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The Elites Have Lost The Right to Rule
From Michael Krieger of KAM LP
War is the growth hormone of the cancer that is big government.
- Alex Jones
A government always finds itself obliged to resort to inflationary measures when it cannot negotiate loans and dare not levy taxes, because it has reason to fear that it will forfeit approval of the policy it is following if it reveals too soon the financial and general economic consequences of that policy. Thus inflation becomes the most important psychological resource of any economic policy whose consequences have to be concealed; and so in this sense it can be called an instrument of unpopular, that is, of antidemocratic policy, since by misleading public opinion it makes possible the continued existence of a system of government that would have no hope of the consent of the people if the circumstances were clearly laid before them. That is the political function of inflation. When governments do not think it necessary to accommodate their expenditure and arrogate to themselves the right of making up the deficit by issuing notes, their ideology is merely a disguised absolutism.
- Ludwig von Mises
How Wall Street Died
Let me take you back to the fall of 1999. I was a senior in college without a clue what I wanted to do with my life. Wall Street was in a boom and seemed exciting. I had always loved the financial markets since I had first discovered them years earlier; however, I wasn’t convinced this was the profession I wanted. I had majored in Economics at school for practical purposes but I found almost all of the courses to be extraordinarily uninspiring with the exception of a few like Corporate Finance and the Economic History of China. It was the general micro and macro economics courses that I found the most painful to sit through. I wasn’t alone in this assessment. Many of my close friends were Economics majors as well and we all felt the same way (I later found out this was because we were being indoctrinated in voodoo Keynesian economics) . So even with the Economics degree I wasn’t sure that I wanted to pursue a career in finance given the fact that I found myself more interested in subjects such as English , History and Philosophy. Nevertheless, the firms were hiring, I had the degree and it would allow me to move back to New York City without living at home.
What I discovered as I interviewed for jobs disturbed me right away. Every single firm with the exception of one was completely obsessed with math. Entire interviews revolved around “how quantitative are you” and the like. Although I hadn’t had much experience with investing I had enough to know this line of thinking seemed preposterous. It seemed to me only basic math skills are necessary to be a successful equity investor. Besides that, it seemed that the key is understanding that the world is always changing rapidly under the surface and therefore what is a good business today might be bankrupt tomorrow and what is a start up today could be the next Microsoft. This seems obvious but the skill set to figuring all this out is more geared to an appreciation of human psychology, historical cycles and cultural shifts (both fads and structural changes) than math. What I realized later is the reason they were so focused on mathematicians and Phd’s is that Wall Street was moving away from what it was always meant to be - a conduit between the holders of capital and those that wish to deploy that capital in productive economic activity. Rather than trying to hire a well rounded workforce of intelligent college graduates the firms were hiring a cadre of quantitative robots that would play an instrumental roll in blowing up the world’s financial system.
When you get too many people of a particular mindset (in this case highly quantitative and academic) to aggregate in a field that is very much a people business and one where “street smart” common sense is of extreme importance you are asking for serious trouble. When you couple that with a Federal Reserve that keeps interest rates too low what you get is a bunch of quants inventing products that provide a yield sufficient for pensions and others struggling to earn a return. Products that are completely mispriced for the risk inherent in them. I am not placing all of the blame on the Wall Street firms (although they deserve a lot and the fact people haven’t been punished severely is a huge reason why there is no confidence on main street), rather I believe the Federal Reserve deserves 95% of it. If it wasn’t for them manipulating the price of money to absurdly low levels you wouldn’t have had the rush into toxic products in a search for yield. While the newly enthroned Wall Street quant army would surely have done their damage nonetheless it wouldn’t have resulted in the complete destruction of the financial and monetary system that we face today. In a nutshell, this is how I think Wall Street died and until it gets its act together will remain a corpse.
The Elites Have Lost Their Right to Rule
One of my favorite quotes is from Joseph Schumpeter who said “everyone has elites the important thing is to change them from time to time.” Of course, this is what happens in a well functioning democracy. The problem today and the reason why the United States is on the verge of some sort of revolution (I believe it will manifest as a revolution of ideas and not an armed one) is that the election of Obama has proven to everyone watching with an unbiased eye that no matter who the President is they continue to prop up an elite at the top that has been running things into the ground for years. The appointment of Larry Summers and Tiny Turbo-Tax Timmy Geithner provided the most obvious sign that something was seriously not kosher. Then there was the reappointment of Ben Bernanke. While the Republicans like to simplify him as merely a socialist he represents something far worse.
Of course it is not just Obama. He is at the end of a long line of Presidents that think they have some sort of divine right of kings to rule. Think about the Presidency of the United States since 1988. Bush, Clinton, Bush…If Obama had not won the Democratic primary we would have ended up with President Hilary Clinton. Catch my drift? Something is not right here. This is the United States not some sort of petty monarchy. There is no divine right of any family or group of families to rule. When this starts to happen you get the disaster we are now faced with. That said, the bigger point is this. What Obama has attempted to do is to wipe a complete economic collapse under the rug and maintain the status quo so that the current elite class in the United States remains in control. The “people” see this ploy and are furious. Those that screwed up the United States economy should never make another important decision about it yet they remain firmly in control of policy. The important thing in any functioning democracy is the turnover of the elite class every now and again. Yet, EVERY single government policy has been geared to keeping that class in power and to pass legislation that gives the Federal government more power to then buttresses this power structure down the road. This is why Obama is so unpopular. Everything else is just noise to keep people divided and distracted.
Getting Into the Mind of Ben Bernanke
I do not have a clear window into the highest levels of power in many areas such as the military or the intelligence community but I do have a very good understanding of it when it comes to the financial system and the economy. At the end of the day everyone knows that those who can create the money and credit have the ultimate power over any political system. Therefore, at the top of the economic power of the world is the Federal Reserve and at the top of that is Ben Bernanke. This is why I took a great deal of interest in reading the full text of his speech today. Much will be written about it but I want to tackle it from two points. First, who is Ben Bernanke?
You can really see into his head from reading this speech. He is an academic who thinks he is smarter than everyone else which is why he is in the position he is in. He thinks the key to monetary policy is to trick people into doing things that will hurt them in the end. He believes the mal-investments he intends to push people and institutions into equals economic growth. What surprises me so much about the investment community and the American public in general is that so many fail to understand that we live in a top down centralized economic system much more similar to China in more ways than people want to admit. We look at how the government steers the economy in China and sneer. How are we so different right now?
As far as the speech itself, it confirms something I mentioned several weeks ago. Banana Ben absolutely wants to do a massive QE2 program. The only thing holding him back is gold is near an all time high. What he wants is gold much lower and stocks much lower to give him cover. Gold has not cooperated so he is in a bind. He cannot print a massive amount of money with gold here and stocks at 1055 because what happens if gold soars and stocks sell-off in the days that follow such an announcement? What if the response in the treasury market is not as desired? He is scared to do it here and he is right to be scared because such a reaction would be the end of the Fed right then and there. The Fed will be gone anyway within a few years in my opinion but it’s going to fight hard to survive and if you want to make money in this market you need to understand that. The most powerful institution in the world is fighting for its survival. Never forget that.
