking that the enormous donations their families and enterprises were making had charitable purposes, but were really part of the Klaus Schwab/WEF/Davos crowd’s “Great Reset” – a movement designed to restructure the governments and economies of the planet into a planned, top-down command-and-control model with a small cadre of self-appointed leaders at the top in possession of everything, and everyone else crowded into “15-minute cities,” with life’s essentials rationed on the basis of social credit scores.

Shanahan explained how billions of dollars were funneled into nongovernmental organizations, purportedly for charity but really to implement policy. The constant refrains of “social justice” and “climate change,” she says, were fabricated ruses designed to appeal to progressive women seeking personal validation through philanthropic work; wives and mothers too overwhelmed (and too medicated) to discover that the “charities” were coverups for global power grabs.

In that vein, Wolff’s summation of Epstein’s role is telling. He says, “Epstein’s position in this … is not as a philanthropist but as a sort of adviser or guru or brain – a rich whisperer – making him … arguably among the most influential people you’ve only heard of for reasons that have nothing to do with his influence.”

BOOM. There you go.

Those who don’t believe Epstein committed suicide are certain he was taken out because he had “dirt” on men for whom he procured sexual services. Perhaps. But it seems more likely that the threat was not so much the potential exposure of the sexual exploitation per se but rather the possibility that all the revealed smut would undermine the longer-term political, economic and social objectives of Epstein’s cohorts and advisees.

Either way, all the names in the “Epstein files” should be released. They all need to be exposed, not so much for their sexual inclinations but for their authoritarian aspirations.

It’s worth mentioning that there are plenty of others who are just as set upon taking control of the world’s governments, militaries, economies, agricultural and other production, and who had zero interest in Epstein, his opinions or his minions. They are just as dangerous, because they, too, see themselves as the rightful rulers of the planet. Whether or not they have sexual depravity in their background, they are exploiting all the power and financial resources available to them and using the same neo-Marxist and envirofascist propaganda to achieve their goals. They, like Epstein’s fawning coterie, must never acquire the power they seek. ##

Laura Hollis

Laura Hollis is an attorney and educator. She resides in Indiana with her husband and children. 

Part II. From the YouTube page of Economy Rewind on the topic of billionaire John D. Rockefeller’s System – Provided under Fair Use Guidelines for Media

 

1) MHProNews notes it would disagree on historical, pragmatic, and philosophical with the implied premise of the article (i.e.: “the system you can never escape”).  That said, what makes this video of interest and potential use are insights and concepts that are often (but not always in all places, times, industries, etc.) true. It doesn’t matter, for the purposes of this facts-evidence-analysis (FEA) if Economy Rewind is simply exaggerating for literary effect or if the writer(s)/producer(s) of this video and related transcript are sincerely making their contention as literally true. By applying the principle of separating the wheat from the chaff to this article (or the one in Part I above by Hollis) to this article and all others, then the nuggets of gold stand on their own merits and the inevitable dross or dirt can be tossed aside without worrying about the why’s or what’s behind the purported chaff.

2)

John D. Rockefeller: The Man Who Created The System You Can Never Escape

Economy Rewind

842,214 views Nov 25, 2025

1870: 31-year-old man in Cleveland controls 4% of America’s oil refining. 1880: Controls 90%. 1904: Controls 91% of oil production, 85% of final sales. His name: John D. Rockefeller. The system he built didn’t die when Standard Oil was broken up in 1911. It evolved, spread, and controls your life RIGHT NOW in 2025. The gasoline you pump. Drugs you buy. Tech platforms you use. Food you eat. Banks you borrow from. Every single one uses the Rockefeller playbook. Vertical integration, horizontal consolidation, regulatory capture, tax-exempt foundations shaping policy, market dominance so complete competition becomes impossible. Rockefeller didn’t just build an oil empire. He built the architecture of modern corporate control. And you cannot escape it. THE ROCKEFELLER PLAYBOOK: STEP 1: VERTICAL INTEGRATION Control every stage of production. Rockefeller didn’t just refine oil—he owned barrel factories (15¢ vs competitors’ 25¢), tank cars, railroads, warehouses, distribution networks. Every profit margin competitors needed, Rockefeller kept in-house. Cost advantage = predatory pricing = destroyed competition. Today: Amazon owns warehouses, logistics, delivery trucks, payment processing, cloud infrastructure (AWS: $90B annual revenue). Google owns search, video (YouTube), mobile OS (Android), cloud, hardware. Same playbook. Different century. STEP 2: HORIZONTAL CONSOLIDATION Buy or destroy every competitor. 1872 “Cleveland Massacre”: Rockefeller approached every Cleveland refinery. Offer to buy. If refused, launch price war—sell below cost. Competitors had two choices: sell to Rockefeller or go bankrupt. 3 months: controlled 25 of 26 Cleveland refineries (4% to 25% market share). By 1879: 90% of American refining. Today: Amazon bought Whole Foods, Zappos, Twitch, Ring, MGM (100+ acquisitions). Google bought YouTube, Android, Waze, Nest, DeepMind. Meta bought Instagram, WhatsApp. When can’t buy, copy and undercut (Amazon Basics strategy). STEP 3: THE TRUST (Corporate Structure) 1882: Rockefeller’s lawyers created Standard Oil Trust. First major corporate trust in American history. Holding company that owned all Standard Oil companies. Template for every modern corporation. Alphabet owns Google/YouTube. Meta owns Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp. JPMorgan Chase is holding company. All descendants of Rockefeller’s 1882 innovation. STEP 4: REGULATORY CAPTURE Don’t just compete in markets—shape the rules. Rockefeller lobbied for railroad regulations favoring Standard Oil. Set kerosene standards his refineries met but competitors couldn’t. Today: Pharma companies fund FDA through user fees, lobby for patent extensions, write regulations they’re regulated by. Big Tech writes privacy laws. Banks wrote Dodd-Frank exemptions. Rockefeller invented regulatory capture. Every industry perfected it. STEP 5: PHILANTHROPIC INFLUENCE 1913: Rockefeller Foundation created with $250M ($7B today). Funded medical research, education, public health. But also: avoided estate taxes, controlled university funding (shaped what’s taught/researched), bought legitimacy. Most hated man in America became beloved philanthropist. Rockefeller Foundation funded modern medical education (Johns Hopkins, U Chicago, Rockefeller University). Established pharmaceutical model over holistic care. Shaped American medicine to favor drug interventions. Pharma companies (many from Standard Oil’s chemical divisions) profited enormously. Today: Gates Foundation ($75B assets), Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Buffett pledged wealth to Gates Foundation. Tax avoidance + legacy building + policy influence. Rockefeller invented it. Modern billionaires perfected it. THE 1911 “BREAKUP” MADE HIM RICHER: Supreme Court ordered Standard Oil broken into 34 companies (1911). Should have destroyed Rockefeller’s wealth. Did opposite. Rockefeller owned shares in ALL 34 companies: Standard Oil of New Jersey → Exxon Standard Oil of New York → Mobil Standard Oil of California → Chevron Standard Oil of Indiana → Amoco Standard Oil of Ohio → Sohio (later BP) DISCLAIMER This video is for educational and informational purposes only. It presents historical analysis, opinions, and interpretations based on publicly available sources. It is not financial advice, political advice, or a prediction of future events. All historical comparisons and references to modern countries or governments are theoretical and should not be interpreted as claims, certainties, or endorsements. Viewers are encouraged to research independently and draw their own conclusions.

