By Giordano Bruno
It’s inevitable. Every person who endeavors to understand the nature of economy, central banking, fiat currency, Globalism, and elitism in our culture, every man who is truly honest with himself, comes to the same logical conclusion; the system we toil in, the system we tolerate out of habit day to day, is not only failing, it is designed to fail. Knowing this fact is difficult. The potential consequences of the situation tend to bleed into every moment of our once conventional routine. We realize that there is no going back to the old apathetic ways of viewing our world; once awake we cannot again sleep, and because we have the truth in hand, truth which affects every living human being, we are also by default made responsible for the future. We are no longer spectators caught in the swift tides of history, but participants in history’s making. We become the levy builders and breakers. We contribute to the flow of events, as well as their outcome.
This insight then begs a change in our way of life, and leads to a single arduous question:
Now that we know there is a problem, what are we going to do about it?
While knowing the truth is a tremendous step for any person, it brings little comfort without a sense of direction. People need a defined course of action, a methodology, a way of contributing to the solution. The problem is that too many people sit and wait for the solution to present itself, or wait for others to take the lead, instead of going out and finding their own answers. I have often received responses to my past articles that sound like this:
“Ok, so we know the economy is on the verge of collapse and that the government is corrupt. When are YOU going to tell us what we can do about it? What are YOU going to do about it? When are WE going to rally together and force the elites out of power?”
These are the wrong questions. What they should be asking THEMSELVES is;
“What am I going to do about it? When am I going to decide to take actions that further the betterment of our future? When am I going to stop waiting for others to tell me what to do?”
People want times, dates, clubs, protests, official representation, political parties, slogans, sign-up sheets and bake sales, and most of all, they want a plan, a prefabricated plan clearly delineating the future of the movement. In the Liberty Movement, however, there is no such thing as a strategy set in stone, nor should there be. The primary reason being, the Liberty Movement thrives on individual action, not collectivist action.
We would all love to have the remedy to our many ills packaged and bottled and sold to us like so much aspirin. This is not going to happen and I hope people stop holding their breath. In our situation, the only solutions that come easy are those that benefit the establishment, and not us. In fact, globalist peddlers today are lining up in droves to offer you their “leadership”, and an easy way out. Some people buy in, simply because they’ve never been forced to think for themselves, and they can’t fathom starting now, especially when it comes to something as seemingly complex and overarching as economics.
I have no easy solutions to offer here. I have no magic tricks or cure-alls. All I have is the ability to clearly present the hard choices available to us. All I have is a manner of thinking that could stop globalism in its tracks, but the way this philosophy is enacted is up to each and every American individual, and not up to me. Effective real world solutions start with a powerful root principle. This is mine:
Provide for yourself and for others those human necessities the oppressive system cannot or will not. Through this, you make the system obsolete. Eventually, the system will either have to come after you, or be forced to conform to you. In either case, you benefit.
Now, let’s examine how this principle works (especially in terms of economics), how it can be implemented, as well as those strategies that do more harm than good…
“Solutions” That Solve Nothing
Before we look at more effective measures in fighting against economic and political manipulation, it is probably a good idea to make ourselves aware of those solutions being presented to the public that will not work, or are meant to mislead. There are too many variations to cover in a single article, so I will attempt to list what I believe are the foremost prominent scams, shams, and boondoggles, below.
Incentives: Government incentives are a wash. Their only purpose is to prolong the inevitable by propping up certain sectors of the economy with more debt we cannot afford. Look at how the housing market tanked even further after the government ended its homebuyer tax credit plan. Look at the car tax credit and “cash for clunkers”. It was completely ineffective in revitalizing auto sales to sustainable levels. Government incentive programs fail. Period.
Centralization: Centralization is a philosophy that draws on our tendency to defer our personal responsibilities to others. It is the exact opposite of the principle I described above. More centralization is the source of our current economic problems, not the solution. By condensing the power of financial regulation and control into the hands of a minority of unaccountable men, like the private Federal Reserve, we relinquish our right to participate in the decision making process, and we reduce the value of the individual in our society overall.