So what is he going to do? I believe that the Fed and government are doing a lot more than people think to manipulate all markets behind the scenes. After all, they have publicly announced their manipulation in many other ways so does it make any sense whatsoever to assume they aren’t doing a plethora of other things behind the scenes? Of course not. I think that with the Fed in a bind they will accelerate and become ever more aggressive in behind the scenes games. This will make markets even more volatile and extraordinarily challenging. This is financial war make no mistake about it. The only way in my opinion to survive this is to buy all dips in precious metals, agriculture and oil. It is in these three areas that I expect to see the most price inflation as money eventually figures out the end game. The end game is more and more people will eventually wake up to the fact that the markets are a hologram put in front of you by the magicians at the Fed. That what constitutes real wealth in the years ahead will be owning food, energy and a means of exchange that will be accepted should a black market economy arise as it has in virtually all nations at one time or another throughout history.
In the end, the elites will be overthrown and a power vacuum will form. The transition period will be extremely difficult as the elites will fight their demise to the end. For you see, they care nothing for you they care about their power and control. Nevertheless, rulers have always only ruled by the will (or apathy) of the people and when the people become overly taxed and abused they always rebel. The main thing to think about is what kind of society do we want to rebuild from the ashes. I am of the view that it must be a return to the Constitution and an elimination of central banking power and secrecy. Let’s not fall for a demagogue or be pushed into a war when things are at their worst.
Have a great weekend,
Mike
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What's with the obscenity and personal attacks? If you can't see the difference between majority rule and rule of law then I don't know what to tell you.
Don't you find it bizarre that you apparently hate my guts but you also insist they we must be locked together within a political construct? Why would I want to associate myself with you in any way whatsoever?
Hate your guts!?! Personal attacks!?!
Man, I don't even know you and if me calling bullshit hurts so bad, well, get ready for a life of pain.
You need to get some help. People with your issues talking about how to fix this country is disturbing.
Please forgive me for attempting to have a rational discussion.
You wanted no rational discussion. You wanted to whine and bitch about how awful your taxes are. For some reason you thought I would be receptive to it.
I am not. Grow up.
What a silly person.
Excellent long form version of
THROW THE BUMS OUT
yeh.. as I'd expect.
The house of cards won't collapse until sometime after the next president is elected.
The cattle still have 'faith' that the next president will 'save them.'
After the next poor sap fails, it's every man for himself as these zombies come to life and hit the streets.
The Elites don't rule.
The Elites OWN.
The difference? Rulers usually leave with nothing.
Owners leave with everything.
i have very little confidence in the younger generation and even less in the older generation but if mr kreiger and his not yet 30 year old mind can think like this then there is hope - at least a fragile flicker.
tsk! you were supposed to see through "hope" last time 'round tony. . .
I've found aware people in every age group, but they are rare, and will not "save" anything. . . it's up to every individual to name and identify their reality, unless, of course, they surrender their personal integrity to groupthink. . .
That is because you have never seen them really, really stressed. Amazing things happen.
Stocks exploding upward because Uncle Ben says the world sucks and he's ready to print more money. I get that.
Fuck you, Mike Krieger.
The "elites" or whatever they think themselves to be, NEVER HAD THE RIGHT TO RULE.
Read the fucking Preamble and DOI. BY, OF, FOR the People.
In fact, I know some of these "elites." They hate the middle class. It offends them that "those people" should have ANYTHING at all. They hate riding in the same airplanes as you, that you can drive the same types of cars, that you can eat at the same restaurants, stay in the same hotels, or live in the same buildings as they do; they hate being in your presence. They liked it better in the middle ages where they could run your children over with their carriages and they would do so without compunction. It is THEIR right to have things, THEIR right to take what you have because it isn't YOUR RIGHT as a "commoner" to have it. It's an offense against their natural order of things for you, the commoner, to be in possession of ANYTHING.
This is why they wage war against the middle class. The middle class is full of people who are beneath them.
.
In fact, I know some of these "elites." They hate the middle class. It offends them that "those people" should have ANYTHING at all.
Having acknowledged this why have you (in another thread) railed against those who arm themselves in anticipation of a possible societal collapse?
The "responsible men" who are the proper decision-makers must "live free of the trampling and the roar of a bewildered herd." These "ignorant and meddlesome outsiders" are to be "spectators," not "participants." The herd does have a "function": to trample periodically in support of one or another element of the leadership class in an election. - Lippmann, Wilson Committee on Public Information, established to coordinate wartime propaganda.
Unstated is that the responsible men gain that status not by virtue of any special talent or knowledge but by willing subordination to the systems of actual power and loyalty to their operative principles;crucially, that basic decisions over social and economic life are to be kept within institutions with top-down authoritarian control, while the participation of the beast is to be limited to a diminished public arena. - Manufactured Consent
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6326156/Hegemony-or-Survival-Noam-Chomsky
Tyler....serioulsy...if Obama wasn't elected...you would have had McCain and Sarah Palin a nice continuation of Blind Bribed Bush idiots in Washington. I don't say Obama is good...but the alternative would have been a disaster.
Greetings from Europe
You must be an idiot. Both of them are disasters. The fact of the matter is we elected average joes who know how to lie better than the rest of us. That's all politics is. They aren't smart, intellectual, reasonable. They deny fact and they don't care because they have enough money to deny those facts.
I knew the Europe thing would annoy you...idiot!
It's much easier to criticize one party over another, but it's harder to face facts that both are bad choices and we'd still be in the same sinkhole we are in now anyways.
There hasn't been a good president since I suppose Jefferson? Lincoln was a centralist and hyperinflated our currency and set up precedent that the Federal Govt runs the show.
You must be old!
I didn't favor anyone....I just said that one was worse than the other.
And don't call me idiot again...I will return it....:-)
I'm simply arguing that neither party is distinguishable anymore. It's a purple govt and will continue to be.
youngandhealthy
I held the opinion that McCain would have investigated Bush. Bush campaign tore the shit out of the McCain family during the primaries. Bush campaign insulted and made repeated racist comments about McCains adopted Black daughter. They brought up Cindy's drug abuse.
It was well know that John and Cindy kept an enemies list. It was well known that they are vindictive evil fuckers.
Had they the power they would have investigated and imprisoned the entire Bush Family and their associates.
In my opinion that would have been the only reason to vote McCain.
Repubs and Dems are both whore parties that sold the little guy up the river long time ago.
I have reported Michael Krieger to the Department of Homeland Security for the thought crime of quoting an Austrian economist and a libertarian.
I take it back; thoughtful, particularly the discussion of Banana Ben
yea... you're right. we should stick with the aged wisdom of a robert rubin or lawrence summers.
This text lost me the moment I saw the Alex Jones quote at the top of the page. What is needed, in my humble opinion, is credible analysis - not crazytown. Whether Mike (or Jones) is right about individual issues still depends on providing sources for your arguments - not yelling the loudest.
There's nothing crazy about hating government.
I would argue that the very definition of crazy is hating something you don't have the intellectual rigor to understand. Unsubstantiated arguments are fairly clear evidence of a lack of mental will to provide a reasonable foundation for whatever is purportedly so terrible that it needs to be hated.
Are individual aspects of our government worth hating? You bet. Are they worth deconstructing, debating, and then taking action on? Absolutely.
Are there various philosophical underpinnings that justify hostility toward a centralized, capitalist government? take your pick..Nozick, Marx, Kropotkin, etc.
