The Alternative Market Project: A Sneak Preview

By Brandon Smith (aka Giordano Bruno)

If you want something done right, you might well have to do it yourself. We’ve heard the old adage before, but rarely do we ever seem to apply it to our economic environment. Instead, we have seen fit to allow “smarter” men to take the reigns, and take control, of our financial well being, all on misplaced faith in the supposed good intentions of government and corporate bodies. This cultural attitude of non-involvement in the economic decision making process has cost millions of Americans their jobs and now threatens the stability of our currency, our nation, not to mention our very future. Many of us have become entirely dependent on only a handful of men for our own livelihoods. It is time to take greater stock in ourselves, our ingenuity, and our ability to create and adapt. It is time to take responsibility for our own commerce, and breathe life back into local communities once again. It is time for an alternative…

The greatest threat to the U.S. economy today is forced globalization and the fiat central banking system. Many organizations are working to expose, audit, and even shut down the private Federal Reserve, which is responsible in large part for facilitating the mortgage and derivatives crisis as well as the continued devaluation of our dollar. This is a vital effort that requires the utmost support from all facets of the Liberty Movement. However, there is another matter that needs to be addressed in tandem with any endeavor to remove our destructive central banking system…

Much of the damage that can be inflicted on our economy has already been dealt. As neithercorp and many other websites devoted to honest financial analysis have shown time and again, our fiscal structure is teetering on the brink of oblivion, our so called “recovery” is a façade fed by skewed statistics and rivers of fiat money dumped into banks and stocks, and our purchasing power is being crushed by a deliberate campaign to slow-kill the greenback. Only now are greater signs of this disaster being revealed to the masses as real unemployment remains essentially static and prices of base goods skyrocket. Even with a successful initiative launched against the Federal Reserve, we would still be left with a faulty, crumbling, debt based architecture. We can pull the iceberg from our shattered ship, but the ship is still going to sink.

The key to our survival is not only to go after the culprits who have carpet bombed us, but to also build a better system to shield us from any financial shrapnel that might be hurled our way.

Ironically, the solution to this seemingly complex series of economic dominoes is one which we were supposed to be following from the very beginning. The alternative we seek against extreme centralization of markets is to develop truly free markets! That is to say, if we wish to fight back against the globalist feudalism thrust upon us, we must decentralize markets and rebuild local commerce and trade.

Centralization works by removing all options but those the establishment deems acceptable. To counter centralization, we must offer Americans a new option that supplies those necessities which the corrupt system denies them; including meaningful community, sound money, honest trade, independence, and privacy. With this philosophy in mind, neithercorp will be working with Oath Keepers, as well as other interested groups, to focus our energies on building new and flexible free markets from the ground up.

Here are the steps we will take to make this happen…

Launch A Dedicated Website: This step is already nearly finished and the launch will be announced shortly. The new website will be focused completely on promoting self generating barter and trade systems across the country. Our goal is not to control or to dictate to alternative markets. In fact, our goal is to make certain that no one organization or entity EVER centralizes these community based networks. Our single purpose is to help as best we can each community to grow to its full potential. Website functions will include…

- A social networking option (like Facebook, but useful). Barter networks will be able to set up local and state chapters, meet like minded people in order to expand, and advertise their own trading events. Small business owners can set up profiles, gain free advertising, and increase their customer base while providing liberty minded consumers with a place besides Wal-Mart to shop. (Note: by setting up a profile on the alternative market website, small business owners would be inferring that they are likely to accept gold, silver, or barter as payment).

- Informative articles and videos by experts in their field. We will seek out the best teachers in the movement to contribute articles and essays meant to show you how you can set up and maintain a successful trade network. At launching, we will have articles by Stewart Rhodes, Cassandra Anderson, myself, and a new interview with G. Edward Griffin. We will also be putting out the call to anyone who feels they have exceptional knowledge in a particular skill or trade to contribute their own instructional articles or videos on the subject. The most concise submissions will be published on the website and the experts may be invited to participate in alternative market workshops and conventions, to share their knowledge in a hands-on environment.

- News collation. We will dig out those mainstream news items that fly under the radar (or are deliberately buried), so that you stay up to date on all the economic developments that the MSM tries so desperately to hide.

Promote The American Skill Set: Our next step will be to greatly strengthen the skill sets of the average American. This means teachers from every state and city will be needed to share their knowledge or “free market trade” with others, giving each person at least one or two skills useful in a barter economy or a poor economic environment. Candle making, textiles, alternative energy, efficient gardening, gun repair, electronics repair, home security, and numerous other trades should be taught and cross-taught.

Strengthen Farmers Co-ops: Food production is vital, especially in an inflationary environment. Farms that seek independence away from the Monsanto dominated GMO model must be supported and protected. We will work with interested farmers groups who are willing to participate in a gold, silver, and barter based system. They provide free market participants with healthy fresh foods, and we provide them with an extensive new customer base. If methods are applied properly, everyone wins.

Nurture Integrity In Trade: The current standard of sales and trade in America is to “scam” others out of money. To “hustle” ones way to wealth. If one cannot produce a quality product, then one must lie about its quality in order to sell it. We hope to reverse this trend and promote a philosophy of quality, which in the long run will nurture legitimate trust and support a much healthier and more vibrant economy. The most successful barter groups will be those that have established trust in one another. Pre-existing organizations like church groups, farmer’s market groups, etc, will start out strong in the initial stages of their new barter economy, because they already know each other well.

Bring Back Gold And Silver As Currency: This has already begun in some areas. Gold and silver represent the only viable currency alternative to fiat paper. While they should not be the only option available (fiat will probably have to be included as a trading option until the dollar fully disintegrates), they should be brought back to prominence in the face of the declining dollar and inflation. This begins by encouraging small business and independent traders to use gold and silver as a standard preferable to dollars. Alternative market businesses could offer discounts on goods to those who wish to pay in gold and silver, or, even give their employees the option of being compensated in gold and silver. As barter markets grow, many businesses will likely adopt precious metals trade, whether they are aware of the alternative market movement or not, in order to remain competitive.

Support State Sovereignty And 10th Amendment Issues: The Alternative Market Project will wholeheartedly support any legislators who show an aptitude for free market ideas and who are aware of the dangers of globalism. This includes mobilizing trade networks to vote for strong anti-Federal Reserve, pro-States Rights candidates. We will strengthen public support for any state legislation that works towards sound money and freer citizens. We will also encourage participants to run for office themselves. As Alternative Market groups progress, our voting potential could be quite formidable at the local level, which is where all changes to government really begin.

Workshops And Conventions: As more revenues are accrued through donations, dynamic workshops will be held in every state. The goal here is to give barter network participants hands on experience in various skill sets as well as new ideas to further trade proficiency. But also, most importantly, to get people away from their computers, out of their homes, and interacting with each other in a constructive way. The internet is a fantastic communications tool, but not a very effective community building tool. Eventually, we must step outside in the sunlight, and start talking to one another face-to-face.



Obstacles Down The Road

There will be, of course, many obstacles to consider if the Alternative Market Project sees success, especially in the “mainstream”.

