Lessons Of Collective Insanity

They Thought They Were Free....

But Then It Was Too Late

Excerpt from pages 166-73 of They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer

"What no one seemed to notice," said a colleague of mine, a philologist, "was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote. All this has little, really nothing, to do with knowing one is governing.

"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

"This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.

"You will understand me when I say that my Middle High German was my life. It was all I cared about. I was a scholar, a specialist. Then, suddenly, I was plunged into all the new activity, as the university was drawn into the new situation; meetings, conferences, interviews, ceremonies, and, above all, papers to be filled out, reports, bibliographies, lists, questionnaires. And on top of that were the demands in the community, the things in which one had to, was ‘expected to’ participate that had not been there or had not been important before. It was all rigmarole, of course, but it consumed all one’s energies, coming on top of the work one really wanted to do. You can see how easy it was, then, not to think about fundamental things. One had no time."

"Those," I said, "are the words of my friend the baker. ‘One had no time to think. There was so much going on.’"

"Your friend the baker was right," said my colleague. "The dictatorship, and the whole process of its coming into being, was above all diverting. It provided an excuse not to think for people who did not want to think anyway. I do not speak of your ‘little men,’ your baker and so on; I speak of my colleagues and myself, learned men, mind you. Most of us did not want to think about fundamental things and never had. There was no need to. Nazism gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about—we were decent people—and kept us so busy with continuous changes and ‘crises’ and so fascinated, yes, fascinated, by the machinations of the ‘national enemies,’ without and within, that we had no time to think about these dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around us. Unconsciously, I suppose, we were grateful. Who wants to think?

"To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it—please try to believe me—unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted,’ that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these ‘little measures’ that no ‘patriotic German’ could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head.

"How is this to be avoided, among ordinary men, even highly educated ordinary men? Frankly, I do not know. I do not see, even now. Many, many times since it all happened I have pondered that pair of great maxims, Principiis obsta and Finem respice—‘Resist the beginnings’ and ‘Consider the end.’ But one must foresee the end in order to resist, or even see, the beginnings. One must foresee the end clearly and certainly and how is this to be done, by ordinary men or even by extraordinary men? Things might have. And everyone counts on that might.

"Your ‘little men,’ your Nazi friends, were not against National Socialism in principle. Men like me, who were, are the greater offenders, not because we knew better (that would be too much to say) but because we sensed better. Pastor Niemöller spoke for the thousands and thousands of men like me when he spoke (too modestly of himself) and said that, when the Nazis attacked the Communists, he was a little uneasy, but, after all, he was not a Communist, and so he did nothing; and then they attacked the Socialists, and he was a little uneasier, but, still, he was not a Socialist, and he did nothing; and then the schools, the press, the Jews, and so on, and he was always uneasier, but still he did nothing. And then they attacked the Church, and he was a Churchman, and he did something—but then it was too late."

"Yes," I said.

"You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.

"Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You know, in France or Italy there would be slogans against the government painted on walls and fences; in Germany, outside the great cities, perhaps, there is not even this. In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’

"And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have.

"But your friends are fewer now. Some have drifted off somewhere or submerged themselves in their work. You no longer see as many as you did at meetings or gatherings. Informal groups become smaller; attendance drops off in little organizations, and the organizations themselves wither. Now, in small gatherings of your oldest friends, you feel that you are talking to yourselves, that you are isolated from the reality of things. This weakens your confidence still further and serves as a further deterrent to—to what? It is clearer all the time that, if you are going to do anything, you must make an occasion to do it, and then you are obviously a troublemaker. So you wait, and you wait.

"But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.
"And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.

"You have gone almost all the way yourself. Life is a continuing process, a flow, not a succession of acts and events at all. It has flowed to a new level, carrying you with it, without any effort on your part. On this new level you live, you have been living more comfortably every day, with new morals, new principles. You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined.

"Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing). You remember those early meetings of your department in the university when, if one had stood, others would have stood, perhaps, but no one stood. A small matter, a matter of hiring this man or that, and you hired this one rather than that. You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair.

"What then? You must then shoot yourself. A few did. Or ‘adjust’ your principles. Many tried, and some, I suppose, succeeded; not I, however. Or learn to live the rest of your life with your shame. This last is the nearest there is, under the circumstances, to heroism: shame. Many Germans became this poor kind of hero, many more, I think, than the world knows or cares to know."

I said nothing. I thought of nothing to say.

"I can tell you," my colleague went on, "of a man in Leipzig, a judge. He was not a Nazi, except nominally, but he certainly wasn’t an anti-Nazi. He was just—a judge. In ’42 or ’43, early ’43, I think it was, a Jew was tried before him in a case involving, but only incidentally, relations with an ‘Aryan’ woman. This was ‘race injury,’ something the Party was especially anxious to punish. In the case at bar, however, the judge had the power to convict the man of a ‘nonracial’ offense and send him to an ordinary prison for a very long term, thus saving him from Party ‘processing’ which would have meant concentration camp or, more probably, deportation and death. But the man was innocent of the ‘nonracial’ charge, in the judge’s opinion, and so, as an honorable judge, he acquitted him. Of course, the Party seized the Jew as soon as he left the courtroom."

"And the judge?"

