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On Why America's 234th Birthday May Not Have Many More To Follow
As overindebted Americans and bankrupt cities and municipalities spend millions to celebrate America's 234th birthday (and delighted by the fact that while the rest of the world is writing in austerity, we actually can still pretend we can afford such demonstrations of affluence) with brilliant if transitory firework displays, it behooves everyone to step away from the symbolic, and consider for a minute the circumstances surrounding this country's declaration of independence. Since at the basis of every action there is always a monetary incentive, for a critical perspective of the economic conditions that led not only to the violent separation of the US from England, but to the subsequent creation of the Federal Reserve, the abolition of the gold standard, and all culminating with the imminent "end of the road” for the financial system as we know it, we present the following essay from reader Matthew Hinde.
I'm sure you know that the primary reason for the American War of Independence was to break from the English banking system of the time. The English Banks wanted the US government and corporations to borrow money from them in order to trade. This is really what the founding fathers of America fought against and won independence from. And so after the war had been won the US financial system was controlled, and all US Dollars were issued, by the US Government. The value of each Dollar was fixed (i.e. there was no inflation) and ALL the banks operated within the financial system. The most significant aspects were that the value of a dollar was FIXED and that the commercial banks were not empowered to create money. This is really what the English banks wanted to be in control of - the power to create money and lend it to the US entities at interest.
After the establishment of the Federal Reserve in 1913, however, the bankers finally got their way in the US. They took control of the US financial system and Fractional Reserve Banking became a reality in the US. What this means is that the financial system was essentially privatized and the commercial banks started to create money “out of thin air” by taking in deposits and then using these deposits to empower them to make loans significantly in excess of those deposits. I'm sure you can see how, through this scheme, the banks had shifted themselves out of a situation where they had primarily been an intermediary between savers and borrowers in the economy, to a situation where they had the authority to create and lend money into the economy.
Practically what this has meant to the American people is that as the banks have created additional units of currency, the value of their savings has been consistently undermined and devalued over time. One could argue that this has been compensated for by interest being paid on peoples’ savings, however the fact of the matter is that this rate has been manipulated down by the Federal Reserve over time, resulting in significant asset price inflation. In addition to this qualitative devaluation of money, as the capital and interest repayments of existing loans has been made, liquidity has been drained out of the economy thereby creating monetary shortages on "main street". So I’m sure you can see from this that the American people have been hit on two sides, firstly the value of their money has been consistently devalued, and secondly the quantity of money in the real economy has also decreased relative to existing debt levels.
From a banking perspective the only real concern for them was the second issue highlighted above (i.e. the fact that the quantity of money in the real economy was decreasing relative to the existing debt levels). This had the effect of reducing the probability that their loans would be repaid. In dealing with this issue the US Government and the Federal Reserve de-linked money from gold in 1971 and since the early 1980s they have also consistently reduced interest rates. The intention behind these efforts was to ensure that firstly, there would be nothing to limit the growth in the money supply and secondly, to reduce the monetary withdrawals (via interest repayments) out of the system. These two steps have both prolonged the functioning of the system as it stands. The long-term fundamental issue of the financial system though is that it is a “closed” system that requires the economy (i.e. all economic entities) to assume greater levels of debt for it to keep functioning. At the end of day there is literally no way out without altering the nature of the system itself.
It is my firm belief that we have come to the “end of the road” for the financial system, as we know it. The myriad of problems that it is creating are only going to get larger as time moves forward – until the US Government takes decisive action to correct the fundamental issues. To this end it needs to fix the value of each unit of currency by linking it to a basket of commodities (not only gold since the total quantity of gold is limited and so that would in turn limit the total quantity of money - this was the problem that resulted in the initial creation of the Federal Reserve), and it needs to eliminate the fact that money can only be created through debt. Under the current financial system, everybody ends up in debt and the banks get to continue reaping from that state. It really is a time for change and I firmly believe that the US will once again lead the world in a new direction, one that is equitable and fair for all economic participants.
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Your plagiarized piece keeps attempting to call John Hancock a smuggler, as though that were an insult. FAIL
Joe Kennedy, Sr. took good notes - Ned
The foregoing is plainly taken from Howard Zinn, as the poster himself admitted. Zinn, who very recently died, was the foremost Marxist historian of US history in the colonial period. Even his obituaries attest to this, and he wrote the most commonly accepted college text on the subject for many years. He is the US counterpart to E. P. Thompson, author of The Making of the English Working Class.
The JULY 4th celebrations on t.v. this evening are wonderful. My direct ancestors fought in the REVOLUTIONARY WAR. They say that we are going into another revolution to free ourselves from the cluthes of a corrupt government & banking system. I say that these 4th of JULY celebrations are a call-to-arms ... we owe it to future generations.