Globalist legislation will be enacted. Already, attacks have been made on private trade, including the recent food safety bill which could be interpreted by officials as a restriction on personal garden and small farm commerce, attacks on garage sales, attacks on gold and silver coining, and even attacks on the Amish! There will come a point when we will have to ask ourselves whether certain laws are ‘just’. Whether they are helpful, or harmful, to Americans. If they are not just, and not helpful, then they should be ignored. It’s as simple as that.

Co-option is another threat. With the proliferation of any grassroots movement, establishment proponents will seek to beat back the tide. When this fails, they will seek to take it over. The easiest way to discern if a movement is being co-opted is to examine where the control is being delegated. If decision making is left in the hands of individuals, and the leadership seeks to teach, not dominate, then the movement is probably sound. If decision making is being centralized into the hands of a few “members” of the movement, if their voice drowns out all others, and the leadership seeks the power to dictate and micro-manage the movement, then this is a sure sign of co-option. Funding from globalist sources like corporations or particular foundations is another warning signal.

How could this possibly happen in a barter economy? I have already seen organizations sprouting up in Europe, some funded by foundations like the World Wildlife Fund (globalist funded), which seek to enact barter economies based on “digital credits”. This is a perfect example of a centralization campaign, because it desires to force all trade through a middle-man who commands the flow of wealth (in this case, digital fiat). The middle-man is entirely unnecessary in any barter transaction, his only purpose is to monitor and control the rate and types of transactions taking place. I guarantee, globalist run barter networks similar to the European model I described will be railroaded into the mainstream in response to alternative market initiatives. The drive will be to use their vast resources and media clout to give the illusion of “respectability”, and to seduce Americans into yet another centralized system.

Another threat is that of pigeonholing. By labeling Alternative Market participants as “extremists”, “homegrown terrorists”, “kooks”, and any other multitude of false associations, the establishment will strive to discredit barter networks, silence their dissent, and dissuade new people from joining the movement. Examples might even be made. Arrests of regular people merely for private trade may occur in order to chill participation. These measures should be expected and treated in the way they should be treated; as distractions.

The consequences of NOT pursuing solid, decentralized trade are far more terrifying than anything our disingenuous bureaucracy can dish out. Not having a replacement system ready in the wake of a severe collapse would create mass panic. When people have nowhere to turn for safety, they allow fear to take over. When men are afraid, they WILL accept all kinds of atrocities, and they WILL hand over their freedoms to anyone who promises them relief.

To those who subscribe to the “virtue of selfishness” ideal, and believe that they only need take care of themselves while the rest of the world burns, all I can say is good luck. Without honorable systems in place to counter globalization, I’m not really sure what these people plan to live for. Weathering the storm only to be subject to the whims of tyrants afterwards is not true survival.

In Summary…

What has been presented here is not a new methodology. Independent trade networks have been used as a form of revolution and to offset the implosions of faulty financial systems for centuries. This means that they are tried and true. During the Great Depression, over 200 complex barter networks with 300,000 members were instituted in the state of California alone. In times of distress, people inevitably turn back to barter. The problem is that most often these networks are established after the fact, instead of before a calamity takes place. We seek to remedy this error. By constructing alternative markets before an event, we preempt the terror it creates, and make government interventions like Martial Law completely inapplicable. Without a frightened public, DHS does not have a reasonable excuse to activate Northcom (they may well do so anyway, but in that situation, their true intentions would be fully exposed, especially to military men and women who would only follow such orders if they thought the American people were in actual danger).

Preemption in barter markets also allows Americans to make a choice. By offering a better choice, we take participation away from the central banking system, and thus, we take away their power to influence our lives. Only good can come from cultivating independent commerce.

This has been a sneak peek into a project we have been developing for many months; one which we feel could be of great assistance to the Liberty Movement as a whole. Further details will be made available in the next two weeks including the official launch of the project website. I would like to thank Stewart Rhodes of Oath Keepers for persuading me to undertake this venture myself. I had always planned for more prominent figures in the movement to grab the idea and run with it, but this, in a sense, would be deferring certain responsibilities, which would make me a bit of a hypocrite. I can say that though I am not the most recognizable name or face in the movement, I am relentlessly and viciously stubborn, and absolutely nothing will deter me from making this project a reality. I would also like to thank the Liberty Movement itself, for changing my life and so many other lives for the better. I hope I can one day repay the favor…

Slick image and AMM Seal designed by Josh Ogden.

You can contact Giordano Bruno at: giordano@neithercorp.us

Original Article

No Escape From the Greatest Depression

Our view of the Great Depression of the 1930s is a little different from that of most people. In our eyes, Franklin Roosevelt wasn’t a hero, he was a villain. Nearly everything he did served to extend and deepen the economic downturn.

With the exception of supporting the 21st Amendment for the repeal of Prohibition, Roosevelt’s involvement in the economy was an unmitigated disaster. But in popular memory, that failure is obscured by U.S. success in WW2, over which Roosevelt presided.

Today, unfortunately, Obama and his minions are taking Roosevelt as a model and are straining to repeat his mistakes. Because the distortions in today’s economy are far greater than those in the 1920s and 1930s, and since the public now relies upon government far more than it did in those days, I don’t see any way around a more serious depression – the Greater Depression. It’s been going on since 2008, will get much worse, and has years left to run.

FDR himself was extraordinarily lucky. His performance looks successful because when he entered office, both the economy and the stock market were overdue for a cyclical recovery (nothing goes straight down forever). He was elected when the depression had already been going on for four years and the stock market had already fallen 90%. That fortunate timing was partly a gift from Hoover, whose large-scale interference in the economy had kept the depression going. (It’s odd how people believe Hoover was the free-marketeer and Roosevelt was the interventionist. Roosevelt really just continued and extended Hoover’s policies, but with more enthusiasm and far better PR.)

Roosevelt had more good luck (for him) with the arrival of WW2; the victories in Europe and the Pacific forever idealized every aspect of his administration. In many ways, the cult of FDR resembles that of Russia’s Joseph Stalin, who is still worshipped there as a demigod.

Although Obama seems bright enough, there’s little reason to believe he’s a student of history and no reason to believe he’s a student of economics. It’s more likely that he’s just a student of power politics, so he’s inclined to follow the conventional wisdom, which is that a combination of Roosevelt’s “bold action” in the New Deal plus World War 2 brought the country out of the Great Depression. What we hope to show here is that those notions are nonsense.

The Last Depression

How, in fact, did America recover from the Great Depression? The stock answer is: “World War 2.” But a closer look at the data reveals a different answer.

Standard mythology claims that war production – beginning in 1939 – ended our economic troubles. But the American economy didn’t truly recover until two years after the fighting stopped in 1945. In point of fact, the last depression ran from 1929 to 1947, about 18 years.

And it wasn’t a single terrible decline. As the chart above shows, GDP growth was falling in 1930, recovered from 1932 to 1936, and then began a second collapse in 1937, a down-leg due mostly to Roosevelt’s policies.

Then, in 1939, industrial production began a tremendous expansion. The unemployed were put to work either fighting or manufacturing armaments. But neither activity contributed to the general standard of living. And even if it had, the growth in production wasn’t and couldn’t have been self-sustaining, since it was in fact a growth in the squandering of resources.