Picking up a pitchfork because all you see is red and aren't thinking about your own motivations is both dangerous and stupid. The way to striking your enemy is to know them better than they know themselves. This, unfortunately for those who are impatient for immediate action, takes intellectual will.
There is no such thing as a centralized capitalist government.
By its very existence, a government will impinge on free markets.
It is literally impossible to have a totally free market and a State that is based on taxation, doubly so when the State is responsible for 40% of the nations GDP spending.
I do believe you are the one that does not have a basic understanding of what constitutes free market capitalism.
The inherent problem security vs freedom. Security by it's nature infringes on freedom. The founders wanted a slanted system where freedom was heavier of the two. The flaw in this idea is that capitalism needs a lot of security in terms of property rights, contracts, defense, keeping the peace, and emergency aid.
It's an old philosophical debate. You can't have both really. But people want both.
This isn't true at all. Just because you don't have a territorial monopolist of coercion (government) doesn't mean you don't have security. Do you believe that police officers are cut from a better cloth than the average man? That the politicians who write the laws that bind society are in some way ethically superior to the average man? Then you can justify the existence of a government. Otherwise, you can't.
Hans Hoppe wrote a great book on the private production of security in a free market. Check it out.
Nice, Spyker. Folks don't seem to realize that any service offered by government can be provided more effectively and efficiently by players in a free market.
I love how people rip on the "Keynesian Religion" ..but somehow this idealized "free market" is taken at face value. I'm not a huge fan of the man Keynes, but it's more than a bit hypocritical to deride one idealized form over another. They're both false representations of reality.
Players in a free market? ..care to provide any historical examples on where this has worked? I suppose we shouldn't attempt to debate history with "Mr. Sovereign" here - Crockett thinks everyone who has attended or teaches at a university is somehow flawed. Maybe it's because his hero Rothbard couldn't get published at any school in the US except for the crazytown Ludwig von Mises institute in Alabama, which is apparently still cheerleading the American South's secession. Enjoy your fantasies of a free market, Crockett.
There is no such thing as a centralized capitalist government. By its very existence, a government will impinge on free markets.
Clear and concise, michael.
You are fucking rediculous. Government is pure public persona, groomed presentation, lies and bullshit. You're not going to get to "know" government. Because it doesn't want you to know it. It wants you think you know it. Now YOU! it wants to know anything it can about YOU so it knows the best ways to manipulate you. Which is why it's always asking you questions and making you fill out forms.
And advertising. And revenue streams and NONE OF THAT BULLSHIT has anythig to do with exactly why facebook is worth 34 billion fucking dollars.
Except that in the real world, things happen fast...
Before you can listen to Alex Jones you need to go through a decontamination area. You are not ready for Alex Jones Show until you shed the toxicity around your brain contaminated by the Jew-controlled media. Listen to the audio interview at this link, also read the book
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/newbabylon_podcast_081710.html
PapiBow, Read This
http://www.realzionistnews.com/?p=413
Jones attacks the Zionists indirectly, he attacks all their plans without stating their name. He attacks all wars, plans for Iran war, all of them started by Zionists. He attacks all financial frauds, all started by Zionists, he attacks 9/11 inside job and coverup (take a guess who is behind it), he attacks controlled corporate media (take a guess who controls it). Jones has enough common sense to avoid referencing Jews by name because he knows these are the realities of today and his show would not last very long if he attacked Zionists directly. This is a smart strategy. That is why, in addition to Alex, you also need to follow other alternative news media that attacks Zionists directly. Also, be aware that all the attacks against Alex Jones are initiated by Zionists themselves through their various fronts and Jones is winning the fight
Way to be dilligent...don't want them stinkin' ol' Joooooooos to getcha, right?
Fucking moron.
Your life is shit, so you've got to blame SOMEBODY. After all, it can't be due to the fact that you've wasted countless hours reading drivel from fellow failures and paranoid freaks...hours that you could have spent doing something productive.
So a big Zieg Heil to you, and here's hoping that your particular brand of chicken-shit paranoia doesn't spread.
Those who say, "your life is shit," to people whom they have never met are often projecting their own feelings about their own lives.
Often they are, but in this particular case I'm simply calling out a bitter anti-Semite who is spouting a lot of the same garbage that comes out of the kook fringe statist left...it doesn't impress me. Franky, I don't really see how somebody who espouses that kind of paranoid Nazi SHIT can have anything other than a shitty life.
this type of insipid and puerile whining serves no one well and is so characteristic of the intellectually sterile analysis I've come to expect from this shallow narcissist. arm chair crusading against the great evils and injustices which infest and afflict our social order like the plague is an obsession with the hypocritical and myopic minions of the very system they so alarmingly decry.
all this nauseatingly replicated blather about the "people" (he puts it in " " as if to distance and disarm its significance) and the terrible elites who are driving the poor ignorant lemmings to ruin is the mental paradigm for pretentious and crackpot intellectual snobbery á la Alex Jones.
The hegemonic nature of the agents of social control has nothing to do with their rights or their loss of them. It is rather an illicit, insidious and incremental encroachment on the basic rights of humanity based on systemic violence. The only ones losing rights here are us groundlings you arrogant superannuated frat boy.
Rather than sounding off so superciliously and self importantly about things you have little knowledge and even less understanding of, go devote at least a minimal effort to educating yourself in depth about the issues you assure us you have such a great grasp of... Nauseating.
I love you
The bouncing market ball will trace arcs higher, just to be followed by expressed potential energy of another leg down.
It is coming, better believe it.
---- (edit - adding a bit here) ----
Politics don't interest me, market TICKS do. Look at a long term chart of the Dow, it doesn't give a flying crap if somone is elected, assassinated or impeached. The only thing that matters is the FED, and it is overdue for some corrective housecleaning or dismantling.
Everything else is just distraction and polarization that ultimately ends up achieving nothing.
Although this is an accurate portrayal, I think it is a bit shortsighted.
This began a long time ago. It is only more pronounced now due to the fact that
the debt curve has been going exponential in the last 20 years. But the framework
for this was built before most alive today were even born. And the politicians
are merely the useful idiots in this whole play.
pods
No doubt Obama has disappointed all who had hoped for a new course for the Federal government. Add those who are disappointed to those bigots who wanted to bring Obama down from the start and you have a raging electorate.
Unfortunately, all the fresh faces that will get elected this November will quickly realize that being "a lapdog to corporatism" is the quickest way to get re-elected. Nothing will change after November 2. More disappointment out of Washington is on the horizon.
The fool that really believes Obama is looking out for him/her deserves what's coming.
Human nature folks. It NEVER EVER CHANGES.
"LIFE AINT NOTHING BUT BITCHES AND MONEY"...ice cube
"LIFE AINT NOTHING BUT BITCHES AND MONEY"...ice cube
damn im lucky to be a bitch..... kc
Mike - The Fed will be gone in a few years? The elites will be overthrown? There will be a return to the Constitution? There's got to be a lot of manning up for that to get lined up and made to happen. Who do you see stepping up for that? I don't even hear any serious mouthing off that doesn't sound like a bunch of guys talking to themselves, or muttering in the corner of the schoolyard. Things have to get a lot worse before the serious people get pissed off enough to throw down. Can you back up your projections?
This MUST BE READ.