MY direct ancestors were already fighting the Bloody British BEFORE the Revolutionary War. Of course, it was tougher with all the smallpox and influenza going around. Probably didn't help much in the long run though....
I say that these 4th of JULY celebrations are a call-to-arms ...
We holler when anyone looks cross-eyed at the Second Amendment. We still have the right to keep and bear arms. What for? If people should even bother to respond to a call to arms, what would they do once they assembled? Target practice? The whole argument in favor of keeping the Second Amendment was as a defense against the government abusing it's citizens. If ever there was an excuse to act on that argument, the Patriot Act, the bailout of the TBTF, and the barring of legitimate news coverage of the gulf situation has been it. The government is rolling over its citizens with impunity. No response.
If we are not going to use the Second Amendment, what is the point of having it? Perhaps that could be ZerOHedge's action point. Convince certain candidates to run on the promise of repealing the Second Amendment. When the boys start hollering about their right to keep and bear arms, ZerOHedge could spring his trap by shouting: Use it or Lose it. Get your guns and storm the beach. It would be the first time in a hostile action that the U.S. stormed the beach from the land side.
Happy Fourth of July everyone.
I for one am not going to standby while a bunch of pinstriped bottom feeders destroy my country.
Joe Pitchfork (aka williambanzai7)
THIS SCAM IS YOUR SCAM:
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/07/american-liberty-2010.html
WE THE PEOPLE:
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/07/independence-day.html
BOOMTOWN 2010:
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/07/boom-town.html
YANKEE SCREW YOU:
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/07/yankee-screw-you.html
UNCLE SCAM:
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/07/uncle-scam-needs-you.html
AMERICAN SUBPRIME:
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/07/american-subprime.html
Duck and cover bitches!
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39365.html
Probably Marines that wanted to see Biden run scared.
The sheer size of the machine here makes it impossible to be proactive regarding any issue. I firmly believe that no one will do anything constructive to avoid this until the crisis has arrived at the doorstep of the Marriner Eccles building.
I disagree. People have been taking their money out of the big banks as part of the moveyourmoney.org campaign as well as bailing on the stock market, walking out on home mortgages, tax protests, voting out incumbents of both parties...
People are doing something. Maybe it's not enough yet but the population has been irate for a couple of years now and the voices are getting louder if anything.
A little too little a little too late? I don't know; I sure hope not.
You are correct, but that's at the private level, not at the governmental level, and that's where the real course change must occur. The people, yes, they are doing what they can to change their own personal situation, but we still have a bloated government that continues to plow down this path without hesitation.
Those with the power and control don't seem to be accepting the fact that their theories don't work, I mean really, aren't we all just waiting for the announcement of QE2?
Like I said people are voting out the government and that is something. I know that the jokers are spending and making promises they can't keep but it has always worked to keep them in office and if it is no longer working...maybe that is the first necessary step.
I agree. I think the second wave of credit card defaults is coming, and more mortgage defaults. The banks had their bail out, and now the people are going to take theirs. The banks were to big to fail, and the masses are too big to go hungry. Who will win that contest?
Happy 4th to all.
The Banks would like for us to max out credit cards, take on loans and house things we cannot afford.
And maybe keep some deposits too. It aint happening. We are getting free from Debt Bondage as fast as we can. If the USA implodes, so be it; we will at that time answer to no one except the monthly providers of our gas and electric as well as annual tax on the property.
We have learned the Consitution as it applied in Colonial times and relearned it again as it would apply to you and me. Only that too many counties, cities, states would be not allowing these basic freedoms as we should enjoy as a individual right.
You want water? Go buy land to build a home that has water or a spring. If you want food, find a place in a rural area or near fishing areas where you can get or shoot food. You can use a bit of pastureland to grow basic staples such as potatoes etc.
You learn to disconnect and wean yourself off the mega walmart if necessary. When things get really tough, those will be the first places picked clean.
And then what?
Hopefully we can stay together as a Nation, undivided and free. In bondage to no one, no other land or in debt to anyone until next year.
A long time ago there is a tradition called "Jubilee" as it was written in the Good Book, every 50 years or so, there was supposed to be Jubilee as in erasing all debts to all levels of a Nation. Even to other Nation states as well.
Once that year is complete, then everyone has a fighting chance to start over fresh and new and rise out of bed in the morning without the need for drugs, coffee or booze to get through the bottomless pit of the workday, or lack of one.
But, the Jubilee is a pipe dream. One that is impossible in our modern time. So, we work to remove all debt and accumulate what is necessary to be truly free.
We can start by cutting out and removing the very cancerous Banking system and a society built on the Almighty Shopping Mall and IPhone stores. Once we cut down all that foolishness, we can then wake up sober with a little money in the bank and a feeling that you can do things for your family today and tomorrow without contracts, credit cards or debt.