The conventions for measuring GDP include government expenditures, so GDP is a poor measure of underlying economic health. The government might, for instance, hire 10 million people to dig ditches during the day, 10 million more to fill them in at night, and 5 million bureaucrats to monitor the work. That would pump up GDP and reduce unemployment, but it wouldn’t increase society’s wealth. It would decrease it.

In any event, as soon as the government’s large wartime expenditures started dropping in 1945, GDP resumed the shrinking that had begun in 1930.

The GDP growth of the war years was a prosperity mirage that dissipated when government spending stopped, unlike the wealth-creating expansion from 1932 to 1936 that had been fueled by private investment. In 1936, GDP rose $10.5 billion while government spending rose just $2.2 billion. In 1942, GDP rose $35.2 billion while government spending rose $36.1 billion. The apparent growth during the war was all government spending.

Roosevelt’s Second Act

What caused the recovery to collapse in 1936?

One element was Roosevelt’s attack on the rich. In 1935, he launched a barrage of new taxes, including a corporate income tax of 15%, a dividend tax, higher estate and gift taxes, and additional taxes on those earning more than $50,000. The top rate on individual income taxes rose to 79% in 1936, a large jump from 63% just the previous year.

On top of this, Roosevelt’s rhetoric and actions turned increasingly anti-business. Roosevelt began to strongly support organized labor – which was nice for those who had union cards, but no help for those who didn’t have the connections or skin color to get one, and great harm for the economy as a whole. His support got results. In 1935, there were only 3.8 million union members in the U.S. By 1941, there were about 10 million, approximately a quarter of the workforce.

The 1936 elections gave the country de facto one-party rule – 76 Democrats in the Senate and 331 Democrats in the House of Representatives. Each new piece of legislation berated and punished business – such as the Wagner Act, the ever higher taxing Revenue Acts, and Undistributed Profits Tax. With the government growing larger while business lacked strong representation in the halls of power, it is no wonder that private investment stalled.

Government Versus Private Investment

Government expenditure as a percentage of GDP drives the point home even more. Throughout World War 2, the private market remained in the dumps.

War spending added to the GDP numbers. And there was real progress in areas like aviation, electronics, and atomic energy – albeit at a gigantic cost. But none of this jump-started the private economy, which focuses on the products and services people really want.

You don’t need a doctorate in economics to understand this chart. The only major peak during the war marks the end of hostilities – and FDR’s death. (We’ll get to that in a moment). Note that the 1932-1936 recovery was far more significant than the often-glorified war economy.

Why didn’t FDR’s immense spending jolt the private market back to life? Remember that a wartime economy comes with strings attached; it’s not free money. Wartime regulations made operating any business almost impossible. Nearly everything required government permission. Taxes skyrocketed, leaving less capital for investment. Further, forget about competing for resources with the war industry; even if you had a good business idea, you wouldn’t be allowed to execute it.

An economy can’t prosper when markets are being overruled by command-and-control rationing. During the war, companies found it easier and more profitable to produce for government than to produce for consumers. Even companies such as Eastman Kodak, the film and camera company, began manufacturing rifle scopes and hand grenades for the military. GM stopped making cars for civilians and made military vehicles instead. Tires, gasoline, shoes, beef, sugar, coffee and much else were rationed. The standard of living in the U.S. during the war collapsed; conditions for consumers were much worse than in the ‘30s. Remember that the best definition of a depression is: A period of time when most people’s standard of living falls significantly.

Without productive private investment, recovery is impossible. Near the end of the war, as government spending subsided, private investment did return to the U.S. But that never happened in the USSR, China, or Eastern Europe, which is why they never did recover. Lack of private investment is why Britain remained something of a dump right up to the election of Thatcher. Wartime spending didn’t help the recovery, it slowed it.

During the war, a majority of businessmen – typically over 75% – believed the U.S. would retain the fascist-style economic system that it had grown into during the ‘30s and that it seemed to be cemented into by the war. With that thought so widespread, the lack of private investment is no surprise.

But with the closing of WWII, the fear of being locked into a command-and-control economy began to ease – an unintended consequence of FDR’s wiliness. FDR knew that the business world would cooperate in wartime production only if business leaders were running the show. He slowly began replacing New Dealers in his administration with the businessmen who had been squashed by New Deal policies. The new recruits worked behind the scenes in Washington to undo what the early New Dealers had accomplished. Necessity had overcome ideology.

On top of that, the Democrats were losing their grip on Congress. By 1944, they had only 56 senators and 242 representatives. In 1946, the Republicans regained both houses of Congress.

And FDR himself died, which left businessmen feeling a lot safer. The long dark night of anti-business tirades and crusades had ended. The Dow made a significant jump, and so did the daily volume on his death.

Sure, Truman was still around, but he didn’t have Roosevelt’s dangerous popularity. As a result, private investment flooded the post-war market, and a boom followed. Where did the capital to fuel the post-war boom come from? In a way, it was an accident of wartime policies.

During the war, the personal savings rate skyrocketed. There were plenty of reasons for that. For one, quality durable goods exempt from wartime rationing were difficult to find even if one wanted to buy them. Second, a big war creates uncertainty. If you’re not sure whether a husband or father will return alive, saving makes sense. The importance of savings in the 1940s is a reason for pessimism about our prospects today: unlike during WW2, today’s savings rate is still negligible. And the artificially low interest rates the government has engineered continue to discourage saving and to encourage consumption, debt, and speculation.

When the war ended, the accumulated savings supported both investing and consumer spending. It’s an experience that refutes the Keynesian notion that consumer spending stimulates the economy and saving suppresses it.

You can’t solve today’s problem of overconsumption and debt with more overconsumption and debt. The conditions that pulled America out of the Great Depression underscore that point. Once savings rates increased and made capital available for the economy, private investment soared, and shortly afterward, so did the rest of the economy.

Although history doesn’t repeat, this time it definitely rhymes. The Obama administration is trying to replay all of Roosevelt’s moves, and it’s making all of FDR’s mistakes in spades and more. The Obama bailouts of public companies are a new twist – even FDR didn’t go that far. The U.S. is already in a war economy. Will Obama ramp up the wars, thinking that what’s been done so far isn’t enough?

The bottom line is that, based on everything we know about the Great Depression, the Greater Depression, which is still in its early stages, is going to be nasty indeed.

Be Prepared!

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

A Snake in the Grassroots of the Tea Party

By Silver Shield, on February 9th, 2011

I have warned those in the Freedom Movement about Patriot Pied Pipers trying to infiltrate, subvert and destroy the National Tea Party. On a national level, I warned about Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and even Wikileaks. Well now I see they have even burrowed into the local grassroots of the Tea Party. I had a very interesting email exchange with the head of a pretty popular Tea Party site yesterday.

Not this "Mr. T Party"

A couple of things hit me during this exchange. The first thing is that this guy was thoroughly indoctrinated exactly like I was 15 years ago. (We will call him “Mr.TeaParty,” since he has a really cool disclaimer for privacy on all of his emails and I am sure he would not want me to out him or his efforts which you will see why below.) He had all of the Reagan worship, the spouting conservative talking points without any real thinking or debate and he ignored all of the facts that did not support his paradigm.