"Yes, the judge. He could not get the case off his conscience—a case, mind you, in which he had acquitted an innocent man. He thought that he should have convicted him and saved him from the Party, but how could he have convicted an innocent man? The thing preyed on him more and more, and he had to talk about it, first to his family, then to his friends, and then to acquaintances. (That’s how I heard about it.) After the ’44 Putsch they arrested him. After that, I don’t know."

I said nothing.

"Once the war began," my colleague continued, "resistance, protest, criticism, complaint, all carried with them a multiplied likelihood of the greatest punishment. Mere lack of enthusiasm, or failure to show it in public, was ‘defeatism.’ You assumed that there were lists of those who would be ‘dealt with’ later, after the victory. Goebbels was very clever here, too. He continually promised a ‘victory orgy’ to ‘take care of’ those who thought that their ‘treasonable attitude’ had escaped notice. And he meant it; that was not just propaganda. And that was enough to put an end to all uncertainty.

"Once the war began, the government could do anything ‘necessary’ to win it; so it was with the ‘final solution of the Jewish problem,’ which the Nazis always talked about but never dared undertake, not even the Nazis, until war and its ‘necessities’ gave them the knowledge that they could get away with it. The people abroad who thought that war against Hitler would help the Jews were wrong. And the people in Germany who, once the war had begun, still thought of complaining, protesting, resisting, were betting on Germany’s losing the war. It was a long bet. Not many made it."


 Copyright notice: Excerpt from pages 166-73 of They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer, published by the University of Chicago Press. ©1955, 1966 by the University of Chicago. All rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that this entire notice, including copyright information, is carried and provided that the University of Chicago Press is notified and no fee is charged for access. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the University of Chicago Press. (Footnotes and other references included in the book may have been removed from this online version of the text.)

A Moral Code For The Post-Collapse World

Guest Post by Brandon Smith

Popular media today, including television and cinema, are rife with examples of what is often referred to as moral relativism — the use of false and fictional moral dilemmas designed to promote the rationalization of an “ends justify the means” narrative. We are also bombarded lately with entertainment depicting an endless array of “anti-heroes,” protagonists who have little to no moral code fighting antagonists who are even more evil, thus vindicating the otherwise disgusting actions of the heroes. From “24” to “Breaking Bad” to “The Walking Dead,” American minds are being saturated with propaganda selling the idea that crisis situations require a survivor to abandon conscience. In other words, in order to defeat monsters, you must become a monster.

This theme is not only unavoidable in film and TV, but also in military journals, politics, and even within liberty movement discussion.

What I see developing is an extremely dangerous philosophy that rests on the foundation that victory (or survival) is the paramount virtue and that it should be attained at any cost. Moral compass becomes a “luxury” that “true” apex survivors cannot afford, an obstacle that could eventually get one killed. I have heard some survivalists and liberty proponents in anger over the trespasses of the corrupt establishment suggest a strict adherence to the eye-for-an-eye ideology, up to and including torture, harming of the enemy’s families, and even harming the children of those who would harm us.

There is also a small but ingrained subculture within spheres of survivalism that embraces the strategy of the “prepper pirate,” essentially planning their subsistence around the idea of taking what they need from others as a form of evolutionary realism. They believe that the “survival of the fittest” is more important than the survival of the principled.

In mainstream yuppie culture, this attitude would be labeled insane. Yet urban and suburban television addicts often cheer the concept of the ends justifying the means in their favorite prime time shows and consistently argue for morality stretching policies within government (as long as their “team” is in control of the football in Washington, D.C.). I have little doubt they would adopt such thinking in the event that disaster does strike and they find themselves unprepared amid desperate conditions.

In “Understanding The Fear Of Self-Defense And Revolution,” I discussed the inevitability of self-defense against criminal oligarchy and why common methods of pacifist activism are dangerously inadequate in the face of psychopathic tyranny. When self-defense or revolution is initiated, though, the movement does not necessarily fight only for its own benefit; nor does it fight simply to eliminate the threat. Our survival as individuals is not the primary concern; the survival of the principles and truths that drive us to fight is the ultimate goal. If there is such a thing as the “greater good,” truth and honor must be the apex of that vision.
If we cast aside our principles in the name of victory, then, ironically, we have still lost everything. Our war is fought on multiple levels, from the physical to the spiritual. Lose the spiritual war, lose sight of one’s conscience, and the physical war becomes meaningless.

I believe the formation of a liberty movement code, a kind of warrior’s code, is absolutely vital to our future. Without a new kind of oath, an oath not only to the Constitution but to our own internal values, the temptation to use our darker natures against the enemy during greater trials of the soul may be too much to bear. While conscience is an inborn gift, it sometimes requires a more outward affirmation in order to remain strong. Here are some elements I believe should make up the foundation of our code.

Defense Of The Innocent

We will do everything within our power whenever possible to ensure the safety and liberty of those people around us caught in the currents of collapse. Some might claim that the unprepared are not “innocent” because their lack of vigilance contributes to the decay of our society. I would say that while the ignorant are a danger to us and themselves, we would also be contributing to the decay of our society by refusing to help others when we have the ability to do so. Someone somewhere has to end the cycle. And if that requires us to sacrifice some of our energy and the satisfaction of saying “we told you so,” then this is what we must do.
I would also point out that the defense of the innocent does not begin when our economic and social structures end. We help them now, by offering them the knowledge to prepare and organize for mutual aid. We go to our town centers, to local churches, to our lecture halls; and we openly educate those who are willing to listen — not to preach politics or to indoctrinate, but to offer practical knowledge. We give them useful tools through neighborhood watch programs and Community Preparedness Teams. We teach them today how to defend themselves, their families and their property and how to invest in survival, so that tomorrow they will not feel compelled to become part of the problem, but part of the solution.
If we let our distaste for the unaware lead us into an attitude of “us versus them” against our own neighbors, then we will miss every chance to strengthen our communities. Our purpose is to bring others up, not to stand in pious judgment as they fall down.

