Weekly Update News July 24th - 30th

With debt negotiations stalling in Washington, gold is reaching new highs, standing at $1,622.49 an oz early Monday, while the USdollar is falling against the Swiss Franc and Yen. Investors are getting increasingly nervous with the debt ceiling dilemma still unresolved. The Dow Jones and S&P opened lower on Monday, with the only sign of life being companies like Apple. Moody's and the S&P are now saying that even if a short-term debt deal is passed, it may not be enough to stop a credit rating adjustment, and on Saturday warned that the "reductions of the magnitude now being proposed, if adopted, would likely lead Moody's to adopt a negative outlook on the AAA rating." Neither plan will save the United States. This is an ill omen for markets around the world, which have so far been unaffected by the crisis. Geithner, the Treasury Secretary, is trying to ease investor fears of default, saying, "We never do that. It's not going to happen." Reid and Boehner are writing their own bills, hoping that by presenting both that the talks would be reinvigorated. After being ditched on Sunday by members of Congress, Obama has decided to stay away, in a bid that his absence will breed results. However, on Monday he again called for a plan that would slash spending but also raise revenues (a nice word for taxes) for large corporations and the rich. I think Obama is correct in trying to incorporate measures from both parties, but the U.S. is still going to be left with obligations which it can't pay back, with a Chinese official saying the U.S. has already technically defaulted by weakening its dollar. On Wednesday, just six days before the deadline, both the Senate and the House had to scrap their plans and restart.

Members in Congress weren't just unable to come to an agreement between Democrats and Republicans, it was also hard on the individual party level. Boehner didn't have enough votes from his own party to pass his bill through the House on Tuesday, so he later placed a balanced-budget amendment into his plan, hoping that it would give it enough Tea Party support. However, the Senate Majority leader said he would kill the Republican bill in the Senate, mentioning “this is likely our last chance to save this nation from default.” None the less, he said that he would present something to the Senate on Friday--possibly some agreement between the two bills from both chambers. Jay Carney, a White House spokesman, lamented on the proposed plans, "We have a divided government. We have a two-party system. No party controls every branch of government. Compromise is the only option", but ironically, Boehner's bill was ridiculed and compared to the Grinch who stole Christmas by the White House because of its two-step process, saying “Happy Holidays America: Boehner plan would have the debt ceiling all over again during the holiday season, which is critical for the economy.” Insult slinging like this is one of the main factors in why a package hasn't been passed yet, with Carney calling the GOP "incredibly juvenile" and actively "trying to stick the President with default" on Fox News. Obama said he would veto the two-part bill if it managed to get through anyway. To show how far down the line we are getting, a group of House Democrats, led by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), are calling on the President to raise the debt limit if Congress can't pass one in time. They are invoking the 14th Amendment and the phrasing that the US government's debt validity "shall not be questioned". Clyburn later compared this measure to the Emancipation Proclamation, saying, "It was an Executive Order. We integrated the armed services by Executive Order. We integrated public schools by Executive Order. Sometimes executives must order that things get done." Obama has said in the past that he will not use the amendment to raise the ceiling, though lamented that is was "very tempting" at a La Raza conference last week. The crowds reaction to this creeps me out. As of Saturday, July 30th, Boehner's bill passed the house but was quickly killed by Reid in the Senate. Now it appears both bills are dead, with only three days left to go.

A Republican representative from Iowa, Steve King warned that Obama risked impeachment if a bill did not pass, and he may be right. Americans will be rioting in the streets if their Social Security and Medicare checks do not go out, a possible refreshing turnaround from peoples' normal boredom with real issues. And honestly, the president may deserve it. Earlier in the week, a Republican aide reported that a two-part bipartisan plan proposed by Reid and McConnell, which would raise the short-term debt and follow that by further conferences "to find long-term savings", was rejected by the White House. This is laughable, and goes to show that Obama does not hold the American people above his own stalwart beliefs. At the end of the week, we are still left without a solution, and Obama could have fixed it. In Europe, Moody's cut Greece's debt rating to Ca, bringing the country even closer to default, saying, "The announced EU programme... implies that the probability of a distressed exchange, and hence a default, on Greek government bonds is virtually 100%." This makes Athens' rating the lowest in the world and almost guaranteed to default. Fears are also burgeoning in the UK, with growth falling well below forecasts. The economy only grew by 0.2% in the second quarter, stoking accusations that the UK may also lose its Aaa standing. Healthcare rationing is now being ratcheted up in the country, with procedures like "hip replacements, cataract surgery, and tonsil removal" being held from the public. Meanwhile in Italy and Spain, bonds are declining with fear that the aid Europe provided for may not be enough. In Michigan, more populated sections of Detroit will be given higher levels of services, with "things like tree trimming, attracting businesses, code enforcement and public lighting will get more attention in the city's best neighborhoods" (CNBC). Sections will also be decided on their ability to survive into the future. Bank of America has plans in Detroit and other Midwest cities including Cleveland and Chicago to donate houses to a "local agency that manages blighted property," which then would destroy the properties. Detroit is dying, and we shall see it in our lifetime.

The West, which stood at the peak of civilization for almost 300 years, may finally be falling behind other nations beating them at the their own game. Both the dollar and the euro stand on precarious grounds, with the stock market falling in America on Friday upon news that growth slowed to an "anemic" pace because of the Japan disaster and the threat of a government shutdown in the first quarter, and actually was precariously near contracting into a recession. Second quarter growth fell well behind projections at 1.3%, and the first quarter was revised to 0.4% from 1.9%, with economists fixing the projected growth for the 4th quarter down to 2.3% from 3.1%. Buried at the bottom of the article linked above by Lucia Mutikani is that inflation in the US (not including food prices mind you) rose to 2.1%, higher than the Fed's sought after 2.0%. Inflation numbers have been baked for a long time by not including commodities like food, and focusing on real estate values. These numbers are scary, and with the debt talks still stalled in Washington are economy is fast approaching a cliff. It's easy to lose the confidence you have, and hard to get it back. Latest financial news show that Apple, the largest tech company in the world, has more cash than the United States Treasury. Matt Rosof in a Business Insider article reports that "in other words, the world's largest tech company has more cash than the world's largest sovereign government. That's because Apple collects more money than it spends, while the U.S. government does not."

The biggest municipal default in the history of the US is being prepared in Alabama's Jefferson County. Two county commissioners claim there is an 80% chance of defaulting. With a debt over $3 billion and the largest population in the state, the impact of this will be unprecedented. In the coming months and years watch this become common, for cities and states as well. According to a Washington Post-ABC New Poll, almost a third of Americans believe that the President is hurting the economy, and their lives, with his policies. The other side of the aisle was not left out of the peoples' scorn however, with an equal number blaming the Republicans for the current state of affairs. On jobs, they are even more angry, with 65% blaming the GOP and 52% Obama, with the overwhelming majority being down on the nation's economy and the ease of finding a job (90% and 80% respectively). The break down of the party structure is in its early stages. People no longer care who is in Washington, only that something is being done to help their lives (or stay out for us Libertarian minded persons). More critically perhaps, the president is losing the support of liberal Dems, including African Americans, with one article reporting that minorities have the largest wealth gap from whites in history. Even Bernie Sanders, an Independent Senator from Vermont who usually sides with the Dems on issues, said recently, "I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition." If Obama is going to win the next election, he needs to regain support not only from the liberals, but also the independents who voted for him 2008, And he also has to work on job growth, which was at a 3-month high at the end of July--judged by how many people are applying for unemployment benefits. However, Bloomberg's Consumer Confident Index decreased to negative 46.3 and only six percent of people had faith that economy was in good shape.

While most of Congress worked to raise the debt ceiling, a secret committee met to talk about a surveillance bill which was passed during George W. Bush's tenure. It approves 16 spy agencies activities and was set to expire in 2012. The Obama administration has made it clear that it doesn't want that to happen. The surveillance state is spinning out of control. Soon there will no bastion of privacy left. The TSA is preparing new behavior detecting strategies for airports, with Pistole has said will involve more dialogue with passengers. These procedures have been quite effective in Israel; however, they involve more racial and religious profiling.