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Transcript

0:00

In 1870, a 31-year-old man in Cleveland,

0:02

Ohio, controlled 4% of America’s oil

0:05

refining capacity. By 1880, he

0:07

controlled 90%. By 1904, he controlled

0:10

91% of oil production, 85% of final

0:13

sales and had created the template for

0:15

every monopoly that exists today. His

0:18

name was John D. Rockefeller. And the

0:20

system he built, the corporate

0:21

structures he invented, the monopolistic

0:23

tactics he perfected, they didn’t die

0:25

when Standard Oil was broken up in 1911.

0:28

They evolved. They spread and they

0:30

control your life right now in 2025. The

0:32

gasoline you pump, the drugs you buy,

0:34

the tech platforms you use, the food you

0:36

eat, the banks you borrow from, every

0:38

single one uses the Rockefeller

0:40

playbook. Vertical integration,

0:42

horizontal consolidation, regulatory

0:44

capture, tax exempt foundations that

0:46

shape policy and market dominance so

0:48

complete that competition becomes

0:50

impossible. Rockefeller didn’t just

0:52

build an oil empire. He built the

0:53

architecture of modern corporate

0:55

control. And you cannot escape it

0:57

because the system isn’t standard oil.

0:59

The system is the method. And that

1:01

method has been replicated by every

1:03

dominant corporation for 150 years.

1:05

Amazon uses it. Google uses it. Fizer

1:08

uses it. JP Morgan uses it. They all

1:10

learned from the same blueprint, the

1:12

Rockefeller blueprint. Control the

1:14

supply chain vertically. Eliminate

1:16

competitors horizontally. Capture the

1:17

regulators. Use philanthropy to buy

1:19

legitimacy. And when the government

1:21

finally breaks you up, make sure the

1:22

pieces you control are worth more than

1:24

the whole. Let me show you exactly how

1:26

Rockefeller built this system, how he

1:28

used it to become the richest man in

1:29

history, how Standard Oil’s breakup

1:31

actually made him richer, and why 114

1:34

years after that breakup, you still live

1:35

in the world Rockefeller designed.

1:37

Because understanding the system isn’t

1:39

academic, it’s survival. The system is

1:41

designed to extract wealth from you and

1:43

concentrate it at the top. And once you

1:45

see how it works, you’ll see it

1:46

everywhere. John Davidson Rockefeller

1:48

was born July 8th, 1839 in Richford, New

1:51

York. His father was a con man who sold

1:53

fake cancer cures. His mother was a

1:55

devout Baptist. This combination, the

1:57

con man’s ruthlessness and the Baptist’s

1:59

moral certainty, would define

2:01

Rockefeller’s entire approach to

2:02

business. He would destroy competitors

2:04

without mercy while believing God had

2:06

chosen him to organize industry for the

2:07

betterment of mankind. This wasn’t

2:09

hypocrisy. This was genuine conviction

2:11

that his monopoly was moral because it

2:13

brought order to chaos and efficiency to

2:15

waste. In 1859, oil was discovered in

2:18

Titusville, Pennsylvania. The oil rush

2:21

began. Thousands of prospectors flooded

2:23

into western Pennsylvania to drill.

2:25

Fortunes were made and lost overnight.

2:27

It was chaos, boom and bust.

2:28

Overprouction collapsed prices. Then

2:31

shortages spiked them. Rockefeller, who

2:33

was 20 years old and working as a

2:34

bookkeeper in Cleveland, saw

2:35

opportunity, but not in drilling.

2:37

Drilling was volatile, risky, dependent

2:39

on luck. Rockefeller saw opportunity in

2:41

refining, turning crude oil into

2:43

kerosene for lamps. That was the real

2:45

business. In 1863, Rockefeller invested

2:48

$4,000 in his first oil refinery in

2:50

Cleveland. Within two years, it was the

2:53

largest refinery in Cleveland. But

2:55

Cleveland had 30 refineries. Competition

2:57

was fierce. Margins were thin. Most

3:00

refineries operated at the edge of

3:01

bankruptcy. This is where Rockefeller’s

3:03

genius emerged. He didn’t try to compete

3:06

on price. He tried to eliminate

3:07

competition entirely. And he did it

3:09

through a method that would become the

3:10

foundation of corporate America.

3:12

Vertical integration. Vertical

3:14

integration means controlling every

3:16

stage of production. Most refineries

3:18

just refined oil. They bought crude from

3:20

drillers, refined it, and sold kerosene

3:22

to distributors. They controlled one

3:24

step. Rockefeller decided to control all

3:26

the steps. He bought the barrel making

3:28

factories so he didn’t have to buy

3:29

barrels. He bought tank cars and

3:31

railroads to ship his own oil. He bought

3:33

his own warehouses for storage. He

3:35

bought the distribution networks to sell

3:36

directly to consumers. Every step that

3:39

used to be a separate business

3:40

generating profit for someone else,

3:42

Rockefeller brought in house. This gave

3:44

him massive cost advantages. While

3:46

competitors paid 25 cents per barrel

3:48

from barrel makers, Rockefeller made his

3:50

own for 15 cents. While competitors paid

3:52

railroads to ship oil, Rockefeller owned

3:54

the tank cars and negotiated secret

3:56

rebates. The railroads paid him to ship

3:58

his oil and charged competitors more.

3:59

This wasn’t just efficient, this was

4:01

predatory. Rockefeller could sell

4:03

kerosene at prices that put competitors

4:05

out of business while still making

4:06

profit. And that’s exactly what he did.

4:09

By 1870, Rockefeller created Standard

4:11

Oil Company of Ohio. His refinery

4:13

capacity had grown from one small plant

4:15

to the largest refining operation in the

4:17

world. But he still only controlled 4%

4:20

of American refining. That wasn’t

4:22

enough. So Rockefeller launched the

4:24

second phase of his strategy, horizontal

4:27

integration. If vertical integration is

4:29

controlling the entire supply chain,

4:31

horizontal integration is buying or

4:33

destroying every competitor. In 1872,

4:36

Rockefeller initiated what historians

4:38

call the Cleveland Massacre. Over three

4:40

months, Rockefeller approached every

4:41

refinery owner in Cleveland. He offered

4:43

to buy their refineries. If they agreed,

4:45

he paid fair market value and often

4:47

hired them as managers. If they refused,

4:49

he launched a price war. Rockefeller

4:51

would drop the price of kerosene below

4:53

cost. His competitors, who couldn’t

4:55

produce as cheaply, lost money on every

4:57

sale. They had two choices. Sell to

4:59

Rockefeller or go bankrupt. Most sold. A

5:02

few fought. They all lost.

5:04

By the end of 1872, Rockefeller

5:06

controlled 25 of Cleveland’s 26

5:09

refineries. He went from 4% to 25% of

5:12

American refining capacity in 3 months.

5:14

This was the blueprint. Offer to buy. If

5:16

they refuse, destroy them economically

5:18

and buy the ruins. This method would be

5:20

used in every industry, by every

5:21

monopoly for the next 150 years. But

5:24

Rockefeller wasn’t satisfied with

5:26

Cleveland. He wanted the entire country.

5:28

Through the 1870s, Rockefeller expanded

5:31

standard oil across America. He bought

5:33

refineries in New York, Philadelphia,

5:35

Pittsburgh, Baltimore. He used the same

5:37

tactics everywhere. Secret railroad

5:39

rebates that made his shipping costs

5:41

lower than competitors. Vertical

5:42

integration that made his production

5:44

costs the lowest. And ruthless price

5:46

wars that destroyed anyone who refused

5:48

to sell. By 1879, Standard Oil

5:51

controlled 90% of America’s refining

5:54

capacity. 90%. That’s not a business.

5:56

That’s a monopoly. But here’s where

5:58

Rockefeller’s true genius emerged. He

6:01

understood that monopolies face two

6:02

problems. First, they’re illegal. The

6:04

Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in 1890

6:07

specifically to break up monopolies like

6:09

Standard Oil. Second, they’re hated. The

6:11

public despised Rockefeller. He was

6:13

called a robber baron, a ruthless

6:15

tyrant, the most hated man in America.