We Prepare To Offer Aid, Even To Those We Think Might Not Deserve It

Many survivalists and preppers may scoff at this idea, but they would not be looking at the bigger picture. Offering aid to your community serves not only to help them, but to help you in the long run. Look at it this way; when FEMA arrives in a disaster-struck city or county, its “authority” means little to the shell-shocked citizenry. What does matter to them is that FEMA brings food, water and sometimes shelter. FEMA does this in its own sweet time and often allows numerous people to die before the aid is given, but it still maintains its authority over a region simply because there is no other alternative.
You must offer that alternative.

Imagine what would have happened if during the nightmare of Hurricane Katrina, while FEMA was lounging around watching the carnage and even denying access to private institutions offering supplies, New Orleans residents were greeted with liberty movement teams defying government mandate? What if liberty advocates from across Louisiana and the nation had marched right over the top of FEMA, escorted those trapped in the Superdome to a safe place, and gave them food and water? The movement raised millions of dollars for Ron Paul’s campaign (twice!), why couldn’t we do the same to save lives?

Imagine if we were to prove that FEMA is an unnecessary and frivolous organization ready for the dustbin? Imagine if we were to prove that communities can provide their own security and aid without the state, as Oath Keepers did in Ferguson, Missouri?

Even at a local level, this methodology could mean the difference between freedom and tyranny. Stockpiles of grain bought directly from independent farms can be had for very little money and strategically placed for use in future calamities. Affordable water filtration could prevent disease and dehydration for thousands. A team of engineers could solve waste and grid-down dilemmas. A team of well-trained security personnel could prevent looting, rape and murder. Imagine if the catastrophe the elites wish to engineer was mitigated or thwarted by the very people the disaster was meant to target? Imagine how much satisfaction that would give you.

Our Actions Are Inspired By Conscience, Not Rage

To fight in self-defense is entirely moral, but there are lines that, if crossed, destroy our moral high ground. Without the moral high ground, we become no better than the elites we seek to remove from our lives. This means that we do not harm people unless they are attempting to harm us. We punish criminals, not their families and not their children. We do not torture, not only because it is a useless tactic with little concrete proof of effectiveness, but because it is a morally reprehensible psychopathic act designed to fulfill a sick desire for sadistic power. It is not who we are.

When we fight, we fight in the knowledge that we have first and foremost protected our moral foundation. We see those who promote moral ambiguity and moral relativism as an element destructive to the purpose of liberty. Winning means nothing and survival means nothing, unless we endeavor to deserve life.

We Do Not Run Unless We Plan To Return

In an asymmetric revolution, there is rarely such a thing as a “front line” or a piece of ground that must be defended at all costs. That said, successful asymmetric warfare requires that the enemy pay an overwhelming price for every attack he initiates. This means that said revolt must always be aggressive, never relenting, always striking, and resting or retreating only to stage a more effective counter. Every time a totalitarian system advances without consequence, it generates political, social, psychological and tactical momentum. Without the courage to engage such advances, revolt is impossible. Fear leads to moral rationalizations. The fearful cannot adequately defend themselves, let alone defend others; and, once again, the moral high ground is lost.

Zero Tolerance For Piracy And Criminality Within

Prepper pirates and others on the very fringes of the survival movement who seek to thrive at the expense of others are not only criminal according to natural law, but they are also a blight on the reputation of the liberty movement itself. Our principles will require us to stamp out such people as a priority. Those who would viciously impose upon the innocent as a preplanned strategy are not redeemable. Even if they claim to hate the same elites we fight against, the enemy of our enemy is not necessarily our friend. Prepper pirates are rabid dogs who should be put down.

We Are Professionals, And Guardians Never Satisfied With Half Measures

We carry ourselves as quiet professionals. We strive to represent the best potential of what the liberty movement has to offer. There is no problem we cannot solve and no opponent too large. We do not know the meaning of the word “impossible.” We operate best under pressure and during disaster. We move to disrupt crisis before it begins when possible, and we refuse to stand back as spectators when crisis does develop. We work diligently to master all knowledge and training that could be used to achieve our goal, which is a free, prosperous and independent citizenry. We do not seek leadership over others; we only wish to teach others how to lead themselves. We will not stop until this goal is accomplished or until we are no longer breathing. We are not mutable or flexible where tyranny is concerned. We are entirely uncompromising. We are stubborn bastards, here to drive oligarchs even crazier than they already are. We are here to undo them and their treacherous world. And in this mission, we find ultimate comfort and peace.

Geronimo’s Rage - How America Always Made it's Enemies

Guest Post By David Hathaway

His life was changed in a day.

He grew up working and playing with his family in the mountains and valleys of what is now Arizona.  His mother Juana placed him in a swing that rocked gently in the breeze as she worked.

He played games of hide-and-seek with the other children.  He worked cultivating and planting corn, beans, melons, and pumpkins with his family.  He enjoyed hunting and evening get-togethers when the tribe played a campfire game where competing teams would take turns hiding a bone in a moccasin.  He married his beloved delicate childhood sweetheart Alope and had three children.