Many people look for leadership, regardless how corrupt, just to avoid the dreadful proposition of having to shape their own destinies. In a new America free from globalism, this neurotic aversion to self-determination must end, and the average person must start taking on more responsibility for himself and his surroundings, not less. Even now, the IMF and World Bank along with financial elites here in the U.S. are suggesting world financial regulation and world government as a way to divert the carnage brought about by faulty policies those same organizations designed! The only way this nightmare will be implemented successfully is if you, the everyday American, continue to fear taking charge of your own life. Bigger government has never solved any of our social problems, it has only made them more pronounced. Why would anyone believe the concept of Global Government is any better?
One World Currency: There is still a host of naysayers in the mainstream financial world that deny there is any plan whatsoever for a one world currency. Just to be clear; the IMF has OPENLY admitted that its goal is the implementation of the SDR (Special Drawing Rights) as a world reserve currency to replace the Dollar in international trade, and to eventually surpass all currencies as the new “global currency”. You can read these admissions in the IMF’s own press releases:
http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2010/051110.htm
Other analysts admit that the IMF has plans on the drawing board for a global currency, but claim such a move would never be instituted by the U.S. government. In fact, the U.S. has some of the highest SDR allocations of any country in its reserves. And now, even the U.S. Post Office is listing the SDR in its priority mail exchange rate tables:
http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/immc3_007.htm
Now, if the U.S. dollar is the world reserve currency, and is supposedly going to be the world reserve currency for years to come as mainstream analysts suggest, then why on Earth would our Treasury feel the need to allocate any SDR’s at all, and why would our own Postal Service use an SDR exchange rate table? Why is the SDR being treated as a viable currency today when skeptics claim that the SDR is not a currency at all? If the dollar is as strong as the establishment suggests, why are they obviously preparing for the rise of the SDR?
There are also those who suggest that a collapse in the Dollar would only damage the SDR because the SDR’s value is built on a “basket” of currencies which includes the dollar, making the implementation of the SDR as a global currency impossible These people don’t seem to understand how currency markets work, let alone how the IMF works.
In currency markets, buying power is generally shifted or dispersed, and not necessarily destroyed. As the U.S. dollar falls, other currencies gain ground. A good example is the Japanese Yen and its recent rise to a 15 year high against the Greenback (the Japanese are now attempting to intervene in the Yen). The Chinese Yuan, not yet included in the SDR basket, is set for a meteoric increase in value, especially if China decides to dump their U.S. Treasury reserves, a move that would likely buy them a spot at the SDR table.
A fall in the Dollar changes nothing in the SDR, it only leaves a hole that other countries will gladly fill with their own currencies.
Also, the SDR is not predicated on any hard fast rules. Many analysts today don’t comprehend this. Frankly, the SDR is whatever the IMF says it is! In the early 1970’s, the IMF used the SDR as a security representing a set amount of gold. In fact, the SDR used to be called “paper gold”. Then, they changed it to a basket of world currencies. Tomorrow, it could be something completely different. This is what happens when you give unelected central bankers unmitigated control over a financial instrument. They do whatever they please with it regardless of normal economic traditions or “codes of honor”. Any arguments that don’t take this fact into account are not even worth considering.
