THIS COUNTRY DEFAULTED LONG AGO

“There is no means of avoiding a final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.” – Ludwig von Mises

The final collapse of our credit expansion boom approaches. We have a choice over the next week. We could voluntarily abandon further credit expansion by voting for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution or we can raise the debt ceiling, pretend to cut spending far in the future, and allow our currency system to experience a catastrophic final collapse.

We’ll take what’s behind door #2 Johnny. The vested interests in Washington DC and Wall Street only care about power and wealth. They will never abandon credit expansion. It’s their drug. They must have it. They are addicted to it. They will keep injecting it into our system until they overdose America.

The mainstream media acts as if not raising the debt ceiling by next Tuesday will result in America defaulting. This is a crock. America chose to proceed on a path to default decades ago. We are just finally reaching our destination. Below are the choices we made as a people and a country to default on our obligations and eventually destroy our country:

• The enactment of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913 allowing the government to impose a tax on your income, thereby opening Pandora’s Box to a 60,000 page tax code and allowing politicians to sell their votes to the highest bidder.


• The signing into law of the Federal Reserve Act by Woodrow Wilson in 1913, transferring control of our currency system to Wall Street banks. The man made inflation created by the Federal Reserve has reduced the purchasing power of the USD by 97% since 1913 and has allowed politicians to promise $100 trillion of benefits to Americans, that can never be delivered.


• The Social Security Act signed into law by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1935, supposedly to help widows and orphans, morphed into a giant ponzi scheme used by politicians to make Americans think it was a retirement plan and the money was in a lockbox. The scam continues, but ponzi schemes always collapse.


• Fannie Mae was created in 1938 as a government agency and Freddie Mac was created in 1970 as a quasi-government agency. By promoting home ownership and subsidizing loans to people who should have never gotten loans these agencies caused hundreds of billions in mal-investment. As tools of politicians, they were used to push social agendas. The result will be in excess of $300 billion in losses to the American taxpayer.


• The Korean War set a precedent where the President did not need to seek Congress to declare war as required under the Constitution. This has allowed the President the freedom to fight undeclared wars around the world for decades, while spending trillions, with no approval from Congress.


• LBJ’s Great Society programs such as Medicare and Medicaid were sold to Americans as cost saving programs that would improve healthcare for all Americans. We now spend 17% of our GDP on healthcare and these two programs have an unfunded liability of almost $100 trillion.

• Nixon closing the gold window in 1971 removed all restraint on the Federal Reserve, banks and politicians. With a fiat currency backed by nothing but promises, it was only a matter of time before the greed and corruption of bankers and politicians overcame any self imposed fiscal responsibility. The result has been the National Debt going from $400 billion in 1971 to $14.4 trillion today, a 3,600% increase in 40 years. Meanwhile, GDP only increased 1,350% over this same time frame.


• The embrace of consumer debt by the Baby Boom generation beginning in 1980 created an atmosphere of living for today and not worrying about the future. This attitude has left 50% of all the households in the country with a net worth of $70,000 or below.


• The repeal of the Glass Steagall Act in 1999 unleashed the hounds of hell upon America, as the soulless blood sucking vampires on Wall Street proceeded to rape and pillage the American economy with their financial derivatives of mass destruction and marketing of debt to the clueless masses. The housing bust and impoverishment of the middle class can be laid at the feet of these evil greedy bastards.


• Bush’s unpaid for wars of choice, his reckless tax cuts, and his foolish expansion of a bankrupt Medicare program in the midst of two wars turbo charged the country on its path to default.


• By bailing out Wall Street on the backs of the middle class in 2008/2009, the politicians in this country showed their hand. They will protect their fellow power brokers and contributors and throw the American people under the bus. Wall Street controls Congress.


• The Keynesian schemes rolled out by Obama and his minions have just added trillions of debt while depressing the economic system and doing nothing to help the average person. The Fed created inflation has inflamed revolution through out the world and further impoverished the middle class who need to eat and fill up their cars.


• In the midst of a Depression Obama chose to create a brand new healthcare bureaucracy, add 30 million people into the government controlled system, and commit the US taxpayer to trillions of future healthcare costs.

As you can see, next Tuesday means nothing. The debt ceiling means nothing. We chose to default as a nation many years ago. The destination was certain, only the timing was in question. Time to step on the gas.