He built a tepee for his dear family next to his widowed mother’s tepee so that he could care for her as well.  His wife Alope drew beautiful pictures on the walls of their home.  The tepee was made of buffalo hides and was very comfortable with many bear robes and lion hides.  Alope drew pictures on buckskin which decorated the interior of the tepee.  She made decorations of beads for the home as well.

In the summer of 1858, being at peace with the towns in Mexico and with all the neighboring Indian tribes, Geronimo’s entire tribe went from Arizona to Mexico to trade.  They traveled into Sonora.   They made camp for a few days in a rural area near a Mexican town.  The men went to town to trade during the day and the women and children were left at the campsite with a small number of Indian guards.  The tribe’s arms, supplies, food, and horses were left at the campsite as well.  One day, when the men returned from their trading session with the people in town, they were met by a few women and children who told them that soldiers had killed the Indian guards, stolen all the tribe’s horses, taken all the arms, destroyed all the supplies, and killed many of the women and children.

The tribe quickly dispersed and went into hiding in the surrounding countryside to guard against additional slaughter.  Before splitting up, they agreed to meet later at a thicket by the river under cover of darkness to assess the situation and to verify who had been killed.

After dark, the tribe stole into the rendezvous point, appearing one by one, moving silently to avoid detection by the plundering slayers.   No fire was lit.  At this eerie late night meeting occurring under the bushes at the river’s edge, Geronimo learned that his aged mother, his young wife, and his three children had all been killed by the soldiers.  Geronimo wandered away from the whispers of the group meeting occurring in the concealing blackness of the brush and stood staring at the river. He remained there silent for a long time.

Later that night, a council was convened to decide on a course of action.  Geronimo returned to the group and sat through the council meeting in silence.  He did not vote for or against any of the options discussed.  It was decided that the tribe would be unable to fight or survive in its present condition without food, arms, or horses and that attempts to retrieve the dead would expose the unarmed tribe to more danger.  At the end of the council meeting, tribal chief Mangus Colorado announced the decisions to the tribe.  He gave the order for all to walk silently and continually night and day for however many days it took to make it home.  The long trek to their mountain home in Arizona would be difficult without horses or food.  They were instructed to leave the dead where they were.  Geronimo felt that he had no purpose left.  He did not have a desire to do anything.

As the members of the tribe walked off into the night to begin their arduous march back home, he did not know what he would do.  He stood there for a while and then eventually began to follow the soft sounds of the footsteps in the darkness ahead of him leaving the bodies of his entire family behind.

He didn’t speak at all during those days of marching.  Not even at the brief stops to cook the game that was captured by others.  He didn’t participate in the hunting of game during the first two days and three nights of marching and he chose to not eat the game killed by others during that time.   For days, he didn’t feel like talking, eating, or fighting.

After several days of continual marching and after he decided to begin eating again, the tribe arrived at their home in Arizona.  He went into his tepee and saw his children’s playthings and the art made by his wife.  He couldn’t stand to look at them.  He could find no pleasure in his quiet home.  He burned his tepee and all his family’s possessions.  He then burned his mother’s tepee and all of her possessions.  At this point, he didn’t care if he lived or died.

He began to think only about the soldiers that had slaughtered his family.  He did not even have family graves to visit or mourn over other than that of his father.  He found an amount of solace and fortitude visiting his father’s grave hidden in a cave in the mountains where he swore an oath of vengeance on the soldiers that killed his entire dear family during that peaceful trading excursion.  That grave was the only tangible remnant of family he had left.

Later as an old man and a prisoner of war he said, “In all the battle I thought of my murdered mother, wife, and babies – of my father’s grave and my vow of vengeance, and I fought with fury.  Many fell by my hand…”

Although he tried to escape in his advanced years so that he could return to his Arizona tribal homeland and be buried near his father, he died a prisoner and is buried at the Apache P.O.W. cemetery in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

I wonder how many Geronimos are being created around the world today?

RIP Geronimo

The Four Things You Can Count On Following the Collapse of the Dollar

Guest Post by Dave Hodges

It is easy to misinterpret the signals of our economy from afar when we see people driving cars everywhere and we tend to think that our economy as not being that bad. However, the fact remains that 40 years ago Americans owned those cars that we see them driving. Today, we are renting them as 40% of us are leasing our vehicles. As we drive up and down our neighborhoods, we see people living in houses and we lie to ourselves and use this as a  false barometer to convince ourselves that everything is OK. However, many of these homes we see people living in, have lost all of their equity. The logical answer to the question “When will we have a depression”, should be answered by stating “We have an $18 trillion dollar annual deficit and that is the good news. We have $240 trillion dollars of debt from unfunded liabilities and we have a stunning $1.5 quadrillion dollar debt. So, you better grab all the food, water, guns and ammunition that you can and run for the hills”!  But as long we see people driving in cars and living in houses, most Americans are going to deny the truth. And the last thing that I wanted to do on the first day of a new year, was to be the harbinger of doom and gloom. Yet, I feel compelled to speak the truth, on this New Year’s Day, because I might be able to get one more person to take the steps necessary to help increase the odds of their survival in response to what is coming. History shows that one can count on four things occurring following the collapse of the dollar.