To be clear, global currency is being set up for implementation NOW, not ten years from now, or twenty, but now. Any acceptance of a global currency by the masses will result in complete economic centralization. The Federal Reserve is currently unaccountable, but they are still subject to legal audit and dissolution if the American people organize enough resistance and exert enough pressure to make it happen. A global currency is likely to leave no avenue for the people to question its viability or change its foundation. The IMF is outside the jurisdiction of any country or society, making it utterly immune to litigation, and regulation, and more prone to moral hazard. To hand over that much streamlined power to such a monstrosity in the “hope” that it will act in our best interests is pure insanity! Why not put Charles Manson in charge of a Cub Scout troop while we’re on a roll…
Digital Currency: About a month ago I was approached through email by a man representing an organization called ‘TGL’. He asked me if I would be interested in participating in a project called “Green Light”, which at first glance appears to be a sort of community service program centered not in local communities, but digital communities on the web. The goal, he said, was essentially to meld web communities with local communities until they worked in tandem towards the same directive. This would be accomplished by introducing a digital currency called “L”, which would create the incentives necessary to influence public participation. You can see a video commercial for Green Light here:
I was intrigued by the concept initially because of the method by which “L” was given value. Basically, “L” is backed not by commodities such as gold or silver, not by traditional debt like the Dollar, but by the potential labor of those involved in the program. What this means is, the value of their digital currency relies on the stock of talents and skills of the people who also use L to purchase other people’s talents and skills. It all sounds quite symbiotic and very “green”, however, I have declined to participate, and here’s why…
While it is entirely possible that the designers of the concept have the best intentions and truly hope to stop the economic collapse, the problem is that their “solution” relies upon the creation of a currency which is even less tangible than paper fiat. Digital currency is perhaps the ultimate goal of central banks, because it diminishes all sense of fiscal discipline, not just from banking, but from society at large. One only needs to look up the amount of credit card debt held by the average American to see that digital currency promotes catastrophic financial bubbles. It also offers ultimate control over the finances of every citizen at the push of a button.
Next, the collectivist tone of the commercial and the program is obvious. While TGL is only a web based program for now, it was related to me that the end purpose was for Green Light to go global. Imagine an economy in which it is a cultural taboo NOT to participate in the collective because to refrain actually damages the whole. To not participate in Green Light diminishes the value of “L”, and thus diminishes the strength of the digital economy. Today, we call people who refuse to participate in our labor pool “bums”, or “freeloaders”, but in an economy totally dependent on a labor backed digital currency, freeloaders or peaceful non-conformists might be called “criminals”. The representative from TGL even compared Green Light to the world of ‘Star Trek’. Yikes…
Finally, the primary reason I will not participate in this program is because, as the representative admitted openly to me, Green Light was funded in part by the World Wildlife Fund. The WWF is a globalist organization supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. CEO’s and former CEO’s of globalist corporations like General Electric, Dupont, Coca Cola, and the Ford Foundation sit on its board:
http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/board/
Why is an elitist front group like the WWF, a supposed environmental conservation club, interested in funding digital currency projects? I suppose even if I could ask them directly I would not expect an honest answer, which leaves one only to speculate, using common sense, and the history of elitist influence on economy as a guide…
Anti-Industrial Retro-Egalitarian Theosophic Humanist Technocratic Fruity Tootie: As you can see, this is a catch all category for those people who are no longer grounded in reality, designing solutions that are so far outside of what is actually applicable they become a distraction from true progress. For some reason, certain people believe that in order to solve our globalist dilemma we need to reinvent the wheel. Sovereignty must go. Religion must go. Capitalism must go. Industry must go. The concept of currency must go. 80% of the world’s population must go. In some cases even the pursuit of new technologies must go. According to this crowd, humanity really had it great back when we were all dirt farmers and “one with nature”. I hate to break it to them, but society without innovation is a nightmare. They should just take a trip to the undeveloped parts of Africa and live in a starving village for a few years to see if it’s as romantic as they envision.
Invariably, these people see themselves as “misunderstood geniuses”, and blame the rest of humanity for our economic troubles, instead of the elites who engineered the whole process of collapse and centralization. When challenged, they act as though you are simply too stupid to grasp the majesty of their ideas.