Posted: Aug 27 2010 By: Dan Norcini Post Edited: August 27, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Filed under: Trader Dan Norcini
Dear CIGAs,
The equity bulls were salivating over the prospect of watching another episode of “let’s take the shorts out and slaughter them all” as the world eagerly awaited the giving of the law from Mt. Jackson Hole. With claps of thunder in the background and with flashes of lightning interrupting his keen observations upon the state of the US economy, (some swear that they saw the angelic host), the prophet of Monetary religion sounded forth his prognostications and then looked upon his handiwork. He then saw that his work was good and sat down and rested on the seventh day.
Yessiree folks – Chairman Ben uttered his incantations making all well with the turbulent world and bringing light and order to darkness and chaos. I do not know about you, but I feel so much better today after Ben told us all that he is going to make sure that the recovery is safeguarded from harm. When you combine that with news that instead of the economy slowing from a growth rate of 2.4% down to 1.3% as expected, it only slowed down to a 1.6% growth rate, well, it just doesn’t get any better does it?
I mean, the first thing I immediately thought of is, “Why don’t I rush out and buy lots of copper because things are really getting better in a hurry”. Already forgotten are the abysmal housing stats of less than a week and the further rise in foreclosures and delinguencies, not to mention the clogged condition of the bankruptcy courts. Chairman Ben has whisked all of that out of the minds of investors with one mere pronouncement.
The fact that it has taken gazillions of conjured-into-existence-out-of-no-where dollars (some call that stimulus) to produce this pitiful growth rate number for the quarter, seems to have escaped the attention of the equity perma bulls who have yet to come to grips with the consequences of all of this. My own view is that it should be a relatively easy matter to get that growth rate up to double the figure given us. All we would need to do to get to 3.2% growth rate is to print twice the number of Dollars and double the rate of government indebtedness. That should be good for another 100 point rally in the Dow. If anyone knows the number that comes after quadrillion, please send that on to Ben and company. They are going to more than likely be needing it.
Seriously, it is hard to hide my contempt of this disgusting scene. This band of fools somehow believes that prosperity can be created by printing money without any consequences whatsoever. The US is sinking under a mountain of indebtedness and the Fed chairman tells us that it stands ready to engage in even more QE should the need arise. Flash to Ben – the need shall arise. China is already balking at buying US debt meaning you are going to have to buy it all yourself Ben.
What we are witnessing is the death throes of a debt-based monetary system of which those presiding over it apparently have come to believe their own delusions. The US public is learning what our grandfathers learned as a result of the Great Depression – Debt is something to be avoided – not heaped up and accumulated. That the borrower becomes the lender’s slave and that living beyond ones own means is inherently foolish and dangerous. That saddling one’s children and grandchildren with a debt burden that they did not create is immoral and wicked. Yet, all of this is lost upon the monetary lords who have their noses so close to the ground sniffing out the scent that they cannot see the path ahead leads off the edge of an abyss from which there is no escape. Or perhaps they do see and are attempting to secure their own parachutes before leading the rest of the masses over the edge.
I repeat – if lasting prosperity could be created by printing money and giving it away, previous generations that were wiser and more frugal than ours would long ago have stumbled upon this axiom.
That brings us to the war on gold. I am still amazed that after all these years and notwithstanding all the evidence to the contrary, there are still those obtuse enough to insist that there are no official sector attempts to manage or stem the rise in the price of gold. Gold is the only currency that these debasement thieves cannot pollute by conjuring more of it into existence. It rises when distrust of paper currencies is high and confidence in the ability of those who supposedly manage monetary affairs wanes. Thus it is and always will be in direct competition with unbacked fiat currencies.
Our money masters hate the yellow metal because its rise mocks their absurd assertions and debunks their claims of being able to “manage the economy”. It strikes, dagger-like, at the very hubris of these elitists who think that they are wiser than the collective judgment of the entire market, they alone possessing such keen insight into the nature of these matters that we should entrust our financial health to their hands. Imagine the conceit of a few men who think that by pulling on this lever or pushing on this button, that they can assure continuous prosperity and lasting wealth for all. Every generation considers itself wiser than the previous one which is why history does indeed repeat itself. Arrogant men never learn for they lack the one thing essential to make one truly wise – the ability to admit that we do not know all things nor that we mere mortals can always fix what ails us.
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Thank you Turd for quoting Sinclair. Let me quote our own Gordon_Gecko:
Buy.Gold.Now.
"Imagine the conceit of a few men who think that by pulling on this lever or pushing on this button, that they can assure continuous prosperity and lasting wealth for all."
Let me assure you, these dirtbags have zero regard for the continuous/lasting wealth of all; they are all about advancing the relative wealth/power of the banking elite. period.
In this context, one need not be confounded by how these men could be such idiots. They are not idiots. They have succeeded. I do not congratulate them, of course, because they have succeeded in being evil shitbags. I would just as soon congratulate Mao, Stalin, or Madoff.
They were ALL an integral part of the long-term plan/scheme. ;-)
it is the bankers
it is the bankers
it is the bankers
not talking about community bankers
talking about the global fucktards
They will lie cheat, steal to stay in power. They will not just give up and see the light. They are running out of ideas and time. For generations these families have been working for this control. Too much has been invested by them to stop now.
Interesting article, The actors of the diversion are buying lots of fuel, for ground and air. Shelf life is only 6 months. They donl't normally buy this much from what i understand. I think they will wait till it gets a little cooler, rad/chem suits are very hot to the wearer in an assult in summertime.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/17405
Hmm, I voted,
I voted that we hang them 35 years ago and no ones fired congress
or the legislature yet. I voted that we give them all Pinks and tell them
to quit writing law and go get real jobs because the best law I know of
was written over two hundred years ago and cant be made better and
theres only one better one and thats the golden rule of common decency
too true, if you can't live by the golden rule then what ever rules come after are just QE.
But they have retained the right to manipulate. Click the link below for an obvious graphic example of said manipulation.
http://rosenthalcapital.com/blog/
Alex jones is far from being a good source !! he's an intox guy !
http://breakfornews.com/TheCIAInternetFakes.htm
Another dickless ken doll of the mind fucking army.
It is fascinating to read all this "hatred" against US politicians by US citizens who at the same time are defending their founding fathers like semi-gods. What is it... just 45% of you people vote...but it seems 90% of you people are complaining. Do something instead of whining.
Greetings from Europe.
Founding fathers were libertarians unlike the whores running the show today.
"Many immigrants arrived in Colonial America as indentured servants, which involved their new master paying the ship's captain for their transatlantic voyage. Most were young men and women from Britain and Germany, under the age of 21, whose service was negotiated by their parents.
Like slaves, servants could be bought and sold, could not marry without the permission of their owner, were subject to physical punishment, and saw their obligation to labor enforced by the courts. To ensure uninterrupted work by the female servants, the law lengthened the term of their indenture if they became pregnant. But unlike slaves, servants could look forward to a release from bondage. If they survived their period of labor, servants would receive a payment known as "freedom dues" and become free members of society."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant
my lawyer, bless his heart, told me about
unless your family members were in the first couple of boats, then you probably weren't indentured servants. cause they they had to get on the later boats. well it was an analogy i sorta understood. cross out the double they, cause i can't without my delete button.
Yes, I think junior high school I learned that- never heard it from my lawyer (bless his heart).