Start working yourself towards that future. For yourself. No one is going to do that for you.
Only then if enough millions of us embrace this, then maybe just maybe we will have saved the USA and look forward to many more 4ths of July.
Nice, thank you for your comment.
To paraphrase The Privateer, the Democrats want the government to borrow into oblivion and spend with abandon, the Republicans want the populace to borrow as much as possible and go into debt as far as possible. The end being the same, the Parties being the same thereby. I'm afraid that I will not be participating in the game. I'm done.
My best to you all on this fabulous 4th.
It's Easy
If cash is your problem
you might regret
use that old plastic
slide deeper in debt
it's easy, easy you see
cause tommorrow never comes
everything is free
(until it's not)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kxk11D-mpY&NR=1
Is that you Jonathan?
It was viewed a sad day when the few who saw revolution as necessary saw it begin. They enjoyed their cousins in England, their culture, their traditions, we were they.
A few pulled off the revolution, not a majority.
I'm not convinced Americans will, or rather, can, fight an unseen, invisible enemy. I'm also not convinced a physical fight is even necessary.
Our war is a spiritual war. We need the illusions of our monetary disaster to be dis-believed by a tipping point quantity of citizens.
The revolution must be fought within, even as we learn to do WITHOUT.
"We need the illusions of our monetary disaster to be dis-believed by a tipping point quantity of citizens."
Please explain that statement further.
Swap Paris Hilton for Bob Dylan and we might have a start.
Bob Dylan sex tape not gonna go over so well.
"until the US Government takes decisive action to correct the fundamental issues." - sorry, I have little or no faith in the "government." it will take individual americans doing the right thing in mass - voting, speaking up and taking individual responsibility. ZH is a huge positive. The truth will set you free.
Happy 4th to All
"Veritas odit moras." Truth hates delay. - Seneca
right. and as the fireworks refuse is swept up, the nation will eagerly gear up for the upcoming nfl season and whatever new reality show/dancing program is on the schedule. the bloggers will continue to voice their dissent. the bears will growl... the bulls will snort... and the bankers and wall street boys will continue to bend you over the barrel. there is only one thing those criminals will respect, and you already know what that is.
Dr Sandi: Don't we have a pill for that yet?
Heck yeah we have a pill. It's kinda small, comes in a colorful dispenser and often has a cartoon character on the lid.
Wait a minute, you already have one of our magic pill dispensers, don't you!
Screw the USA. I'm joining the WHM (World of Huddled Masses) where property laws are worthless. Yeehaa, here I come:
Rather than diminish System authority [of the Federal Reserve], Congress has expanded it significantly in each period of economic distress, despite plausible arguments that Federal Reserve policies contributed to the distress. This seemingly perverse behavior is explainable on the assumption that Congress has not consider radical reorganization or eliminationa practical option. Augmenting System authority was seen as increasing the likelihood of its future success.
I just took a few minutes to re-read the text of the DofI; it is unnerving how little if at all the text needs to be changed to be perfectly current and aptly descriptive of our current situation here in the US... Take a moment, if you will: http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/
Now if only more people had read and understood its contents... A happier 4th of July next year for all.
We are much below a 1% readership, I fear.
There is an important premise in the essay, one which I disagree. Effectively, the writer presumes that a return to our former selves will solve the problem. In other words, things were peachy keen back then... before we were born... when magicians roamed the earth, anointed by the grace of god and imbued with omniscience. This premise overlooks an important lesson... that on a long enough timeline, no currency survives. Rather, its death may be prolonged as a function of its keepers' machiavellian aptitude, but never avoided.
I realize Mako is often ridiculed/junked on this site, but his schtick is completely correct. We keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again. The fact is, humans have not managed to stumble (and I mean stumble) upon the key to viable longevity. Each time we have a reserve currency upheaval (with an even more interwoven, interconnected world), we risk the fate of the entire world system. While we may come out of it relatively unscathed and possessing more knowledge and infrastructure than the previous currency regime, what is to say we will continue to do so? We have so many "earth killing" legacies and potentials currently in place, how do these get managed as credit is reigned in? (e.g. oil leaks, nuclear devices, biological weapons, etc.)
At this juncture, the "cure" is merely suggesting a system that will delay the inevitable the longest, not correct the fundamental problem(s). Obviously our best choice is to ditch the current regime and go back to a more "fair" system. However, our grandchildren will be having this same discussion. Control of currency always has been and always will be a struggle... a class struggle really. I think to some extent they generally last long enough for us to forget our ailments from the predecessor.
In summary, the magical perfect system has never been created. In all likelihood, it never will be either. It is a constant struggle that requires us to possess the utmost vigilance and discipline not to be seduced into servitude. Unfortunately (and fortunately), we're human and so were our forefathers.