I felt like I was talking to my younger self, because no one could defeat me in a debate. I knew it ALL. I was in the leadership of the second largest college Republicans, I went to CPAC twice, I banged signs against long shore men, I went to Rush Limbaugh’s show three times and even got my two books signed. Like I said, thoroughly indoctrinated.

I believed in the Republican song and dance up until 2005, when for the first time in my life, the Republicans had no more excuses. They had full control of the government and they did nothing to reign in the size or scope of government. They made it worse, they increased the debt, the intrusion of government and even created another trillion dollar Medicare program. It was then when I woke up to see that it is all a big game to fool us. As a result, I knew what this guy was going to say before he said it.

Let’s start at the beginning. I had sent “Mr. TeaParty” my article, Idiot or Evil Genius?, which is about the dichotomy of how people look at both Bush and Obama, as either Idiots or Evil Geniuses. ”Mr. TeaParty” thanked me for the article and said that while I had some good points, I had failed to mention that Obama was spending money four times faster than Bush ever did. I knew at that point, that I had someone stuck in the Elite’s left right matrix.

I responded with…

“I would agree with you to a certain extent about Obama out spending Bush.

But the same argument could be made with Bush’s spending versus Clinton.

The truth of the matter is that more debt/money needs to be created in excess of the previous years debt and interest or the whole system collapses.

With that being said, when the next Republican sock puppet replaces the Obama sock puppet (in 2012), the debt will explode even further or the game is over.

This is a left, right march to tyranny.

As far as being “Evil,” in my opinion, he is an empty vessel that the truly evil elite pump their propaganda through.“

“Mr.TeaParty” ignored my counter argument. He changed the subject from spending, inevitable debt failure and the sock puppets to something he felt more comfortable fighting about. (This is a classic tactic in disinfo and debate. When you are getting beat, switch the subject or if you are really desperate call someone a racist. Disclaimer: He did not call me any names.) He switched the topic to Reagan, saying that he was not tyrannical. (Did I mention a President from 30 years ago? I thought we were talking about now?) He said Reagan had cut taxes and de-regulated tyranny. The next line really struck me. He said that the Tea Party was about Reagan’s Conservatism and that I saw what happened in the last election and we will get another Reagan in the White House, Governor’s Mansion, Senate and Congress in the next election. Bingo!

I wrote a warning to the Tea Party movement in Beware of the Patriot Pied Pipers, about how the national Tea Party Movement would fail because they have no idea what they are up against. The same forces that infiltrated, subverted and destroyed the Democrats and Republicans, are working on the Tea Party now. (Read this article before you go any further.) He said I saw what happened last election and it was going to happen in the next election. All I saw last election was the Tea Party neutered and suckered back in to the Republican camp to keep this two-party game going on longer. I did not see a viable third party rise, bringing together the fiscal conservatism of the right, with the ending of the wars of the left. This exchange is a perfect example of why you need to Beware of the Patriot Pied Pipers.

The Reagan Revolution is NOT the American Revolution.

The establishment Republicans love bringing our Reagan to get us to reminisce about the good ole’ days. I love the man, he was by far the best guy we’ve had in office in my life time. Reagan was not an establishment candidate and was actually shunned by them until he was in office. In fact, Reagan was forced to take George “CIA, Voodoo Economics” Bush as his VP to shut up the establishment. The major flaw to Reagan’s legacy, is that it got us off on this never ending debt spiral and created a trillion dollar a year Military Industrial Complex, that occupies 777 bases all over the world.

The modern day Tea Party without a doubt has it roots in Ron Paul’s 2008 Presidential campaign. His innovative campaign broke fund raising records with out backdoor establishment politics. His use of the internet broke the Elite’s Main Stream Media stranglehold. Ron introduced himself a “Champion of the Constitution.” He answered questions not on what he felt, but what the Constitution said on the issue. In a age of sitting Republican President saying the the Constitution was “just a God damn piece of paper“, Ron’s founding father qualities were a breath of fresh air.

The Elite know if they can get enough to follow the new “Reagan,” there will be no room for the next “Thomas Jefferson,” or the next “Andrew Jackson.” This was evident at the the 2008 Republican debate at the Reagan Library. The establishment tried to use Reagan as way to over shadow the rising star, Ron Paul. (Have you noticed how Sarah “Kissinger’s Call Girl” Palin is invoking the spirit of Reagan so much recently?) I wanted to get him to show his cards, so I figured I would throw him a big piece of steak with a hook in it.

“One of my first memories as a 5 year old, was watching Reagan beat Carter.

I love this eloquent, intelligent and passionate man.

He was an anti-establishment candidate that rose above the party.

Ron Paul is the only candidate that even begins to come close to Reagan.

I would be interested in what you think about this article I wrote…

Beware of the Patriot Pied Pipers”

He bit on my bait and said that I was the one that was “exposed.” (Exposed what?! This sounds like someone has a guilty conscience. Only someone who has an agenda to hide would pull that tactic.) He then moves to how Ron Paul was a non-interventionist and would legalize drugs. He went to go through all of the great things Reagan did when he fought the Communists. (Poor guy does not know that the Elite started, supported and funded the whole Communist movement. Nothing creates more debt and profits for the banking families as war. Hot or Cold Wars, it does not matter.) He again went on to say that the Tea Party is about Conservatism and not Libertarianism. Again, if the Elite can fool enough Tea Party people back into the left, right paradigm, then they will be successful. We will get what we have always gotten, the lesser of two evils.

I wrote back…

“I was just like you and I would not listen to the stuff I had to say either. I was in a leadership position of the second largest College Republican group at Boston College. I went to CPAC and even went to Rush Limbaugh’s television show three times. I can tell you that I spent many years unlearning to truly see how the world works and it is not the way we are told.

I am not here to argue with you or “expose” you, but I asked you to read an article and you came back with this. If you are not interested in learning what I learned, I understand. Like I said, I was just like you.

How much have we spent on the Drug War? Billions… Trillions… and what do we have to show for it?

When you outlaw anything market forces drive the price up because the demand may be lessened a bit but the supply is reduced. This benefits the criminals. I think that 80% or 90% of drug arrests are marijuana related. Why is marijuana illegal? Is it because it is deadly? No, it is illegal because drug companies don’t want free competition to their billion dollar drug business. It is illegal because it empowers the state to seize assets and intrude on people lives. It is illegal because it is profitable to the Elite.

Why has opium production in Afghanistan had record years of production, year after year with our troops walking by? (The only year opium production stopped was in 2001 with the Taliban.) The truth is a lot deeper than we are lead to believe.

What does 777 bases all over the world have to do the Constitution? It is imperialism plain and simple. This will end when we are broke and the dollar collapses. We spend more every year on military, than the rest of the world does combined. It is out of control and sucking us dry.

The great Marine General Smedley Butler proposed in this book, War is a Racket, that we could defend our shores by bringing all of our troops home and dismantling the majority of what we have. Our two oceans will protect us more than 8 carriers battle groups.

“Mr. TeaParty,” read through some of my articles and if you are not interested, I will not bother you again. If even something rings true, I will keep you on my mailing list and maybe something good will come out of this.

Please read Beware of Patriot Pied Pipers.”