“Credit expansion is not a nostrum to make people happy. The boom it engenders must inevitably lead to a debacle and unhappiness.” – Ludwig von Mises

Original Article

7 Essential Rules of Tyranny

By Brandon Smith

As we look back on the horrors of the dictatorships and autocracies of the past, one particular question consistently arises; how was it possible for the common men of these eras to NOT notice what was happening around them? How could they have stood as statues unaware or uncaring as their cultures were overrun by fascism, communism, collectivism, and elitism? Of course, we have the advantage of hindsight, and are able to research and examine the misdeeds of the past at our leisure. Unfortunately, such hindsight does not necessarily shield us from the long cast shadow of tyranny in our own day. For that, the increasingly uncommon gift of foresight is required…

At bottom, the success of despotic governments and Big Brother societies hinges upon a certain number of political, financial, and cultural developments. The first of which is an unwillingness in the general populace to secure and defend their own freedoms, making them completely reliant on corrupt establishment leadership. For totalitarianism to take hold, the masses must not only neglect the plight of their country, and the plight of others, but also be completely uninformed of the inherent indirect threats to their personal safety. They must abandon all responsibility for their destinies, and lose all respect for their own humanity. They must, indeed, become domesticated and mindless herd animals without regard for anything except their fleeting momentary desires for entertainment and short term survival. For a lumbering bloodthirsty behemoth to actually sneak up on you, you have to be pretty damnably oblivious.

The prevalence of apathy and ignorance sets the stage for the slow and highly deliberate process of centralization. Once dishonest governments accomplish an atmosphere of inaction and condition a sense of frailty within the citizenry, the sky is truly the limit. However, a murderous power-monger’s day is never quite done. In my recent article ‘The Essential Rules of Liberty’ we explored the fundamentally unassailable actions and mental preparations required to ensure the continuance of a free society. In this article, let’s examine the frequently wielded tools of tyrants in their invariably insane quests for total control…

Rule #1: Keep Them Afraid

People who are easily frightened are easily dominated. This is not just a law of political will, but a law of nature. Many wrongly assume that a tyrant’s power comes purely from the application of force. In fact, despotic regimes that rely solely on extreme violence are often very unsuccessful, and easily overthrown. Brute strength is calculable. It can be analyzed, and thus, eventually confronted and defeated. Thriving tyrants instead utilize not just harm, but the imminent THREAT of harm. They instill apprehension in the public; a fear of the unknown, or a fear of the possible consequences for standing against the state. They let our imaginations run wild until we see death around every corner, whether it’s actually there or not. When the masses are so blinded by the fear of reprisal that they forget their fear of slavery, and take no action whatsoever to undo it, then they have been sufficiently culled.

In other cases, our fear is evoked and directed towards engineered enemies. Another race, another religion, another political ideology, a “hidden” and ominous villain created out of thin air. Autocrats assert that we “need them” in order to remain safe and secure from these illusory monsters bent on our destruction. As always, this development is followed by the claim that all steps taken, even those that dissolve our freedoms, are “for the greater good”. Frightened people tend to shirk their sense of independence and run towards the comfort of the collective, even if that collective is built on immoral and unconscionable foundations. Once a society takes on a hive-mind mentality almost any evil can be rationalized, and any injustice against the individual is simply overlooked for the sake of the group.

Rule #2: Keep Them Isolated

In the past, elitist governments would often legislate and enforce severe penalties for public gatherings, because defusing the ability of the citizenry to organize or to communicate was paramount to control. In our technological era, such isolation is still used, but in far more advanced forms. The bread and circus lifestyle of the average westerner alone is enough to distract us from connecting with each other in any meaningful fashion, but people still sometimes find ways to seek out organized forms of activism.

Through co-option, modern day tyrants can direct and manipulate opposition movements. By creating and administrating groups which oppose each other, elites can then micromanage all aspects of a nation on the verge of revolution. These “false paradigms” give us the illusion of proactive organization, and the false hope of changing the system, while at the same time preventing us from seeking understanding in one another. All our energies are then muted and dispersed into meaningless battles over “left and right”, or “Democrat versus Republican”, for example. Only movements that cast aside such empty labels and concern themselves with the ultimate truth of their country, regardless of what that truth might reveal, are able to enact real solutions to the disasters wrought by tyranny.