The Last Great American Garage Sale

On multiple occasions in this column, I have thoroughly documented the following facts which demonstrate that the banksters are stealing our assets in preparation for them to economically survive what is coming:

1. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that when you put money into the bank, you have transferred ownership of that money to the bank. This ruling represents government sponsored theft in the highest order, yet most of us are unaware that this happened.

2. The G20 nations declared the money in your bank account to not be money. Therefore, the FDIC insurance for your savings.

3. The MERS mortgage fraud is ongoing and homeowners are still having their homes stolen without legal justification.

4. The Federal Reserve, in 2012, began to print money to the tune of $40 billion dollars a month in order to purchase mortgage backed securities.

5. The banksters have practiced stealing the secured accounts of American in the MF Global (MFG) scandal, resulting in the loss of $6.3 billion dollars of secured investment funds. Nobody went to jail.

6. In April of 2013,  the banksters are manipulating the price of gold as evidenced by the actions of “Goldman Sachs who told their clients earlier that they recommend initiating a short COMEX gold position.” After investors were duped into panic selling, the banksters bought up massive sums of gold. The banksters were buying gold while getting out the American Stock Market and the megabanks. Why? Because the dollar is on the verge of collapse.

7. This past week, the banksters signaled that they were no longer attempting to gain control of any more gold as they began to repatriate gold with their rightful owners in Europe. This means that the crash could happen at any time.

The only thing left to do is for the banksters to steal your bank accounts. The correct “crisis” will bring about the collapse of the dollar now that the wealth transfer has largely been accomplished.

What America Will Look Like Following the Collapse of the Dollar

The aftermath of an economic collapse can take different forms, however, history demonstrates that there are some universal things you can count on:

1. Obamavilles

People will lose their jobs and ultimately will be evicted from their homes and America will see a dramatic spike in the rate of homelessness. During the Great Depression (1929-1941),the growing number of homeless people in America began to live in communities with cardboard boxes as their only shelter. The communities took on the name “Hooverilles” in reference to the President that most Americans blamed for the Great Depression.

Today, as the economy collapses, a new homeless class will be created and they will come from the former middle class. A large number of Americans own property. This will shift to a large amount of properties that will subsequently be owned by the few and America will witness the introduction of feudalism to our country. This is why the Federal reserve has been buying $40 billion dollars of mortgage backed securities every month.

2. Dramatic Food Shortages

Because of “Just In Time” deliveries, the American food industry operates on quick and multiple deliveries and survives only as the result of the rapid payment of invoices. As the failing economy reaches the service industry, most of these business will fail in very large numbers. Who then, will be delivering the food?

3. Food Riots

Because of the food shortages, riots and organized gang violence will occur. The military is trained to isolate these areas, but will not intervene. If you call 911, nobody will be answering. This will be the time that you wished you had listened to many in the alternative media because this is the time that America will begin to see a large loss of life.

4. Martial Law Will Be Declared

DHS and the military have already practiced for this development. Travel will be limited and it will stopped all together in areas where the civil unrest is at its worst.

The  2012 and 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), will allow government officials to “disappear” anyone they want to and for any reason, or no reason at all.  The NDAA suspends habeas corpus, provides for indefinite detention and this is done on the premise that certain kinds of Americans are threats (e.g. Second Amendment supporters, Bible-believing Christians). This is where the present harassment of Christians will turn into the outright persecution of Christians.

I think the public has a right to know how its government plans to handle future protests. Is America the new Venezuela, Egypt, or Ukraine?  A previously secret document which was leaked online; entitled FM 3-39.40 Internment and Resettlement Operations (PDF).

RIOT FORMATIONS
H-42. Quick-reaction force teams should be established with a minimum response time. Because of the physical nature of riot control, individuals in riot control formations should not carry rifles. Nonlethal attachments should follow closely behind the riot control formation. Lethal coverage must be provided for this entire formation. (See FM 3-22.40.)
DESIGNATED MARKSMEN
H-43. During a nonlethal engagement, the use of designated marksmen provides confidence and safety to those facing a riot. If a lethal threat is presented, the designated marksmen in overwatch positions (armed with appropriate sniper weapons mounted with high-powered scopes) can scan a crowd and identify agitators and riot leaders for apprehension and fire lethal rounds if warranted. Additionally, they are ideally suited for flank security and countersniper operations. (See FM 3-22.40.).

Travel restrictions will be a part of this process.

Government Control Over All Fuel and Transportation

These are some of the things that government can do to you courtesy of several executive orders.
Executive Order 10990
Allows the government to take control over all modes of transportation, highways, and seaports.
Executive Order 11003
Allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
Executive Order 11005
Allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities.
Executive Order 10997
Allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels, and minerals.

Government Control Over All Food and Water

Executive Order 10998
Allows the government to take over all food resources and farms

The Ability to Enslave the American People

Executive Order 11000
Allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.
Executive Order 11001
Allows the government to take over all health, education, and welfare functions.
Executive Order 11002
Designates the Postmaster General to operate national registration of all persons.
Executive Order 11004
Allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

Ability to Grant the President Total Dictatorial Control

Executive Order 11051
Specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.
Executive Order 11310
Grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.
Executive Order 11049
Assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.
There are more examples, but I think you get the idea. Your government has practiced to subjugate and even murder you in times such as these.

Conclusion

Is there anything that can be done to stop the egregious violations of our civil liberties? The short answer is no! However, there are some things that can be done to mitigate the threat and to soften the landing following an economic collapse and this will be the subject of my next article in this series.