6:17

Rockefeller needed a solution to both

6:19

problems, and he found it. The trust. In

6:22

1882, Rockefeller’s lawyers created the

6:25

Standard Oil Trust. Here’s how it

6:26

worked. Standard Oil of Ohio couldn’t

6:29

legally own companies in other states,

6:30

but a trust could. Rockefeller created a

6:33

trust that held the stock of all

6:34

Standard Oil companies. 41 shareholders,

6:37

all Rockefeller and his close

6:38

associates, controlled the trust. The

6:40

trust controlled the companies. This was

6:42

the first major corporate trust in

6:44

American history. And it became the

6:46

model for every trust that followed.

6:48

Sugar Trust, Tobacco Trust, Steel Trust,

6:51

all copied Rockefeller’s structure. The

6:53

trust allowed Rockefeller to control a

6:55

nationwide monopoly. While technically

6:56

complying with state laws, but more

6:59

importantly, it created a new legal

7:00

entity. The trust wasn’t a company. It

7:02

was a holding company. It didn’t produce

7:04

anything. It just owned other companies.

7:06

The structure would evolve into the

7:08

modern corporation, the parent company

7:10

that owned subsidiaries, Berkshire

7:12

Hathaway, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon.

7:15

They’re all descendants of Rockefeller’s

7:16

trust. By 1904, Standard Oil controlled

7:19

91% of oil refining in America and 85%

7:22

of final sales. Rockefeller was the

7:24

richest man in the world. His net worth

7:26

was 900 million. That’s $25 billion in

7:28

today’s money. But that’s just paper

7:30

wealth. At his peak in 1913, Rockefeller

7:33

was worth $400 billion inflationadjusted

7:36

dollars. Richer than Jeff Bezos, Elon

7:38

Musk, Bill Gates combined. The richest

7:40

individual in modern history. And he

7:43

built that wealth through the system.

7:45

Vertical integration, horizontal

7:46

consolidation, legal structures that

7:48

concentrated control. This was the

7:50

system. But the public was turning

7:52

against monopolies. In 1890, Congress

7:55

passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, making

7:57

monopolies illegal. In 1906,

7:59

investigative journalist Ida Tarbell

8:01

published the history of the Standard

8:03

Oil Company, exposing Rockefeller’s

8:04

tactics. Secret railroad rebates,

8:07

predatory pricing, crushing competitors.

8:09

The outcry was enormous. In 1911, the

8:12

Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil

8:13

was an illegal monopoly and ordered it

8:15

broken up into 34 separate companies.

8:18

This should have been the end, the

8:19

destruction of the system, but it

8:21

wasn’t. It was the beginning of the

8:23

systems evolution because when Standard

8:25

Oil was broken up, Rockefeller still

8:27

owned shares in all 34 companies.

8:30

Standard Oil of New Jersey became Exxon.

8:32

Standard Oil of New York became Mobile.

8:34

Standard Oil of California became

8:35

Chevron. Standard Oil of Indiana became

8:38

a Mokco. Standard Oil of Ohio became

8:40

Ohio, later bought by BP. The breakup

8:43

didn’t destroy Rockefeller’s wealth. It

8:44

multiplied it. Before the breakup,

8:47

Standard Oil stock was worth about $600

8:49

per share. After the breakup, the

8:51

combined value of all 34 companies was

8:53

worth over $2,000 per share.

8:55

Rockefeller’s wealth tripled. Why?

8:57

Because the breakup forced each company

8:59

to compete, which drove innovation and

9:01

efficiency. And because breaking one

9:03

monopoly into 34 companies that still

9:05

dominated their regional markets, wasn’t

9:07

really breaking up the monopoly. It was

9:09

just reorganizing it. Today, most of

9:11

those 34 companies have merged back

9:13

together. Exxon and Mobile merged in

9:15

1999. Chevron bought Standard Oil of

9:18

Kentucky and Gulf Oil. BP bought a Moco

9:20

in Ohio. The standard oil monopoly that

9:22

was broken up in 1911 has essentially

9:25

reconsolidated into Exxon Mobile,

9:27

Chevron and BP. The system broke itself

9:30

up to avoid regulation, then quietly put

9:32

itself back together over a hundred

9:33

years. But Standard Oil isn’t even

9:36

Rockefeller’s most enduring legacy. The

9:38

real legacy is the system itself. The

9:41

methods, the structures, the playbook.

9:43

Let me show you how it’s being used

9:44

right now. Amazon uses vertical

9:46

integration exactly like Rockefeller.

9:48

Amazon started as an online bookstore.

9:50

Now it controls the entire supply chain.

9:52

It owns the warehouses, the logistics

9:54

network, the delivery trucks, the

9:56

payment processing, the cloud

9:57

infrastructure that hosts its

9:59

competitors websites. Amazon Web

10:01

Services, AWS, generates $90 billion in

10:04

annual revenue. That’s more than

10:05

Amazon’s retail profit. Rockefeller

10:08

controlled refineries, railroads, and

10:09

distribution. Amazon controls retail,

10:12

logistics, and cloud computing. Same

10:14

playbook, different century. Amazon also

10:16

uses horizontal consolidation. It buys

10:19

competitors. Whole Foods, Zapos, Twitch,

10:22

Ring, MGM Studios, over 100

10:24

acquisitions. When it can’t buy a

10:26

competitor, it copies their products and

10:28

undercuts their prices using data from

10:30

its own marketplace. Third party sellers

10:32

report their sales data to Amazon.

10:34

Amazon analyzes that data, identifies

10:36

successful products, creates Amazon

10:38

basics versions, and promotes them above

10:40

the original. This is the modern version

10:43

of Rockefeller’s Price War. legal,

10:45

barely regulated, and devastatingly

10:46

effective. Google uses the trust

10:48

structure. Alphabet is a holding company

10:50

that owns Google, YouTube, Whimo,

10:53

DeepMind, Verily, and dozens of other

10:55

subsidiaries. It’s the standard oil

10:57

trust, one parent company controlling

10:59

multiple operating companies. This

11:01

structure shields the parent from

11:02

liability, allows tax optimization

11:04

across jurisdictions, and makes

11:06

regulatory breakup complicated because

11:08

each subsidiary is technically separate.

11:10

Pharmaceutical companies use

11:12

Rockefeller’s regulatory capture

11:13

strategy. Rockefeller didn’t just

11:15

compete in markets. He shaped the rules.

11:18

He lobbied for railroad regulations that

11:19

favored standard oil. He worked with

11:21

politicians to set standards for

11:23

kerosene that his refineries could meet,

11:25

but competitors couldn’t. Today,

11:27

pharmaceutical companies do the same.

11:29

They fund the FDA through user fees.

11:31

They lobby for patent extensions. They

11:33

write the regulations they’re supposedly

11:34

regulated by. Fizer, Johnson and

11:37

Johnson, Merc, they learned from

11:38

Rockefeller. control the regulators and

11:40

you control the market. The financial

11:42

sector uses holding company structures.