Cut to the chase, Dude. We need a new arms race...a new cold war. Okay, here's the contest. The previous winner to inherit the world (reserve currency status) did so based on mastery of calutrons and the building of the atomic bomb. New gig: biology and the interactome. Build the physical device to master biological complexity and I'll cower in fear.
If it were that simple, I think we would have created the money long ago to do so... However, this premise overlooks the "liquidation of underperforming assets" Mako loves to talk about. It's much easier to emerge with the world's reserve currency when your soil and economic infrastructure is unscathed. Bomb or no bomb, Japan wasn't getting over here... the only question was how many american yootes it would require to pry the shovels out of their cold, dead hands.
How do we recruit the talent for another manhattan project? Bill Gates has plenty to say on this account... our economic strategy is... lacking.
The other issue is the distinction of nationality... I think your project would likely be completed by a private company (through public support) that owes no allegience to a particular country... Ultimately, our military hegemony will prove insufficient to keep reserve status. (in fact, it is a main ingredient in our downfall).
We need a renaissance...
Do we ever see Bill Gates as president? Too wealthy to be swayed by lobbyists.
After a collapse of the government as we know it, I could see him as a regional robber baron... although, doubtful.
But, I think the problem is more fundamental. Does he strike you as the type of person who would nominate himself to rule the world? I realize he is probably of the same family and resembles those statements fairly well... but it takes something more... something (or a lack of something) that allows one to put himself on a plane of existence completely different than his fellow men. With Bill's charity work, I think he has likely come back enough from the dark side to become incapable of the emotional state required for self nomination.
ahhh, Bill Gate's "charity work". . .
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2010/05/10/daily9.html
just ponder the lack of respect for human rights inherent in that "technology". . . zero consent, just crop dust humanity. . . which they're doing already. . . chemtrails criss-crossing amrka, and Europe, with toxic fog. . . CHAFF, barium, aluminium, microbes & bacteria. . . and no one looks at the sky anymore, eh.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=17644
Bill Gates. . . helluva 'mrkn.Bill Gates attends Bilderberg "conferences" RichardP - so yeah, he has the potential to be a president-placeholder.
I wasn't curious whether he had the potential to be a placeholder so much as curious whether we thought anyone would support him in a run for the presidency. I would think his wealth would put him beyond the reach of special interest groups. But MachoMan is probably right about him not wanting to give up what he can accomplish through his foundation.
k, guess you don't grok what was posted, whatever.
Bill Gates' wealth puts him IN the reach of the "special interest groups" of the elite monied class, hence his attendence at Bilderberg (and other "world shaper" new world order groups); as the Rockefellers, etc. have proven over the decades, much can be accomplished through PRIVATE foundations - no doubt huge tax dodges for money used AGAINST targeted populations:
And:
http://tinyurl.com/2clxjqc
more information, the full article, and footnote links at the at the above url.
In other words...modified eugenics, because those piles of rotting corpses make for some really bad publicity...this is a much more...ummm..."refined" way of doing things.
Good post.
calutrons and the interactome, you say. What about the dynaplect?
"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
"
— Howard Zinn
and how do you propose to do that? more blogs?
arnoldsimage
If you want change hit them where it hurts. Start a petition, or site. whatever you choose.
Tell your politicians that you will not vote for either party nor donate to either party until you see some real change. Until you see hearings, trials, perp walks, and people behind bars. That was just an example.
Explain that you will sit out whole election cycles until action is taken.
Tell them if nothing relevant and significant happens you will vehemently donate and campaign for ANY third party. The Pirate party, the Hemp party, the Tea party. As long as their candidates have ZERO ties with the corrupt system.
Politicians lose money and the false mandate they so cherish.
Have friends and family involved. The more the better.
Run for local office, Sheriff or Judge. Anything where you can make your points in a debate. Walk door to door and explain your position to the people who will be voting for you.
Even if you don't win you plant the seeds for the next guy.
But most importantly stop playing the game by their rules.
Argentina (for example) continues to exist despite national defaults . . .
Wash, rinse repeat on the debt? No prob for TPTB . . .
But the game will go on.
IMHO
If I can build a dino-chicken then I say reserve currency status is mine. You people and all your honest money fantasies...you'll end up in concentration camps. There is WAY TOO MANY FREAKING PEOPLE.