Industry can never be erased. Human curiosity is too powerful a force to be held back. Currency is a product of intricate economy. If you exist solely in a village with little outside trade, then barter alone is fine. However, as soon as you begin expanding trade beyond the borders of your town square, you are going to need a better mechanism than barter. Currency as a concept is not the demon creation of elitists; it is the logical common sense extension of growing trade. “Currency” is not the problem, elitist controlled currency is the problem. Remove minority control by elites from the picture, and you will see true free markets in action. I do find it interesting though that technocrats and anti-humanists always attempt to divert the blame away from the men making the decisions that negatively affect our culture and towards “concepts” as the culprit. As if money itself is the source of evil, rather than those individuals or groups who misuse money for destructive purposes.
Again, this is all a distraction from the real world solutions available to us without wiping the slate entirely clean.
Real Solutions For Regular Americans
The basic premise of my solution to globalism is one of non-participation. As I talked about above, we must provide for ourselves and for others those human necessities the corrupt system cannot or will not. This means, if the system denies us meaningful community, we must build a meaningful community for ourselves. If the system denies us a stable currency, then we must start using our own. If the system denies us the truth and honest news providers, then we must establish and support our own information networks. The system, especially if it is a globalist collectivist one, requires that the masses rely on it. It requires that people NEED the system in order to survive. If people no longer rely on the system for their survival, the system becomes useless, and fades away. This can be done on an individual basis, and requires no traditional and structured organization. Let’s look at possible methods for applying this idea.
Alternative News: This solution is already in action and is a perfect example of the effectiveness of non-participation in the system. Right now, the ratings and viewership of mass media sources is crumbling, especially in terms of economic news. Alternative web news traffic is exploding. By providing the truth (a human necessity) we in the alternative media offered what the system would not. In response, millions of people have started to turn away from the system run media to get what they require. It’s very simple. We did not need to organize mass protests, riots, or guerilla takeovers of newsrooms. We did not need billions of dollars to buy a television network. We did not need to “get on the inside”, as some people humorously suggest, and try to leak the truth in tiny tidbits so that the corporate oligarchs wouldn’t notice. All we needed to do to take down the MSM was to make readily available that information which they kept hidden.
By providing alternative sources of information and by pointing out elitist activities while they are still in initial stages, we can also preempt their plans. By pointing out what they are doing while they are doing it, the globalists are forced to decide whether to continue their action to its end point and risk being exposed further to the public, or to stop before finishing and lay another plan to rest in the dustbin. Either way, we win.
This method can be applied to many more areas besides media…
Stop Participating In Banks: If you are a business owner with a lot of capital influx, this solution may be more difficult to follow. But, if you are a regular working stiff like me, this can be done easily. I have not had a bank account in four years and I have organized my expenses better than I did when I had accounts. While some banks may not be knowingly participating in the problem, all banks are under the purview of the Federal Reserve, which IS knowingly part of the problem. Banks create and loan money out of thin air, then charge people interest for the money that cost them nothing to make. By closing your bank accounts, you at least remove your part in the illusion that banks operate on reserves at all, as well as diminish their ability to abuse the capital you are providing them. Not to mention, you stop paying bank fees, you stop relying on debit cards and checks which saves you money, and, you protect yourself from a bank holiday. As we have covered on many occasions, the FDIC is broke, and when it finally goes under, there will be a run on banks. Better to have your money out now than be one of those in the frantic crowd begging the bank to open its doors so you can buy groceries.
As far as securing your money, unless you have millions, it’s clear-cut; just make a hiding place and stow it without telling anyone where it is. If you’re worried about your house burning down and your savings along with it, get a fireproof safe. The more people close their accounts, the less influence the banks have over our capital. It also exposes the fact that banks actually have little physical cash to back the accounts they list as holdings. If enough people do this, the false banking system itself could implode, which sounds disastrous, however, the fact remains that we cannot replace the corrupt system with an honest system until the corrupt system is removed.