There Is Hope In Understanding That A Great Economic Collapse Is Coming

 

Guest Post by Michael Snyder


If you were about to take a final exam, would you have more hope or more fear if you didn’t understand any of the questions and you had not prepared for the test at all? I think that virtually all of us have had dreams where we show up for an exam that we have not studied for. Those dreams can be pretty terrifying. And of course if you were ever in such a situation in real life, you probably did very, very poorly on that test.

The reason I have brought up this hypothetical is to make a point. My point is that there is hope in understanding what is ahead of us, and there is hope in getting prepared. Since I started The Economic Collapse Blog back in 2009, there have always been a few people that have accused me of spreading fear. That frustrates me, because what I am actually doing is the exact opposite of that. When a hurricane is approaching, is it “spreading fear” to tell people to board up their windows? Of course not. In fact, you just might save someone’s life. Or if you were walking down the street one day and you saw someone that wasn’t looking and was about to step out into the road in front of a bus, what would the rational thing to do be? Anyone that has any sense of compassion would yell out and warn that other person to stay back. Yes, that other individual may be startled for a moment, but in the end you will be thanked warmly for saving that person from major injury or worse. Well, as a nation we are about to be slammed by the hardest times that any of us have ever experienced. If we care about those around us, we should be sounding the alarm.

Since 2009, I have published 1,211 articles on the coming economic collapse on my website. Some people assume that I must be filled with worry, bitterness and fear because I am constantly dealing with such deeply disturbing issues.

But that is not the case at all.

There is nothing that I lose sleep over, and I don’t spend my time worrying about anything. Yes, my analysis of the global financial system has completely convinced me that an absolutely horrific economic collapse is in our future. But understanding what is happening helps me to calmly make plans for the years ahead, and working hard to prepare for what is coming gives me hope that my family and I will be able to weather the storm.

I do not believe in living my life in a state of fear, and I do not want anything that I write to ever cause fear in my readers. The ancient Hebrew greeting “Shalom” is roughly translated as “peace” or “completeness”, and that is what we are constantly pursuing in my household. My wife and I know that incredibly challenging times are coming, but we also know who we are, what our purpose is, and where we are headed. We also believe that the greatest chapters of our lives are ahead even in the midst of all the chaos that is coming.

When times are the darkest, that is when light is needed the most. Just think about it. When you look back over history, what heroes do you admire the most? If you truly think about it, almost all of those heroes arose during times of great adversity and conflict.

The years ahead can be a time of great adventure for you, or they can seem like hell on Earth. It all depends on how you respond to your circumstances.

Do you want to know who is going to respond to the years ahead with fear, panic and depression?

The millions of people that have absolutely no idea what is coming and have made absolutely no preparations are going to be absolutely blindsided by the coming economic collapse. Just like the 1930s, we are going to see people jumping out of windows and jumping in front of trains. Others will sink into a state of despair so deep that nobody will ever be able to shake them out of it.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Over the past five years I have spent thousands of hours studying the coming economic collapse. In my articles you can find tens of thousands of facts and statistics that prove that the U.S. economy is hurtling toward oblivion.

It is not always the most pleasant thing to write about, but it is the truth. And that is what matters. If you believe that I am wrong, prove it to me. I work very hard to put out the most accurate information that I possibly can. So if you can prove that I am wrong, I will change my mind.

But of course that is not going to happen. As I have stated previously, anyone with half a brain should be able to see that we are living in the greatest debt bubble in human history. Anyone with half a brain should be able to see that the “too big to fail” banks are being extraordinarily reckless (derivatives, etc.). Anyone with half a brain should be able to see that our formerly great manufacturing cities are being transformed into crime-infested hellholes. Anyone with half a brain should be able to see that the middle class is dying. Anyone with half a brain should be able to see that the exact same patterns that led up to the great financial crisis of 2008 are happening again. Anyone with half a brain should be able to see that we simply cannot consume far more wealth than we produce as a nation indefinitely. Anyone with half a brain should be able to see that the incredibly foolish decisions that our politicians have been making for decades have placed us on a road to utter disaster.

So it doesn’t take anyone special to do what I am doing. I am just a “watchman on the wall” sounding the alarm the best that I can. And there are lots of others that are doing the same thing. We are deeply concerned about where this nation is heading, and we have been pleading with our leaders to do something about it for a long time but they have not listened to us.

Since our leaders just continue doing “business as usual”, there is not going to be a solution to our problems on the national level.

So that is why I am encouraging people to get prepared for the hard times that are coming on a family level and a community level.

Unfortunately, it seems like some people always have an excuse for not getting prepared. In fact, a few have even gone so far as to accuse me of being “anti-faith” for suggesting that people actually get off their couches and do something to help their families deal with the nightmare on the horizon. They seem to have the attitude that we should all just sit back and wait for God to do everything for us.

So I am not quite sure why those people get up in the morning and go to work, since they should just “trust God” to deposit paychecks into their banks. And I am not quite sure why they ever fill up the tanks of their vehicles with gasoline, because they should be able to “trust God” to put more gas there when they need it.

I covered all of this in much more detail in my previous article entitled “Is It ‘Anti-Faith’ To Prepare For The Coming Economic Collapse?”