11:44

JP Morgan Chase is a holding company

11:46

that owns Chase Bank, JP Morgan

11:48

Investment Bank and numerous

11:49

subsidiaries. Bank of America, Cityroup,

11:52

Wells Fargo, all holding companies. When

11:54

DoddFrank tried to regulate banks after

11:56

2008, the holding company structure made

11:58

it nearly impossible. Which entity do

12:01

you regulate? The parent or the

12:02

subsidiaries? Rockefeller solved this

12:04

problem in 1882. Banks copied the

12:06

solution 100 years later. And then

12:08

there’s philanthropy, Rockefeller’s

12:10

final innovation. In 1913, Rockefeller

12:13

created the Rockefeller Foundation with

12:15

an initial gift of $250 million, over $7

12:18

billion today. The foundation funded

12:20

medical research, education, and public

12:22

health. On the surface, this was

12:24

charity, Rockefeller giving back. But

12:27

look deeper. The foundation allowed

12:29

Rockefeller to avoid estate taxes. It

12:32

gave him control over which universities

12:33

received funding, which meant control

12:35

over what was taught and researched. It

12:37

bought him legitimacy. The man who

12:39

destroyed thousands of competitors was

12:41

now a philanthropist. The most hated man

12:43

in America became a beloved benefactor.

12:45

The Rockefeller Foundation funded the

12:47

creation of modern medical education. It

12:49

funded John’s Hopkins University of

12:51

Chicago, Rockefeller University. It

12:53

established the model for medical

12:55

schools that emphasized pharmaceutical

12:57

interventions over holistic care. This

12:59

isn’t conspiracy theory. This is

13:01

documented history. The foundation

13:03

shaped American medicine to favor the

13:04

pharmaceutical model and pharmaceutical

13:07

companies, many descended from Standard

13:08

Oils chemical divisions, profited

13:10

enormously. Today, every billionaire

13:13

uses the Rockefeller playbook. Bill

13:15

Gates founded the Bill and Meinda Gates

13:16

Foundation, $75 billion in assets. It

13:19

funds global health initiatives, shapes

13:21

who policy, and influences national

13:23

governments. Mark Zuckerberg created the

13:25

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Warren

13:27

Buffett pledged most of his wealth to

13:28

the Gates Foundation. These aren’t just

13:30

charity. They’re tax avoidance, legacy

13:32

building, and policy influence.

13:34

Rockefeller invented the model. Modern

13:36

billionaires perfected it. The

13:37

Rockefeller family still exists, still

13:39

influential. David Rockefeller, John D’s

13:42

grandson, died in 2017 at age 101. He

13:45

was chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank,

13:47

founder of the Trilateral Commission,

13:49

one of the most powerful men in global

13:50

finance for 50 years. The family’s

13:53

wealth, estimated at 11 billion, is

13:55

spread across hundreds of trusts and

13:56

foundations. The Rockefeller Brothers

13:58

Fund, the Rockefeller Family Fund, the

14:00

David Rockefeller Fund. They still shape

14:02

policy, fund research, and influence

14:05

politics 150 years after John D started

14:07

Standard Oil. And here’s the most

14:09

important part. The system isn’t

14:11

designed to be escaped. It’s designed to

14:13

be invisible until you’re already

14:14

trapped. You buy gasoline refined by

14:16

Exxon Mobile or Chevron, descendants of

14:18

Standard Oil. You buy from Amazon, which

14:21

uses Rockefeller’s vertical integration

14:23

and horizontal consolidation. You search

14:25

on Google structured as a trust like

14:27

Standard Oil. You take pharmaceuticals

14:29

developed through a medical system

14:30

shaped by Rockefeller Foundation grants.

14:33

You bank with institutions using

14:34

Rockefeller’s holding company

14:36

structures. And your taxes fund

14:38

regulations written by the industries

14:39

being regulated just like Rockefeller

14:41

designed. The system is

14:43

self-perpetuating. It concentrates

14:44

wealth. It eliminates competition. It

14:46

captures regulators. And it uses

14:48

philanthropy to buy legitimacy while

14:50

avoiding taxes. This is the Rockefeller

14:52

system. And it’s not a conspiracy. It’s

14:55

just corporate structure, legal,

14:58

accepted, and replicated by every

14:59

dominant company in every major

15:01

industry. You cannot buy oil outside the

15:03

descendants of Standard Oil. You cannot

15:05

avoid Amazon’s logistics network. You

15:07

cannot opt out of pharmaceutical

15:09

medicine shaped by Rockefeller grants.

15:11

You cannot escape the banking system

15:12

built on Rockefeller’s holding company

15:14

model. You live inside the system and

15:16

the system extracts wealth from you

15:18

every single day and concentrates it at

15:20

the top exactly as Rockefeller designed

15:22

it to do in 1870. Here’s what makes

15:24

Rockefeller different from other robber

15:26

barons. Carnegie built steel mills. When

15:29

he died, US Steel remained but

15:30

Carnegiey’s personal control ended.

15:32

Vanderbilt built railroads. When he

15:34

died, the railroads continued but

15:36

fragmented. JP Morgan built financial

15:38

empires. When he died, his partners

15:40

carried on but his personal dominance

15:41

faded. But Rockefeller built a system

15:44

and systems don’t die with their

15:45

creators. They evolve, they adapt, they

15:47

spread. Standard oil was broken up in

15:49

1911. But the vertical integration model

15:52

spread to every industry. The trust

15:54

structure became the holding company.

15:55

The regulatory capture became lobbying.

15:57

The philanthropy became foundations.

15:59

Every piece of Rockefeller’s system was

16:01

copied, refined, and embedded into

16:03

corporate law, tax code, and regulatory

16:05

frameworks. Rockefeller died in 1937.

16:08

But his system became stronger after his

16:09

death because it wasn’t dependent on

16:11

him. It was structural. Let me show you

16:13

the mechanism how the system extracts

16:15

wealth from you. You need gasoline. You

16:17

have a choice. Exxon, Chevron, BP,

16:19

Shell. All of them are pricecoordinated

16:22

oligopies descended from standard oil or

16:23

using its methods. You’re not choosing.

16:26

You’re selecting between branches of the

16:27

same tree. You need to buy products. You

16:29

have a choice. Amazon, Walmart, Target.

16:32

Amazon dominates through vertical

16:34

integration. Walmart and Target must

16:36

match its scale or die. Same system,

16:38

different companies. You need internet

16:40

search. Google has 92% market share.

16:43

That’s higher than Standard Oil’s peak

16:45

of 91%. But Google isn’t considered a

16:48

monopoly by regulators because it’s

16:50

free. You pay with data instead of

16:52

money. Rockefeller would have loved this

16:53

innovation. A monopoly so complete that

16:56

users don’t even realize they’re paying.

16:58

You need social media. Facebook has

17:00

three billion users. Instagram, also

17:02

Facebook. WhatsApp, also Facebook.

17:05

You’re not choosing platforms. You’re

17:06

choosing which meta property to use.

17:08

horizontal consolidation, exactly like

17:10

Rockefeller. You need health care. You

17:12

see a doctor trained in a system shaped

17:14

by Rockefeller Foundation grants. You

17:16

receive pharmaceuticals developed by

17:17

companies using patents, regulations,

17:19

and structures pioneered by Standard

17:21

Oils chemical divisions. You pay

17:23

insurance companies using Rockefeller’s

17:25

corporate structures. Every step,

17:26

extraction. Every choice an illusion.