He came back and told me that my solutions lack any common sense and we parted on friendly terms. I think this was a good exercise in how the Elite operate. This relatively new site he runs, is a 501c3 with a big advertising budget and has already 100,000 hits a month. It is a real slick looking site with flags and bald eagle videos. The site is essentially keeping track of all of the local organizations and who to contact. I teach leaderless resistance in the Sons Of Liberty Academy. I believe that a decentralized individual action by many, is much more powerful and harder for the Elite to stop.

Be careful who you support. You may be supporting a guy whose website is selling you on…

• Limited federal government

• Individual freedoms

• Personal responsibility

• Free markets

• Returning political power to the states and the people

But as you can see from the exchange above, you might be supporting a guy that will give you…

• Expand the debt and police the world.


• Enlarge the government power and intrusion.


• Disregard personal responsibility through prohibition.


• Control the markets through regulations and laws.


• Increase the scope and power of the Federal Government through the War on Drugs and Terror.

The Elite love selling you one thing and sticking you with another. Pied Pipers play the tune that you can dance to, as they send you off a cliff.

The final thing the hit me, was how effective Divide and Conquer is as a tactic of the Elite. The Elite use race, religion, education, income, sex, ethnicity or whatever to get us to see the differences in ourselves. We are led to believe that our problems lie with our fellow man and not the architects of our world, the Elite. I have had the privilege to travel all over the world and have worked with managers of multi-billion dollar hedge funds to Romanian peasants. For the most part, people want to do what they want to do, love who they want to love and make a better world for their children. The Elite don’t want you to see commonality or humanity in your fellow man, that does not serve their interest. In fact, I bet you have much more in common with the average Iraqi shop keeper, than any of the politicians that represent you.

“Listen to all, follow none and walk your own path the best you can.” -Chris Duane

In my exchange with “Mr.TeaParty,” he immediately focused in on our differences and went on an impassioned retort on why I was wrong. He completely ignored my arguments while he regurgitated his talking point pablum. We probably have 95% in common on many issues, but he focused on our 5%. We could have helped people find their own path to freedom and truth, but that was shut down since he disagrees with me on some issues.

Please try and find common ground with people instead of focusing on our differences. That is the only way to grow our movement. ”Mr. TeaParty” may just be an ignorant, indoctrinated guy, or he could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I judge people by the questions they ask and not their talking point answers. I also judge a tree by it’s fruit and as far as I am concerned, this one stinks.

(Note to “Mr. TeaParty”: Please feel free to out yourself and your Tea Party site. I am sure that there are more than a few people who support you, that would strongly disagree with your interpretation of the Freedom Movement. If you are willing, I would like to work with you and others about really finding common ground and moving our movement forward. But I feel that you have an ulterior motive and for now, I will just poke and prod your ideas. I would also love to have your side of the story published because I feel that my interpretation might be lacking… Do you feel the hook?)

Wake Some People Up!

Original Article

Bush and Obama : Idiots or Evil Geniuses?

By Silver Shield, on February 7th, 2011

Back when I was a thoroughly indoctrinated Fox News Junkie, I was constantly confronted by people calling George W. Bush either a complete idiot or and evil genius. GWB was either a drooling buffoon who was incapable of doing the simplest of tasks or he was a third generation Fascist genius, who was hell bent on systematically destroying the American Republic. Being a kool-aide drinker myself, I just didn’t get why people didn’t see him as a warm, caring, strong, and patriotic president. This is what ultimately led me to ask a deeper question, how is it possible that one guy could be seen by so many people, in so many different ways?

Fast forward to the 2008 presidential election. Barack Obama (I love how his name still comes up as a misspelling) comes on the scene and the same thing happens again, only in reverse. Now Obama is either a complete idiot or an evil genius. He’s either an empty suit that cannot put two words together without his teleprompter or an evil communist bastard who’s plotting to destroy the America Republic. And yet to the average Obama supporter, they just don’t get why people don’t see him as a young, charismatic, intelligent and motivating president. Again, how is it possible that one guy can be seen by so many people in so many different ways?

People naturally process information using their own filters. The first filter that people use to judge others, is how they view themselves. If they are good-natured people, they see the goodness in all people. I use the term “sheeple,” because these people are harmless creatures who go through life eating without questioning what they are given. They cannot comprehend how evil people/wolves work because they are not wired in that way. When first confronted with wolves, they give them the benefit of the doubt, then make excuses for their unnatural actions by calling them idiots. When pushed to the extreme, the “sheeple” wake up only to see the evil genius standing in their midst. At this point, it gets very real.

In the way good natured people see the good in others, evil people see the evil in others. These cold and calculating predators are without empathy and seek to dominate the “sheeple” for power and profit. They feel that everyone is out to get them because they are out to get everyone else. They will use any ideology only as a means to power. It does not bother them if they don’t really believe in the ideology ,so long as it gives them a vehicle to get them to where they want to go. They are without a moral core and only seek instant gratification, power and profit. In order for them to survive, they must mask their true intentions through mimicking those whom they seek power from.

The Republican wolves mimic middle America with family issues and tax cuts. The Democrat wolves mimic the rest with social issues. In reality, we are given a controlled choice of collectivist party A or collectivist party B. Fascism and Socialism work the same way, take from the masses and give to the insiders.

In 2008, after 8 years of Neo Con wars and deficit spending, America was in no mood any more of that. The Republican base was demoralized. For 25 years, they were promised a smaller and less intrusive government. In the 2004 election, they finally had that opportunity and did absolutely nothing. Actually they made it worse by increasing the size of government drastically, increasing the deficit and even increasing Medicare. So, change was in the air and the Elite knew it. At the 2008 Bilderberg conference in Chantilly VA, both Hillary and Obama were summoned to their masters to decide who was going to win. Both Obama and Clinton secretively ditched the press corp. that were assigned to them for the primaries to sneak into the meeting. The election was really decided behind closed doors there in Chantilly that June, not in November as the MSM would like you to believe.

The elections are just big circuses to entertain the serfs and make them feel like they have a stake in their future. That is why every single election is,”THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION EVER.” The two parties are the same on matters of importance; War, Debt and government intrusion. They quible over issues that either mean nothing or can do anything about. The Elite use focus groups and marketers to create images and messages that resonate with the intended voters/victims. That is why there is always a flavor of candidate that appeals to you. Eventually and purposefully, those potent flavors you like get melted down during the primaries until there are only two flavors left; vanilla or chocolate. (No pun intended.)

So, the Elite rolled out a bunch of new and old flavors like John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Joe Biden and Barack Obama. In the end, the new exciting Obama flavor caught the attention of the sheeple. I mean what could be more exciting than a black president and the peak of power in the land of slavery? He was young, energetic and motivating. Yet he had something almost exciting about him like a bad boy to a nice young girl. He ran on “Change.” What that change was, he did not say. For the most part, it was left up to the audience to read between the lines and create their own mental masturbation. In the end, it did not matter which puppet got into power, Obama or McCain, the Elite’s agenda moves forward.

More debt for us, as it fuels the Elite’s profits and power.

More wars for us, so that the Elite can seize precious resources.

More illegal immigrants for us, to weaken us so that we cannot fight the Elite.

More factories overseas for us, so that the Elite can use slave labor to gut our wages.

More government intrusion for us, so that the Elite can monitor and control us.