You really need to read your posts in the morning.
I'm thinking maybe your lawyer might specialize in DUI's?
.
Really? You think they were "libertarians"?
They owned slaves.
You live in a fantasy of not only the present but, the past.
It is all to easy to do evil in a world where such is permitted and encouraged. This does not mean that they did not know right from wrong. They simply did wrong while knowing what was right. People are generally weak in this way.
Many libertarians today pay thier taxes, even though they don't beleive in them. Hell, I'm an anarcho-capitalist, but I still follow the law, for the most part. Ialso work for a company that recieves funds from the government. This is highly inconsistant with my beliefs, but I do it anyways, as I don't have much choice. At the same time, I fight against it as policy.
our founding fathers set up a Republic, not a democracy - do you know the difference?
They didn't.
They set up a Federation of Republics.
just 45% of you people vote...but it seems 90% of you people are complaining. Do something instead of whining.
Would you like to be bashed in the head with a hammer or with a tire iron? Don't whine about it -- vote!
haven't read the replys here yet but i just got this off jesse's site. its an update from john williams of shadowstats. pretty grim outlook favoring hyperinflation, soon.
http://www.shadowstats.com/article/hyperinflation-2010.pdf
If silver's balls this week are any indication, Williams' is probably right.
Americans still expect magic. Listen to this story National Public Radio aired last night. It describes how the Fed simply created $1.25 $trillion out of thin air, because that's what central banks do.
The "money" quote is at the end:
"But the more striking possibility: It's possible that there's not much cost at all. That an institution can create one and a quarter trillion dollars out of thin air, hurl it into the economy, and we all get away with it."
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/08/26/129451895/how-to-spend-1-25-tr...
I am very happy & very impressed to see that the author of this posting used a quote by ALEX JONES .............. the author did the correct thing. Forget that ALEX JONES is a bit theatrical, that does not matter. ALEX JONES SPEAKS TRUTH & HIS TRUTH NEEDS TO BE HEARD.
Sincerely .........
Ditto
I Think i/o QE2 Beny B should send each of us regular citizens 25 officially sanctioned federal reserve little white 0 stickers that we can add onto to whatever dollar bills we already own....
One world currency = one world government. It will eventually come when the economies of the world crash and mostly everyone is begging and pleading to the elites for a way out. RFID anyone?
RFID anyone?
New Canaan, Connecticut is considering implementing a program where all students will be tagged with RFIDs to make sure, among other reasons, to find out which students are cutting classes.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/64341.html
Computerworld - A California federal court's decision not to call an en banc hearing on whether government agents can attach GPS tracking devices to vehicles parked in private driveways is likely to be appealed in the U.S. Supreme Court.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9182499/Appeals_court_OKs_warrant...
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) Montgomery County residents will soon be required to scan their fingers to enter recreation centers. Officials say switching from plastic passes to finger scanners will save the recreation department $50,000 annually.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/64293.html
+100. Road to the future.
Black market is already here. It's called craigslist.
Greed is good,we have the right to do what we want as long as we keep ahead of the game,agree to all the politicians whims,gradually spread our tentacles into everything,become so big and control so much in investment and debt and nations futures that we can,t be allowed to fail.Sell TOMMORROWS money at TODAYS prices,screw the percentage charges and have the best legal team money can buy,and if we hit any hard times the Government will bail us out to infinity.I very much enjoyed reading about your indoctrination into investment (ponzi) banking Tyler,sounds like you were a bit too free thinking and did not sell your soul to the banking mafia.QE2 and Hyperinflation will come,they see it as the only short term solution,deflation Japanese style scares them shitless,they only care about their own lifestyles,power and financial greed.The hard part now is to produce the lies and conditions for it to happen.Fiddle a few statistics,rig a few markets,put a few stooges in place,these will be their tools.I wonder how a run on the banks due to lack of Physical Gold and Silver demanded by paper certificate holders will affect them,that looks like a scandal to break soon.QE2 will happen because they grow more desperate everyday.
Check. Ok Tyler it's your move. You must intercept Goldenballs Bishop before he takes your Queen.
What makes another American revolution truly dangerous is the racial/cultural divisiveness in modern society now.
Any overthrow of the current elites would quickly turn into civil war.
I disagree. There would probably be a turbulent period with some violence but that, I believe, would be short lived. I know people who sometimes refer to black people as "niggers" and then I see them chatting up their black friend from work. The false culture wars put on by the Red and Blue teams get people stirred up, but I find that people largely like and trust their neighbors.
Folks is folks.
At first I dis-agreed with your comment, then I took a few minutes, and I think I agree, with your qualification of "short lived" initial problems. All the more reason for me to get out and meet the neighbors, and them to meet me.
All the more reason for me to get out and meet the neighbors, and them to meet me.
You got that right. I tend to keep to myself but I've been making an effort over the past couple of years to get to know my neighbors, share my fruits and veggies with them (and they cut my grass when I was down with a bad back). I also chat up shop keepers and help old ladies with their carts in the supermarket parking lot. Even if we don't see some sort of societal collapse, it's been a good thing.
for those interested read again nevins' ordeal of the union 1 & 2. the 1856/60 period is similar to today what with poor leaders and an entrenched (so-called in name only) elite clueless about the magnitude of the simmering issues outside the capitol. today's period is different from 1994. people are ready to fight, and will. civil disobedience is around the corner. my hunch is that it will stem from some outlier-like perk the elites get, and the rest of us don't. think john kerry's tax dodge on the yacht, geithner's turbo tax, congressional staffers getting free rides on college loans etc etc.
Guns, Babies, Jesus
I like the reference in this article to Alex Jones, if anybody needs a basic education then listen to his show, if anybody needs to get dumber then listen to Beck or Limbo
We need to destroy Globalization and the plans for Global Goverment, and we need it fast.
"I plan to vote against all incumbents; that this happens to include that tool Michelle Bachman is just a happy perk. It might not change things but it might put the whole system in disarray. "
Her whole spiel about lower spending more personal responsibility and smaller government bother me too. What really bothers me is the 12 foster kids she raised along with her own kids. Yeah, a good progressive dull tool like Clark is a much better idea.. sarc
Anyway, back to the original subject....,
The title of this thread implies the 'elite' had a "right to rule" in the first place.
Not.
Is there anything that wasn't predicted two decades ago (almost 3, now) by Midnight Oil?
This clip from a listserv made me think:
The Realm (of which Julian Assange was a particularly-bright member) are part of the Melbourne (Australia) hacker community that WANKed NASA and the DoE in 1988.
They set in train what is happening now with CIA and DoD document security; this is a thing on which some bright folks have been working for a generation... and they're not after power or money, so put away your wallets and your invites to the Georgetown canapé set.
The Realm's core personnel are unchanged in that time - while the CIA has massive turnover in its personnel, a huge slice of which are disgruntled GS-5s getting paid $45k a year to be treated like shit... only the careerist triangulators (cunning, not smart) move up. Little wonder they're losing badly (and have had to promulgate 'Wikileaks is a CIA front' (FAIL); then 'Julian Assange is a very dumb rapist' (FAIL) and now 'Julian Assange is a narcissist' (so SO wrong that everybody who knows him laughs).
If The Realm has wormed the Fed, the Fed will have no choice in the matter of the release of the documents that TD referenced yesterday.