Actually, the history of the US currency and banking system is a lot more interesting than portrayed in this essay, with many more ups and downs starting quite early. To learn a lot more about this, the Ludwig Von Mises Institute has online audeo of A History of Money and Banking in the United States Before the Twentieth Century. This doesn't change the severance of bank relations as a big advantage of the American Revolution. But it shows that there were struggles figuring it out for ourselves long before the formation of the 3rd US Central Bank, aka the Federal Reserve, which is currently looting the USA as an extension of the financial oligarchy that needs to be allowed to fail to regain our Liberty. Regaining our Liberty also requires massive shrinkage of the military industrial complex and too large industries that control the media and would all fail without government support from funds unconstitutionally extorted from the people and businesses of the USA. Read Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century, by Tom Woods if you want to regain some confidence that all is not lost to those that have stolen our government and are looting the country into bankruptcy and oblivian. It's time to fight back against the Federal government from the trenches at the state level, until we get enough US Congressional Liberty-Candidates in place to begin returning the US government to its constitutionally intended form. Happy Independence Day :-)
Will we be celebrating 235?
We have to. The Lakers need a three-peat.
"I pledge impertinence to the flag-waving of the unindicted co-conspirators of America, and the (demublicans) for which I can't stand. One abomination, underhanded fraud; indefensible. With liberty and justice; forget it. Heh heh...Just kidding." -Matt Groening, The Road To Hell.
Enjoy celebrating the illusion!!
Nice post for a novice reader. But it is precisely for that reader that in your historical timeline WWs I & II should not have been excluded, especially the second. Moreover, it would have been even more particularly useful to that reader to explain how Reagan supply-side,tax-cut, massive-borrwoing-and-deficit-spending-and-huge-defense-budgets policies spectacularly exacerbated this problem multifold, remarkably only to then be outdone by Clinton policies (housing, stock investing for everyone, tech bubble, no real or nominal reduction of previous expansion of borrowing), even more remarkably to then be outdone by Bush policies which not only BEGAN by throwing a couple trillion out there just to get elected, but then amalgamated the previous two administrations policies into one even greater than the sum of its parts monstosity (huge borrowing, and deficit spending, and expansion of federal gov't/budgets, and bigger defense budgets, and bigger housing programs/bubbles, and bigger tax cuts, and bigger stock market bubble insentive based manipulation, etc, etc) to where now, naturally and expectactly at this point-not remarkably, it's reached the point where Obama throws around trillions, >5, before/during election, and now trillion at this (health care) and trillion at that (take your pick, Fannie, this year's budget deficit, etc)....by any estimate, first two years of Obama's administration have amazingly managed to outdo all three combined, through a minimum of 10-15trill in direct and implied injections...........
But you people, Americans, keep voting these idiots in. You get what you deserve. Go ahead, mock Ross Perot now. Today's Ross Perot, is Ron Paul and Ralph Nader.....but those guys are just kooks, right? See what I mean? You get what you deserve. Happy fourth of July countrymen.
:(
"Today's Ross Perot, is Ron Paul and Ralph Nader..."
FWIW (not much as/per the last few Presidential elections) Ralph Nader has been successfully giving his all to the American People going on 4 and a half DECADES.
IE, If it wasn't for the Freedom Of Information Act I probably wouldn't be able to tell you that because you would all be dead from not having access to clean drinking water.
Regards
Well September 30 is three months away........we'll see if there is a budget by then........
Hello, everyone, from a little town in central Washington. Fireworks here are scheduled to start here in twenty minutes. Some of you know that I have written before about being 51 years old now- grew up in Connecticut- can remember falling asleep in August 1963, to the sound of the fife and drum practicing across the Connecticut River. I remember, vivid like Kodachrome, going to Petttpaug Yacht Club, in 1964, to see some beautiful Native Americans dance- I remember their straw skirts, and drums, and I remmeber being attracted to the dark skin. HAve you heard American Indian chants? Anyway, you know, I should be as dismayed and depressed as anyone, about how America has turned. But I am not. I served in the military - was in Japan, and other places. I see the rot and corruption - I just finished reading Chalmer Johnsons trilogy on american Imeprialism- hey, how many people were killed by Japanese in China during WW2? Twenty three million is the answer- 23 million Chinese. I paretied with the Japanese in Roppongi and Misawa. 23 million. My point is, as I slowly move towards my own death, and watch my 4 year old daughter move into life- is, we need to all step back a little, and take a deep breath - and understand that - with all the horrors the US has enacted, and still enacts - there is still a great deal to be said for the basic freedoms we have had. I have been here since 1959 - and I have basked in watching that dog pull down the bathing suit of that little Coppertone girl's bikini - and, for tonight, I can channel Joan Didion's view of a culture on itls last breath- but, jesus, look at those firewors- listen to the whistling explosions. Hey, who out ther remembers why they called them Bikinis?