Europe is on high alert after Anders Breivik told a judge that there are two similar cells which exist within the EU. His lawyer, Geir Lippesad, says the killer is insane and was on drugs when he was shooting to make him more 'strong and efficient'. He is currently on suicide watch. Anders believed his terrorist actions were in attempt to save the Continent and Christendom from the danger of Islam after admitting to both incidents (in Oslo and on the massacre on Utoeya isle). He, however, denied committing in any criminal activities and any thing he did was in fact a way to stop the encroachment of "Marxists" and "Muslims" into European society. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the PM of Norway in the '80s and '90s and a member of the Labor party, was his "main target" because of her liberal policies which allowed more foreigners to enter the country. However, she had left Utoeya before he arrived because he was "delayed". According to his manifesto, the killer's intentions were to bring about a cultural revolution. In his mind, the huge threat of multiculturalism and Islam needs to be extirpated, wanting to drive out the invaders and remake a Christian Europe. Interestingly, in several pictures he appears in Free Mason garb and was a member of group proclaiming to be a new age Knights Templar. The alternative press are already declaring that this was an inside job akin to 911, 711, and Oklahoma City, with drills taking place in Oslo the day before the attack happened. Could Breivik's rampage be a distraction away from the imminent threat of Greece's default, and the spreading contagion across Europe? It also coincides with American propaganda warning about "White al-Qaeda". The DHS released a video last week which depicts white terrorists attempting to bomb American targets. Daniel Taylor of Infowars reports that western governments will now move inward against their own citizens to root out terrorism. Always be suspicious of these attacks. Who is to gain the most? Do their stories hold up after further scrutiny? No killing is commendable, ever--not by you, not by your government. It was reported by Alex Jones' Prison Planet on Monday that Anders' name was known by the police before they arrested him. This discrepancy is strange--why did they know his name? There has also been conspiracy theories bristling around why it took 90 minutes for the authorities to reach Utoeya, and that when they approached him, they asked him for him by name. Parts of his 1,500 page Manifesto have been directly plagiarised from the Unabomber's Manifesto, with only key words changed to match his ideology, it was discovered. The Western media has linked his choice to steal from Kaczynski without crediting him to his extremist beliefs. There has been some speculation that his Facebook and twitter profiles may have also been tampered with, changing his religion to Christian and politics to conservative after the shooting took place. In a WND article, there is even some question what religion he identified with. Breivik writes, "As this is a cultural war, our definition of being a Christian does not necessarily constitute that you are required to have a personal relationship with God or Jesus." Some see this attack as a possible globalist retaliation against Norway's support of Palestine in the coming September UN vote for recognition, and its planned leave of Libya airspace in August.

Russia warned the US Wednesday that if Congress passes legislation critical of Russia's human rights record it will no longer cooperate with the US on Iran and start selling dangerous materials to Afghanistan. Recent leaks have made the situation between the Americans and Russians more ice-y. It was revealed that the Eastern country may have played a part in the 2008 explosion at the American embassy in Georgia. It was not immediately clear why. The Federation has played in an intimate role recently in brokering negotiations with Libya. It also has a growing influence across the Mid East and fears the Americans are encroaching on its historical territory. As if also to spite Washington, Russian officials announed plans to end the International Space Station in 2020. Petulant politicians on the other side of the Pacific blasted Moscow for bluffing, as Putin mentioned he is thinking of returning to the presidency in 2012. In China, officials proclaimed its intentions to refit an imported Soviet aircraft carrier Wednesday, and that it would be attempting to build two of its own. This is an escalation of tension in the region, with the Chinese telling the Americans to keep its spy planes from its coast after a PRC jet 'repelled' a US craft near Taiwan last month. China has been stalking up on missiles and submarines and launched its largest amphibian dock landing warship, Jinggangshan, which can hold "1,000 soldiers, helicopters, armored fighting vehicles, boats and landing craft" recently. The Asians are increasing their military spending as America looks to pull back its. It appears that OPEC will soon be led by a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Commander Rostam Ghasemi is on the fast track to head the cartel of oil producing nations. This is a strategical move by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who is on razor's edge with the Ayatollah controlled Guard. By positioning the Commander at the seat of OPEC, he may ameliorate tensions between Khamenei and himself. Ghasemi himself has had sanctions placed on him from the U.S., EU and Australia. China and Iran have also been cozy-ing up to each other with their oil-goods swap talks. An alliance in the East may be a headache for the West, which is still threatened by Iran's increasingly brazen attempts at creating a nuclear warhead and proxy battles in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Yemen.

Iranian Qassem Suleimani, a man as illusive as Keyser Soze, is said to be the real honcho in charge in Iraq, with growing influence in the Muslim world, including Syria. His name is spoken with both reverence and fear inside the sectarian country--his deadly al-Quds force is responsible for all but two of the military deaths of Americans (under the guise of the Keta'ib Hezbollah and the Promised Day Brigades) in June and has been allied with Assad's force in Syria squelching unrest. A record number of Iranian weapons are being found in Iraq, proving the that the Shia country is trying to stoke unrest and keep Iraq in a stable form of chaos. The three-star army general, Mike Oates, said, “Their intent is to bleed U.S. forces on the way out of Iraq for some sort of moral victory, as well as to reestablish coercive control over Iraqi governors in the south by showing off their capacity to carry out these kinds of sophisticated attacks.” In Syria, a voice of the protests, a songwriter, was found with his throat carved out, a warning from the regime to scare its dissenters. Syria demonstrators are disappearing at a rate of one every hour, according to a Guardian article. 12,617 activists are still being held by the government. On the other side of the border, Turkey's military chiefs resigned in protest of Erdogan's treatment of other senior officers. Turkey needs to show a united front against the specter of Iran if they want to maintain their influence in the region. NATO has yet to comment on the incident. Protesters, including the Muslim Brotherhood and more conservative Islamic groups like the Salafists, poured into Tahir Square in Egypt this week, in protest of the delayed trials of Murbarak and police officers who shot demonstrators earlier in the year. A New York Times article reports that they want to overthrow the military regime, which they see as a continuation of the outed president's government, and implement Sharia law. A pipeline going into Israel from Egypt was attacked again. No one was killed, but it is a worrying sign that the post-revolution country may be sliding into anarchy, with one blogger calling the protests in Tahir Friday, “The Friday of Disunity: A carnival of reaction and bigotry.” NATO's campaign in Libya may also be falling apart, with a rebel leader Younes getting shot by people on his own side Thursday and the Obeidis, his tribe, declaring revenge on the perpetrators. Both the UK and the US were considering allowing the rebels to open an embassy in their capitals (laughable because of al-Qaeda's presence in the group), but the insurgency is losing ground and credibility in Libya.

Weekly Update News July 17th - July 23rd

Gold surged past $1,600 on Monday, highlighting investor's fear of fiat currencies and government bonds, with CNBC saying the precious metal could reach $1,700 by the end of year. Gas prices are also soaring, settling above $4 dollars in four states, as Obama officially vowed to veto spending cuts which the GOP congress may try to pass in a "cut, cap and balance" bill, which passed through the House Tuesday night. The White House said in a statement, that “instead of pursuing an empty political statement and unrealistic policy goals, it is necessary to move beyond politics as usual and find bipartisan common ground.” Wall Street is starting to feel jittery with the debt crisis still unresolved in Washington, the Dow falling almost 93 points on Monday, and Moody's suggesting the US eliminate the Debt Ceiling entirely to sedate bond holder anxiety. Moody's has threatened to reconsider the US's AAA rating if the limit isn't raised and suggested that the Americans consider a European style Maastricht rule which limits the government's debt from exceeding 60 percent of the GDP. The rating agency is also warning it might downgrade 5 states' debt--Maryland, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The GOP in the House, for their part, have ignored the Thursday deadline which Obama set during a meeting, and forwarded the aforementioned bill Tuesday, which would "cut $111 billion in fiscal year 2012, cap spending at 18 percent of gross domestic product by 2021 and would authorize a $2.4 trillion increase in the debt limit after Congress passes a balanced budget amendment" (Bolton - The Hill). Obama is instead favoring a proposed bipartisan bill, titled the Gang of Six plan, drafted by three members of each party that would "cut the nation's debt by about $3.7 trillion over the next 10 years -- similar to the president's call for roughly $4 trillion in savings" and would "would create three tax brackets with rates from 8% to 12%, 14% to 22%, and 23% to 29%" (Silverleib, Cohen - CNN politics).