I would think that's a decent chance of being the case - given that they have unambiguously wormed DoD and CIA servers (proof: the Red Cell document - think SOURCE, not CONTENT - plus the silly story yesterday about DoD net being compromised by a USB key inserted into a networked laptop).
The fucking whole world just got that teensy bit more interesting.
Cheerio
GT
That would be very nice.
Ya the whole pentagon. Harmless to society dangerous to pentagon hacker struggle is getting out of hand. The whole let's accuse him of being a rapist is proof of how bent the whole thing has gotten. There's some poor general in the pentagon with his thumb up his ass going all this power and none of it can make me the good guy again.
Unrelated but interesting. Tyler I guess they didn't like your posting on Mishkin soiling his underwear. Anyway, next time, if they invite you will you ask Tim to autograph his op-ed "Welcome to recovery" for me? In fact. I'll bet you can move a ton out of the zerohedge store!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-economy/2010/08/blogger_confa...
Just what makes you think tyler would take such an offer?
In fact I can think of 2 bloggers dumb enough to fall for that crap.
Mish. Though he would figure it out soon after.
Denninger. He would never figure it out.
sorry been trying to post a related funny photo but it does not work!
Who drink my cola?
"One of my favorite quotes is from Joseph Schumpeter who said “everyone has elites the important thing is to change them from time to time.” Of course, this is what happens in a well functioning democracy."
No! No! No! We are not supposed to have a democracy. The Founders railed against it and for cause. Witness Athens. We are to have a well functioning representative republic but that was usurped. I object to your loose talk. It buys into bullshit. Be precise. Words have meaning. For that matter, we should have a meritocracy rather than an elite in a system of political economy that approaches laissez faire, unless your elite is momentary as a function of vertical social mobility. No, Virginia, we are not approaching laissez faire, we have mercantilism.
Word.
I was just posting a similar point in a reply above about getting our terms straight when talking about forms of government.
Yes, Athens, and the direct democratic society that put Socrates to death for corrupting the youth, what lessons we forgot to learn from Plato! In a city where it was a citizen's duty to participate in government, the majority/mob always ruled. Not much room for alternative views.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_ancient_Greece
The Elites have no right to rule because Natural Law Rules. No way to Game that, period. Hi!
The "Elites" haven't lost power and never will. The title and content of this thread is another daily reminder of how this site "Jumped The Shark" a year ago. Too bad, ZH had so much promise. Not only were the articles cutting edge but, the commentators were intelligent and interesting. They are, understandably, all gone now outside of literally one or two. ZH was actually gaining attention from the "Powers That Be" when it was a blog. Unfortunately, it has merely devolved into a another junk hole for right-wing idiots to vent at. You 38 Tylers and Marla, don't get too comfortable with those Vanguard and Mercedes adverts., they will be a thing of the past soon as well.
It wasn't the best read on ZH, IMO, but I fail to see any deeper or more sophisticated thought spring out of your post.
whats you talking about, B O Y†
Oh wow. Another zero hedge was just getting respectable and then it went all rediculous and now nobody looks. You should write a zero hedge history book about how it started and where it went and how it ended. And have it all ready for publishing the week after it's demise. I mean everything goes just like you want it. Doesn't it. Or didn't it. Or wouldn't it. Or couldn't it. It's so hard to keep up with how things will go in the face of powers face planting themselves into their own shit pits.
you make me sick millbank
I have a comment on all this
I have a comment on all this
I had majored in Economics at school for practical purposes but I found almost all of the courses to be extraordinarily uninspiring with the exception of a few like Corporate Finance and the Economic History of China. It was the general micro and macro economics courses that I found the most painful to sit through. I wasn’t alone in this assessment. Many of my close friends were Economics majors as well and we all felt the same way (I later found out this was because we were being indoctrinated in voodoo Keynesian economics) .
I highly recommend Henry George's "Progress and Poverty". Perhaps the key that is missing from modern thinking is somewhere in that book. He also wrote a book called "The Science of Political Economy." One of the best economics discussions I have come across since I read Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations."
I thought most of macro and micro as taught in my university was pretty good stuff, but then there were always these odd parts, which, yeah, I totally get now why they rubbed me the wrong way. Though I think I was lucky with having provocative professors who loved to point things like how raising taxes can lower revenues and how farming subsidies lead to higher prices and such.
The laws of economics are working inexorably. No amount of political shenanigans will change that. We have a global economy. incomes will equalize - roughly. The elites around the world are doing very well. technology is progressing at its usual alarming pace. Financiers will find a way. The rest - the plumbers, carpenters ,accountants and such - will have to slog it out in the face of competition from a couple of billion equally qualified folks with a fire in their belly- maybe try to "leapfrog" into the elite club of technology and finance - some will succeed.
The millions who thought they deserved a high status life outside of the elite circles can organize, burn buses , hold midnight candlelight vigils whatever - wont change the iron logic f economics and finance.
Thats the way it is.
You never said what those laws were. So, really, you just said a bunch of nothing.
Oh let me see - consult my Tablets:
1. If you failed high school physics - there will be millions of kids who studied physics under some street lamp somewhere in bangladesh or Indonesia who will kick yer butt.
2. If the high school dropout in the U thinks that just because he/she happens to have been lucky enough to have been born in the US he/she deserves to have a suburban house and 2 late model cars - well so sorry.
3. if the physics failure /high school dropout thinks that simply by electing a politician wo promises the above - he/she will have magically bypassed the normal route to succes - he/she will be disappointed.
Yes, the perils of idiocracy!
The world is the way it is, man.
Wow, so deep.
(just filling a double post)
Sitting on the deck chair with a few names in hand and beer open waiting.
when you hear GS head stating he's doing the work of God, they're doing the work of God, stated to the whole world, what's that say about the mindset of these "elites" men and women just the same...suppose like some rulers or kings of old, require our worship now and next. Parts of this present system will fail, to be replaced with one that will start nice and turns far worse..and fail. What kingdom of men lasts. The danger now is given reign mankind will destroy himself and freedom from a moral constraint is desirous to many
Oh - and anyone who believes they are "special" because they were born in the US is likely to be bittrly disappointed. Its a great country - kinda like Brazil, Indonesia etc. had a great run for about 100 years - as a bunch of world class scientists escaping oppression fled to the US and invented some really awesome technology.
But now? Not too diffrent to other large countries. No magic. There was no magic in the foist place - see?
Sooo- what is this "inexorable law" of economics?
Its simly that that there aint no magic. yes - I know there are millions who think that by kneeling this way or bowing that way or mindlessly reciting some book from hundreds of yesrs ago - THEY will achieve magic. i dont think so.
Reading all the comments here ... one thing that struck me (not being American) is how much the debate is focussed on who would be a better president. In Canada it is different (just saying different, not better) - people vote for a party based on a platform (what they want to do once in power) and the person who ends up leading that party is head of the government.
And I did live in the States for a few years - from what I saw the president doesn't have all that much power unless Congress is in line?
So whether Obama or McCain were elected, I think we would be seeing similar military and economic policies?
Just askin.
Elites of one sort or another will always rule. As much as I would hope otherwise, I am coming to the view that this will always be the case. One merely replaces another. The ideals first hinted at in the Magna Carta were improved upon in the Constitution of the US (taking out the inherent superiority of the Monarch which the Magna Carta retained), but our grand experiment may be going against human nature.