17:29

The average American spends $4,000 per

17:31

year on gasoline, $3,000 per year on

17:34

Amazon, $5,000 per year on healthcare

17:36

beyond insurance. $4,200 per year on

17:39

internet and technology services. That’s

17:41

$13,200 per year flowing to companies

17:44

using Rockefeller’s system. Over a

17:46

lifetime, that’s $660,000 of wealth

17:50

transfer, not to innovative startups or

17:52

small businesses to monopolistic

17:54

corporations using 150y old tactics to

17:56

eliminate competition and extract

17:58

maximum profit. And you cannot escape

18:00

1. You could refuse to buy gasoline,

18:02

but you need to work, which requires

18:04

transportation. You could refuse to use

18:06

Amazon, but competitive pricing and

18:08

convenience make it nearly impossible to

18:10

avoid. You could refuse Google, but what

18:13

alternative has 92% market share? You

18:15

could refuse Facebook, but social

18:17

connection is controlled by Meta’s

18:18

platforms. You could refuse

18:20

pharmaceutical medicine, but medical

18:22

licensing, insurance coverage, and

18:24

cultural acceptance are all shaped by

18:25

the Rockefeller system. This is

18:27

Rockefeller’s ultimate achievement. Not

18:30

that he became the richest man in

18:31

history, that he built a system that

18:33

makes escape impossible. A system where

18:35

every path leads back to consolidated

18:37

corporate control. Where competition is

18:39

crushed before it threatens the dominant

18:41

players. Where regulators protect

18:43

incumbents instead of consumers. Where

18:45

philanthropy buys influence that

18:46

perpetuates the system. This is the

18:48

Rockefeller system. And you live in it

18:50

whether you know it or not. But here’s

18:52

what Rockefeller understood that most

18:54

people miss. The system isn’t evil. It’s

18:57

efficient. Vertical integration reduces

18:59

costs. Horizontal consolidation

19:01

eliminates wasteful competition.

19:03

Regulatory capture provides stability.

19:05

Foundations fund genuine research. The

19:07

system works. It delivers products

19:09

cheaper, faster, and more reliably than

19:11

chaotic markets. Standard oil made

19:13

kerosene affordable for average

19:14

Americans. Before Standard Oil, kerosene

19:17

cost 58 cents per gallon. After Standard

19:19

Oil’s efficiencies, 8 cents per gallon,

19:22

an 86% price reduction. That’s not

19:24

exploitation, that’s efficiency. Amazon

19:26

delivers products in two days. Google

19:28

answers every question in seconds. Exxon

19:31

Mobile produces gasoline at scale. Fizer

19:33

develops life-saving drugs. The system

19:35

delivers value. The problem isn’t that

19:37

it doesn’t work. The problem is that it

19:40

concentrates wealth at the top while

19:41

delivering efficiency at the bottom. You

19:43

get cheap gasoline, fast shipping,

19:45

instant information, and effective

19:46

medicine. Rockefeller’s heirs get

19:48

trillions in accumulated wealth. Both

19:50

things are true. So what do you do? How

19:52

do you respond to a system you cannot

19:54

escape? Three options. One, accept it.

19:57

Understand that consolidation and

19:58

monopoly are features of advanced

20:00

capitalism, not bugs. Use the

20:02

efficiencies they provide. Buy from

20:04

Amazon. Use Google. Accept that wealth

20:07

will concentrate. Two, resist it.

20:10

Support antitrust enforcement. Buy from

20:12

small businesses even when it costs

20:14

more. Use alternatives even when they’re

20:16

inferior. Vote for politicians who

20:18

promise to break up monopolies. Make the

20:20

system less efficient in exchange for

20:22

less consolidation. Three, understand it

20:24

and position accordingly. If you cannot

20:27

escape the system, benefit from it. Buy

20:29

stock in the companies that dominate.

20:31

Exxon, Chevron, Amazon, Google, Fizer,

20:34

JP Morgan. If the system extracts wealth

20:36

from everyone and concentrates it in

20:38

these companies, own these companies.

20:40

This is what Rockefeller did. He owned

20:42

Standard Oil while everyone else bought

20:44

its products. He extracted wealth from

20:46

the system he built. You can do the

20:47

same, not at his scale, but

20:49

proportionally. Own the extractors

20:51

instead of being extracted from. This

20:53

isn’t investment advice. This is pattern

20:55

recognition. The Rockefeller system has

20:57

concentrated wealth for 150 years. It

20:59

will continue concentrating wealth

21:01

because it’s embedded in corporate law,

21:02

tax code, and regulatory structures.

21:05

Fighting it is noble but exhausting.

21:06

Escaping it is impossible. Understanding

21:09

it and positioning within it is

21:10

pragmatic. John D. Rockefeller died in

21:13

1937 at age 97. He lived long enough to

21:16

see Standard Oil broken up,

21:18

reconsolidate, and spread its methods

21:20

across every industry. He lived long

21:22

enough to see his foundation reshape

21:23

American medicine and education. He

21:25

lived long enough to see his

21:26

grandchildren positioned at the top of

21:28

American finance and industry. He built

21:30

a system that outlived him by a century

21:32

and will outlive us all. The system is

21:34

vertical integration, horizontal

21:36

consolidation, corporate trusts,

21:38

regulatory capture, and philanthropic

21:39

influence. It started with standard oil.

21:42

It spread to steel, railroads, sugar,

21:44

tobacco, then to automobiles,

21:46

electronics, pharmaceuticals,

21:48

technology. Now it dominates every

21:50

sector of the economy and you cannot

21:52

escape it. You can only understand it.

21:54

Rockefeller said, “Competition is a

21:56

sin.” Most people hear that as greed,

21:58

but Rockefeller meant it theologically.

22:00

Competition is wasteful. It duplicates

22:02

effort. It destroys capital.

22:04

Consolidation is righteous. It creates

22:06

efficiency. It serves consumers through

22:08

lower prices. Monopoly isn’t theft. It’s

22:10

the natural endstate of efficient

22:12

markets. This was Rockefeller’s

22:13

worldview. And he built a system to

22:15

enforce it. 150 years later, we live in

22:17

that system. Amazon eliminates retail

22:20

competition. Google eliminates search

22:22

competition. Meta eliminates social

22:24

media competition. Exxon, Chevron, and

22:26

BP control oil. Fizer, Merc, and J&J

22:29

control pharmaceuticals. JP Morgan, Bank

22:32

of America, and City control banking.

22:34

The consolidation Rockefeller started

22:35

has reached its logical conclusion. The

22:38

end state isn’t thousands of

22:39

competitors. It’s three to five dominant

22:41

players in every industry, all using

22:43

Rockefeller’s playbook. And the

22:44

consolidation continues. Every year,

22:47

fewer companies control more market

22:48

share. Every year, barriers to entry get

22:50

higher. Every year, the system gets

22:52

harder to escape. This is the

22:54

Rockefeller system, not Standard Oil.

22:57

The method. And the method is eternal

22:59

because it works. If this video showed

23:01

you a system you’d never seen before, if

23:03

you understand now that the corporate

23:04

structures controlling your life were

23:06

built by one man 150 years ago,

23:08

subscribe to this channel. Because

23:10

understanding the system is the first

23:12

step. You cannot escape the Rockefeller

23:14

system, but you can see it. And seeing

23:16

it changes everything. John D.

23:18

Rockefeller created a system you cannot

23:20

escape. Vertical integration, horizontal

23:22

consolidation, corporate trusts,

23:24

regulatory capture, philanthropic

23:26

influence. That system is the modern

23:28

economy, and you live in it every single

23:30

day. Welcome to Rockefeller’s [World.]

 

Part III. Additional Facts-Evidence-Analysis (FEA) from sources as shown plus more MHProNews manufactured home industry expert commentary

 

1) Economy Rewind video aptly used the main theme of their presentation multiple times. In the closing minute of their video, they said it this way.

Vertical integration, horizontal consolidation, corporate trusts, regulatory capture, philanthropic influence. That system is the modern economy, and you live in it every single day.

MHProNews has been reporting on that pattern for years as it is playing out in MHVille. Consolidation. Vertical integration. Regulatory capture. Philanthro-feudalism (a.k.a.: philathro-capitalism, philathopic-industrial complex, etc.). It has been observed that monopolies (be they oligopoly style, a duopoly, or single-firm dominating monopoly) power only occurs when government specifically or de facto allow them to occur. Governments often provide utilities a monopoly under specific guidelines. But some monopolistic structures develop or occur more subtly. Whatever the case, the founders of America routinely rejected monopolistic powers as being contrary to the interests of the American people. The Boston Tea Party was both a protest against the tea tax and was a protest against the tea monopoly granted by the British crown.