Think about it, since Obama has won, nothing has changed. I mean even Saturday Night Live has made fun of Obama for doing absolutely nothing. He was just like Bush in 2004, full control of the government with nothing standing in his way and he did nothing. Even the two most powerful positions, the Treasury and the Defense Department did not change a bit. (Sure we got rid of the Goldman guy and replaced him with the head of the NY Fed. Whoop dee-doo!)

So, now we are at this unique period, where I think almost all Americans can be honest with themselves and admit that they have been “had.” Whether it was Bush or Obama or whatever political flavor you prefer, you are still just licking an Elitist tool. My suggestion is to forget about all of the races, for President, Senator and Governor and just let the Elite have them with their huge controlled media and think tanks. The Elite can only really focus on a handful of races at a time. We should really try and focus strictly on local elections and Congressional seats. That decentralized effort plays to our power and monolithic power can stops millions of independent actions working on thousands of campaigns.

Another suggestion I have to all that are reading this, is to attack the root of all of our problems, The Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve has stolen everything and it is only moral to get it back from these criminals. Just because this criminal Elite scammed America in 1914, it does not mean they are not guilty and justice does not need to be served. Think about candidates running on a platform of freeing generational debt slaves with an new Emancipation Proclamation. If we ended the Fed, fractional reserve banking and usury, and switched to a competing currency system of gold, silver, platinum, and debt free treasury notes, we could eliminate everyone’s private debts. The Babylonians did this when the debts of the common man became too great. They reset the system and forgave all debts. The church used to do this with a Jubilee year.

This would also mean that any public debts, like SS and pensions, would also be needed to reset. All we are doing is cutting to the inevitable end. You are never going to get paid for all that you are owed, it is all a Ponzi scam. It would be so much easier to take care of each other if there wasn’t this crushing debt, sucking everything from us. The rest of the world might bitch that we are doing this, but they know that one way or the other, they are not going to get paid either. They might appreciate us ending our insanity without going down in a blaze of glory. We could throw them a bone and bring all of our troops home and end our world wide occupation. This single issue would unite 99.9% that are in debt to the .1% Elite and allow us to get a fresh start, instead of waiting for the Sword of Damocles to fall. (I know nothing will come of this which is why I suggest you panic now and beat the rush. Only after everything crashes can we hope to rebuild again. Get a head start on the world and join the Sons of Liberty Academy.)

The other thing that I think helps explains how so many people can see one man so differently, is the Hegelian Dialectic. The elite use a system of two controlled false choices to give the intended victims their “choice” of power. We are given the “choice” of the lesser of two evils, the Republicans or the Democrats. This is exactly how I give my 5 year old daughter the “choice” in clothing she’s going to wear for the day. She feels good because she had the power to choose the pink dress and not the purple dress. Meanwhile, she did not have the choice to wear pants, shorts, or even just stay in her pajamas. That is the same thing we get in our two completely bought and paid for Republican and Democratic parties.

If I had told my daughter what to wear, she would eventually rebel against me and we all know what happens to girls with daddy issues… The Elite know that this is also true with their serfs. Let them pick their poison and it will prevent the rebellion. “Let them march all they want. So long as they pay their taxes.” Gen. Alexander Haig. The Elite will let you do anything but attack the root of their power or really change the system.

We are forced into these two false choices and therefore have to defend on or the other. If the Republican sheeple didn’t defend the Republican (Fascist/Corporatist) wolves on every issue, they risk being over run by the Democrat (Socialist/Communists) wolves. The reverse is true for the Democrats. Meanwhile, all that keeps happening is the Elite keep closing their grip of power over all of us.

That is the true genius of the system, we are so dependent on this system that we are forced to defend it. Do you really think the 43 million people on food stamps could vote for a Republican that is going to cut social spending? Do you really think the millions in the middle class, just barely hanging on, could they really vote for a Democrat that is going to raise their taxes or cut the mortgage interest deduction? We are given a dog eat dog paradigm to work within. Never are we given the choice of casting aside both collectivist parties and choosing a Constitutional Republic with a truly free market. That does not serve the interests of the Elite.

So, I’d like to wrap this up so that I can drink beer and have some wings. The answer to the question is, that politicians are mere sock puppets for the evil geniuses that control them, the banks, the media, the corporations, the world’s resources and ultimately us. Start waking up and become totally free of them. Maybe then we will have a chance to build something after this all comes crashing down.

Wake Some People Up!

Original Article

Battle for the Matrix

Part 1 - Humanity's Last Stand



Part 2 - Meet The Real Terrorists

Dangers of the Mob Mentality and the Coming Dollar Collapse

How sad it is to see what is playing out in Egypt. What turned out to be an uprising for new leadership which had support from the rest of the free world, has now turned into a post Katrina nightmare. The initial energy of the protests which had originally been channeled in a positive way has been derailed by the ugliness of a mob mentality.

The latest wave of violence has been most notable for the widespread looting, indicative of the scale of the breakdown in law and order. Yesterday mummies in the country’s national museum were destroyed by looters attempting to steal the treasures of King Tutankhamen. One statue, believed to be of Tutankhamen, was broken into two pieces by the thieves, although officials said they hoped to be able to repair it.

Gangs of thugs have cleared out supermarkets, shopping malls and stores, as well as luxury homes and apartments in affluent residential areas in the suburbs. Gangs of armed men attacked at least four jails across Egypt before dawn today, helping to free hundreds of Muslim militants and thousands of other inmates as police vanished from the streets of Cairo and other cities.

Watching these events unfold, I can only wonder how a crisis of this magnitude would play out in the United States. How many people would be prepared if the infrastructure of our country came to a halt? What would happen if the shelves at the grocery stores were empty because trucking lines halted deliveries for fear of the mobs of looters? What would happen if the welfare, food stamps and unemployment payments ceased? What would happen if the mob came down your street, going door to door, taking whatever or whomever they choose? Would you be prepared for the ugliness that would descend upon you and your loved ones? We all saw how quickly society can break down during the Katrina disaster. In a matter of hours New Orleans went from normal, to post-apocalyptic, something the residents in that city never dreamed could happen to them. So I say to you….ARE YOU READY?

Due to the monetary policy of our government you are seeing a rapid decline in the value of the US dollar and it is only going to get worse over time. With 14 trillion dollars of debt the US is swimming in a sea of red ink. It is only a matter of time before the US is forced to default on this debt and we experience a collapse on the dollar. Now, I am surely not suggesting that this will be the end of the US as a nation, but merely a period of restructuring. This period will be nothing more that the country going to bankruptcy court to relieve themselves of the debt that it is drowning in, which will be good for the country but very hard on it’s citizens.

Sit back for a moment and imagine how well the government would function if this scenario plays out. Our government has a hard enough time functioning when times are good, imagine the chaos during a default. For starters, all checks written by the government would stop. Once again, sit back and ponder that for a minute. How many government employees would show up for work if they were not sure if they would be getting paid? A lot of services you take for granted would cease immediately.

Now what do you think is going to happen when the welfare, unemployment and food stamp payments cease? How long do you think it will take for the mob mentality to surface? I am going to bet that you will see post Katrina mob mentality within hours of the government announcing their intentions of defaulting. I say this because when this happens all banking and credit card transactions will stop meaning you will not have access to money in any form. People will realize that the food and other essentials in their possession is all they have and they will realize that they are not prepared for the uncertain times ahead. Needless to say, things will go to hell quickly! People will be desperate for food, water and other basic necessities and desperate people do desperate things.