Vapid, but sort of fun explanation of why it was named after the island: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQueo7nEnwQ
As for the origin of the word itself: Bikini Atoll (also known as Pikinni Atoll) is an atoll in the Micronesian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands. [...] The atoll, however, has always been called Bikini by the native Marshall Islanders, from Marshallese "Pik" meaning "surface" and "Ni" meaning "coconut".
macktheknife
CD
Jul 5 1946
Louis Reard's latest swimsuit creation, the two-piece Bikini, goes on sale in Paris.
... from a little town in central Washington.
Anywhere close to Ritzville?
Indian Chants?
Amazing Grace in Cherokee - Rita, her sister, and niece
(and you thought this was an English composition)
"Serious" alert: "America - Fighting Terrorism since 1492"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqkpYgvIBtU&feature=related
The park was bustling with young families all gathered to watch the fireworks. Gawd! were there a lot of kids, new wobbly ones, to young coltish ones all knees and elbows, tumbling around like puppies on the grass. Strong confident men, fretful conscientious mothers, seniors in their own bubbles of quiet, far above the maddening crowds. People of all colors of the rainbow caught up in the anticipation that became almost palpable as the sun went down. It was beautiful.
Why was I then weighted down with the onus of responsibility for them all? Because I know what the system will do to those strong young men and their families. The system will slowly bleed them dry through a thousand bills and fees and outright theft of their labors. The mothers will jump into the breach to hold back the onslaught, to try and provide for the young ones. It is a battle that too many will lose. All of them are just one catastrophe away from being financially obliterated.
The horrors of this war is that there are no bleeding mutilated bodies. It is an insidious, inexorable draining of their spirit. There is no gun pointed at their heads that I can point to, and make them understand the grave danger upon us. That is why this battle is so fiendishly hard to fight. You don't know there is an enemy till you're taken out. Then of course, it's your fault, you did not turn your assigned hamster wheel fast enough, you should have seen it coming. Bootstrap yourself out of your funk till we hit you again the next time. They have made sure there will be no next time now, because the decimation of our productive enterprises is almost complete. There is no manufacturing base, all we do is push stuff around after it reaches our shores.
Do not discount the ones who only raise their voices. It is a vital first step to recognition that there is a ravenous wolf circling the flock. Every voice raised tears at that edifice of lies they have weaved over a century. We won our independence the last time with the elder's voices that guided a militia, culminated in a victory with words on a piece of paper. Words are powerful things.
We are the elders now. (Dang! where did the time go?) The onus is on us not to be silent with our collective wisdom. There are young ones we need to protect. There is a country that needs rebuilding. There are forces of evil greed that needs to be taken out. I want to go watch the fireworks some time in future when the tears stream down my face with happiness that the nightmare is over, and the young wobbly ones will have firm ground beneath their feet.
Roppongi, had a lot of good times there.
This hysterical parody/historical documentary of an empire collapsing is just too accurate to dismiss and ignore as being a mirror of the arrogant and ignorant "greed is good" ethos which is destroying the fat cat fools on the hill culture in markets "regulated" by the intellectually challenged and morally bankrupt/incompetent and idiotic/criminally insane? ........ http://equityprivate.typepad.com/files/the-spiral-the-directors-cut.mov
Please enjoy the edutainment ...... for the reality of the ongoing System meltdown and the need for intelligent flight to A.N.Other Safer Secured System is surely pretty obvious to even a blind man on a galloping horse/every man and his dog.
Or you could just pretend that all is still well with command and control, although many would counsel that that would be to just bury your heads in the sand ..... and quickly lead to major players getting their just desserts and a right royal shafting for their troubles.
What appears to be missing from the Global Big Picture is Better Beta Intelligence and an altogether different Dynamic Novel Approach.
And without such alien DNA, how on Earth will you cope with AIdDevelopments in Live Operational Virtual Environments ....... SurReal Places with the Command and Control Of Computers and Communications for CyberSpace Creations with AI Boffinry and NEUKlearer Transparent HyperRadioProActive IT ...... which can easily continually disrupt and usurp corruption and perversion at both the highest and basest of levels?
You want Change? Or just more of the same old bull shit nonsense from ignorant beings well past their sell by date and prime?
You escaped.
Perhaps the author of this post has a different intended meaning for his statements, but, in the early days of the United States, commercial banks were empowered to issue bank notes and (de facto) currency that frequently traded at lower than face value. The available money supply changed frequently.
Also, prior to 1870's - 1910's (the exact date of instability is debated) the price of gold and silver was (and is) considered stable. The price of gold is not stable today.
The U.S. system of banking is difficult to defend, but using any basket of commodoties as the basis for our currency value may have worse practical defects than the current system. An example problem, in short, is that China can buy a lot of the commodoties (like they do with steel) and drive up the price, causing shocks to our purchasing power and the need to hedge.
I also disagree.
Do you really think we'll have a transparent and equitable system in the next olygarchy?