The New York Times said on Thursday that Obama and Speaker of the House Boehner are nearing a deal. The details of the negotiated package are still unknown, but they are believed to contain an adjustments to taxes and cuts to many programs (Medicare included). However, debt talks between the two broke down Friday, with Boehner deciding to end the negotiations, writing, "It has become evident that the White House is not serious about ending the spending binge that is destroying jobs and endangering our children's future. A deal was never reached, and was never really close." McConnell and Reid continue to work on a back up bill which would give the president complete power to raise the debt limit for the rest of his tenure. Obama said in a press conference that he is confident that Congress will pass a debt deal because they are not so irresponsible to inflict a wound on the economy. The two sides can't stop bickering and posturing for a minute to solve a crisis. Who will hurt the most when the dollar collapses? Not the elites who control Washington. Watch them crash the system in an cruel and unforgiveable way to get more power and money. They don't care about the Middle Class American trying to get by--they care about their purse, about the lobbyists and donors giving them money. The left and right are just a gameshow, a sports arena, to keep us entertained and ignorant towards what is really going on. I predict no bill will pass until the very end, and it will be McConnell and Reid's deal--a completely illegal powergrab by the executive branch. Meanwhile, Geithner met with Hank Paulson, his predessor, and fed officials on Friday, in preparation of the U.S.'s default on August 2nd, if a compromise cannot be made. Paulson said, “Failing to raise the debt ceiling would do irreparable harm to our credit standing, would undermine our ability to lead on global economic issues and would damage our economy.” Geithner might have a conscience (who knows? he might, he wants to leave; maybe he's feeling guilty), but do not trust anything he does. He sold his soul a long time ago. To add further bad taste in my mouth, according to some counterterrorism experts, the debt crisis could result in an attack from al-Qaeda. Infowars reports one official saying, “So you can understand why Al Qaeda, or any other terrorist organization motivated by the jihadist ideology, would see that America is highly vulnerable right now – perhaps more than it’s ever been — to an attack or attacks the impact or direct effect [of which] would be further depression of the US’s economy.” This is coincided with the Obama administration using increasingly alarmist language, painting a picture of biblical Armageddon. Backward terrorists in caves are again being used as the chief enemy--be it battles in Washington or in the Middle East. It should be disgusting to any American that fears for their own safety, and the safety of their family, are being played with my politicians.

One of the few honest politicians left in Washington, Ron Paul (R-Tx.), said that America will default "because the debt is unsustainable," and won't "be because we don't send out the checks. We will send out the checks. It will be defaulted on because people will get their money back, or they will get their Social Security checks and it won't buy anything," and that the debt talks are essentially rearranging chairs on the titanic. China, the largest holder of U.S. debt, urged the government to ease bond holder anxiety and pass a debt deal, with an official saying, "We hope the U.S. government will take responsible policies and measures to boost global financial market confidence and respect and protect the interests of investors," when prompted whether China would lower its investment in US bonds if the rating agencies cut its credit rating. Latin America has taken on both an air of boastfulness and fear at the U.S. and European's problems, with Brazil owning the fourth largest amount of the U.S.'s debt. However, after years of being lectured to by the self-righteous North Americans about their own debt, the South is celebrating. Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez raved, "When did the American dream become a nightmare?" after Washington's lackadaisical boredom towards her country's default in 2001. It was revealed by the Treasury Department Thursday that U.S. taxpayers lost $1.3 billion in Chrysler's bailout. It is yet to be seen whether the benefits will outweigh the costs in these huge money dumps; however, Reuters reported that factories were more active in July in the Mid-Atlantic, but jobless claims remained at the high of 421,250, which is 15 straight weeks of being over the 400k mark. In Europe, leaders met in Brussels to discuss a new bailout fund for Greece, lifting stocks around the world on Thursday, which also coincided with a debt deal looking likely in the U.S. However, with the markets still jittery in Europe on Friday and the breakdown of negotiations in the U.S., things could turn very badly indeed for the world economy. Thieves in Sacramento are stealing storm drain grates off of streets in a hopeful bid to sell them to copper recyclers, and elsewhere in California, farm commodities such as grapes, and even bees are being taken from farms. In Texas, ambulances have been subjected to robbers right outside the hospital doors. Times are getting tough across the nation. McDonalds' net income, which always does well during recessions, rose 15% in the second quarter of 2011. This is not a good sign. It shows people are sticking to cheap food and not feeling confident enough to eat out at more expensive restaurants.

Iran officials announced that the country would be installing new, more advanced centrifuges in a uranium enrichment plant Tuesday, angering Western upper brass. This move is seen as an acceleration of its nuclear program, with Tehrain claiming that the procedure could triple the rate of enrichment. The Islamic country has clearly been learning from its mistakes and set backs. After the Stuxnet attacks last year, Debka reports, the Persians decided to completely scrap the old machines, and replace them with new ones while the Arab Spring distracted the West. Now things appear to be heating up again, with the Iranian media outlet, Fars, claiming an American drone had been shot down over the Fordo nuclear plant in Qom on Wednesday. Lawmaker Ali Aqazadeh Dafsari said that this was only one "several" which have been brought down over the past seven years from Israel, Britain, and the U.S. doing reconnaissance missions on Iran's nuclear capabilities. On Saturday yet another Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated in front of his house. As usual, this will probably get blamed on the Israeli Mossad, and rightly so. Robert Baer, an Ex-CIA officer who has worked in the Middle East for 21 years, warns that the war-hawk prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, is gearing up for war against Iran in September before the vote on the Palestinian state takes place and wants to draw the U.S. into the conflict. The article by Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge, claims, "The Israeli air force would attack 'Natanz and other nuclear facilities to degrade their capabilities. The Iranians will strike back where they can: Basra, Baghdad', [Baer] said, and even Afghanistan. Then the United States would jump into the fight with attacks on Iranian targets. 'Our special forces are already looking at Iranian targets in Iraq and across the border [in Iran] which we would strike. What we’re facing here is an escalation, rather than a planned out-and-out war. It’s a nightmare scenario. We don’t have enough troops in the Middle East to fight a war like that.' Baer added, 'I think we are looking into the abyss'." These reports would make sense in light of Iran's recent threats of shutting down the Strait of Hormuz and shooting a missile into the Indian Ocean. Currently, the LHD 5 Bataan amphibian ship is anchored outside Tripoli, and the USS George H.W. Bush is moving into the Persian Gulf. DebkaFILE, an Israeli military voice piece, reported a few weeks back on Obama and Sarkozy's plan to settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict by September after the Libya ground war, but it appears that the Libya conflict may get called off with Gaddafi expressing that he may exit if certain guarantees are met.

The attack on Iran may be diverted because the Israeli PM is quickly losing support, with only 4 of the 18 security chiefs (Mossad and Shin Bet) still independently support him. Tyler Durden laments that the Iranians also need an "external enemy" with their worsening economy and would welcome an attack by the Zionists now that the Americans plan to leave. It is important to remember that just five years ago Israel was embroiled in a proxy war with Hizbullah-controlled Lebanon. At the end of the 34 day skirmish, Hizbullah was not destroyed, and according to Caroline Glick's article "The Path to the Next Lebanon War", "Hezbollah has not merely refilled its depleted missile arsenals. It has tripled the size of its missile arsenals. In 2006, IAF strikes in the first 24 hours of the war knocked out all of Hezbollah’s long-range missiles. Today, not only have those stocks been replenished, Hezbollah’s arsenal includes missiles with ranges covering all of Israel, with larger payloads and many with guidance systems" (FSM). If Israel was to go to war again, Hizbullah will have gotten much stronger.

Syria also has the potential to be a greater threat, with Naharnet Newsdesk claiming that the U.N. was briefed on the nuclear activity in Syria in a closed door meeting last month. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Israel destroyed a nuclear reactor in the country in September 2007. Who knows what weapons have been supplied to Assad's regime from Iran, China, and Russia? Syria delivered another devastating strike on pro-democracy protesters in the city of Homs on Wednesday, with 16 killed in the streets from those loyal the Assad regime. Included in those dead were people marching in a funeral procession for fallen demonstrators. Some of Assad's supporters are disgusting, with one Syrian tribal leader threatening to eat the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, if he stepped foot in his territory, warning, "We are known for having the best mutton in the world. For the first time, Allah willing, we will be eating American mutton. Whether his flesh is bitter or not, with salt or without salt—we will eat him up." The pressure is heating up further, with Qatar, the home of the al-Jazeera news agency and a former supporter of Assad, closing its embassy in Damascus Monday, and the EU saying it might increase sanctions. Investments in Syria from the Qataris is reported to be frozen after diplomats from the country were pelted with debris. Damascus has been angry with the Gulf country since the beginning for reporting on the protests. There was a fascinating but long article in the NYT Wednesday, "Yemen on the Brink of Hell", that the small state is becoming a proxy conflict between Iran and the Saudis. The country is approaching war, with al-Qaeda in the fertile south and tribes in the desert North coalescing into a madhouse similar to Gotham's Arkham, with Saleh, the president, being in a hospital in Saudi Arabia for several weeks after being injured by an explosion. The country stands on the precipice of all out civil war with former cultural hubs like Taiz caught in between.