For now, let me just state that what those people are suggesting is the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches. Trusting God is not about sitting back and doing nothing. In the Scriptures, we are told that faith is about stepping out and taking action on what God has revealed to us. That includes working hard, being wise and providing for our families. For example, just check out Proverbs 6:6-11…

Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise. Which, having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.

How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep— so will your poverty come upon you like a stalker, and your need as an armed man.

In the end, each one of us needs to make the decisions that we feel are best for our own families.

So that is why it is so incredibly important not to let someone else do your thinking for you.

In America today, the average person watches 153 hours of television a month. In addition to that, we also spend countless hours watching movies, playing video games, listening to music, reading books and surfing the Internet.

What most Americans don’t realize is that there are just six giant corporations that control almost all of that content, and that makes them immensely powerful.

These giant media corporations are constantly manipulating our attitudes, opinions and beliefs. And at this point most Americans seem quite content to remain “plugged into the matrix” and to allow corrupt corporate executives somewhere to do their thinking for them.

I urge you to break free from that system.

Do your own research and do your own thinking.

Don’t take what I say or what anyone else says as truth without critically examining it yourself. This can be difficult at first, because in this nation our young people are no longer trained to think critically. Instead, we are trained to just blindly accept whatever information the system feeds us.

George Orwell once said that “during times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act“.

That perfectly describes the era that we are currently living in.

The truth does not bring fear and despair.

Rather, the truth brings hope and it sets people free.

Share the truth with as many people as you can, because we live in a world that desperately needs it.

This article first appeared here at the Economic Collapse Blog.  Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here.

Economic Collapse – This is What It Looks Like

Guest Post by John Little - OmegaShock.com

People always want to talk about a conspiracy, whenever things go bad. That is completely understandable, and there is some truth to it.

However, not everything is a conspiracy. Some events occur naturally, and you will find the most conspiracy amongst those who are trying to avoid that which is natural.

I like to think of it as jockying for the best position in the lifeboat.

Yes, there IS a conspiracy, and the conspirators are a foul, evil bunch that God is going to knock down, but that is a discussion for another day.

Now, where was I… oh yes …economic collapse.

Economic Collapse

An economic collapse comes from you and me. We Little people are the cause. (And yes, my last name really is Little.) And, we cause this economic collapse by the choices that we make.
When you don’t have very much money…

…you buy less.

When your neighbor loses his job, you get scared about your own job, and start saving money. Of course, saving money means…

…you buy less.

When you retire from your job…

…you buy less.

When healthcare costs go up…

…you buy less.

And, when you buy less… those who produce the stuff you buy… well …THEY also are forced to buy less.

China

Who do Americans buy from?

China

And, America is China’s biggest trading partner. So, when America buys less stuff from China… well …the Chinese buy less stuff from everyone else.

What do the Chinese normally buy?

Oil.

From Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia

China buys other stuff, but oil is a big one. And when Chinese companies have fewer orders, they consume less oil. Those companies also lay off their workers, which means that those workers ALSO consume less oil.

…and so on… 

…and so forth.

The next question is…

What does Saudi Arabia do about this?

Well, they ultimately find themselves with lots of extra oil, because China isn’t buying it. This means that they need to offer that extra oil to others. However, those ‘others’ won’t buy it for the same price that China is buying it for.

So, what does Saudi Arabia do?

They lower the price until people start buying.
They could lower production, and Saudi Arabia has done that in the past. But, the results of lowering production was a loss of market share, and they don’t want to do that this time. Also, the king of Saudi Arabia is on his last legs, and his vile little kingdom is in trouble.
So, to keep the masses happy and unwilling to revolt, the Saudis want to keep pumping their oil.
As Shakespeare said:

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. – Henry IV

Please remember also that the Saudis have not increased production. All that they have done is maintain their production at previous levels. To put it another way, the only thing that the Saudis have done is… nothing.
Those of you who think that the Saudis have lowered their prices for any number of conspiratorial reasons are missing the point. The Saudis haven’t lowered their prices.

You have.

YOU are buying less oil, so they have no choice.

Remember this quote from the Washington AP bureau chief, in 1932:

All politics is local – Byron Price

(NOT Tip O’Neill)

The Saudi king is far more interested in his own ability to survive for the next few years than in destroying US shale oil production, hurting Russian hegemony or taking a whack at Iran. Yes, all of those oil producers are going to hurt, but the main focus of the Saudis is keeping their people from rising up and throwing them out of power.
Really. They hate that.

Russia

Unfortunately, this puts Russia in something of a bind, since half of all their income comes from petroleum and natural gas production. This means that Russia will not be able to fulfill all the promises that they have made. Lots of those promises were made to people outside of Russia, and lot of those promises were made to people inside Russia.
Remember:

All politics is local

So, you can guess which promises that Russia is going to break:

The ones made to non-Russians.

Now, Russia is going to work hard to keep from breaking those promises, but she will ultimately be forced to.

What are those promises that Russia is going to break?

Bonds sold to foreigners.

Ouch.

Why ouch?

Financial Organizations

Because banks and institutional investors hold those bonds. And worse, there are lots of derivatives swimming around, ready to bite somebody. If enough banks and institutional investors get hurt by all this…

Well, do you know what happens when banks and investors get hurt?

They sell stuff. Lots of stuff.

This causes the price for ‘stuff’ to fall. Those investors who own the same ‘stuff’ lose money, and THEY are also forced to sell – especially those who bought investments using debt, also known as ‘margin’.