Do you want "them" to decide on the next monetary system?
The system must change, but today's people in charge also.
The value of each Dollar was fixed (i.e. there was no inflation)
Matthew Hinde, dude, do you really mean that the prices for chicken, cows, horses and whatever else they sold 250 years ago stayed the same month after month, e.g. if someone were to calculate the CPI back then, it would stay the same simply because the "value of each dolar was fixed?" If you do not realize how stupid that statemt is, you should watch "the ascent of money" series, especially the part about Spainish silver coins
The overall price level stayed roughly the same between 1815 and 1914. Even Keynes admits this fact in Essays in Persuasion (though he provides a lame explanation as to why.
Supply and demand meant that individual prices fluctuated quite a bit. Many prices fell permanently (e.g., cost of manufactured goods, send a telegram) due to technological advances.
The values (a slippery concept) of coins was not fixed, only their metallic content. You are right about that. Without that all-important metal, those lovely Spanish dollars would never have circulated in the American colonies.
Uhh b_thunder, Niall Ferguson is a Harvard toilet paper schill, and the book The Ascent of Money was hundreds of pages of him fawning to his masters. IE What sort of spin do you expect from such a person?
We need to look back at history and learn from the past:
The Whiskey Rebellion was a resistance movement in the western frontier of the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. The conflict was rooted in the dissatisfaction in western counties with various policies of the eastern-based national government. The name of the uprising comes from the Whiskey Act of 1791, an excise tax on whiskey that was a central grievance of the westerners. The tax was a part of treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton's program to centralize and fund the national debt.(Read More at The Ultimate Libertarian Anthem and Why Central Planners Don't like Whisky )
The Tea Party Movement is one step in the right direction
Thanks to David Pierre for the history lesson. As for RichardP and his demand for footnotes, he must be an assistant to an assistant part-time teaching assitant at a community college.
lol,yes, this is a blog not a thesis paper. Only the idle elite have time to hunt down every footnote for every comment. Some of us actually work for a living.
Must be an assistant to an assistant part-time...
No - actually I could teach at the college level, but I don't.
David was persistent in his posting of undocumented historical revision. It stuck me the wrong way at the moment and I chose to be just as persistent. The passing of undocumented pieces of information on this blog as fact has ruined the reason I came here in the beginning. I have no problem processing information that challenges my beliefs. That is how we all change and grow. But how can I usefully process new information if there is no way to tell whether it is backed up by research or whether it is someone just having a bad dream?
We need a few more folks around here calling the conversation on this blog back to the higher level that it started on.
Today's system will change for the [much] better. And it will not be run by people in charge today.
The Federal Reserve was not created to solve this "problem" (which it ISN'T) or any other. It was ONLY created to enforce the private banking cartel's control over the issuance of money. A limited money supply does not mean limited economic growth. The only limit on growth is human productivity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geM4DbAG7NI&feature=player_embedded
Updated DOW chart:
http://stockmarket618.wordpress.com
http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/latest-market-outlook-1
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863
Was that before or after he suspended Habeus Corpus. After, I believe.
Sometime after his Emancipation Proclamation.
"Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (>>>except the<<< Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued."
"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.." Abraham Lincoln
"Your race suffers greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffers from your presence. If this is admitted, it affords a reason why we should be separated." Abraham Lincoln
In true abolitionist irony, the country of Liberia was born of a desire of slaveholders wishing to rid themselves of troublemaking slaves, NE states wishing to not have job competition from freed slaves and freed slaves themselves wanting no part of us...LOL.
It must suck to have a government mandated education where just about everything one has been taught withers in the face of reality. Who purchased ALL that cotton one wonders?
One of my favorite memes is Andersonville POW Camp in Georgia with no discussion of Camp Douglas in Chicago. The victor get's to write the history but it doesn't necessarily mean it's true.
Exactly. Lincoln wanted no part of the freed slaves, and his plan was "colinization" . . . shipping them somewhere, and dumping them all.
Apartheid doesn't even come close to this in todays terms.
Which is why I find authors/historians inability to understand history in the context of it's own time ridiculously infuriating to me.
Mr. Pierre obviously has an agenda. Apparently it involves some sort of monarchy being the ideal form of government and anyone of American lineage is some type of Kraken unleashed on the world.
Grrrroooowwwwlllllll...LOL.
If the Union did things the way the US military does today, we should have just armed the slaves to the teeth, and let them take care of things.
Good article. However, it's predicated on a fallacy - the war for independence was not "primarily fought in order to break from the English banking system." It was fought because England needed a way to pay for its costly war with the French, and taxing the shit out of America seemed as good a way as any. That might've been one of the secondary reasons for fighting the war. But it certainly wasn't the primary reason.