Near Gaza, the Israeli navy intercepted an activist yacht on Tuesday, which was filled with aid and supplies. The French ship, claiming it was headed toward Egypt after other similar missions were stopped in Greece, was bound for the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip in protest of the Zionist's treatment of the Palestinian state. There were no casualties; however, the PM of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan, is also preparing for a potential trip to Gaza in the coming months, angering Western officials. Washinton and its allies were trying to heal ties between the Turks and the Israelis, with the Syria conflict on both their borders. Debka reports thats a "visit by Erdogan to Gaza would further sour the climate between the two countries – especially now when missiles are again being fired almost daily from the Gaza Strip against Israeli civilian locations" (Debka). The PM's frustration may have been caused from feeling snubbed by Obama in the Libya affair, according to Debka. In other Middle Eastern news, Iran started selling high-grade oil on Kish Island this week. The move threatens America's monopoly on the commodity's pricing. China has shown an interest, which is the biggest danger in Iran's endeavor to the West--especially the New York and London exchanges. They are moving away from what the "petrodollar" and are trying to become globalist independent. That goal is commendable; however, this will not stand. Watch out for the tycoons which control Washington's interests to strike back. We saw what happened when something threatened Wall Street last time. I can't imagine this will be any different. An article by John Daly titled, "Iran Opens Oil Bourse - Harbinger of Trouble for New York and London?", ends with this warning: "If the Chinese decide to start paying for their Iranian purchases strictly in yuan, expect the trickle away from the dollar in energy pricing to become a stampede. That ought to give Washington politicos an issue to think about besides gay marriage" (Daly - OilPrice.com) An article posted Saturday on the Financial Times claims that China and Iran are planning to set up an oil bartering system, where Iranian fuel is exchanged for Chinese made goods as well infrastructure projects (anyone else getting a John Perkins' sort of feel from this?). This system works around the oil sanctions placed on the Persian country--if payments are made outside the USdollar, then further deals can be made. China and Iran's economic relationship is booming, up 40% since 2009. Are we seeing yet another nascent structure of a post-Western dominated world?

Norway was rocked by two apparently connected terrorist attacks on Friday. In Oslo, a bomb exploded near a government HQ, killing 7 people, and then shortly after, a man dressed as a police officer started shooting young Labour campers on a retreat, killing at least 80. Some see this act as being linked to Norway's involvement with NATO, including Afghanistan and Libya. However, it was not immediately clear as of Friday whether it was tied to any international organizations. On Saturday, it was reported by the New York Times that the killer, Anders Behring Breivik, was a 32 year-old, blond, blue-eyed Norwegian with far right and anti-jihadist views. He faces a maximum of 21 years in jail. The PM of Scandinavian country said in a speech, "The answer to violence is even more democracy, even more humanity, but never naïveté," and rightly so. These acts are disgusting and should be condemned. Violence is never the answer. The timing of this attack is strange, however, especially with the DHS releasing a new video this week which depicts white terrorists bombing American targets. Daniel Taylor of Infowars reports that western governments will now move inward against their own citizens to root out terrorism. Always be suspicious of these attacks. Who is to gain the most? Do their stories hold up after further scrutiny? No killing is commendable, ever--not by you, not by your government. Europe is on the brink of collapse--let's see where this leads us. Away from serious talk about deficits for sure.

Weekly Update News July 11th - July 16th

On Tuesday, Obama lamented that he did not know whether Social Security checks would go out on August 3rd if the both parties did not reach an agreement on reducing the deficit, saying "there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it." Several top Republicans blasted Obama after a Tuesday meeting. An article by David Jackson quotes Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as saying "In my view the president has presented us with three choices, smoke and mirrors, tax hikes, or default," and that as long as this president is in power, "a real solution is unattainable". These negotiations are meant to raise the $14.3 trillion debt limit by August 2nd to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its obligations. Republicans are battling for budget cuts which would limit the government's spending, while Democrats are calling for new taxes, with Obama saying on Friday that "the American people are sold" on higher taxes. Both options are short-sited because the only way to truly make a difference would be to enact measures from each side of the party aisle. Surprisingly, McConnell said on Tuesday that Congress should give up its power to raise the debt and hand it over to Obama for the remainder of the president's term, with Harry Reid responding he would consider the proposal; however, this would give the executive branch dictatorial powers which violate the Constitution. Infowars, Alex Jones' website, says that "Congress has the exclusive authority to raise and spend money. Article I section 8 states , 'The Congress shall have Power….to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States,' and to 'borrow Money on the credit of the United States.' This authority is commonly referred to as the 'power of the purse' (Paul Joseph Watson). Obama walked out of a meeting Wednesday, frustrated with the negotiations and Eric Cantor's frequent interjections. This is new for No Drama Obama, with the strain of the impasse clearly taking a toll. He was reported as saying, "I've reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this." Rep. Jackson Lee (D-Tx), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, implied that Obama's trouble making a deal was because he was black. She said:" Read between the lines. What is different about this president that should put him in a position that he should not receive the same kind of respectful treatment of when it is necessary to raise the debt limit in order to pay our bills, something required by both statute and the 14th amendment?"

Meanwhile, the Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, demanded that a deal be made by next week at the latest. "I think the leaders understand we don't have a lot of time, and we want to wrap up the broad outlines of an agreement by the end of this week -- certainly by the end of next week -- so that we have time to legislate it and put it in place," Geithner said. It has been reported that after the negotiations have ended, Geithner may resign, and on Monday he said on Meet the Press, "We don’t have the ability (because of the overhang in housing and the problems in the financial sector) to artificially engineer a stronger recovery"--further proof that Keynesian economics has failed. On Wednesday, Moody's again threatened that it may downgrade the U.S.'s debt if a deal was not made, putting the American's Aaa rating on review. The U.S. has maintained that highest rating since 1917, and it would be a major blow to the weakening dollar. The situation may be exacerbated by Bernanke who told Congress Wednesday that another stimulus may be needed. His remarks immediately sent stocks and gold up, and the dollar down. The feds claim that the slowdown of the American economy is a result of the disaster in Japan and temporary surges in price of gasoline and food. The economy needs at least to add 125,000 jobs per month to keep up with the rate of population growth; however, last month, the U.S. only added 18,000 jobs and the May figure was adjusted, showing that just 25,000 were added. The jobs growth in June was the weakest in 9 months. Americans satisfaction with the way the country and their lives are going fell to 16% according to Gallup. Suffering is growing everywhere. 8 people were injured in Dallas after a stampede of 5,000 rushed to get rental vouchers, and sales decreased for the first time in almost a year. Economists fear that with business stockpiles also rising for 17 straight months that when an economic downturn comes, businesses will respond by ordering steep cutbacks. Of course this miscalculated demand is a result of record low interest rates from the Fed which distorts the entire system. In Europe, the Irish debt was slashed to the junk Ba1 rating on Wednesday by Moody's, and the country will likely need a second bailout like Greece. This signals a raise in the country's bond interest rates and will make it harder for Ireland to pull itself out of default. France has been pushing for Hibernia to raise it's corporate taxes, but Ireland has so far refused, saying it would harshly hurt its competitiveness. The EU responded by calling the downgrade "incomprehensible", with Italy and Spain's "borrowing costs hit[ting] their highest level for 14 years yesterday" (Irish Times) as well. This downgrading of the Irish debt will likely require private investors to enter the fray and assume some of the risks of the bailouts.

Through the stimulus package, American tax payers may have been funding Attorney General Eric Holder's "Fast and Furious" operation, which facilitated the sales of illegal firearms to Mexican drug cartels, under "Project Gunrunner". The guns, which were sold knowingly to illegal aliens, appear to have killed people on both sides of the border, including Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry. Eric Holder was caught in a bold faced lie when he claimed to have not known about the project until a few weeks ago. According to the article in the New American by Alex Newman: "A couple of years ago, [Holder] was bragging about the scandalous program by name during a speech in Mexico. 'My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner,' he boasted to an anti-gun crowd outside of Mexico City in 2009." Ostensibly this operation was done to amp up gun control laws in America, once the weapons were discovered to originate in America. Susan Jones of CNSNEW.com reports that the NRA has plans to sue the Obama Administration for selling illegal guns to Mexicans, especially after stern talk by the Justice Department's Deputy Attorney General James Cole saying that it was now required that sellers in Ca, NM, Ariz., and Tex. report "multiple sales of certain semi-automatic rifles to the same person within a five-day period" in an attempt to halt the flow of arms to drug cartels. The NRA says this is a distraction from the feds' illegal activities on the border and wishes to bring the focus back towards it. Rep. Blake Farenthold (R.-Tx) agreed in a radio interview that this might have been part of a conspiracy to further control the sale of firearms in the U.S., saying that its just another attempt to control 2nd amendment right and build a database of gun owners. If you want to know the type of people these guns are going to check out this article by Lt. Colonel James Zumwalt, where he describes several disturbing murders committed by the drug cartels, including a face being skinned and stuck to a soccer ball. It was reported several weeks ago of Mexican bus passengers forced to fight each other to the death as a sort of initiation by gangs. The winner would then be made to go on suicide missions. The administration's operation is even more damning when you consider that many of these narco-gangs have connections to Hizbullah--the Iranian terrorist organization.