2) As MHProNews has reported for years, it would be ludicrous to deny the existence of what some call the oligarchs and plutocrats that are often (not always) ‘ruling’ America when one of those purported oligarchs – centi-billionaire Warren Buffett – has all but said as much. See the quotes and linked report below.

 

 

3) Beyond Buffett’s remarks, or those found in the Economy Rewind (see Part II) video, MHProNews has repeatedly pointed to the leaked Citigroup memo that asserted that America (and other nations) has become a plutonomy.

A plutonomy describes an economy where a small, wealthy elite controls most wealth and drives economic growth through their consumption of luxury goods and investments, creating a system where the rich and “everyone else” are the main economic segments, according to Citigroup research that popularized the term in 2005. Essentially, it’s an economy powered by the rich, benefiting them disproportionately, even while average incomes stagnate. 

Key Characteristics:

• • Wealth Concentration: A small group holds the majority of wealth and income.
  • Elite-Driven Spending: Economic growth relies heavily on the spending and investment patterns of the ultra-rich.
  • High Inequality: Marked by significant income and wealth gaps, with the rich benefiting from asset booms, favorable policies, and complex financial systems.

• “Rich vs. Everyone Else”: The economic structure separates the wealthy from the rest of the population, as the non-rich have a smaller impact on national economic metrics. 

Origin of the Term:

• Coined by Citigroup analysts, led by Ajay Kapur, in 2005 to explain economic trends in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and China. 

Why it Matters:

• It highlights how economic growth can occur despite broader stagnation, as long as the wealthy are thriving. …

4) Essentially, every aspect of the Economy Rewind video’s key points have been unpacked previously on MHProNews and/or MHLivingNews.  The purpose here in part is that the video, which is overall quite well done, provides a useful set of descriptions that simplify what citizens, researchers, and others should be looking for in an industry, in or beyond manufactured housing.

The point of the mashup with attorney Hollis is her point of how distractions are deployed that can attract attention away from larger issues.

Meaning, these two distinct sources (Hollis Part I, Economy Rewind Part II) have specific insights from their work product provide that overlap. Historically, looking back at American history, there have been multiple times that violence or large protests erupted over the concentration of wealth, a perceived injustice in what part of the earnings went to independent business or employees vs. the elites, and Rockefeller and others learned how to manage their image and the economy in a manner that would give some measure of obscurity to the evident imbalance. There are volumes of history books, documentaries, and other sources that cover these historic details.

 

 

Well before the “No Kings” movement, one of the articles that MHProNews published on a related topic is the one linked below.

 

 

5) MHProNews and/or MHLivingNews have explored the topics of regulatory capture, philanthro-feudalism, the problems of various kinds of monopolization, and more. Let’s note that properly understood, these topics are neither just from the left or the right. They are matters of documented and well researched realities that members of the less and right often agree up, wittingly or not.

 

 

 

Some of those politicians who protest against such economic power and influence are themselves ‘on the take’ (so to speak) of campaign donations (either directly, via PACs, etc.) of the money of those they posture protesting against.  When Hollis speaks of ‘distraction’ – she makes it clear that she wants the Epstein matter properly pursued. Her bigger point is that the Epstein case can be used to distract the public, a different kind of ‘wag the dog’ methodology.

 

 

This is arguably a useful follow up to the possible follow up on the national class action antitrust suit that is unpacked in the report linked below.

 

 

6) While there are many ways to consider the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and related awards programs, one of the ways that might be kept in mind is as a distraction and as a way of buttressing the image of this or that person or organization that may otherwise be seen for its problematic realities.

 

 

7) MHProNews notes that AI powered Copilot was asked to review the pre-publication draft of this article prior to AI powered Gemini. Copilot confirmed the accuracy of the following (see PDF) at this link here.

You’re on solid conceptual ground with the “Rockefeller playbook” frame. The “competition becomes impossible” line is rhetorical overstatement, but there is strong historical and contemporary evidence that those tactics can make effective competition far more difficult—both in the U.S. economy generally and, more narrowly, in manufactured housing.

I’ll keep this tight and focused on what you asked: difficulty of competition, distraction tactics, and evidence (with links).

 

1. On the Rockefeller playbook and “impossible” vs. “difficult” competition

Historically, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil strategy did combine:

• Vertical integration: Controlling multiple stages of the supply chain (production, transportation, refining, distribution).
  Background:
  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Standard-Oil
• Horizontal consolidation: Acquiring or eliminating competitors to increase market share and pricing power.
• Regulatory influence: Using political influence to tilt the regulatory and tax environment in ways that reinforced dominance.
• Foundations/philanthropy: Funding educational, scientific, and policy institutions that shaped public narratives and policy norms.

The Supreme Court’s 1911 breakup of Standard Oil rested precisely on the conclusion that its methods created such dominance that markets were no longer genuinely competitive—even though small competitors technically still existed.
Text of the decision:
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/221/1/

So you’re right to nuance the quote. The more precise formulation is:

• These tactics don’t literally make competition impossible, but they can make meaningful, scalable competition extremely difficult and rare, especially for independents without comparable capital, political ties, or narrative control.

That nuance strengthens your credibility while keeping the rhetorical punch.

 

2. Evidence of the “playbook” in the broader U.S. economy

You could ground the “playbook” pattern with a few well-documented contemporary parallels:

• Tech/platform giants (example, not endorsement):
  • Vertical integration (infrastructure + platform + apps/services).
  • Horizontal acquisitions of emerging competitors.
  • Intense lobbying and regulatory engagement.
  • Large foundations and “public interest” initiatives shaping policy narratives.
    A good overview of concentration and regulatory concerns:
    https://www.brookings.edu/articles/market-concentration-and-competition-in-the-digital-economy/
• Financial sector / regulatory capture:
  Academic and policy literature has long described “regulatory capture” and the revolving door between regulated industries and agencies.
  Classic overview (Stigler, Peltzman tradition):
  https://www.jstor.org/stable/1829285
• Philanthropy as policy-shaping:
  Large foundations (Rockefeller, Ford, Gates, etc.) have openly described their role in “shaping policy,” “building fields,” and “steering systems-level change.”
  Example from the Rockefeller Foundation on “transformative change”:
  https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/our-work/

You don’t need to prove a one-to-one replication of Standard Oil; you only need to show: (a) the pattern is historically real, and (b) analogous strategies are widely recognized today—vertical integration, consolidation, regulatory influence, and foundation-driven narrative/policy shaping.

 

3. Evidence of those tactics in manufactured housing (MHVille)

Here’s where you can make your case more concrete and tie “big picture” to MHVille without overreaching.

A. Vertical integration and horizontal consolidation

• Clayton Homes/Berkshire Hathaway complex:

• Clayton is the largest U.S. manufactured home producer.
• It is vertically integrated with key finance arms (21st Mortgage, Vanderbilt Mortgage).
• Clayton has acquired numerous independent retailers and smaller producers over time.
  Seattle Times / Center for Public Integrity exposé on Clayton’s dominance and lending practices:
  https://projects.seattletimes.com/2015/mobile-home-park/
  CFPB historical background on manufactured housing finance (shows market structure, concentration, and high-cost lending patterns):
  https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201409_cfpb_report_manufactured-housing.pdf

That’s textbook vertical + horizontal consolidation: production, finance, and distribution under one corporate umbrella, with a shrinking field of independent competitors.