In more advanced forms of despotism, even fake organizations are disbanded. Curfews are enforced. Normal communications are diminished or monitored. Compulsory paperwork is required. Checkpoints are instituted. Free speech is punished. Existing groups are influenced to distrust each other or to disintegrate entirely out of dread of being discovered. All of these measures are taken by tyrants primarily to prevent ANY citizens from gathering and finding mutual support. People who work together and organize of their own volition are unpredictable, and therefore, a potential risk to the state.

Rule #3: Keep Them Desperate

You’ll find in nearly every instance of cultural descent into autocracy, the offending government gained favor after the onset of economic collapse. Make the necessities of root survival an uncertainty, and people without knowledge of self sustainability and without solid core principles will gladly hand over their freedom, even for mere scraps from the tables of the same men who unleashed famine upon them. Financial calamities are not dangerous because of the poverty they leave in their wake; they are dangerous because of the doors to malevolence that they leave open.

Destitution leads not just to hunger, but also to crime (private and government). Crime leads to anger, hatred, and fear. Fear leads to desperation. Desperation leads to the acceptance of anything resembling a solution, even despotism.

Autocracies pretend to cut through the dilemmas of economic dysfunction (usually while demanding liberties be relinquished), however, behind the scenes they actually seek to maintain a proscribed level of indigence and deprivation. The constant peril of homelessness and starvation keeps the masses thoroughly distracted from such things as protest or dissent, while simultaneously chaining them to the idea that their only chance is to cling to the very government out to end them.

Rule #4: Send Out The Jackboots

This is the main symptom often associated with totalitarianism. So much so that our preconceived notions of what a fascist government looks like prevent us from seeing other forms of tyranny right under our noses. Some Americans believe that if the jackbooted thugs are not knocking on every door, then we MUST still live in a free country. Obviously, this is a rather naïve position. Admittedly, though, goon squads and secret police do eventually become prominent in every failed nation, usually while the public is mesmerized by visions of war, depression, hyperinflation, terrorism, etc.

When law enforcement officials are no longer servants of the people, but agents of a government concerned only with its own supremacy, serious crises emerge. Checks and balances are removed. The guidelines that once reigned in police disappear, and suddenly, a philosophy of superiority emerges; an arrogant exclusivity that breeds separation between law enforcement and the rest of the public. Finally, police no longer see themselves as protectors of citizens, but prison guards out to keep us subdued and docile.

As tyranny grows, this behavior is encouraged. Good men are filtered out of the system, and small (minded and hearted) men are promoted.

At its pinnacle, a police state will hide the identities of most of its agents and officers, behind masks or behind red tape, because their crimes in the name of the state become so numerous and so sadistic that personal vengeance on the part of their victims will become a daily concern.

Rule #5: Blame Everything On The Truth Seekers

Tyrants are generally men who have squelched their own consciences. They have no reservations in using any means at their disposal to wipe out opposition. But, in the early stages of their ascent to power, they must give the populace a reason for their ruthlessness, or risk being exposed, and instigating even more dissent. The propaganda machine thus goes into overdrive, and any person or group that dares to question the authority or the validity of the state is demonized in the minds of the masses.

All disasters, all violent crimes, all the ills of the world, are hoisted upon the shoulders of activist groups and political rivals. They are falsely associated with fringe elements already disliked by society (racists, terrorists, etc). A bogus consensus is created through puppet media in an attempt to make the public believe that “everyone else” must have the same exact views, and those who express contrary positions must be “crazy”, or “extremist”. Events are even engineered by the corrupt system and pinned on those demanding transparency and liberty. The goal is to drive anti-totalitarian organizations into self censorship. That is to say, instead of silencing them directly, the state causes activists to silence themselves.

Tyrannical power structures cannot function without scapegoats. There must always be an elusive boogie man under the bed of every citizen, otherwise, those citizens may turn their attention, and their anger, towards the real culprit behind their troubles. By scapegoating stewards of the truth, such governments are able to kill two birds with one stone.

Rule #6: Encourage Citizen Spies

Ultimately, the life of a totalitarian government is not prolonged by the government itself, but by the very people it subjugates. Citizen spies are the glue of any police state, and our propensity for sticking our noses into other peoples business is highly valued by Big Brother bureaucracies around the globe.

There are a number of reasons why people participate in this repulsive activity. Some are addicted to the feeling of being a part of the collective, and “service” to this collective, sadly, is the only way they are able to give their pathetic lives meaning. Some are vindictive, cold, and soulless, and actually get enjoyment from ruining others. And still, like elites, some long for power, even petty power, and are willing to do anything to fulfill their vile need to dictate the destinies of perfect strangers.