The U.S. and Pakistan are facing a showdown after the former decided to withdraw $800 billion in aid to the extremist-battered country (one-third of the $2 billion they receive yearly). Pakistan, still furious over bin Laden's assassination, reacted by threatening to bring its 100,000 troops away from the Afghan border and claimed that the aid was in part to support the military effort. A Pakistani military spokesman said the country may turn to their "all-weather friend" China for future support on Monday, a bad omen for the American-Pakistani alliance. Islamabad still sees the May 2nd killing of Osama bin Laden as an assault on its sovereignty, and in less than 12 hours, 38 militants were killed in Pakistan from U.S. drone attacks early this week--the strikes occurred in North-Western Pakstan in the Waziristan tribal areas, a hot bed for Islamic militants. These are on the tail of Obama's announcement of reducing aid, and some see this an escalation of conflict between the two countries. It also signals that the U.S. will continue to bomb inside the country. On Monday, disturbing news was published that the "CIA Organized Fake Vaccinations To Obtain Osama Bin Laden's Family DNA". The American agency hired a Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, to run a drive in Abottabad, even having him start the drive in a poorer area of town to make it look more authentic. The doctor was eventually arrested by the Pakistani ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence Agency). This action by the CIA before Osama's death is downright creepy, and it makes you ponder what other strange missions have been carried out under the guise of vaccinations. Médecins Sans Frontières, a international charity, later complained that these actions gave a bad name to immunization efforts around the world. On Wednesday it was reported that the head of the ISI, Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, would be visiting Washington to have unscheduled talks, saying on anonymity, "Relations have not broken down. Intelligence sharing is going on... We are talking to each other despite difficulties." The U.S. is more negatively viewed in the Middle East now then at the end of Bush's tenure, with Obama also hitting new lows in Arab countries after his Libya air strikes and failure to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

For the third time in three days, Israel air striked the Gaza strip. Four were said to have been injured, including two children reported Aljazeera. 19 have been killed since April from similar attacks, which are in retaliation of projectiles shot into Israel from the Hamas-controlled strip of land. 20 were killed in Syria on Friday, after the biggest protest in the country so far, with some estimates reaching up to a million people marching. So far the capital had avoided the brunt of violence with the main uprisings taking place in poor communities around the country. However, the economy has stagnated, and this might be the beginning of a full revolt if Damascus also falls. Iran, Syria's main ally, is offering the country $5.8 billion in loans to avert the rise in anger and investor fear, as well as 290,000 barrels of oil each day. On Monday, supporters of Assad ransacked the Amercan and French embassies in Damascus, angering Washington and the US ambassabor Ford, who said “the street will wash them away”. The Syrian opposition will hold a conference on Saturday in Turkey to determine where the country will go after the fall of Assad and his brother. Also in Turkey, 15 suspected al Qaeda members were arrested on Wednesday who had plans to attack the American embassy in Ankara. 1,500 pounds of chemicals were confiscated, as well as various other weapons and documents. We now know where some of these weapons might be coming from. Newly revealed documents show that China sold missiles to Iran, Syria and Pakistan, violating the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The MTCR is a group of 34 countries that agree to secure the sales of missiles with ranges over 185 miles and warheads heavier than 1,000 pounds. According an article in The Washington Times by Bill Gertz, "Among the violations were sales to Iran by China’s Dalian Sunny Industries, also known as LIMMT; sales of ballistic-missile goods to Syria; and transfers by Shanghai Technical By-Products International Corp. to Iran of ballistic-missile items," and that Chinese diplomats may have lied to the U.S. about its activities. China also appears to have sold dangerous arms to its neighbor, North Korea. The U.S. recognized the Libyan rebels as the legitimate government on Friday. However, Gaddafi remains defiant, telling his supporters, "Trample on those recognitions, trample on them under your feet." The leader is now being offered an ultimatum: step down, or the West will increase their attacks. According the article by Tulay Karadeniz on Reuters, "The U.N. Secretary-General's special envoy to Libya, Abdul Elah al-Khatib, will be authorized to present terms for Gaddafi to leave power, but the British foreign minister said military action against Gaddafi would be stepped up at the same time." This decision should free up funds for the deadlocked the rebel forces, as Britain sends four more tornado planes to continue their assault on the secular country. In Egypt, gunmen destroyed part of a natural gas pipeline which supplies about 40 percent of Israel's gas and sections of Jordan. Since Mubarak was forced from the presidency, pipe lines have been attacked four times in the increasingly vulnerable region. Protests and sit-ins around the country threaten to shut down Egypt. “Farce, farce, farce, the gang is still ruling,” protest groups chanted in Tahir square. There were also uprisings near the Suez Canal, making officials fear that they may try to shut down the important commercial route.

Ahmed Wali Karzai was shot by his security guard early this week, highlighting the precarious nature of Aghanistan's government. Ahmed was Afghan president Hamid half brother, and was an ardent supporter of the United States in the region, spending part of his life living in Chicago and speaking with a noticeable American accent. The president responded to the assassination by saying, “This is the life of all Afghan people, I hope these miseries which every Afghan family faces will one day end.” Ahmed was based in the southern province of Kandahar was widely rumored to be involved in Afghan's huge heroin trafficking economy. Specifically, the ATF's "Gun Runner" Project and the slaying of Ahmed Karzai show the enormous profits which government, banks, and businesses make by laundering drug money. In the article by David DeGraw, titled "The 'War on Drugs' is a $2.5 Trillion Racket: How Big Banks, Private Military Companies and the Prison Industry Cash In", gives the startling toll of Mexico's drug war: 45,000 dead since December, 2006. It is clear that the "Project Gunrunner" is another method used by the government to keep the war on drugs alive, and even with the cost of people's lives. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and most of them are there because of minor drug offenses. If certain drugs were made legal, banks and governments would lose billions. According to Wikipedia, 92% of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan, with that total only increasing since the U.S. invaded in 2001, with the Russians blaming the Americans recently of supporting the Afghan drug industry.

Selling Out to the Corporations, Part 3

These past few days have given me clarity. I believe I have pinpointed the problems--and how we can fix--our failing system. It isn't a mystery, though many would like to make it one to keep you ignorant. Let me ask you a few questions that have been on everyone's mind since September 2008: Why did the banks do so many risky things? Why did they lend to high-risk people? Why didn't they see the impossible high numbers as a warning sign of an imminent crash? Bankers, no matter how much they feign, aren't stupid. They did know it would all come crashing down. They did know it was a bubble waiting to burst. And they also knew once the market crashed, the Fed would bail them out; and not only that, they would make a ton of money in the process (specifically Goldman Sachs). It should have been obvious from the very beginning.

No matter what anyone tells you, the government and Fed were the cause of the bubble. Ron Paul writes, "The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, as well as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, contributed in large measure to the excesses in the subprime market by forcing lending agencies to specifically make loans they otherwise would have avoided" (End the Fed 135). The government, by promoting loans to first-time home owners, was creating a very dangerous situation. Whenever a government enters a market, it distorts it, creating a bubble that will eventually burst. In my Microeconomics class last semester, I learned there is always a dead-weight loss associated with such actions, but they are usually justified for altruistic reasons. We get a nice feeling in the pit of our stomach when we hear about home-ownership. However, there are always ulterior motives. The subsidized farm industry, for instance, is deeply influenced by lobbyists; government almost always supports the supply side, merely by the financial power these men and women yield. Anyway, when the Fed lowered interest rates to 1% after September 11, they pumped this bubble up even further. Prices rose drastically because of the easy credit. When the Fed raised interest rates back up, the bubble burst, and prices fell. These are market forces, and it is silly for the government to try and raise them again. Yet they still try. By doing this they are digging us into a deeper hole, and they must surely know this. No one is so stupid to believe that spending trillions and inflating the currency is actually helping; no, quite the contrary, it's doing the same thing that got us into the mess to begin with, except on steroids.