B. Regulatory capture / influence via trade association

• Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI):

• Positioned as the “national” trade association for the industry.
• Claims to represent all segments but is dominated by larger consolidators.
• Critiques from MHARR and others argue MHI has not forcefully pursued enforcement of key pro-growth laws (like MHIA 2000 “enhanced preemption”) despite clear statutory authority.
  MHARR’s long-running critique of zoning/preemption and post-production failures:
  https://manufacturedhousingassociationregulatoryreform.org/the-incredible-shrinking-zoning-problem-september-2019-mharr-issues-and-perspectives/

This aligns with a regulatory capture-style dynamic: a trade group ostensibly representing the whole industry, but in practice privileging consolidation-friendly outcomes and tolerating (or quietly preferring) supply constraints that favor larger players.

C. Foundations / philanthropy as “soft power”

You’ve already noted patterns like:

• Buffett-linked philanthropy and zoning/energy policy:
  Reports have documented Berkshire/Clayton-related philanthropic flows (directly or via allied nonprofits) to organizations that support policies or litigation (e.g., energy-efficiency mandates, environmental suits) that, in practice, can raise costs and create barriers for smaller producers and retailers—while larger, capital-rich firms can adapt.

You can root this in publicly discussed cases, such as:

• The Sierra Club’s litigation and advocacy on energy rules, which intersected with manufactured housing energy standards.
  Sierra Club energy/litigation archive (for context, not MH-specific):
  https://www.sierraclub.org/issues/energy
• MHARR’s account of Sierra Club litigation forcing DOE action on manufactured housing standards, after an earlier MHARR win had delayed such rules:
  https://manufacturedhousingassociationregulatoryreform.org/

The core point: philanthropy and advocacy, even when framed as “public interest,” can be aligned with strategies that increase costs, complexity, and regulatory burdens—conditions that entrenched players can navigate more easily than independents.

D. “Supply constraints” as a strategic feature, not a bug

You’ve already documented:

• Sun Communities and ELS investor materials describing:

• “Virtually no new supply” of land-lease communities.
• Regulatory and zoning barriers as a strategic advantage (limited new competition, strong pricing power on existing sites).

Example Sun Communities investor deck:
https://www.suninc.com/investor-relations/presentations/

Example ELS investor materials referencing supply constraints:
https://www.equitylifestyleproperties.com/investors

Taken together with zoning obstacles and weak enforcement of MHIA enhanced preemption, this is very much in the Rockefeller-pattern zone: structural conditions that keep new entrants and new supply scarce, preserving and magnifying the power of incumbents.

 

4. Distraction tactics and “noise” vs. “signal”

You asked: are there evidence-based grounds to say philanthropy and other tactics are used as distractions from the big structural issues?

You can make a disciplined, evidence-consistent case like this:

1. Agenda-setting and narrative control are real phenomena.
   • Communication scholarship and media studies are full of evidence that elites shape what issues become salient and how they’re framed.
     Intro-level overview of agenda-setting in media:
     https://www.britannica.com/topic/agenda-setting
2. Philanthropy often coexists with aggressive business practices.
   • Rockefeller, Carnegie, and modern billionaire philanthropists routinely combine hard-edged market behavior with charitable initiatives that shape public perception and policy debates.
     General discussion of “philanthrocapitalism”:
     https://www.stanfordsocialinnovationreview.org/articles/philanthrocapitalism
3. In manufactured housing, narrative gaps are obvious.

• Mainstream coverage often fixates on “trailer park” stereotypes and sensational rent hikes.
• Far less coverage focuses on under-enforcement of MHIA’s enhanced preemption, Duty to Serve failures, or trade-group capture and consolidation strategies.
  Your own linked piece on long-term production trends vs. population growth is a powerful datapoint:
  https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/census-bureau-shipments-by-year-1959-2019-13-3-million-mobile-and-manufactured-homes-produced-population-trends-and-manufactured-housing-production-mhville-reality-check-fe

You don’t need to assert a grand unified conspiracy to say:

• There is consistent, documented misalignment between the issues that get sustained public attention and the deeper structural drivers of underperformance and consolidation in manufactured housing.
• Philanthropy and PR help build a “we care about affordable housing” aura around firms and trade groups whose actual behaviors (supply constraints, consolidation, anticompetitive dynamics) tell a more conflicted story.

That’s a sober, evidence-consistent way to say: “Look at the structures, not just the scandals or photo ops.”

 

5. Direct answer to your two core questions

1. Do these tactics make competing more difficult?
   Yes. Vertical integration, horizontal consolidation, regulatory capture, and policy-shaping philanthropy are historically and contemporarily associated with:
   • Higher barriers to entry.
   • Reduced access to capital/credit for independents.
   • Policy and regulatory environments that favor incumbents.
     The Standard Oil history, modern tech/finance consolidation concerns, and the Clayton/MHI/Sun/ELS structure in manufactured housing all point in this direction.
2. Is there an evidence-based case that these tactics are in play in the U.S. and in manufactured housing specifically?

• U.S. in general: Yes—antitrust histories (Standard Oil, AT&T), modern antitrust debates (tech, platforms), and regulatory capture literature all document this pattern.
• Manufactured housing specifically:

• Clayton’s vertical integration with 21st/Vanderbilt and consolidation of independents.
• Trade association behavior (MHI) and MHARR’s documentation of zoning/preemption failures.
• Investor presentations by Sun and ELS explicitly treating constrained supply as a strategic advantage.
• Philanthropy and advocacy intersecting with standards and litigation that increase compliance burdens.

Those are all concrete, citable pieces of evidence that fit the “Rockefeller-style” playbook, even if the exact players and tools are updated for the 21st century.

 

If you want, I can next:

• Draft a tight one-page sidebar for your Epstein/Hollis/Rockefeller piece that explicitly maps the “playbook elements” (vertical, horizontal, regulatory, foundations, narratives) to manufactured housing examples; or

• Help you craft a visual framework (flowchart or “playbook” infographic) that readers can use to spot these patterns in MHVille and beyond.

 

8)

Understood. We are proceeding with a strictly textual Facts-Evidence-Analysis (FEA) check of your developing report for MHProNews. I will focus on the “Rockefeller Playbook” premises, the role of distraction tactics (Epstein/philanthropy), and how these apply to the manufactured housing industry (“MHVille”).

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FEA Check: The “Rockefeller Playbook” & Manufactured Housing

1. The Premise: The “Rockefeller Playbook” Tactics

Fact: The report identifies vertical integration, horizontal consolidation, regulatory capture, and the use of tax-exempt foundations as a strategic “playbook” for market dominance. Evidence: * Vertical Integration: Clayton Homes (manufacturing) owning 21st Mortgage and Vanderbilt Mortgage (lending) and Clayton Properties Group. This allows for “capture” of the entire transaction lifecycle.

• Horizontal Consolidation: The systematic acquisition of independent retailers and community operators by a few major players (e.g., Clayton, Sun Communities, Equity LifeStyle Properties).

• Regulatory Capture: Documentation by MHARR and MHProNews regarding the failure to enforce the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000, specifically “enhanced preemption,” which benefits incumbents by limiting supply via local zoning barriers. Analysis: You are correct that “impossible” is a rhetorical device. In economic terms, these tactics create “Moats” (a term often used by Warren Buffett, owner of Berkshire Hathaway/Clayton Homes). These moats make competition prohibitively difficult rather than strictly “impossible” by raising the cost of capital and regulatory compliance for smaller entrants.

2. Distraction Tactics & Philanthropy

Fact: The report posits that sexual scandals (Epstein) and high-profile philanthropy serve as distractions from systemic economic consolidation. Evidence: * The “Epstein” Narrative: As Atty. Laura Hollis suggests, focusing on the prurient details of scandals can shield the broader “Elite” power structures from scrutiny regarding economic policy.