Citizen spying is almost always branded as a civic duty; an act of heroism and bravery. Citizen spies are offered accolades and awards, and showered with praise from the upper echelons of their communities. People who lean towards citizen spying are often outwardly and inwardly unimpressive; physically and mentally inept. For the average moral and emotional weakling with persistent feelings of inadequacy, the allure of finally being given fifteen minutes of fame and a hero’s status (even if that status is based on a lie) is simply too much to resist. They begin to see “extremists” and “terrorists” everywhere. Soon, people afraid of open ears everywhere start to watch what they say at the supermarket, in their own backyards, or even to family members. Free speech is effectively neutralized.

Rule #7: Make Them Accept The Unacceptable

In the end, it is not enough for a government fueled by the putrid sludge of iniquity to lord over us. At some point, it must also influence us to forsake our most valued principles. Tyrannies are less concerned with dominating how we live, so much as dominating how we think. If they can mold our very morality, they can exist unopposed indefinitely. Of course, the elements of conscience are inborn, and not subject to environmental duress as long as a man is self aware. However, conscience can be manipulated if a person has no sense of identity, and has never put in the effort to explore his own strengths and failings. There are many people like this in America today.

Lies become “necessary” in protecting the safety of the state. War becomes a tool for “peace”. Torture becomes an ugly but “useful” method for gleaning important information. Police brutality is sold as a “natural reaction” to increased crime. Rendition becomes normal, but only for those labeled as “terrorists”. Assassination is justified as a means for “saving lives”. Genocide is done discretely, but most everyone knows it is taking place. They simply don’t discuss it.

All tyrannical systems depend on the apathy and moral relativism of the inhabitants within their borders. Without the cooperation of the public, these systems cannot function. The real question is, how many of the above steps will be taken before we finally refuse to conform? At what point will each man and woman decide to break free from the dark path blazed before us and take measures to ensure their independence? Who will have the courage to develop their own communities, their own alternative economies, their own organizations for mutual defense outside of establishment constructs, and who will break under the pressure to bow like cowards? How many will hold the line, and how many will flee?

For every American, for every human being across the planet who chooses to stand immovable in the face of the very worst in mankind, we come that much closer to breathing life once again into the very best in us all.

Visit Alt-Market or support their Safe Haven State Project to help expand local cooperatives and alternative markets. You can contact Brandon Smith at: brandon@alt-market.com

Soldiers Dying for a Lie

by Larken Rose

Today, to escape the hectic stress of life for a moment, I took a stroll through the cemetery in the town where I grew up. I saw lots of names I knew, but the main thing I noticed was how many American flags were adorning gravesites, and how many gravestones mentioned that the deceased had either died in combat or served in the military. If I were a good, loyal, patriotic American, the sight would have filled me with nationalistic pride, and thankfulness for the soldiers’ sacrifice. But it didn’t. It filled me with sadness. There is no greater love than that shown by someone who lays down his life for his friends. But there is no greater tragedy than someone laying down his life for a lie. And that is exactly what every soldier, of every country, who dies in battle, does.

I can already feel the outrage many will have at reading that. The last thing the flag-wavers, and especially the friends and families of fallen soldiers, want to consider is the possibility that, rather than being a great and noble sacrifice for the greater good– for freedom, security, peace, whatever–those who died in battle accomplished absolutely nothing worthwhile. Nothing. Those who parrot the phrase, “If you love your freedom, thank a veteran,” are deluding themselves. The goal of the U.S. military has never been freedom, for you or anyone else. It’s a gang that engages in turf wars with other gangs, and that’s all it has ever been.

That’s why I found the cemetery so depressing. It’s a travesty that so many courageous humans have died, acting as pawns in games played by tyrants. What makes it worse is that, because the nationalistic, authoritarian indoctrination has been so successful, this is likely to continue for many years to come. And, perhaps saddest of all, it could be prevented if the friends and families of aspiring soldiers could set aside their blind nationalism long enough to see reality objectively, and then do anything in their power to stop the person from becoming a mercenary for the politicians.

Today I stood over the grave of a young man who died in Iraq. The gravestone talks about “love” and “service.” I admit, it made me tear up, but not for the reason it would make “good Americans” tear up. It made me tear up to know that this young man, who by all accounts was a principled, giving, kind human being, had been duped into giving up his life for a lie. His courage, his integrity, were thrown away for nothing. His death accomplished nothing. The young man’s virtues were twisted and exploited, to convert him into a tool to be used and then thrown away by some of the most evil people on the planet.