We should all be asking ourselves: what are the government's motives? Why are they expanding their power so drastically? Why are they spying on us at a level before never seen? Why are they in Afghanistan--a war we will never know if we have won or not? Why are they training boy scouts to take on veterans and confiscate guns? Why is the government spending like there is no tomorrow? My only conclusion is power. They want us to feel dependent on them. They want us to know we need them. I mentioned in my first post that greed was the second worst of man's sin. The first, quite clearly, is pride. Our problems do not stem primarily from greed, they grow out from the dangerous notion from politicians, the banking elite, and CEO's, that they are gods. In the tradition, it is told that Satan's sin is pride. He refused to bow before God's new creation, man. He was cast from heaven and has been patrolling earth ever since. No wonder it is rumored many of these people worship Lucifer. They believe they are lords and ladies over a misguided populace that can't look after themselves. That we are mere sheep and they are our shepherds (to extremely warp what Jesus told Peter). I have explored in blogs past that this is a natural growth out of Utilitarian form of thinking. Man's nature is to dominate others, and we usually justify this by humanitarian means. There is a saying that goes, "No dictator in history felt he was doing evil". Look at who rule over us today. They are afflicted with the same mentality that Hitler, Stalin, and Mao possessed. That to accomplish the greater good, some might have to suffer. This more than just irritates me, it is extremely dangerous. They depend on us to be very short-sighted, while they look at the long-run.

They must be quite aware this system of debt enslavement and ignorance cannot last forever. Eventually Americans will realize they, their children, and their children's children, have been put in debts from which they can never escape. "By 2019, annual interest payments on the national debt will balloon to a projected $806 billion" (Beck's Common Sense 25). Before I justify myself reading from the corporate shill that is Beck, imagine the percentage of your income that will feed into this. America's GDP this year was only $14.2 trillion (2009) as the total debt approached $100 trillion (including things like Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare). Where will this money come from? (I cannot deny Beck is a entertaining performer, however, he is also clearly bought out by corporate interests. Take my reading his book as an experiment. He had much to say about faulty government, but not much else about the "great" corporations. Beware of Beck, he is one of the one's with ulterior motives.) My point is, we are on the verge of a chasm, and instead of slowing down, we are putting on the accelerator (with government's full knowledge). It is my opinion that the corporatocracy foresees a time in the near future where martial law will have to be enforced. Bush, being as unpopular as he was, could push through extremely dangerous bills with no consequence. Obama now has full use of these government expansion laws. He, under H.R. 5122 [109th], could declare it when he sees fit. It could also be easily justified as the only way to solve a crisis. As Bush said, "I had to destroy the free market in order to save it", so could Obama say, "I had to destroy freedom in order to save it". Using Utilitarians beliefs, this is fine, because it is for the good of all. But from human nature, we can see that any form of martial law will be exploited to its full extent--all in the name of power and pride. The ones in power will use the system to gain even more power. This is the opposite of what for America stands, but the ones pulling the strings want this. Their ultimate goal is not more money, but more power.

How can we stop this before it is too late? Clearly we have to reduce the strength of the power holders without abolishing capitalism. Capitalism is the only system that is sustainable and good. It guarantees man's freedom, his liberty, his property, his right to seek happiness without an interfering state. This is my personal goal, to return America to its roots, and to do this I have listed through 6 steps (admittedly there is a lot entailed in each one):

step 1: You must find a prophet; someone to awaken you from your dream. This is the most crucial step, and often the hardest to do. A prophet will make you have a revelation. You will see the world as it is for the first time, and it may shock you. However, if you are reading this you are well on your way.

step 2: Start choosing with your wallet. Do not spend beyond your means. Buy hard assets that won't devalue over time--such as gold and land. Pull your money out of banks that are part of the corporatocracy system, and put it in local banks. Spend on local products and organic food, stuff that isn't produced by the corrupt system. Do anything to undermine the corporate shakers, government bureaucrats, and big bankers.

step 3: Support politicians who are not owned by corporate interests and bankers. Men and women with real character who actually stand for something more than power and profits. Support any party besides the Republicans and Democrats who have both proven themselves big spenders and pushers for larger government. These are not partisan issues, these are issues that could make or break our country.

step 4: End the Central banking system. The Fed and international central banks have proven they are the catalyst for this corporate/government monster we have created. By stopping the Fed, we could put an end to ballooning deficits, mindless wars, and useless spending projects that are only done to please constituents. Men and women in government may actually start developing character and standing for something. Easy credit warps men's minds. It allows for huge spending that just doesn't make sense. Imagine if the Iraq war was actually being fought with "real" money, not inflated currency. We would feel the effects right away. It wouldn't be so distant and unreal. We could put an end to war once and for all. (No war has been fought without inflation.)

step 5: Return our currency to a gold standard. Money would actually be worth something, and people would spend it as such. Banks would think twice before they started giving out loans to high risk people. We wouldn't have the easy credit and money that supports the corrupt government and corporations lording themselves over us.

step 6: Put term limits on House Members and Senators. Make gerrymandering illegal. Make a tax-code that cannot be easily manipulated by the people in power--a flat rate like 20%. Make accepting money from corporations a lot harder. Improve transparency. Make last-minute additions to bills and pork spending illegal. Pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan immediately. Make it not only separation of church and state, but also separation of the private sector and the public. Perhaps most importantly, make our representatives accountable not only to us, but to the Constitution. The federal government should have no power that the Constitution doesn't state. The federal government's only role should be making sure that "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" are guaranteed. Scale back everything that isn't necessary to those three things. It is more crucial now that ever.

We are the ones with real power. The government may be strong, but we are many. It is our right to make our government accountable to us, not vice-versa. We must stand against all forms of tyranny. We must restore our Constitutional Republic before it it too late.

Selling Out to the Corporations, Part 2

Today was an excuse to do nothing, and I indulged myself in the new Star Trek movie. How lovely to imagine a future where the world hasn't collapsed in on itself. Where super mutants aren't catching rogue humans to consume them. Where men with mo-hawks and male love slaves don't shout, "We kill, we go in, we kill" while a hulk of a man with scarred skin holds him tight, whispering, "Soon my dog of war, but we do it my way". Where John Cusask isn't being chased by fireballs, walls of water, and escaped elephants. Where child toys aren't the last remnants of man trying to do God knows what. Where ... well, you get the idea. So Star Trek is a nice change of pace, and the only sci-fiction series I can think that pictures a better world in the future. Why is that? Do humans have some sort of pathological desire to "watch the world burn"? Some men just like watching the world burn. Fiction, movies, and video games seem to imply yes. However, I don't think this is a bad thing. I would call this the "God-conflict problem". The first thing God did when he put man and woman in the Garden of Eden was provide them conflict, via the Tree of Knowledge. One of the many rules of story telling is never introduce something and not have a pay-off. God knew Adam and Eve would eat from the tree. It was inevitable. But the real question is: Why does God do this? Why does he want Adam and Eve to have conflict? Because God is a story teller, and conflict leads to story. Humans have a similar dilemma when we create stories: there needs to be struggles, dilemmas, and all sorts of suffering. So when we envision the future, we often paint a bleak one, with death, nuclear missiles, plagues, skulls, blah, blah, blah, because to have it nice would be plain boring. So is the problem with man. Utopia is a vision that will never be fulfilled. Man needs conflict. Man needs stories. Or else there will be boredom and depression.

I will continue along these lines in future blogs, but today I would like to expand on yesterday's post. As I said yesterday, I finished John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hitman. What Perkins wrote disturbed me. I knew our system was deeply corrupt, that there was much reason for other countries to hate us, and that it was worse than I could possibly imagine. So when I crawled into bed last night to read Ron Paul's End the Fed, I was exhausted. I didn't want to hear anymore about our twisted form of capitalism. A system which is being attacked as a great evil, as a wash of a system that has done nothing but line the wallets of rich men. But where once I was blind, now I see. The problem lies in the Central Banking method. Like many Americans, I had my doubts about the Fed. I heard it needed to end. I heard about the protests, the marches, the anger, but I didn't understand it. No, quite conversely, I learned in my Macroeconomics class inflating the money supply was an essential tool. That banks could trick Americans into believing they had more money; that we needed more in circulation to prevent another Great Depression, where people held onto their cash and caused Deflation. But these are lies.