Stop Participating In The Dollar: The dollar is done. Currently, House lawmakers are discussing trade sanctions against China for currency manipulation, and Japan has just intervened in its own currency this week:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/japan-intervenes-for-first-time-since-2004-as-yen-surge-threatens-recovery.html
This intervention was apparently unilateral, meaning it will not be supported by the U.S. and Europe (as we predicted in our last article). Where is this headed? I have no doubt we will see trade wars and currency wars between the West and Asia relatively soon:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68D12320100914
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/currency-wars-set-to-break-out/story-e6frg9qo-1225919825846
The U.S. Government may put on a happy face initially for Japan, and they may not immediately go after China, but it will happen eventually, especially as the U.S. economy continues to degrade. The government will have to offer a scapegoat, and China is likely to be it, along with Japan if they continue intervention. This will result in a Treasury bond dump by China, which they have been blatantly preparing for the past three years. The dollar will collapse, guaranteed.
How can you make a difference in such a massive problem? Place your savings in commodities like gold and silver.
If we are to end the tyranny of fiat, we have to have an alternative currency. Right now, precious metals are the best option. Gold has recently sprinted past previous records and is now holding around $1270 an ounce. This is just the beginning. I would not be surprised to see gold at around $1350 to $1400 by this winter. As the dollar continues to degrade, and as inflation becomes a reality, the best way to protect your savings will be through PM’s.
Skeptics will argue that gold is inherently “valueless”. I always respond by asking them how much more “value” they think their paper dollars have. Everyone wants to attack gold, but conversely, no one wants to actually compare the benefits of gold to fiat. I also usually refer people who parrot MSM talking points on gold to the early writings of Alan Greenspan, before he was sucked into the maniacal carnival death cult otherwise known as the Federal Reserve:
http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/greenspan.html
I have heard the argument that because we are facing a deflationary collapse, gold is a bad investment. First off, we are NOT in a traditional deflationary collapse. If you want to see one, go to Japan, where prices are actually deflating. Here in the U.S. prices on goods and commodities are rising, in some cases 25% or more over the past year:
http://www.crbtrader.com/crbindex/data.asp
Some who see rising prices claim that this is still deflation, and that prices are rising due to manipulation. I think it much more likely, as has been proven with gold and silver, that prices are being manipulated DOWN in most cases, not up. In fact, many retailers will absorb wholesale price increases on goods just to keep shelf prices stable in the hopes of maintaining their customer base. And yet, prices have still increased despite this manipulation since the crisis began. This is inflation. Analysts need to stop clinging to the typical idea of deflation and inflation and look at the situation as it is. While some elements of the economy are deflating, like housing, this does not mean that housing is any longer a good indicator of deflation in the rest of the economy. What we are seeing are elements of both inflation and deflation at the same time (and no, they don’t cancel each other out). Gold has held its own and will hold its own exactly because currencies around the world are being devalued and even greater inflation is a very real possibility.
Eventually, once the dollar and the global bankers are out of the picture, a gold backed currency could be implemented much like the currency we used rather successfully up until 1913 when the Federal Reserve was established and we slowly lost control over our money.
Buying gold and silver though is only a start…
Start An Alternative Economy: Individuals can put this into action by building barter and trade networks in their communities. Skills, labor, and goods can be traded by neighbors without government influence or interference in transactions. This can also be expanded to the web, and some people with ingenuity have done just that, including the ‘We Trade Network’, which you can view here (Special thanks to Catherine Austin Fitts for posting this to her website, Solari.com):
http://www.wetradenetwork.com/what.php
The barter network keeps wealth in communities and out of the corporate apparatus. It also allows us to be less affected by any economic collapse that does occur in the globalist system, because we will have already constructed our own system outside of its sphere of influence. Barter and trade alone are not enough though, and to be truly effective as an alternative community, we need industry.
Start A Micro-Industry: There are many savvy business people in the Liberty Movement; those that could establish a gold and silver based currency network, and those that have the means to create not titanic corporations, but at least micro-industries within their own communities. This starts with a standardization of payment.