Have you ever heard of a margin call?

Yup. We’re going to get lots of those. And THAT means a collapse of the US stock market, bond market and… well …a LOT of other stuff.

It will be a ‘domino effect’ and it will sweep away a huge number of people that still have their money in financial institutions of ANY kind.
That means YOU.

GET OUT

If you have ANY money in an insurance policy, 401K, IRA, bank or any other company or organization… you will lose ALL of it over the coming months, if you do not get it out.

And, you will get NO warning.

Well, actually, that’s not true. What I’m telling you now is a warning. And, I’ve given you lots and lots of warnings in the past. And, you might have a couple more warnings before we’re done. But, it’s hard to say what your LAST warning will be.

Please. Do NOT try to figure out what or when your last warning will be. It will hit you when you least expect it, which is what the US government wants. They do NOT want you forewarned.

Please take your money out now, and buy something of tangible value. My preference is silver, followed by gold. But, you might think that something else will hold its value in the coming collapse. Food, water, ammunition and Bibles come to mind.
But, whatever you buy, it must be something that will hold its value in a collapse situation – which means that someone will want to buy it from you for at least a high fraction of the price you paid for it.

I really wish that this was some half-baked conspiracy theory that we could all wave away, but it isn’t. This is life and death.

And you are NOT ready for this.

I truly hope that you’ll be ready for this
(That’s a link. There’s not much time left.)

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. – Proverbs 22:3

——————-

note – I am not offering financial or disaster preparation advice in a professional capacity. These are merely my own thoughts on what I would do in these situations.

——————-
If you find a flaw in my reasoning, have a question, or wish to add your own viewpoint, leave a comment on the website. Your input is truly welcome.

ISIS’ Bloody Footprints Lead From NATO Territory


Guest Post by Tony Cartalucci

It was reported recently that Germany’s broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) investigated what turned out to be hundreds of trucks a day carrying billions of dollars in supplies,  flowing into Syria and directly into the hands of the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS). 

Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, has played a pivotal role in the destabilization and destruction of neighboring Syria. Since 2011, Turkey has allowed its territory to be used as a transit and staging point for sectarian terrorists flowing from around the world and into Syria in what could be described as a defacto NATO invasion by proxy. 

In 2011, after the Libyan conflict drew to an end in favor of NATO, terrorists it had armed and provided air cover for in North Africa were promptly shipped to Turkey where they then slipped into Syria to engage the Syrian government and its military. Since then, an untold number of terrorists have used not only Turkey as a staging ground, but also Lebanon and Jordan.

In addition to literal terrorists being harbored in NATO territory, security agencies of NATO members including the US and UK, have been active along the Turkish-Syrian border arming, funding. and equipping what they call “moderate rebels.” These moderate rebels have recently been revealed as affiliates of or organized directly organized beneath both Al Qaeda and ISIS.

DW’s report does not implicate merely Turkey in aiding and abetting ISIS, but exposes the fact that ISIS’ supply lines lead from within NATO itself – in other words, ISIS is a creation, perpetuation, and agent of NATO.

Contrary to Western propaganda, Al Qaeda was intentionally organized and directed by the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel to engage in a regional confrontation aimed at Iran and its powerful arc of influence. Exposed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his 2007 article,  “The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?” it was stated explicitly that (emphasis added):

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda. 

Clearly, ISIS is the verbatim fulfillment of Hersh’s 2007 warning.

And while some may question what took place between 2007 and the current disposition of ISIS today, those documenting the ongoing conflict in Syria starting in 2011 have noted substantial and continued state sponsorship of militants fighting in the Syrian conflict, many of which are now confirmed to be operating under the banner of ISIS.

Headlines over the past 3-4 years including, “C.I.A. Said to Aid in Steering Arms to Syrian Opposition,” “First Syria rebels armed and trained by CIA ‘on way to battlefield’,” “Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid From C.I.A.,” and “Official says CIA-funded weapons have begun to reach Syrian rebels; rebels deny receipt,” reveal ongoing Western support, bridging the gap between the conspiracy exposed by Hersh in 2007 and the current torrent of supplies flowing to ISIS via NATO territory.

It is clear that the ISIS threat was NATO all along, the culmination of a conspiracy spanning at least two US Presidential administrations, and resulting in a regional conflict marked by some of the most horrific barbarism documented in modern history.

With NATO feeding the ISIS threat directly, no serious attempt to destroy ISIS in either Syria or Iraq can be attempted without first cutting its supply lines leading from NATO territory. Clearly the United States, NATO, or regional partners like Israel, Qatar, or Saudi Arabia have any intention of doing so. As indicated by DW’s report, Kurds operating on both sides of the Turkish-Syrian border are attempting to seal off the flow of supplies leading from NATO territory.

The Syrian Arab Army, the Iranian forces supporting anti-ISIS fighters in Syrian territory, and the allies of both countries must insist that strict resolutions are passed to secure the border and stem the flow of ISIS’ lifeline. A clearly worded resolution, if voted down by the likes of the US and its NATO accomplices, will expose further the true nature ISIS and the misanthropic agenda of the West it is a manifestation of.

If the West capitulates and the resolution is passed, further steps toward arming and aiding the Syrian and Iranian governments and their various allies in the securing of the Turkish-Syrian border can be made. From there, the proxy war engineered and executed by the West which has engulfed the region for years, may finally be brought to an end.

Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.