The truth is much worse. The Fed provides banks with low interest rates to borrow money, which in turn, pumps the system with easy credit. The money supply increases, lowering the purchasing power of the dollar. In other words, all the easy credit promotes spending, but not saving, because money stored in a bank will lose its value over time. By providing easy credit and low interest rates, the indicators in the economy also become skewed, and borrowers believe that the economy is doing better than it is. They, in response, go out and spend in a market that is different than the low interest rates would imply. In a free market, high interest rates would indicate the bank needs to buckle down and save more, while low interest rates show the bank is doing well and the market is good.

The Fed also serves in other ways. It allows a government to run amuck with spending. Wars, health care, expansions in government of any sort are because of the easy, "no-consequence" fiat money supplied by the Fed. (Ron Paul tells us that many modern and ancient wars would be stopped earlier without easy money.) The Fed also provides a safety net for banks that fail, allowing them to do riskier things than they normally would (including lending money to high-risk people). We can blame much of our current situation on the Fed's easy credit. I return again to the evils of Socialism, not Capitalism. The Central Banking is essentially a Socialist System, protecting banks against failure, letting government expand to a huge level, and allowing wars to happen where many wouldn't. It is a system dependent on man's innate "goodness", that man is simply a creature seeking "pleasure" and avoiding "pain" and nothing else. Everyone knows that trusting man to be "good" is insane, and I would like anyone try to justify that his only goal is "pleasure". Central banking is a wash. Easy money is a wash, and the only reason why this system can continue is because of the dollar's status as reserve currency.

Ron Paul also shed light on something I feared greatly. In Perkins' book, he describes how he tricked third world countries into spending projects which would leave them with huge debts they could never repay. These countries would then essentially became slave states, banana republics, to the United States. My fear was this system had been imported inside America itself, and to my dismay but not shock, this is most definitely the case. By providing easy credit to the banks, the Fed allowed Americans to become enslaved by a system that encouraged spending. The average citizen was convinced that living beyond their means would make them happy, that a new car, house, boat would finally appease their wandering minds. The Corporatocracy tricked us, put us in debt, and made us their slaves. Ron Paul writes on the newest crisis in housing: "Mortgage brokers, banks, insurance companies, 'flippers,' landowners, and developers all enjoyed the ride, and many were able to protect themselves. The poor were not so lucky. With the collapse of the imbalances created by the dream of easy wealth, the poor, deceived into believing politicians could deliver the moon, are now unemployed and without a home" (Paul 137).

The government, bolstered by the Fed, has become parasitic over a society (for the most part) that would do fine without it. (Again, I worried in an earlier blog about government, religious institutions, and bureaucracies eventual purpose was to perpetuate themselves.) This is now the world we are living in. A world created by the governments and multinational corporations, but only capable with the power of central banks. You see, a sound non-fiat money is a good thing. It allows limitations, accountability, and the danger of failure. With non-fiat money, men could see the cost of war, government and its programs on the place where it hurts most, their wallets. Easy inflated currency creates bizarre incentives. It creates the illusion of endless money (who cares about that supply and demand stuff?). And people become incredibly short-sighted. Men will do things that will make them wealthy now and not consider the future, because the future is guaranteed by bailouts and easy money. The beauty of free markets is that it allows rational men and women to act and profit in away that benefits the whole of society. The negative of socialism, corporatism, and communism is that allows rational men and women to act, but not profit, in a way that benefits the whole of society. Paul writes, "The Fed, short of being abolished, should have been prohibited from creating money and credit out of thin air and exerting monopoly control of the system with authority to set interest rates. These powers, unregulated, have nothing to do with freedom and sound economic policies" (Paul 138). Ron Paul is right. The Fed is the machine that allows the diseased system to keep on functioning. By putting a wrench in the the gears, we could stop the Corporatocracy in its tracks.

Paul also wrote on another topic that greatly interests me. In my blog, Jeremy Bentham: father of Socialism, I describe the great evils of Utilitarian Socialism--the belief, like Spock said, that "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". This is extremely dangerous, not because it is a bad notion, but because how easily men can seize on it and do bad things. Paul writes, "The problem is not only a lust for power; ironically, benevolence and humanitarianism drive many to seek power over others. They believe for humanitarian reasons that the strong and wise have an obligation to subject the weak and ignorant to the whims of government control. As they gain more influence and power, they become more convinced that they are saviors of mankind, and if any resistance or obstacles appear that limit their power, they believe that brute force must be used to impose their 'goodwill' on the stubborn few. The purpose of freedom vanishes from their minds" (Paul 116). He then mentions the French Jacobins who beheaded people because they were so convinced they were right, and the Iraq war which was justified by humanitarian means. I agree completely. No one has the right to force others to comply to their whim, not even if they have an army of "experts" behind them. Like I mentioned in my blog about Bentham, it denies man his rationality and allows the ones in control to then seize more power. Again, human nature should be harvested through markets, not denied through bureaucracies and socialism.

I recently watched Food, Inc. Every single day seems to bring another unveiling--a revelation if you will--about our corrupt form of government/corporation/banking empire. Today, I will explore another terrifying aspect: our food supply. Most of us don't know from where are food comes. This is shocking in itself. How have we--how have I--become so complacent that we don't know? It's not that I don't care, it's that I have no idea how to find out. And this is the way the giant multinational corporations--like the top four companies in the beef market (they own 80% of the market; I'm afraid to name them for legal reasons), Smithfield, Kellogg, General Mills, Kraft, and Pepsi--want it. They want the public ignorant, because often, the way in which the food is produced could be considered questionable. And like every multinational corporation worth its salt, the large food companies have wormed their way into top positions of the government. Clarence Thomas, a Supreme court Justice, was a Monsanto attorney, Donald Rumsfeld was a CEO at Searle Pharmaceuticals (bought by Monsanto), John Ashcroft received donations from Monsanto, Mickey Kantor was on the board of directors for Monsanto, Robert Shapiro was a CEO of Monsanto, Wendell Murphy (Senator from North Carolina) was on the Smithfield board of directors, Margaret Miller (the FDA branch chief) was a chemical lab supervisor at Monsanto, Linda Fisher (EPA deputy Administrator from 2001-2003) was the vice president of government and public affairs at Monsanto, and Michael Taylor (the deputy commissioner for policy for the FDA from 1991-1994) was an attorney hired by Monsanto and advised Monsanto on genetically modified food labeling. The big meat companies have huge power in Washington. Many top government positions are held by people who have been employed by the food industry during their career.

This is simply unacceptable and borderline fascism. Because these companies have bought so much power in Washington (corn, rice, wheat, soy, meat, and dairy are highly subsidized), these industries receive many advantages and large amounts of money. However, there are some highly negative externalities involved. One of the most pressing has to be America's obesity epidemic. Have you ever wondered why a salad is more expensive than a Big Mac? It's because the industries involved with the creation of a Big Mac are heavily subsidized. It's the same with soda pop (a regional neutral word), candy, and many other products that are simply bad for us. Imagine if the government instead subsidized fruits and green vegetables (not that I am condoning this action). Another negative externality would be illegal immigration. When we sell our subsidized food to places like Mexico, it drives out production in their countries (somewhat reverse of the normal effect of globalization), forcing them to look for work else where, even the US. In fact, many of the large food companies actively seek illegal employment. Why are the illegals punished and not the men and women who own the plants?

Another typical case would be that of multinational corporation, Monsanto, which has huge power in Washington and owns a patent over a GMO soy seed--now compromising 90% of the American market. How did they accomplish this? By a law passed by government making patently owned seeds illegal to reuse. Every year, farmers have to buy new seeds from Monsanto, and if they use collected seeds from the year before they are sued for millions of dollars. Monsanto essentially owns the soy industry, and they do this by threatening the farmers.

I am constantly shocked by the extent of the problem. Almost every major industry is now owned by the corporatocracy. When will America wake up? When will we realize we have been living in a dream world held together by nothing? Our system has a vested interest in this not happening. The men and women at the top don't want Americans to know that corporations have bought out the government. This might cause the general population to have a revelation. They might wake up and see the way the world was all along. They might want to do something about the highly corrupt system standing on top of their shoulders. Ron Paul has convinced me that the best way to attack this head on is to abolish the Fed. The Fed is the device that allows these corruptions, bubbles, industries, government, and corporations to work by providing "free" credit. It's time to end the Fed once and for all.