As one who has lived most of the past 30 years in Asia, I am forever puzzled yet fascinated by the cultural differences. While both the democratic West and barely democratic East both have their elites, in Asia governments are merely monarchies with a thin and false veneer of democracy spread on top, unless they actually do remain monarchies (I include communist and junta-type countries as monarchies, plus Singapore, which barely makes any pretense that it is not a monarchy). Monarchs get away with a lot, though there are occasional exceptions (1789 France). Perhaps it is the Confucian influence, but from what I have observed, respect for power and money in Asia is granted no matter the means used to achieve it, as if some divine hand played a role, or that its possession confers some sort of divine status. Ruthless dictators, druglords, woefully corrupt elected officials (Roh of South Korea took over $750 million in bribes during his tenure) all gain the respect of the majority of the populace. Perfect example is Mao, whose bloated mug still graces China's currency. Germany's national guilt over Hitler is an exception; Mao is the rule.
In a some sense the US shares some similarities. Look what happened under Bush, then continued under Obama, regarding the massive transfer of wealth from the general population to the very people who brought about the economic mess. Trillions for banks, billions in bonuses, nary a prosecution, zero reform, and yet there remain supporters of both Democrats and Republicans, and no one's head has rolled, figuratively or otherwise.
The same human need that creates gods also evidences itself in the need for autocratic leaders who impose some sort of order---even a malevolent one---on a confusing and arbitrary Universe. Humans want to believe. They need to believe things are more than random. It's order out of chaos, even if the order is a little nasty. Maybe democracy is evolution, or maybe it is going against human nature; I'm not sure which. I do believe, however, that even if democracy is a step forward, the human race is about to take a step back and universally reacquaint itself with the notion of absolute rule. For reasons I can never quite fathom, it seems to work pretty well for society as a whole in Asia, though on an individual level it has its drawbacks.
Some humans are aquisitive: they want to gather power. No matter what the system is, inevitably, this will lead to concentration of power. left, right, capitalist, communist, It's really all the same. Concentrations of power destroy the level playing field for others, and merit, innovation, and the free market lose. And then the ambitious who are denied their "place" get pissed off, and we start all over again.
It's like a nightmare we can't wake up from.
The difference is Judeo-Christian ethics - whether or not they are adhered to. Even in the pre-Christian west, the concept of individual worth was an alien idea. The idea that the collective was more important is a natural view among any people which is not of the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Ah, but what about Greek democracy and the Roman Republic? Many good and worthy things in those - but still missed the mark because it was still the Polis or the Res publica which claimed the higher allegiance. Citizenship was strictly limited and even the citizen was completely conscript to the State at need.
The Jews first annoyed the Hellenic powers and then the Romans because they held there was an allegiance higher than loyalty to the State. Christians were even more annoying because they added to this (or expanded upon) the absolute duty of the individual to do the right thing even if the State was commanding otherwise. Haltingly and with many errors and crimes along the way, this Judeo-Christian concept of the idividual and his relation to the State took hold - and there was born the idea that a government is legitimately only supposed to protect the individual in his rights.
The collapse of our liberties followed upon the rejection of the Ruling Class of this conecpt. Starting in the 19th century and accelerating in the 20th came the heretical ideas that Man is just a biological accident and is infintely malleable by human action. That the individual is going to get it wrong, but very well educated elites can figure it all out and set up a just society - that the State does not exist to serve the individual, but to remake the individual in the preferred manner. If you are seeing striking resemblances between the Chinese (or any other totalitarian government) and our government, it is because our government is increasingly run by people increasingly convinced of this worldview.
The sure-fire cure for what ailes us is for everyone to start going to Church on Sunday - and the more rigidly orthodox the Church, the more likely it is that freedom and justice will abound. As we are not likely to get that state of affairs, our second best effort is to at least always ask this question: does the proposed action help or hinder the individual in the free conduct of his own affairs. If it helps, then its a good thing - if it hinders, then it is a bad thing.
In the end, it doesn't matter what structure of government is chosen so much as what underlying philosophy guides it. In structure, China's government is like that of a republic - but China certainly is not what anyone evisions a republic to be like. Our government, too, is structured like that - but we know that people currently running the show aren't adhering to any sort of idea which pre-supposes the inherent worth and dignity of the individual.
Kinda funny reading all these posts. Everyone has very strong opinion on how the casino should be run. I got news for you folks. The casino is THE PROBLEM. Get rid of the son of a bitch. Make all these very smart people concentrate on working for a living and employing people. Should we be generating energy by repaving the streets with composits that turn the sun into energy? Should we bury all the power lines and telephone cables and increase the capacity of the infrastructure? Should we ditch the wires and go wireless? A hybrid? What should we do? But rather than do any of that you are still looking for the best game in the casino. Take your gold and stick it where the sun don't shine. That's about what it's gonna be worth. Unless you are holding delivery bars or dore it's all paper anyway. What makes you think they are going to magically honor your paper when everyone elses is zeroed? Are you really that stupid?
Got a thousand head of cattle? Some chickens? 50 acres growing vegetables? Organic would be better. Some WTI oil wells? All that's worth something. Your gold is for shit as you will soon find out.
50 acres is a shitload of veggies, dude.
beware of quantitative robots that would play an instrumental roll in blowing up the world’s financial system. lolwut
"....Wall Street was moving away from what it was always meant to be - a conduit between the holders of capital and those that wish to deploy that capital in productive economic activity."
Wall Street was never and was never meant to be a conduit between the holders of capital and those that wish to deploy that capital in productive economic activity. Wall street is a wealth transfer mechanism. This is how it always has been. Since before you got your economics degree. Since before you were born.
Tangentially:
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/08/who-was-right-huxley-or-orwell/
I vote because:
While there is a certain insidiousness to the elites and the stench of their corruptive influence, I would ask how they are relevant to a person that understands freedom?
1789 Bitchez !
Madame DeFarge is Knitting !
"If everyone understood how precious life is, there would be no wars "
Nonsense. Just because people realize life is precious, doesn't mean they have to assume everyone else's life is more precious than theirs when there isn't enough room in the lifeboat.
Wishful thinking does nothing but get people killed. Usually the people doing the wishing.
I find the "trying to prepare will do you no good" crowd to be amusing, despite the accuracy of many of their individual observations. Trying is certainly better than simply giving up.
-Dog: you got it right.
Let's take this from a logical perspective.
You jumped from a statement that stands on its own (basis for the golden rule of doing onto others as you would have others do onto you) and removed the natural balance by stating this was the equivalent of "assuming everyone else's life is more precious than theirs when their isn't enough room in the lifeboat". Not more, but equal respect - do you see? Fear of reduced resources is used to covet thy neighbor, but we can truly build abundance from working together collaboratively - the universe is constantly expanding so there does not appear to be a principle of lacking.
If everyone truly understood the level of perfection and how precious life really is, there would not be a first aggressor to pull the trigger. War is ignorance although I agree that others ignorance must be defended against - I am neither a pollyanna or warmonger. My point is that after traveling all around the world, I noticed people are pretty similar except for language/color and would all like a better life for them and their children. Contrary to popular opinion, people from other countries are not all out to get us - however if we treat everyone that is different from us as a threat and take action to pre-empt dissent then who is on Defense and who is on Offense? An eye for an eye and we all go blind is very perceptive.