But who wants to be the one to point this out to the friends and family of the dead young man? I don’t. But what happens if no one ever points it out? If no one does, then the pattern will continue. Thousands of young men and women will continue to be trained to feel profound pride and pack mentality, to the point where they will kill, or die, for a lie. And this is not unique to this country. Pretty much every war consists of two large numbers of basically decent human beings who have been twisted, corrupted, duped and deceived, exploited and manipulated, to the point where they will create hell on earth, engaging in prolonged, widespread mass murder, torture and terrorism, in the name of some abstract nothing. Sadly, both sides will do this, both believing their cause and their “country” to be righteous, and both being dead wrong– literally.

The comfortable, easy, feel-good response would be to “honor” fallen soldiers, treat them as brave heroes who fought for freedom, served their country–to be thankful for their “sacrifice,” as if by giving their lives they somehow benefited humanity and justice. But that is a lie, and repeating the lie will only lead to more people dying for the same lie. I don’t doubt the courage of soldiers, but bravery without understanding, more often than not, ends up doing more damage than good. And that is the case with every war.

Somewhere, in others countries around the world–Korea, Vietnam, Germany, Japan, etc.–there are other cemeteries, filled with the graves of brave, patriotic men and women who fought and died for the same lie. It’s very likely, for example, that somewhere in Korea is a gravestone marking where a decent, honest man lies dead, having been killed by one of the decent, honest American men whose grave sites I visited today.

Must we continue this insanity? Must we continue to allow those who crave dominion to divide and conquer us, to turn man against man, riling up millions to engage in vicious brutality and bloodshed? Must we keep acting as pawns for tyrants of all nationalities, and continue to be duped into exterminating each other, for the benefit of liars and crooks?

If I had a universal rewind button, and could go back and talk to that young man for a bit, before he joined the military, maybe give him a book to read, maybe challenge his assumptions a bit–maybe I wouldn’t have stood over his grave today. Now it’s too late. But it’s not too late for the next one. However uncomfortable it might be, those of us who see through the lie must do whatever we can to keep the next generation from falling for it. Trying to avoid making waves, by repeating the lie that has cost so many millions their lives, does not serve anyone, except tyrants and megalomaniacs. If, by stepping out of your comfort zone, you might have a chance to keep the next young man from needlessly dying, scared and alone, bleeding in the dirt in some foreign country, how could that not be worth it? And if some people condemn you for your lack of blind loyalty and “patriotism,” or get angry at you for exposing the lethal lie that they have always believed and repeated, is that really too big a price to pay to save a life … or a million?

Original Article

An American Awakening

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. — Thomas Jefferson



There is a new civil war brewing in America. It is a war between the ideological views and opinions of a nation that has been armed with weapons of mass deception by its media, organized by its corporatist favoring, senatorial generals; and we the people, who care only for freedom and liberty to survive the desired destruction, sell off and mass imprisonment of our nation’s people and their futures.


Much like the first Civil War, this new struggle is centered upon the philosophy of one side supporting the desire to empower landowners and their merciless treatment of its labor force, and those who support empowering the people and reviving the liberty we fought so hard to gain so many years ago. The difference now, though, is how the sides have been drawn not with geographic distinctions, but with those of class separations. As in the case of the first Civil War; the winner will take all.


This new war has been predicated by the reality that with each passing day, we are discovering, uncovering and become more aware of the deception and hypocrisy infecting our current governmental and social systems. It has become painfully obvious that our own governmental representatives -- the very people who have been charged with and have sworn oaths to protect our interests -- have taken to propagating an agenda which is contradictory to our American interests.


The awakening of the people is bringing with it a united voice of dissent that will eventually echo within the corruption-poisoned halls of this once great nation; a herald of renewal which will once again refresh the Tree of Liberty. One can only hope it will resonate to such a degree that our representatives will have no other choice but to listen, or else be cast aside.


We are being inundated daily by the political rhetoric of job creation and quasi-fiscal responsibility, while more and more jobs are being cut in the public sector. Simultaneously, our “National Defense” initiatives, along with the greed intrinsic within our growing corporatist system, are taking from us our very economic and physical freedoms. Governmental policies are now being set in place to prevent the unemployed and the homeless from receiving help, and anyone who attempts to deliver relief from this assault are being harassed and jailed for their efforts.