I believe that the US will almost certainly be forced to abandoned the dollar and form a new currency. I foresee this new currency being strictly electronic at first since there will not be time to print and distribute the necessary amount of money needed for a full currency conversion of all paper dollars in the public hands. Eventually you will be able to convert the old dollar into the new currency but I think this will be several months down the road.

I realize that 99% of those who will read this will dismiss me as a tin foil hat wearing nut job and I’m fine with that. As long as I and the other 1% heed my warning and take the necessary steps needed to prepare themselves for a time of crisis I will be happy.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The Great Global Debt Prison

By Giordano Bruno

Tense and terrible times inevitably summon an odd coupling of two very different and difficult human conditions; honesty, and brutality. Certain painful truths are revealed, and often, a palpable fury erupts. Being that times today are particularly tense, and on the verge of being spectacularly terrible, perhaps we should embrace both conditions in a constructive manner, and become brutally honest with ourselves. This begins by admitting to that which most ails us. It begins by admitting how far we have fallen…

Our economy, our culture, our entire world, is built upon debt. No one ever asked us if that’s how we wanted it, it is simply how the system was designed when we came into it. Many of us have lived our entire lives under the assumption that debt is a necessary function of daily commerce and a valuable driver of successful society. Most households in America operate at a steep loss, trapped in constantly building cycles of liability and interest. There are even widely held schools of economic thought that are centered completely on the production and utilization of nothing but debt. Only recently have many people begun to ask themselves what the tangible benefits are (if any) in being dependent on debt based finance.

After careful examination, it becomes evident that debt does not fuel economy, it suffocates it. It does not nurture growth, it stunts and poisons it. Extreme debt is not a fundamental organ in a body of commerce; it is an aberration, a spreading cancer which disrupts the circulation of healthy trade. Debt is, in large part, unnecessary.

Of course, debt can be very useful if you are the controller or determining overseer of a system, especially if you wish to centralize and maintain power over that system. The tactical wielding of debt has been used by elites for centuries as a means to imprison the masses, or to create an atmosphere of endless dependency. Let’s take a look at what debt really is, and how it is being used against the average American today…

Understanding Debt

The Charles Dickens classic ‘Little Dorrit’ is commonly misinterpreted as a “love story”, however, the primary character in the book is not Little Dorrit, or the kindly Arthur Clennam, but the debt system of Britain itself, and its effects on every social class from the street beggar to the elitist socialite. Dickens despised the idea of debt and debtors prisons, being that his father was thrown into one for a good portion of his life, forcing young Charles to work just to support his parents. Dickens understood well the evil intent behind the debt system, and railed against it often in his writings.

One figure in ‘Little Dorrit’ which fascinated me was the character of Mr. Merdle, a national banking superstar who dominates the investment world with the help of British treasury officials and various political deviants. Merdle is referred to by merchant circles as “the man of the age”, a financial marvel who seems to make fortunes in every endeavor he touches. Little does anyone realize that Merdle is a fraud, a Ponzi scheme artist who takes money from unwary speculators and sinks it into increasingly more tenuous investments. In order to continue hiding the fact that all his financial ventures are ending in ruin, he lures more and more depositors to pay off previous debts. The problem is that Merdle is creating debt to chase debt. Eventually, his insolvency, and that of all those who trusted him, will catch up and overtake the lie he has carefully projected. All economic instability is invariably revealed, no matter how expertly it is hidden.

Mr. Merdle, in my mind, is an almost perfect literary representation of today’s private Federal Reserve and the global banking syndicates of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, etc. The Federal Reserve, with the help of politicians on both sides of the aisle, created a series of illusory incentives (through interest rate cuts) which allowed banks to begin lending almost unlimited fiat at rock bottom prices. America was awash in credit, to the point that it was nearly impossible for the average person to avoid the temptation of borrowing. What we didn’t understand then, but are beginning to grasp now, is that credit derived from fiat is not “capital”, it is NOT wealth. Credit is the creation of an obligation, to be paid at a later date, if it is paid at all, and because there are no rules to tie the debt to any legitimate collateral (at least for banks), there is nothing to back the obligation if it falters. Therefore, fiat induced credit is not the creation of wealth (as Keynesians seem to believe), but the destruction of wealth!

Because of its lack of tangibility, debt can be packaged and repackaged into whatever form banks like. Derivatives are a perfect example of the phantom nature of debt; securities which have no real value whatsoever yet are rated and traded as if they are a solid commodity. This brand of commerce is, at its very root, a kind of fiscal time bomb. Just as in the literary world of ‘Little Dorrit’, the Ponzi scheme in our very literal world had to reach a tipping point, and in 2008, it did.

One glaring difference between our troubles and those of Dickens’ fiction is that Merdle actually feels guilt over what he has done (or he at least fears the justice that will be dealt him), causing him to commit suicide towards the end of the novel. In the real world, the Merdles of our era appear fully content to watch this country crumble due to their intrigues, and rarely suffer any consequences for what they pursue. In fact, the modern banking elite are more liable to revel in the searing shockwave of a credit detonation, rather than feel any “remorse”. The point is, Dickens saw clearly over 150 years ago what many Americans today still do not; debt is an abstract idea, an absurd game which confuses and ensnares innocent people. Debt based systems con the citizenry into trading away their tangible wealth and labor for the promise of future settlements that will never come. Debt serves only to weaken the masses, and empower creditors.

The Consequences Of Debt

How has debt based economics served us so far?

The credit card debt of the average American household ranges from $8000 to $15,000. Total household debt including mortgage and home equity loans has hit an average of 136% of annual household income:

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276.php



http://blogs.forbes.com/moneybuilder/2010/06/24/one-big-difference-between-chinese-and-american-households-debt/

Approximately 80% of mortgage loans issued to subprime borrowers over the past decade were Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM), meaning 80% of mortgages in the U.S. have reset or are ready to reset at much higher interest rates. There were approximately 1.4 million bankruptcy filings in 2009, and 1.5 million in 2010. One in every 45 homes in America received a foreclosure filing in 2010:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/top-10-cities-where-foreclosure-rates-are-highest-2011-01-27

http://www.uscourts.gov/Statistics/BankruptcyStatistics.aspx

Keep in mind that in 2005, new government regulations were implemented making filing for bankruptcy much more difficult. In 2006, filings collapsed. Now, despite stringent obstacles, filings are up again over 100%.

The “official” national debt now stands at over $14 trillion, which is around 100% of U.S. GDP (with entitlement programs like social security included, this number is probably closer to 400% of GDP) . The 100% mark is often cited as the breaking point for most countries struggling to sustain liabilities. Greece’s national debt stood at 108% – 113% of GDP when it collapsed into austerity. From 2004, to 2010 (a span of only six years) our national debt has doubled. To put this in perspective, it took the U.S. over 200 years to reach its first trillion dollars of debt. Now, we are looking at the accumulation of at least a trillion every year. This is unsustainable.