Read this quote and understand it:
“Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” - Hermann Goering (Nazi propagandist).
This site is about finance, so I will make it relevant. Central bankers profit handsomely from war, and have funded both sides in conflicts. The debt remaining for the country to fund the war is paid for through taxes that pay the interest on the country debt. Interest and taxes are paid to the same groups.
The love of war is excellently portrayed in this Twilight Zone episode, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKL-asLhaAo&feature=related150%
Look here for a first class translation of Bernanke "Fed-Speak".
http://nbyslog.blogspot.com/2010/08/bernanke-in-wyoming-blind-mans-bluff.html
AIPAC and ADL. Too many Jews in high places.
Sorry, no sale.
My sister is married to a Jewish man, he is good and kind, refreshing after her 1st husband (a Catholic).
My Jewish roomate in college shared all of his religion, and disagreed with some axioms in the Talmud, which he let me read...
Its the person, inclined towards good or evil, rather than their religion, that makes the difference.
Good is good, evil is evil, and there is a whole lot of "grey" in between, most confusing for most.
+1000 (Sorry for this long post)
Don't fall into the trap of hating the group-think of the "other" and transferring that hate to individuals. Groups always discriminate against outsiders and support their own members. That is hard-wired into the human brain. However, you do not interact with the group only with individuals.
Governments should be acting as a mediator to ensure a balance of the interests of the various groups within the nation to encourage societal harmony and defending "our" group's interests from everyone else. However, our current government's (and the ruling elite's) obvious hostility to middle and working class Americans who have a unique history and culture means that either the ruling elite, or the American people must be replaced. The obvious goal of the ruling elite is to destroy American society loyal to the values of American Republic and replace them with a mongrel society loyal only to the ruling elite. This means we are on a collision course that can only be resolved with the destruction either of the ruling elite or the American Republic.
Either Obama (and the group he represents--which includes both Reps and Dems) will be repudiated by Americans or America, as we know it, will cease to exist.
Individuals should be expected to support the interests of their group but have an obligation to be civil and open to making friends with individuals of even hostile groups.
For example, I believe that Islam is hostile to Westerners in general and our Republic in particular. However, I have a cordial relationship with a Muslim (Saudi) neighbor despite this. I do not seek out his opinions on Islam vis-a-vis the West and I do not share mine with him. I interact with him as an individual, not as a Muslim, although I am well aware of and disagree strongly with his culture's, (and as far as I know) his own beliefs. I do not expect him to reject his own society's norms to be my neighbor, only to treat me and my family in a manner I consider civil, which in turn requires me to treat him (and his) in a manner that he considers civil. We will never be friends in the sense that am friends with people with similar values but we can be, and are, good neighbors. This is my model for multi-culturalism, mutual respect, not surrender.
One particular example: His wife is cloistered and is hidden away before I enter his home. However, if he visits my home, my wife is included in the conversation and treated with what I consider respect. If I encounter his wife outside, I smile but I avert my eyes and make no attempt to interact with her as it is obviously uncomfortable for her. However, if he encounters my wife out of doors, he speaks to her and treats her as an equal, even though his interactions with his own wife indicate that is not how he views women.
I believe that defending our society against competing societies (using economic or even military means), is not only acceptable behavior by our government, but that not to do so is a betrayal of our interests. The policy of our current administration to place the interests of other nations above our own and to be so obviously willing to injure Americans to protect our enemies (or even just outsiders competing for jobs, economic growth, success) makes them traitors who must be repudiated by the American people (if they have any sense remaining).
However, this does not affect my obligation to treat with respect and kindness any individual, of any culture or nationality, that I come into contact with, until they demonstrate to me that they will not recipocate. I am not required to tolerate abuse from others but I should never be abusive.
"Multi-culturalism" as practiced in the US is code for "cultural suicide" for Americans. I will never acknowledge that Islamic culture (once again, for example) is superior, or even equal, to Western culture. However, I do not expect Muslims to acknowledge our superiority either. As individuals we should seek to inhabit any middle ground we can find. As societies, we should avoid conflict, to the extent possible, but never fear unavoidable conflict and approach every engagement with only one goal, to win.
This is why, I think, our ruling elite must be replaced. They hate and despise the people they rule. They pretend to admire any culture more than that of the people they rule, but I think it is more a way to demoralize us and make us easier sheep to shear rather than that they want Islam, or native Americans, or the American sub-culture to become dominant.
Other cultures are, naturally, our competitors but they are not necessarily our enemies. We can, if we make the effort, find ways to live and let live vis-a-vis other cultures, even with other cultures whose values we find strange or repulsive. However, part of the deal for visitors from other cultures is that do not, while visiting our country, opening offend our values. If we wish to visit their society, we must do the same.
Regardless, our ruling elites are the real, but unrecognized, enemy and either they, or we, must be changed. We can find ways to coexist with any outside society (communists to Islamists) but either we must install rulers that support our interests or we must be willing to be their serfs.
Reflections on Bernanke’s Yo-Yo Speech
Some bullshit on here today.Anyone who believes in democracy in modern politics is living in cloud cuckoo land.On the face of it the system is designed to take the stress out of world economic situations so we don,t have another fatal world war.However in reality everything works to deny any democracy at all,the USA,UN,IMF,EU,etc, only care about themselves.UK civil war 1648,French revolution 1789,Russian revolution 1917,American revolution 1786, all forgotten by the modern day elite andnot in living memory.Today there is no sign of any real opposition which allows the elites to carry on making bigger and bigger messes,the current banking and economic system is the elites tool to ensure that their position,lifestyle,powerbase,assets,influence are not threatened because it gives them ultimate CONTROL over all nations lives and very existence.Currently you are seeing a life or death battle to keep the current failing system going as it is vital to their position and survival.If you,ve got no bread to eat and an empty stomach,politics soon go out of the window.The problem now is that all the promises that vital system made as in,work hard and you will be rewarded,a retirement pension will give you security in old age,property is an asset,shares appreciate and pay you a divi,the cash you spend is a store of value,are rapidly being destroyed.On here you should feel grateful to be kept in the know about what is really going on,"Knowledge is power and wealth".The bottom line is don,t trust anything apart from yourself because its bullshit and smoke and mirrors.the Great Ponzi scheme that is the World Financial System is consuming itself in an orgy of Lies,Corruption and Corporate Greed,it refuses to accept the game is over and every day gets ever more desperate trying to find time to pray for a miracle,everything is to interlinked to save it,it has passed the tipping point and now the major event which will end it gets closer everyday.Look to yourself for the future its what you make it.
Your sentences have the hard anger of truth. I cannot disagree. My daily question is, "Who will stop it? Can anyone stop it?" It is the Great Plan. I can't stop it. You can't. It will play out.
The treasured nugget in all this is this machine, this precious Internet. In times past, the burden of helpless was carried, sometimes stretching out over years and ending in ruination. But now...now WE KNOW! This Internet forewarns us, and if there is salvation at all it is in that foreknowledge.
I'm thankful to know of other people's anger and despair. Not being alone is a great gift. Perhaps it is the most we can hope for. So my gratitude goes to you and others on this site.
Lost the right to rule? - they never had the right to rule.