The "intolerable acts" among others. - Ned
We will soon find out that rather than being too big to fail, the corrupt system now in place will be Epic Fail. A difficult but learning experience. The corruption of slavery brought on the disaster of the Civil War. We survived that and we survived FDR's Depression. So, expect to celebrate the 4th as long as there are Americans around to do so, and screw the idiots.
I was not feeling very celebratory yesterday and somehow, this video of the Kobayashi incident summed up a lot of what is wrong with the country right now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPkZgJPaTc4
Distraction of the sheeple by corporate promoters, a fake champion of a fake sport, a protester arrested for not signing a contract to participate in a hot dog eating contest...in America... on the Fourth of July.
wtf?
Uk Telegraph says the US is stuck in a depression....
"
With the US trapped in depression, this really is starting to feel like 1932 The US workforce shrank by 652,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever. The rate of hourly earnings fell 0.1pc. Wages are flirting with deflation."http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/787142...
some jewels from drudge:
Evans-Pritchard: It's Really Starting to Feel Like 1932...
Dow Repeats Great Depression Pattern...
Obama: 'The great jobs killer'...
I agree with almost all of this article. But the problem of a gold standard is not a shortage of gold. It is that gold is mispriced. As long as the monetary system is not based on a limited hard asset, then you are still advocating an inflationary system. You only "need" the inflation in a debt based fiat system. Saver rewarding gradual deflation is fine in a hard asset based monetary system. It does not carry the same level of systemic threat. So I don't agree that money should be based on some other commodity basket that can be increased or decreased at will.
"But the problem of a gold standard is not a shortage of gold."
Yes it is.
Gold is divisible. It is impossible to have a shortage of something that is almost infinitely divisible and is not consumed. The problem is that gold is mispriced.
To all of you upset about history, go read the Bill of Rights, then exercise them.
" – until the US Government takes decisive action to correct the fundamental issues. To this end it needs to fix the value of each unit of currency by linking it to a basket of commodities (not only gold since the total quantity of gold is limited and so that would in turn limit the total quantity of money "
Ahh, not an easy thing to do, if you ask me.
" – until the US Government takes decisive action to correct the fundamental issues. To this end it needs to fix the value of each unit of currency by linking it to a basket of commodities (not only gold since the total quantity of gold is limited and so that would in turn limit the total quantity of money "
Ahh, not an easy thing to do, if you ask me.
Check and see what the central banks of the world hold as a reserve asset, after you net out all the currencies.
Hint: it's not a basket of commodities.
Suggesting that the Brits grew a conscience in the 18th century is silly. They spent hundreds of years virtually enslaving the Irish and Scots, no? Even Scots were exported to the New World as slaves. I wasn't there, but history is not on the side of English. It seems unlikely that they would want to stop such a profitable lifestyle just because it was immoral. Really? I think the possibility of them "doing the right thing" is about as likely as the bankers today growing a conscience and returning the taxpayer funded bailout to the taxpayer. Right.
If the founders had been so corrupt as the author states, it seems unlikely that it would have grown into a lab for free men to prosper freely. Carneghie, for example. Coming with nothing, leaving with heaps.
Our current banker controlled oligarchy is oppressive and the Horatio Alger stories are getting fewer and fewer. Revolt. Now, please.
Slightly OT, but perhaps a worthy reminder over this "independence" holiday...
The NWO and one-world government already exist and continue to engineer most/all economic and military events around the world.
Note the increased frequency and implied dependence upon G8 & G20 meetings... what are these meetings if not propaganda? The UN has neither the support nor merit to exercise it's intended charter, so TPTB have conjured the G8 & G20... and look at how easily we all follow their lead - as if the G8 & G20 are time-honored institutions promising benign governance and benevolent objectives. TPTB have left a trail of disgraced acronyms in their wake (WTO, IMF, UN) yet we are always ready to accept - without question or critique - the next batch of NWO operations... G8, G20...
Why would any leader of a truly sovereign nation EVER attend such a meeting/farce, much less make unconstitutional commitments that betray their office and electorate?
Wake up, people, we are being slowly herded into the NWO corral by faceless organizations to which we hold NO allegience.
This is a reply to GoldBricker. Commodity price fluctuations during the 1800's were acute, but typically temporary, and returned to a mean, which I believe is your reference. My family firm was the inheritor of J.L. & D.S. Riker, chemical merchants in New York and London. The firm used clipper ships to transfer goods and set prices, on a weekly basis. In my office, where I am typing this message, hangs an original price sheet thus transmitted in New York (45 Cedar Street), March 30, 1869. Incidentally, "chemicals" traded without other restraints included opium, indigo, mace, and pepper as well as more familiar items, such as Caustic Soda, Soda Ash, and Sodium Bichromate.