• Philanthropy: The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation often shape public policy (education, health, housing) through grants that favor specific ideological or technical outcomes, often bypassing the traditional legislative process.

• MHVille Parallel: Major industry players often highlight charitable giving or “affordable housing” awards while simultaneously supporting policies (like specific energy standards) that can raise the price of entry-level homes, effectively “thinning the herd” of smaller competitors.

3. U.S. General vs. Manufactured Housing (MHVille)

Fact: The industry has seen an “artificial” diminution in the 21st century. Evidence: * General U.S.: Antitrust actions against tech giants (Google, Amazon) and the history of Standard Oil prove the existence of this playbook in general commerce.

• MHVille: Despite a national housing crisis, manufactured home production remains significantly lower than its 1990s peaks. The Duty to Serve (DTS) by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has arguably been “defanged,” with very little support for chattel lending—the primary financing for manufactured homes—which benefits the high-interest captive lenders of vertically integrated firms. Analysis: The “Big Picture” in your draft holds up to evidence. The confluence of restricted financing (chattel) and restrictive zoning (lack of preemption) creates a “pincer movement” that limits industry growth to the benefit of consolidated, cash-rich entities.

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Verification of Linked/Related Reports

• Economy Rewind Video: The transcript accurately reflects the historical methods used by J.D. Rockefeller to consolidate the oil industry, which serves as a valid historical archetype for modern market “moats.”

• MHARR Assertions: Online checks confirm that MHARR (Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform) has consistently called for the implementation of federal preemption to fight local zoning “capture.” https://manufacturedhousingassociation.org/

• Berkshire Hathaway/Clayton: Public SEC filings confirm the vertical integration of Berkshire’s manufactured housing assets. https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/

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Conclusion of FEA Check

The human intelligence (HI) portion of the report is logically consistent with historical economic patterns. The AI-generated portions accurately identify the players but could be strengthened by emphasizing the “regulatory moat”—how laws intended to protect consumers often end up protecting large incumbents by increasing the “barrier to entry” for small businesses.

Would you like me to refine the specific section of the draft that maps the “Rockefeller Tactics” directly to the 21st-century MHVille players for your final version?

 

9) MHProNews gave Google’s Gemini the nod to ‘map’ the comparison. Here is that Q&A. The below is the follow up.

Sure, go for it. Map the “Rockefeller Tactics” directly to the 21st-century MHVille players.

Based on the “Rockefeller Playbook” established in your report and current industry analysis, here is the direct mapping of these tactics to the key 21st-century players in MHVille.

Mapping the “Rockefeller Playbook” to MHVille

Rockefeller Tactic	Rockefeller/Historical Example	21st-Century MHVille Implementation	Key Players & Evidence
Vertical Integration	Controlling barrel factories, railroads, and pipelines to keep all margins in-house.	Controlling the home from factory line to consumer financing and the land it sits on.	Clayton Homes / Berkshire Hathaway: Owns the manufacturing plants, the lenders (21st Mortgage and Vanderbilt Mortgage), and retail outlets.
Horizontal Consolidation	The “Cleveland Massacre”: Buying or bankrupting 25 of 26 local competitors in 3 months.	Systematic acquisition of independent manufacturers and retailers to “thin the herd.”	Clayton Properties Group: Rapidly acquired independent builders. Sun Communities / ELS: Consolidated independent land-lease communities into massive REITs.
Regulatory Capture	Setting kerosene standards that only Standard Oil could meet; lobbying for favorable railroad laws.	Supporting complex energy or zoning standards that independent “mom-and-pop” businesses cannot afford to implement.	MHI (Manufactured Housing Institute): Alleged failure to push for the enforcement of the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (Enhanced Preemption), which would open markets to all.
Tax-Exempt Foundations	Using the Rockefeller Foundation to buy legitimacy and shape medical/educational policy.	Using philanthropy to mask market-stifling policies as “environmental” or “social” initiatives.	Major Players/Partners: High-profile charitable awards and “affordable housing” partnerships that often distract from the lack of chattel lending support or rising community rents.
Market Dominance / Moats	Controlling 90% of refining to make independent competition “impossible”.	Creating “moats” where independents can’t get financing for their customers, forcing them to sell to the big players.	21st/Vanderbilt Mortgage: Control over chattel (home-only) lending creates a bottleneck for independent retailers who lack a captive finance arm.

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FEA Analysis of the “Distraction” Factor

The report’s premise—supported by Atty. Laura Hollis—is that fixating on high-profile scandals (like the Epstein case) serves as a “dangerous distraction” from the “real threat” of global authoritarian aspirations and economic consolidation.

• In MHVille: While the media may focus on isolated stories of “trailer park” stereotypes or generic “affordable housing” fluff pieces, the systemic economic reality is often ignored: the industry is operating at less than 30% of its 1998 peak production despite a massive housing shortage.

• The “Rigged” Perception: Your report notes that 70% of Americans believe the “system is rigged”. In MHVille, this is evidenced by the failure of the Duty to Serve (DTS), where Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have arguably “defanged” federal mandates to support manufactured home lending, benefiting the dominant vertically-integrated firms.

Verification and Plain-Text Hyperlinks

1. Clayton Homes Vertical Structure: Verified via Berkshire Hathaway’s 2023 Annual Report (mentioning Clayton, 21st, and Vanderbilt as a single integrated unit).

   • https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/2023ar/2023ar.pdf

2. MHARR on Preemption Failures: Confirms the “Regulatory Capture” concern regarding the HUD Code.

   • https://manufacturedhousingassociation.org/mharr-releases-study-on-hud-failure-to-enforce-federal-preemption/

3. Duty to Serve (DTS) Critique: Analysis of why government-sponsored enterprises have failed to support manufactured housing financing.

   • https://www.fhfa.gov/PolicyPrograms/Programs/Pages/Duty-to-Serve.aspx

Conclusion: The HI (Human Intelligence) portion of your report is backed by evidence of market moats and regulatory bottlenecks that mirror the historical Rockefeller playbook. The AI’s role should be to continuously monitor how new regulations (like the DOE’s manufactured housing energy rules) might serve as the next “kerosene standard” that consolidates power by pricing out smaller manufacturers.

 

10) There is no need, nor a goal, to make this report a one-to-one lead in for the Saturday report on the antitrust topic below. Topics can and should be considered from a variety of possible angles, so long as the evidence and facts support the contentions. That said, the above provides useful insights that introduce some of the methods that appear to drive 21st century manufactured housing industry dynamics.

 

 

12) It should also be noted that MHProNews has reported on the lurid sides of the Epstein and similar escapades, but not to fuel the distractions. But in part to see how the ‘elites’ purported behavior do at times touch some of the big bosses (Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, etc.) that have ties to manufactured housing.

 

 

13) There is always more to know.

Stay tuned to the industry’s documented runaway #1 source for more “News through the lens of factory-built homes and manufactured housing” ^© “Industry News, Tips, and Views Pros Can Use”^© where “We Provide, You Decide.”^© This is the place for “Intelligence for your MHLife.” ^© MHProNews appears to once again be poised to top a million visits this month as it has in recent prior months, as has been confirmed by multiple third-party AIs. Thanks be to God and to all involved for making and keeping us #1 with stead overall growth despite far better funded opposing voices. Facts-Evidence-Analysis (FEA) matters.

 

 

 

 

Statement of William C. “Bill” Boor President and Chief Executive Officer CAVCO Industries (CVCO) Chairman of Manufactured Housing Institute on Behalf of MHI-What MHI and Boor Did and Didn’t Say