Once upon a time, America was the land of opportunity. We lived in a nation where a strong work ethic was rewarded with prosperity, and our leaders provided the comforts of international security. But, now, as this country is being sold piece by piece at the hands of bureaucrats whose only interest lies in the profits of self service and damaging global free trade, the new order has taken a tight grasp upon the throats of our liberty. As a consequence, our nation is suffocating.
This assault on our communal liberty is taking place on two fronts: The political, governmental regime interested in monetary acquisition and control of global capitalism; and the religious side, whose role is to quell any uprising from the people by blinding them with Biblical tenets and a renewed faith in God so they will accept the oppressive system delivered unto them. The politicians involved in this masquerade parade around as saviors, while in the background they only serve the corporatist machine and themselves. The term for this form of government is a Kleptocracy: A government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed.


Just recently, President Obama has been pushing through Congress a free trade agreement with Panama. The same rhetoric that sold NAFTA is being implemented to sell this similar policy. It is interesting that in 2008, during a campaign speech, Obama condemned free trade as detrimental to jobs, but he is now promoting its implementation. Similarly, Republicans like John Beohner, Speaker of the House, make speeches about protecting the American Dream with tears in his eyes while condoning the shut down of schools, elimination of assistance for the unemployed and homeless, as well as corporate tax breaks to feed the same evil that caused our economic meltdown.


The political parties in Washington will have us all at each others throats with the rancid regurgitation of night-before news media bias, while they continue to take from us a little more each day. The insanity of the deception employed by our “leaders” has enveloped our society in a cloud of frustration and desperation. Those of us who make efforts to sort through the avalanche of information on the Web and in popular media, as well as books and newspapers, have been trying to grasp the reality of our current nation, but instead of reason we find only more confusion.


The sad reality is that corruption is crippling our liberty; and our current, State and Federal Governmental representation is no longer looking out for the People, but, rather, the corporations only. The Supreme Court -- the very institution which has been charged with the preservation of our Constitutional freedoms -- has assisted in the continued loss of governmental representation, and continues to do so with every decision they make in favor of the Corporatist State.


The truth is slowly being discovered and the We the People are becoming all too aware of the decay of our governmental structure. People everywhere are starting to ask whether our government’s time has come to an end and a refreshing of our system is now necessary. Even those who have supported our government through the worst acts of deception (the War on Terror, for one), are making statements in condemnation of the growing class disparity and damaging effects of free trade being enacted by the current regime in Washington within the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches.


The question remains though: Will this awakening occur in time to prevent the death of our Republic or will the sheep-like denizens of America follow blindly the policies of madmen toward the ruin of this once great nation? If the former occurs first, then America still has hope of retaining its greatness, but if the latter is allowed to foment further degradation, the Fall of The American Empire will supplant that of the Roman as the greatest tragedy in the history of the world.

Original Article

Debt Ceiling Drama - Ron Paul

Guest Post by Ron Paul

The debt ceiling debate is providing plenty of opportunity for political theater in Washington. Proponents of raising the debt ceiling are throwing around the usual scare tactics and misinformation in order to intimidate opponents into accepting more debt and taxes. It is important to distinguish the truth from the propaganda.

First of all, politicians need to understand that without real change default is inevitable. In fact, default happens every day through monetary policy tricks. Every time the Federal Reserve engages in more quantitative easing and devalues the dollar, it is defaulting on the American people by eroding their purchasing power and inflating their savings away. The dollar has lost nearly 50% of its value against gold since 2008. The Fed claims inflation is 2% or less over the past few years; however economists who compile alternate data show a 9% inflation rate if calculated more traditionally. Alarmingly, the administration is talking about changing the methodology of the CPI calculation yet again to hide the damage of the government's policies. Changing the CPI will also enable the government to avoid giving seniors a COLA (cost of living adjustment) on their social security checks, and raise taxes via the hidden means of "bracket creep." This is a default. Just because it is a default on the people and not the banks and foreign holders of our debt does not mean it doesn't count.

Politicians also need to acknowledge that our debt is unsustainable. For decades our government has been spending and promising far more than it collects in taxes. But the problem is not that the people are not taxed enough. The government has managed to run up $61.6 trillion in unfunded liabilities, which works out to $528,000 per household. A tax policy that would aim to extract even half that amount of money from American families would be unimaginably draconian, and not unlike attempting to squeeze blood from a turnip. This is, unequivocally, a spending problem brought about by a dramatically inflated view of the proper role of government in a free society.