Selling Out to the Corporations, Part 1

A few years ago, I did a five part series called Selling Out to the Corporations via my alter ego, Benjamin Schadenfreude. I suppose I admit to being him now, but I fear what future employers might think if they look me up. Therefore, I am disowning that part of myself. Ah, not really. I am a snarkety bastard when it comes down to it, but I thought I did a pretty good job on that particular group of blog posts, so I am going to repost them here, maybe adding on a few points which I have uncovered in the past rotation and a half. If you are at all interested in this type of thing, I recommend you read. I think you will enjoy it, but be prepared for interesting language. If you want the original, it's still online somewhere, but I am not linking to it here. Good luck finding it (I don't think it will be that hard). Anyway, my opinions haven't changed much since I wrote these. The only difference worth noting may be the section on not blaming corporations. They can be subversive (obviously), and to not hold them as accountable as the government would be the same as letting someone get away with murder. Our system is based on unsustainable fiat currency which only can exist by creating more debt. It's the biggest ponzi scheme in the history of mankind. Interestingly, I have not backed off in my belief in some sort of secret elite being behind the scenes. They are quite clearly there, and that people remain blind to the horror of TSA grope downs, illegal wars, and the uselessness of politics, sports, and reality television is beyond me. People really do need to wake up. I might not be the man to do it; however, if you are ready to open your mind to new ideas, continue reading. The journey starts now.

From my readings over the past few days (edit: a year and a half ago now), namely John Perkin's Confessions of an Economic Hitman, and a short story by Leo Tolstoy named "How Much Land Does a Man Need?", and even Glenn Beck's Common Sense (please don't think less of me, I'll explain more later) I have come to the conclusion that unfettered greed is the second worst of man's sins. However, some have come to claim that capitalism is the enabler of this terrible trait, I would argue that the real enabler is instead the system known as corporatism (or as Perkins likes to call it: corporatocracy). In true Capitalism, greed is not an outstanding trait. If one gets too greedy, one has a high likelihood of losing everything he gained. Case in point, Leo Tolstoy's aforementioned short story. Pahom, a peasant who is happy because he is too busy to be unhappy, exclaims, "If I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear the Devil himself!". Well, the devil overhears, and says to himself, "I'll give you land enough; and by means of that land I will get you into my power", or as I read it, "I am one tricky bastard, har, har, har". So, through a series of fortunate events, Pahom slowly amasses more land, more wealth, and more power. Until finally, things take a turn for the worse. Wikipedia continues:

"he is introduced to the Bashkirs, and is told they are simple-minded people who own a huge amount of land. Thus, he goes to them to take as much of their land for as low a price as he can negotiate. Their offer is very unusual: for a sum of one thousand rubles, Pahóm can walk around as large an area as he wants, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he reaches his starting point by sunset that day, the entire area of land his route encloses will be his. .... His journey across the land illustrates his greediness. He tries to cover as much land as possible, not content with what he already has. As the sun nearly sets, he realizes his error and runs back as fast as he can to the waiting Bashkirs. He finally arrives at the starting point just as the sun sets. The Bashkirs cheer his good fortune, but exhausted from the run, he drops dead. They bury him in an ordinary grave only six feet long, thus ironically answering the question posed in the title of the story."

We can see from this story that greed will lead to disaster. There are so many examples of this in literature, film, television, basically anywhere, that it's incredibly pointless to list through more. However, in my example, Pahom gets it because he pushes this trait too far in his life. Capitalism is much the same way. If you get too greedy, like many agree the banks did, you fail. This is also like nature (imagine a lion trying to take down a fully grown elephant). However, when government gets involved and bails you out, you no longer have capitalism, you have corporatism. To this man's thinking, it is not the corporations we should blame (because it's in their best interests), but instead the government (who are supposed to have our best interests). In every way, our government has sold out to the corporations. They accept bribes, they bail out the big banks (but only the ones with government ties), they support a health bill that is favored by big pharma, they approve of invading a country under dubious circumstances (oil?), they allow companies to go into the third world, loan them huge amounts of money, then in debt them for favors, they do everything in their power to appease the corporations. On the other hand, they let the small businesses fail, putting on tax after tax.

Having just finished John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hitman, I am slightly at a loss for words. The corruption is thick, the revelations pure shocking, and the extent to which the private sector has weaseled its way into government horrific. We really are living at the end of the world, and Perkins had a front row seat. The book covers 35 years of empire building by the corporatocracy (the US government, banks, and multinational corporations), where Economic Hitman--EHM's for short--entered third world countries and cooked statistics so it looked like projects such as dam and bridge building, electrification, and other infrastructure projects would lead to huge GNP growth. Once the country fell for the baked data or were forced to comply, deals would be made with firms like Bechtel and Haliburton, and American companies would move in. Essentially, money would be transferred from one American company to another, but it would put the third-world country under a mountain of debt which could never be repaid. The Corporatocracy wants this. They want to hold the country over a barrel, forcing them to comply to oil drills or UN votes. America built the greatest, richest, and most powerful empire to ever haunt the face of the earth by using EHM's. More shocking, maybe, is what happened if the EHM's weren't successful. In the case of Panama's Omar Torrijos and Ecuador's Jaime Roldós, it meant death. For Torrijos' successor, Manuel Noriega, it meant invasion of his country by the US military (a conflict no one seems to remember). For Saddam Hussein of Iraq, it meant both.

I was particularly interested in Iraq. Years before America's twin wars, the US had made a deal with Saudi Arabia, known to Perkins as "The Saudi Arabian Money-laundering Affair" (SAMA), or otherwise known as the United States-Saudi Arabian Joint Economic Commission. As Perkins describes, it entailed "Saudi money to hire American firms to build up Saudi Arabia ... in exchange for petrodollars and, most important, assurances that there would never again be another oil embargo" (Perkins 95). US corporations and President H.W. Bush (who founded the oil company Zapata) were also greatly interested in Iraq. The country held bountiful oil resources, stood in a strategic location between the major Middle east countries, and, according to Perkins, "presented a vast market for American technology and engineering expertise" (Perkins 217). The EHM's offered Iraq a similar deal to the one the US had with the Saudis, but the country refused to sell out. Saddam has always been portrayed as a boogy man, a Hitler wannabee, a mad man, but I have more respect for him than the Saudi clan. At least he refused to sell his soul to the devil for a quick buck and a promise for protection. When Saddam did invade Kuwait, Bush, "responded with a denunciation of Saddam for violating international law, even though it had been less than a year since Bush himself had staged the illegal and unilateral invasion of Panama" (Perkins 217). Young American men and women charged into the desert on a lie. Iraqis died on a lie, but most importantly the Multinational corporations made a lot of money. One has to wonder: what if Saddam had complied with the deal offered by the Corporatocracy? Would he still be in power today? Would American companies have built him skyscrapers, Western-style cities and infrastructure, even neo-Babylon? Yes, and they would have laughed all the way to the bank.

Both Iraq wars are often painted with a great deal of American ego and pride. Many believe they were fought for good causes--to take out a maniac, to free people from the bonds of tyranny--but in reality, these are delusions. America has a vested interest in the corporatocracy turning a profit, and there was ample opportunity to make a large one. Perkins says, "For them, a U.S. victory in Iraq offered possibilities of huge profits, promotions and raises" (Perkins 217). How did this happen? It is a result of the shuffling of men between government and the private sector. Perkins believes we can place the blame for that on Robert McNamara. Perkins writes, "I see now Robert McNamara's greatest and most sinister contribution to history was to jockey the World Bank into becoming an agent of global empire on a scale never before witnessed" (Perkins 91). McNamara rose from being the first non-family president of Ford, to Kennedy's secretary of defense, to the president of the World Bank. He was only the beginning. Perkins lists through more examples of powerful men who dabbled in both worlds: George Shultz, Caspar Weinberger, Richard Helms, and George H.W. Bush. The trend has continued today into the Bush and Obama administrations (Geithner and Goldman Sachs, Dick Cheney and Haliburton, George W. Bush and Spectrum 7, etc; many of the men and women in government will have another corporate job waiting for them when they leave their positions). I believe this is the reason America has fallen victim to greed and empire building. Where once our great country symbolized freedom and hope, now it serves the interests of an elite oligarchy. A shocking example, Saudi Arabia funded Al Qaeda, most of the hijackers were Saudis, and the head of Al Qaeda is a Saudi. Why did the US invade Iraq instead of the Saudi Arabia? The answer is corporate interests. Saudi Arabia had made many men very wealthy and still was--this, of course, included George H.W. Bush and his son George W. Bush. What we have now is a vast web of corporate interests sucking the world dry of capital, resources, and lives. Where once they were fine with raping the third world, now they are moving in on their homeland. It's corporate cannibalism; we are cannibalizing ourselves. The only way out is to put restrictions on government, namely stop allowing men and women into public positions who are part of this system. Save our republic from Corporatism.