If Liberty Movement business leaders began accepting gold and silver as payment for goods and services instead of requiring customers to exchange their PM’s for dollars before hand, this would go a long way towards building an alternative economy. If Liberty Movement Business leaders then started giving their employees the option of being paid in gold and silver instead of dollars, it would make an even bigger impression. Given the fact that the Liberty Movement is growing exponentially every year, and the fact that the dollar is likely to degrade heavily soon, this is also good business sense. It would only take a few influential men to initiate this process.
Those who wish to start a business in their communities and have sufficient space can organize local garden trade, solar power grids, furniture making, tool making, even small electronics outfits or telephone companies. The point is to separate oneself from the diseased system and start a healthy one, one community at a time. This is not difficult. It only requires that people stop thinking about taking action, and actually take action.
Support Constitutional Candidates: Vote for true Constitutionalists and proponents of limited government. Run for office yourself! Even if the deck is stacked against us in this regard, we should still try. Promote 10th Amendment rights of states, and your local sheriff (as long as he’s a good guy). Anything non-Federal should be pushed to the forefront of discussion. This is, in a way, another form on non-participation, because we are creating a political dynamic outside the system that is still influential on the system. Again, if the establishment will not provide honest candidates, or honest parties, we must provide our own.
Become Self Reliant: Supporting liberty based candidates is certainly worth doing, but it is not nearly as important as making yourself independent. You do not need large organizations with designated leaders and extensive funding to help you find meaning, or to further the cause of truth. That is something that can and should be pursued first and foremost by you alone. Organization comes later. It grows upon the works and deeds of individuals invested in a common idea. Freedom is a powerful common idea.
Something as unassuming as a personal garden can lead to a strong sense of self reliance, and there is no rule that says you have to start big. You just have to start somewhere.
Revolution?
The beauty of Non-Participation is that it is a revolutionary act that only makes us less threatening in the eyes of the uninformed, which is not what the establishment wants. I have already seen several MSM articles describing Tea Party candidates as “insurgents” (terrorists):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704190704575490263482050010.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/14/september-14-primary-elec_n_715694.html
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-14/tea-party-backed-insurgent-pushes-for-upset-in-delaware-primary.html
This kind of propaganda is a natural outgrowth of the system’s inability to cope with the idea that the people are no longer reliant upon it. By separating ourselves from the system, we diminish it, make it weak. In the case of the MSM, the alternative media has in some ways forced the system to let more truth filter down to the public just to keep people watching their garbage. We are gradually forcing them to conform to the truth. Unfortunately, I suspect this will not be the case in other fields.
Another option open to the establishment is the use of violence. This will be the likely reaction to the Liberty Movement’s efforts in politics and economy. Yet again, we benefit. Through non-participation, we force the elites to attack us, or to implement laws so outrageous as to be interpreted as an attack on the public. The people are already being victimized by the establishment, but if we as a movement or as individuals were to turn towards violence as an initial solution, we would be seen as the “bad guys”. This would only help the elites. We also do not want a French or Communist style revolution with angry mobs and guillotines that results in greater tyranny. What we want is an American Revolution. The Founding Fathers didn’t cross the ocean to go and lynch mob the British, they forced the British to make a choice; to leave the American independent states alone, or to come after them. By declaring themselves separate and thus no longer reliant on the British elites, American revolutionaries became defenders, not aggressors or terrorists.
By creating an economic alternative to the current system, we force the elites to make a choice. We become the defenders, and the establishment is revealed as the aggressor it really is. If we are attacked, then any violence we do reciprocate would be in self-defense, which is not only an understandable survival instinct but also a perfectly honorable response. This is the way to expand public support for liberty based concepts. This is the way to bring down despots.
In the end, it is up to you. Will you walk away from this article and continue waiting for the Liberty Movement to move you, or will you take action and progress the movement yourself? Will you make those first steps towards ending your reliance on a system that is designed to hurt you and your family, or will you sit still and wait for it to do so? Before you can force the elites to make their choice, you must make your own. The longer you wait, the harder it will be. What you don’t want, is for a stranger to one day make the choice for you…
Original Article
No comments:
Post a Comment