Perhaps the most abhorrent bit of chicanery has been the threat that if a deal is not reached to increase the debt by August 2nd, social security checks may not go out. In reality, the Chief Actuary of Social Security confirmed last week that current Social Security tax receipts are more than enough to cover current outlays. The only reason those checks would not go out would be if the administration decided to spend those designated funds elsewhere. It is very telling that the administration would rather frighten seniors dependent on social security checks than alarm their big banking friends, who have already received $5.3 trillion in bailouts, stimulus and quantitative easing. This instance of trying to blackmail Congress into tax increases by threatening social security demonstrates how scary it is to be completely dependent on government promises and why many young people today would jump at the chance to opt out of Social Security altogether.

We are headed for rough economic times either way, but the longer we put it off, the greater the pain will be when the system implodes. We need to stop adding more programs and entitlements to the problem. We need to stop expensive bombing campaigns against people on the other side of the globe and bring our troops home. We need to stop allowing secretive banking cartels to endlessly enslave us through monetary policy trickery. And we need to drastically rethink government's role in our lives so we can get it out of the way and get back to work.

A Commentary Follows:

The Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve System constitutes the central bank of the United States. Created in secret in 1913, it was passed by Congress in a controversial holiday session near Christmas of that year. Initially the Fed was restricted by a relationship between currency and gold but there is a good deal of evidence that from the very beginning, the Fed was printing more money than it was legally allowed. The Great Depression itself was likely set off by Fed overprinting of money and led ultimately to the abrogation of the gold standard, which has allowed the Fed, unfettered, to issue even more currency.

The Fed's main duties are to provide a level of employment while maintaining financial stability and low inflation. Of course it is Fed money printing that is responsible for inflation in the first place and one could argue, generally, these goals are at cross-purposes, but when it comes to the Fed, logic seems to have little to do with its activities.

The Fed is composed of the Board of Governors (Board), the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks. Its membership includes numerous U.S. member banks and councils. The FOMC sets monetary policy, or at least that's how it is suppose to work. In fact, the Fed chairman has enormous clout and virtually dictates Fed policy in the modern era. While the Fed's decisions do not have to be "ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government," according to the Fed, it has considerable congressional oversight and many of its top members are presidential appointees.

The government sets the salaries of the top people as well. But in practice, little impedes the Fed. By some estimates, the Fed has dumped up to US$20 trillion or more into the world economy since the 2008 economic crisis. The Fed it could be said has virtually reliquified the dollar reserve system on its own, a feat so massively arrogant that many outside critics believe it cannot help but end badly.

The Fed under Ben Bernanke, the current chairman, is confident that it can "mop up" excess liquidity (though how one mops up US$20 trillion is questionable at best). More likely, the Fed – as all central banks do – will misjudge the advent of price inflation because the signals that indicate that price inflation has taken hold are all backward looking. In other words by the time the Fed brain trust has figured out that price inflation has taken hold, it will be spread throughout the system making it difficult if not impossible to combat.

Because it is so obvious that the Fed has basically placed a ticking time bomb at the center of the world's economy, some have accused the Fed of intending to destroy the dollar reserve economic system on purpose. The logic is that the powers that be, the Anglo American monetary elite that stands in the shadows behind the Fed, intend to replace the current system with a more globalized currency, perhaps run by the IMF. Using this logic leads one to the conclusion that the Fed is purposefully cooperating in its own demise and the demise of the currency it is supposed to protect and nurture.

In fact, such an outcome would be no surprise as the Fed has proven itself to be a vile manager of the US dollar, which has devalued by some 95 percent or more during the Fed's tenure. If the Fed is in fact putting itself out of business, it surely will not be missed. It has presided over the hollowing out of the American economy and the emphatic debasement of the currency via a series of disastrous booms and busts. There is almost nothing positive to say about the Fed except that its demise would surely be a blessing to the struggling, hard-working people of America who deserve better than this treacherous and deceitful organization.

Economic Collapse -- Why It Won't Be Stopped

The hard truth as to why we as a society can not stop the economic collapse.

My interpretation and creative license used in adapting an very good article
called The Shape of Things To Come written by Charles Hugh Smith





The Shape of Things To Come article by Charles Hugh Smith
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjuly11/shape-of-things6-11.html

America July 4 2011

Why do we celebrate the fourth of July? My children mean everything to me. This is not what I want them to inherit. Let freedom ring.