The much talked about debt ceiling has been raised six times in the past three years. This frequency is unprecedented. International ratings agencies are now openly suggesting an end to America’s AAA credit rating:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-28/moody-s-says-time-shortens-for-u-s-rating-outlook-as-s-p-downgrades-japan.html

A credit rating downgrade would be devastating to what little foreign interest is left in the U.S. Treasury bond investment.

On the local front, cities and states are on the verge of folding due to the evaporation of municipal bond markets. Cities depend greatly on two sources of revenue in order to continue operations; property taxes, and municipal investment. Property taxes, obviously, are disappearing as property values continue to spiral downwards. This leaves only municipals, which have also unfortunately fallen off the map:

Wall Street analyst, Meredith Witney, recently stated in an interview with 60 Minutes that she believed 50 to 100 American cities would default in the midst of a municipal crisis in 2011. She was promptly lambasted by the rest of the MSM for her prediction. In my opinion, she was rather minimalist in her estimates, especially if the Federal Reserve does not commit to another round of quantitative easing (QE3) for the states (Bernanke denies this policy would be enacted by the Fed, though, which means there is a good chance it will be).

To summarize, the U.S. is swimming in debt. Absolutely nothing has been changed for the better in terms of wealth destruction and liabilities since the credit crisis began, and the situation only looks more precarious with each passing quarter.

Where Is The Debt Roller Coaster Taking Us?

What is the most likely outcome of the conditions described above? The vital factor will be the continued Federal Reserve policy of fiat bailouts as a “counterbalance” to the evolving debt crisis.

As is clearly explored in the Dickens novel we discussed earlier, staving off the effects of debt by creating more debt is a temporary solution that only leads to greater calamity down the road. Anyone who believes that fiat inflation actually “cancels out” debt instability is going to find themselves sorely disappointed. At bottom, government created stimulus is not a solution to corporate engineered debt burdens, but a reallocation of debt away from banks and into the laps of the American taxpayer. The Federal Reserve and our own Treasury have not paid off anything. They merely shifted the responsibility of payment away from the banks that created the problem, and handed that responsibility to us. On top of this, they have also set the dollar up for a crushing blow of devaluation. Here is where the prison bars enclose…

If our historic debt is not being diminished, but only moved around while it expands, then this means that eventually our credit worthiness will come into question. In fact, it already has. Foreign investment in long term Treasuries has dwindled. Our own central bank is now the largest holder of U.S. debt, surpassing even China (Note: this news has so far been ignored by almost all mainstream outlets):

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/120372fc-2e48-11e0-8733-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F120372fc-2e48-11e0-8733-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Faim.search.aol.com%2Faol%2Fsearch%3Fs_it%3Dnscpsearch%26q%3DFed%2Bpasses%2Bchina

So, the question of debt default turns from theoretical to quite imperative. If the Federal Reserve continues buying our debt with fiat, it means that the effects of the debt will only be delayed, the dollar will be dropped as the world reserve currency, and hyperinflation is a certainty. If they do not continue buying, then our government defaults, the country’s financial infrastructure ceases to exist, the dollar loses its world reserve status, and hyperinflation is a certainty. The banking elites haven’t just erected a prison, they’ve tossed us in Alcatraz!

The battle over yet another increase of the debt ceiling has obscured the fact that the debt has already done all the damage it needs to do. Freezing the ceiling in place becomes a battle of principle, and an important one, but it would in no way stop the dysfunction and chaos to come. At best, it might shorten the duration of the disaster by a few years. The important thing to remember is that government intervention will only incur greater loss. There is no easy way out, no magic shortcut, no last minute brilliant idea that will wrap up this mess. Years of hard work, determination, honesty, and sacrifice are ahead of us.

Inflation will be the buzzword of 2011. Endless debt facilitates endless Keynesian liquidity. Expect to see commodities double once again this year.

Household debt will probably level off through 2011, as more Americans abandon their credit habits and make more concerted efforts to save. In 2009, Visa lost 11% of its credit use, while MasterCard lost 22%. Over 8 million consumers have stopped using credit cards altogether since the end of 2009:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/holiday-shopping-americans-cut-back-credit-card/story?id=12367547

Bank lending is still tight as creditors raise the requirements necessary to receive FHA (Federal Housing Administration) mortgages:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-17/home-ownership-gets-harder-for-americans-as-lenders-restrict-fha-mortgages.html



Will credit use and debt based consumption ever return to levels similar to 2006? Not a chance. One might predict then that savings will rise dramatically as credit use falls, but this too is unlikely. Why? Because over the next year Americans will be spending far more on essential goods due to inflation than they ever have before. Whatever savings they would have accrued will be eaten up by the relentless spike in commodity prices. The term used for the combination of chronic debt, low job growth, and burgeoning inflation, is “stagflation”. I honestly can’t think of a worse situation than being subject to exploding costs in light of a dilapidated standard of living. As Dickens points out plainly in ‘Little Dorrit’, how can a man be expected to settle his obligations when he is imprisoned for them?



Breaking The Cycle In The Midst Of Global Strife

Why after thirty years under the despotic rule of the Hosni Mubarak regime did the Egyptian people suddenly decide to revolt? Why now? The MSM will field a number of political tales, but the key to most popular uprisings, especially in the Middle East, has been the lack of necessities. The last time Egypt saw an uprising of this magnitude was during the Bread Riots of 1977, when the IMF terminated state subsidies of basic foodstuffs. Is it any wonder that turmoil has developed so quickly in the region as grain prices double? This is the devastating power of debt, and the so called “solutions” which merely perpetuate debt.

Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, are only the beginning. The sting of inflation will be unbearable as austerity measures take hold in Europe, and the potential for riots in Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy looms large. The most volatile environment on the planet to date, however, is the United States, which, as we have shown in previous articles, is being dismantled deliberately and viciously in preparation for IMF regulation and centralization. Today, the IMF is stalking Egypt, ready to pounce as the nation goes mad. Tomorrow, it will be us. I will be very surprised if we are not hearing about IMF intervention in the U.S. economy and the dollar by the end of this year, offering more debt, and more unaccountable governance.

The secret to breaking the circle of debt is to adopt a policy of decentralization, and self sufficiency. To take back control of our local commerce and to establish micro-economies with self contained methods of trade. Debt must be removed from the equation altogether, and systems protected by flexibility and redundancy must be applied. Savings and meaningful production would have to take the place of endless spending and outsourcing. The claustrophobic nurse-maid philosophies of globalism would have to be cast aside and replaced with goals of independence and self reliance. By cutting our dependency on the corrupt establishment, we sever its ability to feed off of us. By building a better system, we make the faulty one obsolete. Whether or not we throw off the trappings of the debt machine is entirely up to us.

Two very important steps are required; the realization that debt is not the only way, and, the realization that debt is the worst way. Prosperity is not achieved at the expense of the future. The society that finally takes this fact to heart will accomplish incredible things indeed…

You can contact Giordano Bruno at: giordano@neithercorp.us

SPECIAL NOTE TO NEITHERCORP READERS: Our Alternative Market Project which is being developed in tandem with Oathkeepers will be officially announced in the next two weeks. I also have been invited to speak at the very exciting ‘Save America Convention’ in Tampa, Florida in March. Keep your eyes out for our announcement, and an article on the details of the convention which should be published shortly.

Original Article